Why is this game not more popular?

[Zipper5 74]

Hello community this is AVIBIRD 1 and I have seen the light.

Better late than never I guess.

Why not try saving up for and building your own mega-awesome gaming PC and play some Arma 2? I'd say it's entirely worth it. :)

[avibird 1 155]

Better late than never I guess.

Why not try saving up for and building your own mega-awesome gaming PC and play some Arma 2? I'd say it's entirely worth it. :)

Hey, with two new kids in the house (twins almost 1 yrs) no real time for PC gaming in my life right now. Console just work better for me now. Just plug in and play for a bit. If I could not have the time to put into the mission editor and test play the missions the right way it will kill me and to drop the cash ($2000-$2500) for the right PC to play the game for the limited time I have in the week will not work for me however, if you come over and break my PC my wife can't say anything about me getting a new home PC that can run the game right. Right now for me to buy a new PC to play a game for a few hrs a week is not the right move if you have a wife and two new babies in the house.

I still play OFP elite a few hrs a week when i get the time to get a little bohemia fix.

Edited August 19, 2010 by AVIBIRD 1

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Hey, with two new kids in the house (twins almost 1 yrs) no real time for PC gaming in my life right now. Console just work better for me now..

I call BS.

Just buy or build a pc and quit feeding us.....

[Dynamic Echo 10]

I call BS.

Just buy or build a pc and quit feeding us.....

Err... what he said was completely fair enough. The consoles are undeniably much less expensive and time-consuming to set up, or even to start up and get gaming (I can be in a game of Halo in less than 30 seconds of starting the xbox, no way can I do that with my PC and ArmA).

On the popularity of ArmA 2 - it is largely up to us, the fan-base, to spread the word. Word of mouth is certainly the most potent form of advertising, and I personally have 'sold' a few dozen copies of the game to people. The great thing is that if you show people how everything works to at least a reasonable degree ArmA really doesn't need a lot of help to sell itself, you just have to show people. Another bonus is that more and more people are getting decent PCs which can run it now, at least amongst the people I know, so they can download the OA demo and see that it works on their hardware. Very easy sell, only one person I've shown hasn't subsequently bought the game.

Edited August 20, 2010 by Dynamic Echo

[jonneymendoza 10]

Err... what he said was completely fair enough. The consoles are undeniably much less expensive and time-consuming to set up, or even to start up and get gaming (I can be in a game of Halo in less than 30 seconds of starting the xbox, no way can I do that with my PC and ArmA).

On the popularity of ArmA 2 - it is largely up to us, the fan-base, to spread the word. Word of mouth is certainly the most potent form of advertising, and I personally have 'sold' a few dozen copies of the game to people. The great thing is that if you show people how everything works to at least a reasonable degree ArmA really doesn't need a lot of help to sell itself, you just have to show people. Another bonus is that more and more people are getting decent PCs which can run it now, at least amongst the people I know, so they can download the OA demo and see that it works on their hardware. Very easy sell, only one person I've shown hasn't subsequently bought the game.

30 seconds? i call BS on that. it makes 30s to boot to the 360 dashboard let alone loading the game, navigating to menu's, searching for a online game to play, and finaly connecting and loading the session. all in 30 seconds?

LOL yea right.

[Dynamic Echo 10]

30 seconds? i call BS on that. it makes 30s to boot to the 360 dashboard let alone loading the game, navigating to menu's, searching for a online game to play, and finaly connecting and loading the session. all in 30 seconds?

LOL yea right.

Okay that was a device known as hyperbole for effect. I timed it, it actually took 83 seconds to be actually in a match-made game in Halo 3 (specifically the mythic disc, which has matchmaking as the first menu option allowing me to button-mash my way through ;) ). I timed it for ArmA (not for searching for a game, just for loading a SP scenario), and it took 213 seconds, most of which was starting up the computer, though ArmA doesn't exactly load instantly. There is a clear difference.

Additionally, I note that you only commented on one part of my post, what do you think of the rest?

Edited August 20, 2010 by Dynamic Echo

[[aps]gnat 28]

Yes, and unfortunately theres the Anti-Virus to manage and the M$ updates to load and the Flash upgrade and the Java upgrade, and Chrome download and the latest game launcher and ...... so on. Its a pain.

Yes, and thats why Consules are eating the PC market. I have 3 consules (PS2, PS3 and a Wii) in the house, with 2 PC's. 1 PC is the "home internet", the other my gaming machine.

But in the end, I think a consule very rarely give you REAL depth and real expandability that games like OFP & ArmA have. They definitely dont allow true creativity for Mod'ing etc as a PC does.

Unfortunately I do think the "gaming PC" days are numbered, but not just yet.

Anyhow, I'm not giving up yet, I've been installing & playing games on home computers since the very early 80's.

[kremator 1065]

Sound like console owners talking out a load of shite. MAN UP and play a REAL GAME on the PC!

[Dynamic Echo 10]

We're not saying we don't play games on the PC...I mainly play games on the PC, I'm just pointing out some of the advantages of the consoles, which tend to be overlooked by PC gamers, just as many console owners overlook the advantages of the PC as a gaming machine. Anyway, let's get back on topic rather than turning this into yet another PC vs. Console flame war.

[Gunter Severloh 4064]

Its weird how most of the "other" games dont have demos when you need one, but OFP, Arma and Arma2,

and OA have demos, that is a definate plus, one way to tell if you like the game, and another way to see if it runs on your computer.

I think the biggest thing missing that maybe I dont see it anywhere but I think that our community

here of vast, players, modders, scripters, coders, and the like, as well as what they have built over

the past almost decade with OFP and so on, yes I'm getting to it, lol.....

all the addons, mods, scripts, ect.,. which allows a player to do things in this game that no other

game (none that I know of) can do, the game has such versatility, and vastness to it that

unlike other games (here we go again, :D)you get $50 for 8-20hrs of play time and then maybe

your interested enough to do it again,or thats it time for a new game.

I dont think our beloved games here are popular enough because the community and the hordes

of stuff, lets just say what i said above, is not really mentioned.

I mean its like this, an advertisement

oh theres a great campaign and you can play coop in mp,

and their is a built in editor too, then they should say, well maybe, did we mention too that you can build

your own missions, build addons, mods, islands,models,and add new features to the game that are not already

availiable in the game, also a community that stems back to 2001 where the number of addons and mods

built for OFP alone expands past or close to under and maybe over a few thousand addons, and Arma and arma 2.

I made that up by the way, lol

I mean why hide it, everyone I talk to I tell them about the games, I mean seriously, while the tards

are playing games that you only can play what they give you, here we spend $50 and were good for

the next 10yrs, and more, ya BIS games has its bugs, and problems but what software dont, and

Im going to add did we mention too that we have a bug tracking system that is constantly solving issues in the game.

Were constantly playing an evolving game, it should be mentioned somewhere, put that in the media,

"game driven community of modders, scripters, and bug trackers"

something of the sort.

Word of mouth is a very good way I think someone earlier had said that, as it is better explained

by word of mouth versus what advertising can do. advertising or marketing only show you what

you want to see for a brief moment, its like a movie, they show you some cool parts then let

your imagination if you have one do the rest.

You cannot go wrong with BIS games, they only get better and better, their maybe issues with

hardware and whatnot, but when you get it sorted out and you let your imagination run wild

and you delve into the editor or grab a few addons and a mod or few,

then you wonder like the title says why is this game not more popular.

[Dynamic Echo 10]

@Günter - You are completely right, which is why I am always happy that PCGamer, which is a pretty big PC gaming mag, always mentions the mods and custom content when they mention ArmA. But yes, just showing people what you can do with the game normally sells it to them, especially when you show them that it doesn't actually need to be the overly hardcore brutal simulation it is perceived as being. Hell, with the right settings it can be almost as casual as CoD (okay not really, but almost), which can introduce it to people who might otherwise be scared away.

[katipo66 94]

Even though this game may be the greatest FPS ever made, its probably not what most gamers want to play in their spare hour they may have, theres too many other games that fill the FPS need in a better way for joe average doesnt care about bullet drop etc.

Maybe if they had a kind of dumbed down version of the editor integrated with the wizards, or the MP wizard with better functionality so that joe average users can set up different types of missions reasonably quickly without having to touch a script, and provide a selection of smaller Utes sized maps so its contained enough for them not to complain about 100 miles to objective.

If this version was packaged and marketed properly in a way to catch peoples imagination with the ability of being able to easily customize their own SP and MP missions on highly detailed maps with authentic units etc then maybe BIS could capture a large percentage of the market who may be bored with the average shooters but are either put of by the rumours of arma being diffulcult etc or do not even no such an editor exists.

The next natural step would be Arma.

I think their best hook is in the editor more than the actual game... but then maybe i dont know what im talking about as usual :p

[kylania 568]

I'm just pointing out some of the advantages of the consoles

The problem is all the "advantages" of consoles speak to people not having to know anything about what they are doing and simply following the pretty lights to canned, linear, non-modifiable, boring content. Innovation is stifled while CoDx gets rammed down our throat every few months for 4x the price for the value.

[ben_s 11]

People, if he wants to play consoles and doesn't have the time to go onto PC and start playing games like A2, then we should respect that.

Not everyone can sit at a PC all day playing A2.. :)

[Dynamic Echo 10]

The problem is all the "advantages" of consoles speak to people not having to know anything about what they are doing and simply following the pretty lights to canned, linear, non-modifiable, boring content. Innovation is stifled while CoDx gets rammed down our throat every few months for 4x the price for the value.

Well yes, most of them are. One of the biggest though is price, and I know many people who would be PC gamers but for the inarguably higher price of maintaining a good gaming PC relative to a console.

Also it does have to be said that ArmA's controls are ridiculous - no control scheme should be that complicated. That is actually the number one thing I find (when I ask people) that puts people off ArmA. I mean, I still get confused occasionally with the sprawling command system, and I've been playing the game for quite a while.

Edit: @Ben_S - No, but I'll make up for them ;)

Edited August 20, 2010 by Dynamic Echo

[Encrypted_God 10]

Wow...this is to much for me to read so forgive me if this was mentioned already.

The way I see it is... The generation: Kids are becoming gamers at a earlier age. Kids at the age of 5 are asking for Play stations, X-Box's, Wii's and all the other little gadgets. Plus cell phones have games on them or can be purchased for them. I personally have NFS-Shift on my Droid-X and I must admit, it looks pretty damn good AND you steer the car with the phone by holding the phone horizontal and use it as a steering wheel. Crazy.

Kids don't generally ask; "Mom..dad? Can you buy me a Gaming Rig that I can play games on?" Most kids (or adults for that matter) don't want to mess round with a mouse, keyboard and all that comes with it to play a game. Plus. it's the simplicity of it and cheaper to buy a console. AND the last time I checked? ArmA doesn't have a console edition.

Now...kids watch TV of course. They see games advertisements and among one game that doesn't get media attention is ArmA. I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

Finally; Those kids would rather play the "run-n-gun" type games too. When Gunter Severloh and I had a gaming unit (a.k.a CLAN) from the year 2006-2010 we've noticed that the 'run-gun' type players (kids) were flooding our and other servers. What I 'm saying is that ArmA isn't a run-n-gun type game IMHO.

Question: What kid in this generation would want to participate in a game where there's thinking involved? No disrespect of course as I do have a 8yr old daughter. But come on...seriously now.

Wow..I can go on-n-on about this but I can't. I'm actually getting bored AND I need to configure my ArmA files and such. I need to prioritize...LOL!!

---------- Post added at 01:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 AM ----------

It was brought to my attention that I used a font size that shouldn't be used. I apologize to everyone. Just to clarify, I wasn't screaming or yelling. Sorry guys...

Edited August 20, 2010 by Rellikki

[avibird 1 155]

Holly shit. I did not want to get into a PC vs console thing. It was a simple statement that after playing the crappy OFP:DR for a few months But the only thing on the market for console players right now of this game type.

The point was that most (not all) but most console players will not want to play this kind of game. To slow and to much thinking for most of them (not all).

I played OFP on the PC from 2001-2004 and then OFP ELITE on the old box from 2005-current still playing on xbox connect (for free). Back in the day on the old box I had 6-10 good players that I played every nite for a few years it was great times but most players want player vs player modes that played consoles FPS. This game was setup for COOP PLAY from the start. Yes, you can play player vs player but the game is based on a training tool that was made to teach people combat insight on how to move and talk in combat.

Most palyers on the consoles ie XBOX don't even use the F mic. This kills me when I try to play OFP:DR. How can you play this type of game when you can't talk to your teammates. If you go back to page 49 I think I have a real good outline why this game is not more popular with most players.

Yes, PC are better by far but console are just easy to play if you only have a few hrs a week. There could be a good small market for this game on the console but it will not be a very big one because how most console players want to play.

[krz9000 10]

the problem with this game is that the controlls are sluggish...you move your mouse and the aim swings all over the place. its rubbish. nomatter how realistic the rest is...if i dont feel in controll of my virtual body it sucks. fix that and the weird animation system and your back in the "game".

[Encrypted_God 10]

For the mouse issue: Check your Mouse Setting in the game. Correct me if I'm wrong guys but I think he needs to adjust the X & Y axis and maybe the smoothing

[polecat.uk 11]

the problem with this game is that the controlls are sluggish...you move your mouse and the aim swings all over the place. its rubbish. nomatter how realistic the rest is...if i dont feel in controll of my virtual body it sucks. fix that and the weird animation system and your back in the "game".

There fine on my end, a bit slower to do a full turn than say cod but that would be more a realistic thing imo, did you try messing about with the mouse smoothing in settings?

[galzohar 31]

The main thing that makes this game feel "sluggish"/"cluncky" is how animations work. Many animations are either too slow or just uninterruptible so once they start they have to play through. And then there's the head bob that many don't know how to disable which "boosts" the whole experience.

[HyperU2 11]

I'd say that "clunkiness" is definitely very anti PVP, and PVP seems to be the basis for popularity but not the sole factor.

[Encrypted_God 10]

I recall when I first started to play the game, I felt the same way he did. The movements are different then other games. But then again, aren't all games different? It took me quite awhile to get used to the movements in ArmA. e.g. When I play CoD Modern Warfare-II then immediately go play ArmA? For the lack of a better word; it's a shock.

Polecat.uk:

did you try messing about with the mouse smoothing in settings?

Isn't that what I asked him already?

[Leopardi 0]

There is one simple reason why the game is not more popular:

Vsync forced on by default, no ability to turn it off

[[aps]gnat 28]

Vsync ?!

Right ..... the world doesnt play this game because of Vsync being forced on ..... sure.