Blake

I think you can in some instances combine magical elements and the realities of middle ages/dark ages, this worked very well for instance in 80s TV series 'Robin of Sherwood'. Recent HBO's Rome is also refreshing look into ancient history and era, just to stray away a bit from the topic. Games in the other hand have mostly been too glossy about middle ages and history in general, maybe it's due to the fact that graphics-wise it's easier to create smooth stuff without grit, dirt etc. attention to detail. But main reason of course is too shallow view of history which is usually represented by overwhelming amounts of polish-perfect plate mails, swords and helmets lying around which IRL were very rare and coveted commodity. Games which have a certain good grip of the subject include the Thief-series up to a point. Strategy game Crusader Kings is perhaps the best representation in general on how feudal system, vassals, iheritence, kingdoms, and religion interact. On more secular side there is also everything from plagues, intestine worms, lustful sexual habits, chastities and insanities that characters can 'gain' during the course of the game. But I still forecast that mainstream polished view of the past and perhaps present is not changing in mainstream games.

I think there was good article on this on BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/

Never imagined such beverage even exists... I guess online distribution is ok if it doesn't require some sort of online activation each time you play.

More than enough. Based on OFP experience depending on the map (AI units and so on) you can host probably around 5-10 people with that.

I was in 8th grade when our southern neighbour Estonia gained it's independence and naturally I was very happy and fascinated by the whole thing at the time. When young all sorts of patriotic things came to mind and me and my mates were discussing about the possibility of a military alliance with our country, Estonia and NATO or even getting our land back lost in WW2. I especially remember the late president Meri and his proud, determined defiance which reflected from his no-nonsense facial expression. I also recall our government's overtly cautios and cowardly policies during the brief coup of communist hardliners in Moscow. CNN, live footage from Baghdad and all - but it was also very censored war from the start, the renewal of Vietnam media disaster was to be averted at all costs. I remember discussing about the war at school and expecting stiff Iraqi resistance and problems with M-16 and the sand, chemical weapons, etc. but none of those issues emerged I think. I knew at the time though about the superiority of M1 tank having played M1 tank platoon on Amiga and reading its manual to shreds.

Probably something to do what is considered an attack, potshots from a car against concrete wall of a coalition base in considered an attack while a car bomb on a marker square killing 100 is also just one attack. Nobody really knows how many extortions, kidnappings, death threats or other attacks against individuals there are happening every day which no civilian ever reports. When coalition forces are being attacked that's always insurgent attack while on the civilian side things are more on the grey area.

Hidden and Dangerous. In that intros, briefings and equipping characters were integrated fully into campaign engine and you couldn't skip missions - it was exactly the same as single player campaign. H&D2 had also coop option but it was arranged in same fashion as in Raven Shield and you had to select individual missions which could be played in order one desired - so that's not really what I mean by a real campaign. Great adventure games which had good 'campaign' playable in coop include at least System Shock 2 and Baldur's Gate series. Hopefully ArmA has campaign which is similiar to single player experience except with more players - and more than just two. I'm really excited about prospects creating playable coop campaigns.

Well, defeat for Finland which was pretty much overshadowed by victory in Eurovision Good to see that shaking *ss and *its does not necessarily mean success in *song* contest. Don't care who wins today but perhaps im inclined towards Czech :P

It would be interesting to see pics of Sahrani civilians, i have an impression that southern Sahrani is not islamic kingdom either so William could have a chance to mee some chics on when off-duty Until then..

Lakes connected by small streams or rivers, now that would be something, especially if not affected by tides...

Well before that they worked on OFP:Elite for 1-2 years and AA is based of OFP:Elite which in turn is based on OFP. Not sure how long have they worked for Game 2 at the same time. maybe three years.

Speaking of rivers and seas, I damn well hope they have removed the tides from AA. In OFP it was more like an annoyance than anything that would add to immersion. They affected all areas, like 'rivers' and lakes which was pretty unrealistic. However if they've done it realistically, no problem.

Very nice. I somehow liked SP/SP2 more than SP3-> SPWAW interface and gameplay.

never mind.

Well that's pretty ridiculous if you consider what are considered new games on the game market today, Call of Duty 2 for example, and the cash-cow NHL series coming every year, IL2 series which is essentially same game engine from 2000 and has spanned 'new games' like Forgotten Battles and then expansions all these years. Don't get me started on Civilizations, RTS games or the Sims series. The list is endless, yet these clones are considered new games in their own right. If improved gfx engine, improved physics, new campaign and missions, improved multiplayer, new huge island, new units, countless gameplay changes and others dont constitute a new game worthy of a separate title then what does? The big joke that's left is your opinion here.

True, but then again there are some missions which are very random and have intelligently set up AI positions and tactics where even large group of human players can face serious problems. Of course I would like to see AI improved a lot but I also understand it is very hard to program to operate intelligently in open terrain, one horrible example is the AI in Delta Force series. Even most current tactical CQB games just rely on pre-scripted AI actions and fast reflexes to produce an illusion of intelligent AI. So I would expect the significantly improved AI will be seen in Game 2 but not perhaps in AA. OFP currently has 'Super-AI' option which makes AI have very fast shooting reflexes and movement (a bit of a AI challenge cheat), perhaps there could be slider to adust this instead of on/off setting. Or maybe 'Super-AI' could be adjusted for each soldier in the mission editor and not by server settings. Some spec ops AI's really could have faster reflexes than the current skill max in the editor.l Ultimately it would be best to have different adjustable skills in the editor for shooting accuracy, situational awereness, reflexes, speed, etc. but that's not probably in AA.

Is there any detailed info about the hardware used on this demo machine? SimHQ preview states it's high-end Dell XPS but that's it...

Well OFP AI currently currently isnt't perfect but still does provide challenge otherwise I wouln't have been playing coop for 5 years now. Some instances of AI using suppressive fire would have been great though, especially if that would be done by machinegunners. For instance, if the AI hears a sniper firing at a distance but doesn't spot him machinegunners could stay where they are or maneuver a bit and start spraying inaccurate suppressive fire to the direction of the sniper rifle sound. The infantry then would start aggressive zigzagging running towards the sniper or perhaps retreat and take cover beyond sniper's line-of-sight. Anyway the suppressive fire even in some rare cases would be very nice addition.

Video is great and makes me anticipate AA even more. One thing that i would hope for is that parachuting from helicopters could be disable from the menu, put them under 'veteran' settings or something.

A simple, but at least somewhat more realistic armor damage would be great, just that tanks would be easier to knock out from sides or behind. No need for complex penetration calculations, just some simple strenght values for each side of tank. Currently in OFP it's always the two LAWs per T-72 regardless which side you hit. Imagine you'd really have to pray for side or rear shots on weaker AT weapons/guns, that would make things very tactical and compelling. Prayed that for several occasions and I'm sceptical it will not be implemented.

Adding the sway to the options menu would be the solution. Best would that there is option to customize it with a slider and have some default rookie settings and veteran settings.

"King of the Hill", "King's Quest", "For the Glory of the King", "Man Who Would Be King", "Henry VIII"  Maybe there's entire royal family with princes and good-looking princessess...would provide stuff for really soap-opera style missions  I think the late King Hussein of Jordan at his later years would be a great model for a Sahrani king, experienced, pragmatic and able to keep his nerve in difficult political situations.

I can also confidently state that *shock* Steel Beasts Pro PE feels like 6-year-old Steel Beasts! Frankly I would be shocked if AA would not feel like OFP, why break working formula? Another revolutionary discovery to some professional game journalists is that BF 1942 is like BF2...

Value determining weapon sway is a single line in the OFP config...

Good show