R4-P

A small - maybe a bit late - update concerning the online activation for those who still care: Recently I learned that the German release version from Morphicon/Peter Games/idea games is being shipped without DRM. So in essence, there is no online activation for the German version. At least yet. ;) That's been a real surprise for me which immediately lead to me buying ArmA2. And indeed: I installed, patched and played ArmA2 without an active internet connection. :) I do not know whether the international 505 release version of ArmaA2 will have any sort of DRM though...

I love BIS and their games, but online activation is a deal breaker for me. During the last years I've passed on every game that used DRM and tbh I don't see me changing that anytime soon. Games I did not buy but would have if they didn't had used DRM were games like HL2 (yes, I never played that!), Left4Dead, Earth 2160, Battleforge, DeadSpace, Empire Total War, C&C Red Alert 3, GTA4, FEAR2, Dawn of War 2, BioShock, FSX, Crysis Warhead (but I have Crysis), FarCry 2, Mirror's Edge, Mass Effect to name but a few. If ArmA2 will use an online authentication system it must be the most perfect, most awesome, most brilliant, motivating and satisfying game ever created. But even then I wouldn't rush to get it and doubt I'd buy it... Don't use DRM BIS. :pet5:

I think it's a flickering caused by the trees.

@Viiiper: It seems you did not grasp the meaning of PvP correctly. You confuse exploiting game mechanics with typical PvP behavior and your general understanding of PvP is too narrow. What you describe here is not the meaning and core concept of PvP but the practical appearance of the "play to win" mindset. These people do not care about the means they use to accomplish victory as long as it serves them. A very popular article is Playing to Win which is often referred to as an excuse for the poor behavior you mentioned. Nevertheless it holds interesting ideas and when your only aim is to win or be the best it pretty much hits right on spot. Whether this is good or not is a moral question and depends on your motivation for playing. Problems arise when two opposite interests clash. This is no synonym for PvP or PvP players though. I do understand why you perceive it that way as PvP games very well deliver the environment for such behavior. On the other hand PvE games suffer/benefit from it too but because you play against AI there is no one with an opposite motivation to play against you and as such there are no clashing interests. And this is where you are fundementally wrong. That YOU associate PvP with Deathmatch is fine, but that is not what PvP stands for. As you know PvP is the abbreviation for Player vs. Player. This may very well mean Deathmatch but actually is a much broader term. It defines every kind of interaction between players in a competitive way, including TDM. It doesn't matter what you are doing as long as your counterpart is another human being. As such I would even include Coop to a lesser extend into the PvP category if the AI side has human players alongside them. This opens up a very wide playing field for PvP game modes which are virtually limitless as much as PvE scenarios are. That PvP games tend to be chaotic and self-centric is due to their nature: they do have lots and lots of humans who are not organized. If you had a Coop-only game with 60+ people without anyone organizing it you would witness the same chaotic and self-centric behavior and patterns PvP-only games and game modes have. This is flawed again. Of course a PvP focused player can create his own gaming content but this - and that's what the OP is saying - won't attract the masses at first. Without a massive amount of players you cannot have big PvP engagements like CTI scenarios with humans only. Coop Maps are different in this regard as missing players can be replaced by AI characters and especially opponents are. This means you can play your self-created content far more quickly and spread the word about it as you simply need far less players to effectively run it at first. ArmA2 can be both: a great PvE/Coop game and a great PvP game. The latter needs a very high player count and that's why ArmA2 should have an appealing variety of PvP maps/missions/game modes from the very beginning. Otherwise it's more likely than not that it misses out a great deal of its potential imo. ArmA2 could be among the greatest PvP games if done right. As I'm a great fan of PvP and PvE I'd like to agree with 4 In 1 at the end: cheers R4-P

Thanks Cameron. The first is one of my favourites too, but none comes close to the nearly black high-contrast image IMO. I really like the dark shading and bright background. Gives the image something fascinating and somewhat mysterious.

Small addition: *EDIT*: Hi-res links added. hi-res image hi-res image hi-res image so, that's it. Â

I took those pics from a mission I made but had no use for them in the end. But I think they look pretty nonetheless, so here they are! *EDIT*: I've added links for the hi-res versions. hi-res image hi-res image hi-res image hi-res image cheers R4-P/Mandos