Sdstorage

Think about any road or stadium or park that the government has subsidized or even paid for outright, what about those? Are they worthwhile endeavors of your tax money? I did not own a car until last year, but my taxes sure as hell paid for the roads all that time. An estimated 99% of people in the US have a television. Look, I'm sorry you don't want one, but the rest of us do! So, yes, I am glad the gov't gave out coupons for the digital transfer.

There were a number of things America's Army did well that I wished ArmA would adapt - weapon jams; grenade handling (rolling, cooking); flashbangs; bullet penetration through bodies, javelin CLU, etc. For a free game, I always found it to be pretty fun. Â Hopefully this new version will be as well. Â And maybe BIS can take note of the improvements in AA 3 for possible consideration in Arma 2.

I thought it started kinda slow, but the last episode, Burning Dog, was excellent. Too bad it's all over in just 2 more.

I found the book to be a very compelling and humanized look at these Marines' life in the initial phase of the Iraq conflict. Â This show has the same creator as the Wire, which although I haven't seen it, is supposed to be some top-notch TV. I am definitely gonna check this out tomorrow night.

I really wish if they did implement the "everyone can heal everyone" feature that they change the damage model to be more like the one in America's Army with the bullet doing initial damage and then additional bleeding damage over time and all the medics can do is stop the bleeding damage.

A little late to the party, I know, but I just finished this little gem and wow, it really brought back that old OFP feeling. I had no idea you could land and rearm! Did it all with the one weapon loadout. Needless to say, I was just about dry on ammo and armor by the end of it. Got pretty good with the gun, tho. Definitely one of the best ArmA missions. The 'blow-up-the-building' secondary objective was my favorite part. Target marked with smoke. Atmospheric chatter when the building goes down. Too cool. If the ArmA campaign had more missions like this, I think it could have rivaled CWC and maybe even Resistance.

America's Army had an interesting model where bullets would do an initial amount of damage and then additional damage over time. Medics could only stop the damage over time, preventing the player from bleeding out, but not actually give health to the wounded. I like that ArmA medics can bandage you up so you can stand again, but I wouldn't mind if the above system was implemented along side that.

Oh, COD 4 is just plain honest, arcadey fun. Its pretty and polished, but also linear and SP plays out the same way everytime and is really, really short. Still I found it cinematic and enjoyable. Its got a whole host of multiplay options (though no coop! which make it play kinda like BF2, CS, or even Delta Force 2/Land Warrior (anyone remember the DF series?!. Hardcore mode is especially fun with no hud and increased damage.

Resistance is by far the most engrossing campaign that BIS has ever made. You really identify with Victor early on and can feel his reluctance to go back to the horror that is war. He begs his neighbors not to take up arms, but in the end finds he has no choice but to fight until the end. What a bitter end at that, too. The original CWC campaign, which is also excellent, also draws in the player best when playing as Armstrong. His journey as a war neophyte, cut off from his own forces and ultimately aided by the resistance movement definitely leaves an impact. This is further compounded when he finally returns to the resistance camp as he had promised, only to find their leader, whom he had befriended, had been killed in combat some time ago. The QG campaign is rather enjoyable, it has memorable characters (i.e. who doesn't want the prince to reclaim his throne from his evil sister and reform the country!, interesting missions and features, but it is a little too straightforward and certainly too short. It plays much better than the ARMA campaign, however.

I actually found the setting and basic plot of the ARMA UK-European version of the storyline, though poorly implemented, to be a rather savy look at modern political alliances. Both the northern and the southern nations of Sahrani are depraved regimes and oppressive to large groups of their own people. The explanation and reasoning behind the US forces allying with the south are taken from a historical trade and commercial perspective. The south has money and oil, has a more tropical climate, and is not anti-US. However, the King is a tyrant and slaughters his dissenters. The US turns a blind eye to his human rights abuses because he agrees to oppose the communist nation in the north. This echoes Vietnam, North/South Korea, and Saudi Arabia among others. The exact impetus the leads to the invasion of South Sahrani by the North is never implicitly explained, but we are led to believe that they perceived a weakness during the withdrawl of the US forces and saw a golden opportunity for conquest. Again, this echoes the Soviet expansionist policies following WWII in Europe, which is something the developers are all too familiar with. By the conclusion, the US forces have stopped the bloodshed, but also learned just how unscrupulous their southern allies really are. I took it as both a lamentation about the true nature of war (i.e. who suffers the most) as well as some adroit political commentary. It is novel, yes, but ultimately unsatisfying for a video game. Now then, Queen's Gambit is a much more dramatic and movie-influenced storyline (though highly enjoyable, IMO). It follows a charismatic prince who is thought of as a reformer and is likely to undue the damage the that tyrannical rule of his father had wrought. You and your team of mercs, though initially on the side of his sister, the Queen, quickly learn the truth and switch alliances. This reminded me most of the movie Syriana. In the end, ARMA wins for realism and novelty and QG wins for storytelling and character-driven high-drama. You can see what both are striving for and ultimately it is QG that captured my interest the most. We need characters and drama to drive our story and that is what it delivered.

Competition is definitely a good thing. If Codies and BIS egg each other on, we may wind up with two awesome mil-sim games next year. And was that a subtle dig at BIS with that last line on page 55 (page 4 of the scan), "the enemy may throw smoke grenades at you"?

Sir, I thank you deeply for your kindness and compassion! You are truly a boon to the community.

Just uninstalling doesn't delete your profile or save games.

I'm finding a group of Juggy's + a deployed Rig to be pretty unstoppable atm. Also, maybe it's just my affectation for OFP/ArmA, but I get a huge kick out of going all infantry. Then building foxholes at the bridge chokepoints and stacking them with rifle and rocket troops is pretty effective, as long as you can nail those Black Hand bastiches before they burn ya. Pitbulls with mortars are quick 'n deadly as well. Looking forward to this release.

The return of those cheesy FMVs now with Billy Dee Williams, Michael Ironside, and Tricia Helfer and Grace Park (from Battlestar Galactica) is worth the price of admission for me. The demo was pretty slick and polished, but didn't seem terribly innovative or original. Â I don't think it will beat the greatest RTS of all time (Starcraft: Broodwar) in terms of gameplay or story. but it'll still be a fun ride. Â This time with aliens! As a long time C&C fan, I'll be getting it for sure.

Damn Red Kite, if that isn't the most apropos description of both games, I dunno what is. I have all the offerings from both series (including expansions, boosters, etc.) and they both have merits. It all depends on your playstyle and free time. Try the demos, they are all still available. IMO, ArmA is the more rewarding and richer experience of the two, but it is slower and demands more of your time. As of the v1.05 patch, I would say that ArmA is definitely ready for primetime. If you like coop, there is no better game.

Just finished the campaign a little while ago and read through this thread. The last mission was the most promising, it had so much potential... with the RACS sudden betrayal, the truth about the refugee camps, etc. Sadly, the odd waypoint switching back and forth to the "check the camps" thing made it somewhat disjoined and confusing. The way I saw the story, neither the north nor the south are entirely innocent. They both appear to be fairly brutal regimes based on amalgamations of real world nations. The US sides with the south for better or worse - and likely due to economic interests (READ: oil). The north perceives a military weakness as the US begins to depart and perhaps fearing an invasion from the newly equipped south, invades. Despite initial sucesses, the north is pushed back into their own territory by the south with the combined forces of the US army and marines. The north is then blamed for the mass murder of civilians, which we later learn were actually comitted by the south regime. The RACS shooting of US troops when they discover the truth, in an apparent attempt to cover up their gov'ts mass murdering of civilians was an interesting plot twist. It was somewhat odd, though, as surely that would just compound the issue, when the truth came out? Unless, the RACS thought they could kill everyone at the refugee camps and again blame the SLA? If the whole campaign had the sort of high drama presented in the last mission and been properly tested, I think it could have rivaled Resistance in terms of immersion and quality. Also, it seemed very short. The very final scene was somewhat disappointing. Two soldiers lamenting that a third didn't make it. Framed within the above story it seems almost like he died for nothing. Very depressing and not especially satisfying. When Victor Troska died, it had meaning. It was one of the more memorable endings to a game I can remember. As was the CWC ending. War is a sad and terrrible thing, but unfortunately it is likely to always be a part of our lives. Overall, I would rank the Armed Assault campaign above Red Hammer, but not nearly as good as the original Cold War Crisis or Resistance. The background and source material were excellent. The basic plot was very good. The execution was flawed. BIS we know what you are capable of, you touched on it with this campaign. Make another one and do us proud! /sorry for the rant

Actually, it works fine for me now after v1.05. I redid the whole mission as opposed to picking up from my last save point. Not sure if that made any difference.

Haven't seen this mentioned yet, but it seems that the v1.05 patch re-introduces the sound loss issue when too many sounds are playing at once. I fixed it by once again reinstalling the latest openAL version, which I got here: http://developer.creative.com/article....&aid=46

I'm finding it rather difficult to hit with the M4 w/aimpoint at distances beyond 200m in game. Â AI seems quite comfortable seriously engaging (and hitting) at the <350m mark. Any of you crackshots got some tips for hitting with that little red dot? Â Do you aim low, high, left, right? Â I just seem to get wasted over and over. Â Is it just an AI accuracy issue? Â This is especially troubling since this rifle is the primary weapon in the campaign.

I've got the same specs as Tex except for a P4 3.0 and get the crazy polygons usually in big towns and not until 5-10 minutes have passed. I can't get through the Beaten Dog mission because of it. I'm getting a newer graphics card (was planning on it anyway), but I do hope this gets resolved for those of us without the means...

Bought the download version two nights ago and I think I am hooked all over again. To be sure, ArmA is far from perfect. There are bugs with sounds not playing, there are bugs with textures not loading properly, there are bugs with AI clipping through vehicles. So far, none of these have got me to stop playing (except one issue I will address below). The game feels different than Flashpoint. I am not quite sure what it is. The mechanics are very similar. The vehicle interaction is almost identical. The graphics are better in every regard even on low-end systems. So what is it that I found so different? Aiming is a lot harder. Engaging over distance is a lot harder. All the rifles seem to be zeroed to a particular range (for example, I would guess the M4A1 Aimpoint is set for 100m - 200m) and it is difficult to hit targets beyond that. The AI shoot a lot more, too, I notice. It makes for longer fire fights, which is nice. I had a lot of troube hitting targets at 500m with the M24. I think it is likely an issue of practice. The battles feel large. The sounds (if they are working for you) are immersive. The tank shell explosions, bullet cracks, snaps and ricochets with near constant grenades (boy do the AI LOVE to use them this time 'round! make for a very chaotic battlefield. There are dozens and doezens of units running everywhere in some of these missions. The land vehicles are, for the most part, unchanged. Though cars and trucks seems very sensitive to turning. I saw almost no difference with tanks (though they may have adjusted the M1A1 armor values to be more in-line with T72 balance purposes, I am not sure). The introduction of the commander machine gun is a welcome addition. Air vehicles are another matter. I found them rather difficult to control. This may be more realistic, I cannot say. I found the original OFP air vehicles very difficult at first. It is certainly possible I will get the hang of these new ArmA ones with time. I do wish they would bring back the cursor when flying tho, it was very useful for targeting purposes. Multiplay is a great joy all-around. I tried joining other peoples' games, hosting my own, joining in progress, coop, flag fight, and deathmath. I had low pings, no crashes, no disconnects and no significant problems. I did notice that in one game I could not see my tank gunner (I was the driver) fire his shells, but that is cosmetic. A great relief from the original OFP online play days when crashes and game breaking bugs were all too common. Now for the only issue that has forced me to quit out of a game and restart. I do not know if this is ArmA related or simply due to my system specs. Occasionally and more likely to happen while in cities, I would get complete polygon/texture corruption rendering play impossible. It may have been heat related, but I do not think so (3 case fans). After exiting and restarting the problem would usually be gone. I am still tweaking my settings, trying to find a good middle ground. I've been playing at 1024x768 with most settings on Low except for Blood on High with AF and AA off. My system: P4 3.ghz 1 gig ram ATI 9700 pro SB Audigy 2 Overall, I am very glad I got the download. ArmA isn't perfect, but it is only going to get better.

Christud, there is a link to both of the files in the email. They do mention in the email that you will only be able to download the files 3 times from those links before contacting them as a security measure. I do not know if your failed attempt to dl counts as one of those times. I think I am going to burn my files to DVD as a precaution. Eipie, none of us know how they will address patching this version at this point, however, BIS is not going to leave us out. Maybe it would have been wiser to wait for an official English version, but I decided I could no longer do so and said what the hell. Initial impressions playing are positive, but you will need the hardware to get the performance. If you have reservations wait for the demo which will hopefully be forthcoming.

Q is default for rolling left and E is default for rolling right. I think it is listed as "evasive left" and "evasive right". These are the lean keys when not prone.

When the installation finishes, check the option to launch the game now (paraphrasing from German). It will then launch the online activation sytem, which will prompt you to enter the activation key (not the install key! they provided at the point of sale. Keep in mind, you cannot install the v1.01 patch with this German downloadable version. If you try to install it, the game will not work and only asks for the DVD. However, sickboy's v.06 language patch DOES work, so be sure to get that if you need it!