colt

I wonder when review copies will be sent out and when the first reviews will be appearing?

 I can't wait... Good to hear that soldiers will fire at the objects near their targets as well.  Some intense city fighting is on the cards.

First of all I'll load up the editor (I'm glad there'll be a small desert island   ) Then I'll play as each unit, fire weapons look at the models, etc. 2. Still in the editor, I'll load up Sarinhi, put myself as an officer, select an AI grunt and an empty car / humvee. Then get him into the car as a driver and myself as a passenger and select a point on Sarinhi and get him to chauffeur me around so I can see the sights. 3. Do the same as above but with a helicopter and then a plane.

Another thing I'm hoping for are more varied waypoints in the editor. I'd like to be able to set a waypoint for a helicopter or any vehicle and set the height at which it should travel and maybe it's speed.

Nice interview. Disappointed to read that SpecOps won't be given higher attributes / tactics to differentiate them form normal soldiers. One of my bugbears about OFP was how when I set an AI specforce attacking an enemy outpost they always got cut down instantly. Still not sure about the grass  :/

When ArmA is finally released and we all playing our virtual wars, any chance of another postmortem by the developers? For those that don't know, Ondrej Spanel and Marek Spanel wrote an article laying bare the development and aftermath of BIS' OFP. It was a very interesting and insightful article and can be found here: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20011219/spanel_pfv.htm I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be interested in reading somthing similar for Armed Assault, seeing how it progressed from an inital idea through all the various design decisions that seem to have taken it beyond OFP 1.5. Not to mention the inside scoop on the publishing issue. Edit: Actually, this would probably be more appropriate in the BIS General forum. Could a Mod move this please? Cheers.

With all the engine upgrades and collision fixes, does anyone know that if you still go prone and lower the your aim downwards, the gun barrel still disappears into the ground?

I suppose the next update might be around the Leipzig Game Convention (24th -27th Aug).

I know CQB has been discussed a couple of times in the past, but what I'm proposing is a 'toggle switch' or an additional combat mode. This could reduce the number of key mappings needed to cover every possible movement or action depending on the environment you find yourself in. When you enter a town or a village you can simply press a key or select a mode in the command menu and and go into "CQB MODE", where you have different actions available such as breaching a door, different formations suitable for CQB, smoother quick walking, maybe such a mode could also activate certain animations / stances apprpriate for CQB, etc... I thnk it would add even more tactical options for flushing enemies out who have holed up in urban areas and provide more of an authentic atmosphere.

Hi all. I started a CQB topic in Game 2 suggestions a while ago. Reading this brought up some new ideas... It's far too late too incorporate ideas for CQB in Arma but it might not be too late to voice you're thoughts for Game 2: http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=50501

I get what you're syaing, but in OFP if you're fighting in the countryside or wide open plain, your ai team mates are spread quite far out, cover is at a minumum, and you probably won't have to clear buildings. Imagine by just pressing a key for CQB, you're team mates automatically closed up, adopted different walking speeds, different angles of attack (to cover multistorey buildings) and new commands became available to you appropriate for city warfare such as room clearing, etc. Thereby you can avoid having a cluttered command menu. Incorporate the Full Spectrum Warrior model: If you are playing as a squad leader /commander. When you go into a large city and divide your sqaud into red, blue, white teams whatever... Have a context senstive cursor like in Full Spectrum Warrior for telling troops to line up behind corners of buildings cars, walls etc. I think it was brilliant how it was implemented in FSW and how the soldiers took appropriate positions and firing arcs.

Huge bump. I was going to start a topic on this but I found this one... I'm still not sure at what stage 'Game 2 ' is at but I think this is a worthy topic for a bit more attention. I know we've got the editor, but it would be nice to load up the game, click a button and bang! Straight into a mission we have no prior knowledge of. My ideas: On the Menu selction have a Random Mission button. Click it to go to a sub menu: 1.Random 2.Infantry 3.Armour 4.Air 5.Sea (maybe?) Clicking on one of these takes you into a random mission brifing specific to what class you chose (unless you click Random which is pot luck). If you choose Infrantry for example, your mission objective would be infantry orientated such as capture an airfield, eliminate a base, patrol, seek and destroy, recon, etc... For Air, possible mission objectives might include Aircap, Barcap, destroy runways, buildings, bridges, depots, tank hunting, convoys, recon and many more. I wouldn't expect indepth mission briefings just your main objective, secondry objectives (if any) and your assests. Of course, if you're not happy with the mission you're given, you could click a 'refresh' button where a new mission is created. Anyway, I would really like to this feature implemented (if possible) into Game 2. I hope we can keep this topic in the minds of BIS.

Thanks for the links. If Idea Games are the publisher it's nice to know that the've finally got it sorted. From small acorns... Does this mean ArmA will include more than one island ? Intriguing...

Zidane's 6 hit combo... 567k (but worth it): http://www.theimageplace.net/uploads/6eceb1099a.gif

Crap Final. Neither team deserved to win. Any teams that field a 4-5-1 formation should not go further than the group stages. I absolutely hate that formation. The only thing I'm worried about is that the Italian clubs may get lenient fines/punishments because of the National euphoria.

It's very heartening to read about what BIS are trying to achieve with the AI (using trees, vehicles and the environment as cover and the leapfrogging). I hope they can pull it off. What's a "FSM based modular AI system" ?

I'd like to see a couple of forests wtih a natural clearing in the middle, just large enough for a helicopter to land in. It would really add atmosphere to spec op drops when designing missions. Swamps as well, maybe. Ravines would be interesting. What other natural geographical features would increase the atmosphere of certain maps in  Game 2?

Man... It's like Argentina's coach enabled God Mode before the kick off. Â

Maybe there won't be any more updates on the blog. Maybe we'll have to wait until ArmA is released and one of the sub-missions is to fight our way through to a heavily fortified  cyber cafe where we have to update his blog for him.

Like it's been mentioned, it's important to remember that ArmA is OFP 1.5. No matter how much 'extra' they add, enhance, tweak and improve, BIS is still essentially using the OFP engine. Most of the criticisms directed at OFP: Collision detection No JIP No multiple gunners These have been fixed and streaming tech has been implemented allowing massive islands. ArmA was never going to be radically different to OFP and  that's ok considering you can't really point to any other game similar to OFP in it's scope. If ArmA had been the 3rd or 4th OFP game released by BIS, then I'd probably be pissed off at the lack of advancement. But it's not. I'd class it as the second (I'm not including Resistance here). ArmA will probably get a bit of a kicking from some of the press claiming that it's essentially OFP with 'prettier graphics'. Yet the same press happily award Fifa, Madden, PES games high marks every year despite these games having minor tweaks. What does interest me is the pricing point of ArmA. If it's released priced low/mid-range then it might get some more favourable reviews. If it's full price, then the knives might come out.

Very nice video, particularly the animation of those two soldiers <homersimpsondrool.jpg> However, some parts were choppy (capture problems?) and given that it has been reported that ArmA is at late Alpha stage in development; I wish that BIS would put a "Work in Progress" watermark on their video and screenshots.

I hope that ArmA comes with another smallish desert / blank island like in the original. It was nice for testing out different waypoints and ideas as well as just looking at all the different user created units without having to load up one of the main islands.

Hmmm... Well having read various reports and reactions I'm feeling a bit underwhelmed. Microsoft seems to be obsessed with online and so you can expect developers holding back content to sell later on. This means much more micro payments: "Congrats! you've reached the level of Colonel. You have access to new weapons. In order to use your new weapons please pay..." Sony seemed to crowbar their "tilt" tech into the controller in order try and steal Nintendo's thunder. They also need some new IP. GT Again? MGS Again? Ridge Racer Again? They've also gone down the route of releasing two consoles at different price ranges. What's the point? I've never really been interested in Nintendo purely because their games have never particularly interested me, but I'd say they gave the most impressive conference. The Wii controller and the games certainly looks interesting. But the lack of power in the Wii may kick them iin the Shiins. I've never been an early adopter when it comes to consoles and there's nothing here that has changed my mind. I'll see how it pans put over the next two years and see if any games make me sit up and say 'WOW!' In some respects, I might just sit out this new generation and just stick with my PC and wait for the Next Gen after this.

A small video (800 kb) posted by Frank shows a 'patrol animation'. Some trees swaying also. Really like the colour of the place, ground textures look very nice. Importantly, everything looks much more 'solid'. Looking at the nearest soldier walk, he's got that subtle swagger people have when walking with a rucksack. Thumbs up !

To be honest there aren't any games I'm interested in at E3, although something usually grabs my attention once I've sifted through various reports and impressions. Hoping that BIS will release a proper official video of ArmA (latest build) along with more information. Maybe some news of Game 2. The PS3 and Wii conferences pique my interest the most though...