zoog

Make sure to disable Xfire (records gaming habits), Gmail (analyses your profile and interests), website tracking cookies (follow you on the net for advertisements), etc as well. Most software "spy" on habits and track your usage.

Sure I'll buy it. My preference would be a non-Steam Arma 3, but business decisions just have to be made. It's not my "right" to "demand" certain things from BIS as a business, even though I'm a customer. This is their decision and they need to take into account many aspects from different perspectives. Some people will be ok with it, some people will be against it, and some people are just too stubborn to look at the issue objectively, with an open mind or resist any type of change.

I see. Personally I expect a demo or maybe even "free weekends" or "guest passes" which is all easily possible with Steam. But it's all just guesswork though :)

If I remember correctly you can turn off the steam launch popups in the Steam settings. Edit: ninja'd

If alpha/beta is just to skip a demo version, why even ask if a demo is coming? Seems you already made up your mind about the goal of the alpha (to skip a demo version) :rolleyes:

Yeah, people will moan either way though. When it's alpha people moan its not beta or release ready. When its released people moan about bugs. When new patches are released people moan about compatibility. In some people's eyes you can never do the right thing. Just something you have to accept and deal with unfortunately. It happens everywhere in every sector, in every company. Others will always know the "better" solution, until they are actually behind the wheel and realize its not that simple after all.

This has been answered in the blog update.... Will I be able to buy a boxed copy of Arma 3? There will be boxed copies in most regions. These may either be Steam Codes in a retail package, or also contain DVD data (speeding up installation). You will still have to run and update through Steam the first time. Steam exclusivity does not mean steam store exclusivity. Steam is required to play the game, regardless of where and what type of version (digital or boxed) you've bought. The title of the blog update is a bit misleading. Should be something like "Steam(works) mandatory/required for Arma 3"

This is just nonsense. They might destroy the current gaming business model but that does mean they nuke PC gaming. It's just a different approach, a different model, it's change. If any, many indie developers actually flourished with services like steam. When you stop buying games or boycotting games, that destroys the gaming business... :rolleyes:

Just buy the DVD version, install it, activate it, turn automatic updates off and put steam in offline mode. Coop can be played both online and using a LAN connection. If you play Coop online of course you will need a functional internet connection. That is currently the case and will always be the case, that's the whole point of playing online. As far as LAN is concerned, because I'm thinking you actually meant a LAN connection (or Local Area Network, probably within your own house), we don't know the details yet so there is no need to jump to any conclusions (truthfully I expect/hope for offline LAN support). LAN and online play are two different things, and both can be used to play coop missions.

Maybe it's time for some official rumor control. Unfortunately, things like this get out of hand rather quickly on the internetz :(

I think the most important thing is that it saves BIS a shitload of time and money to incorporate an existing system instead of building something by themselves or incorporating different 3rd party features. I think Steam somehow offers stuff which they wanted to incorporate into Arma 3 any way, and this way you can get the whole package without x-months of extra development time. On top of that they do mention the Arma 2 patch process and making sure it works, from a developers point of view, for ever variant of Arma 2 ever released both retail, digital and via Steam. I do believe it cost them lots and lots of resources to QA all these updates. I think it's a solution that very much suits BIS's business needs. In the end it's a business, and top priority is to stay economically viable. Personally I'm neutral about Steam. We just have to see how it all works out IMO. Lots of assumptions are being made.

Yeah true. That's what I started to suspect a few minutes after I posted :)

Please elaborate? lol! Good one :)

Stay with the facts please, i had to use 3 to 4 patches. Recently I had to reinstall everything for a second time becausd the first reinstall got all wonky because a patch was supposedly installed too soon. I now keep this with me if I ever need to reinstall again: 1. Install Arma 2 2. Install Arma 2, 1.11 patch 3. Optional: if above patch does not work, install the patch to bring it to 1.05 first and go back to step 2 4. Install Operation Arrowhead 5. Install BAF DLC 6. Install PMC DLC 7. Install ARMA 2: Combined Operations / Operation Arrowhead / Reinforcements Patch 1.60 (if you install this before the 2 DLCs your install will get FUBAR even though it's supposedly also a combined operations patch) 8. Install ARMA 2: Combined Operations / Operation Arrowhead / Reinforcements Patch 1.62 (if you install this before the 2 DLCs your install will get FUBAR even though it's supposedly also a combined operations patch) 9. Install ACR DLC FINISHED Read the blog, you can still buy it on DVD.

So Steam or no Steam, I guess by definition you have issues with playing online games in general, right? Such a shitty internet connection affects any type of online play, with or without Steam. :) Sorry to hear your internet issues. It's annoying, especially when 99% of the world assumes everyone has high speed internet. But like I said, it's probably impossible for you to play anything online without getting disconnects or mayor lag. For OFFLINE play you don't need an active connection that is always on.

A few weeks ago I was unable to install the Army of Czech republic DLC because my key could not be verified due to a technical issue at the cd-key master server (I bought it especially for a joint operation that evening, so in fact I was forced to use the Lite version :( ). Sent an e-mail to the Sprocket support and one (or two?) days later they fixed the issue with the cd-key masterserver (or at least the cd-key verification system, whatever it was). I believe all the other DLC's have to be "activated" as well during install when you enter the serial. I had to do this a few weeks ago when reinstalling Arma, the ACR DLC caused issues, so maybe it is only required for ACR. I'm not so sure that I'm totally wrong :) But I don't think I'm fully right either :P

As far as I know all retail Arma versions also have an online cd-check built in, including the DLC's. Of course they patched out the DRM 6 or so months after release. But I doubt you can install and activate Arma 2 without an internet connection (the first 6 or so months after release). I'm not sure, actually. Never tried it :)

The blog update clearly states that you can play the offline portions without an active internet connection using the Steam offline mode.

;) ___

Did you actually read the Dev Blog update? :P In fact, they actually say the opposite. The game will be available via different vendors, digital, retail etc. But every version will need Steam in order to play. The Dev Blog update explains it all :)

You do understand it would cost BIS a shitload of money if they had to extend the development with an extra 6 or even 9 months? It's not about preference, it's about an economic decision you have to make as a business, as detailed in the blog update. That was the case, or at least some time ago. Don't know if they changed their offline system though. I hope so :)

That's the only issue I have with Steam as well. It has happend to me before that I couldn't play my games for over 2 weeks because I moved to a new house, without activating offline first, and had to wait for my new internet connection. Couldn't play anything in my library :( I believe to have read something about an improvement made to the offline mode somewhere last year though? All other Arma titles have never been "Steam exclusive" (regardless where and how you buy it; digital/retail/dvd). You cannot compare this announcement to the previous Arma titles which actually don't really need Steam to launch. I'm no Steam hater though, so I don't really mind. A "small" developer has to deal with reality.

I have to agree, as a consumer, let alone developer, it was a pain in the *** with all these different versions of Arma 2 and separate patches. In fact, I actually had to reinstall Arma after a reinstall because something went wrong in the patching order. Anyhoo, a shit storm is probably coming. I think there are lots of fruits to be picked from Steamworks which can benefit Arma 3 greatly. Although I'm not a big fan of Steam in general though. It seems to be a very reasonable decision, considering the extra resources that would be needed to implement certain Steam features by themselves or separate 3rd party solutions.

Any news about this? I still need to find time to join your teamspeak though :) I think we can manage to at least have one team consisting of 9 rotating members depending on availability on specific missions dates (this is simply based on previous experiences when not everybody can play the same night or every time there is a session because we are an open community and not a clan who can force presence).

Sounds great, that's good news! We really enjoyed the TvT intel shakedown btw, it was a success. Actually, we had so much fun, that I took the liberty to port it to Lingor island (for internal use) and we will be playing it coming Friday. I was even thinking about adding civilians and some kind of system that if a side kills 2 or more civilians they lose as well. Already have plans to do the next round on Shapur or even adding more intel locations and 3 sides instead of 2, so 3 groups are fighting in an area. Can't wait for your new missions on Takistan :)