Excuse my ignorance, but I've been lurking here for a while now and I appararently don't get the point.
Why are so many of you afraid of an ArmA2 release on XBox 360?
Some of you almost panick when thinking of a console release. If you play the game on PC - content with the mod options, the control scheme, the community -, then why do you whine about all the problems BI will face when porting the game to XBox? They are the programmers, they should know best. You whine and cry out loud about the problems of porting the control schemes to an "inusable" XBox 360 controller and about a community of idiots playing consoles compared to an elite playing on PC.
Some of the postings here sound like my 5 year old niece who cries out because her 3 year old brother threatens to take away her toy. Is that the reason? Are you afraid that the bad console gamers will take away your favorite toy and spoil it with their drool and sticky fingers? No? Because that's ridiculous, isn't it? Nevertheless, that's what I have read so far.
What are you afraid - or jealous - of? That you would loose your elitist status? That a lower, inferior class of players will touch your holy grail? Come on, there isn't even a clear separation between "console gamers" and "PC gamers". Actually, many people own both and play on both platforms. You can find the same people here and there, the singing and shouting kid as well as the 40+ military man playing a video or PC game after a hard day's work.
Or are you afraid that the PC version of ArmA2 will suffer from the console port? That the PC game and its successors will be dumbed down, neglected, watered down in order to please a (non existant) dumb console public? You should know (and trust!) BI better - they always preferred the PC as a lead platform and I don't think they would never, ever do that to Armed Assault what Codemasters did to Operation Flashpoint. I fully trust them that if they published a console version, it would be a version they could stand behind 100 percent.
There is absolutely no reason to be afraid that someone will take the game from your PCs, and destroy it or anything like that. So don't panick and stop flaming, trolling, and whining. BI certainly won't destroy the game, even if they decided to publish a console version (something I'm not convinced of, btw). BI won't take the game from you, cock a snook at you and give the game to your little baby brothers.
So please stop behaving like jealous 6-years-olds and refrain from whining like: "but they are dumb, they are idiots, and they play with CONTROLLERS, omfg, they will desecrate my game!!!". They won't, this isn't a game for the masses and it won't become a game for the masses on console either.
How arrogant to claim that players who play the game on PC are intelligent, tactical superior and clever members of a paradisiac community while players who would play it on console are drooling morons who hate each other. Believe me, they are not distinguishable from you, besides their obvious hardware preferences, and many of them are among you because they play on Xbox and PC.
This is thread about the (suspected) console version of ArmA2, of speculations about the console version and about how to solve the obvious technical issues. Crying about that you don't want to share your precious game with these console guys and childish boasting about why PC gamers are superior is absolutely unasked for.
DMarkwick, you had some good points, though. The static game on console is certainly unwanted in a lively community who is accustomed to mods, but keep in mind that most console players really don't care. They play all kinds of shooters "out of the box" with some DLC here and there, and they don't care whether a game remains static as long as the multiplayer is addictive and well-thought-out with enough long-time motivation to keep players interested. That works fine on console, even without user created content and mods. The fact that there is no need to install a game, to search for drivers and solve compatibility issues, to patch a game or to replace incompatible hardware compensates for that. If ArmA2 is a good game even without user-created content, then it will find its community and dedicated fans even on console. If ArmA2 doesn't work without user modifications or doesn't offer enough stuff with user content, then that's another problem altogether which could certainly be argued about (especially in a trollish fashion, I'm afraid). Nevertheless, interesting point. But don't forget, the community found a way to port OFP mods from PC to the old XBox, including vehicles, weapons, buildings, and large missions. So there's still hope.
I really hope this thread will stay on topic from now on: with an objective, constructive discussion about a speculated console version of the game. It's out of question that control schemes or graphics or even long-time motivation are an issue here, but the discussion should be led in an interesting, adult way and not by obvious jealous six-year-olds who don't want to share their game with anyone.
