Army to Release Computer Game

Newsday.com ^ | July 2, 2002 | D. IAN HOPPER

[avg_freeper]

WASHINGTON -- Attempting to woo computer-savvy young people, the Army will release on July 4 the first installment of an ambitious new computer game that will let players be all they can digitally be.

The game, which will be free on many gaming Web sites and www.americasarmy.com, lets a player assume the role of a new recruit on an Army team pitted in an online battle against terrorists.

While it is meant to be fun, the two-game set also was designed as a recruitment tool.

[avg_freeper]

The Last Starfighter anyone?

Does look pretty cool though!

[Tennessee_Bob]

Can't wait till August so I can download it. Looks like it's going to be pretty cool.

[Chad Bagwell]

Sounds neat.

[Commander8]

I can just hear the peaceniks whining about it now.

[Aggie Mama]

Kind of a 1st generation Ender's Game.

[Michael Barnes]

This thing is going to be exceptionally cool..Runs off of the Unreal engine, FREE, was designed with tactics in mind, FREE, excellent maps..did I mention FREE??
Seriously, it is well thought out. Gonna give the TacOps and Counter Strike Mod's a big time run for their money..

[sigSEGV]

Don't count on downloading it any time soon after the 4th. If its anything like new Counter-strike or HL patches, everybody will be pounding the heck out of the servers. Hopefully since its free (with no distribution restrictions?) people can get it out on mirrors so others can download.

[avg_freeper]

They'll be handing them out for free at events in which the army is attending and recruiting stations.

[Tennessee_Bob]

From what I saw on the site, there are age based restrictions as far as getting them to mail it to you. But it's a recruiting tool, so I can understand why they wouldn't want to send it to a guy who is out of the age range for recruiting.

[jgrubbs]

The developers struggled with several portions of the combat half of the game, particularly with how to depict game violence.

"We were very careful on the blood thing," Boyce said. "The team even debated about whether or not to make a noise" when bullets strike an enemy

Do they give earplugs to Army recruits so they don't have to hear the guns?

[jgrubbs]

The Army won't have the download available till 3:00 AM, I found a different server that already has it available. I have 52 MB of the 208 MB file downloaded. Anyone else intrested can email me at jgrubbs@netpublicist.com if they want the URL to the other server.

[Starwind]

Anybody ever read "Enders Game" by Orson Scott Card?

[Chad Bagwell]

Anyone interested in forming a squad of FReepers?

[Chad Bagwell]

The 4 of you can co-lead it. BONZI!!

[sigSEGV]

Wouldn't mind if someone posted the IP of a server and we could get a match going. I refuse to use that Gamespy Arcade junk.

Haven't played online yet. I do have to say, I do like being able to draw up my weapon to look through the sights (Operation Flashpoint style). Might need a new machine to fully enjoy it though. My 1.33 Ghz and GeForce2 are not quite fast enough for smooth play outdoors.

[Aggie Mama]

Sounds neat. My husband would probably be better at it than I. He loves these kind of games. This one sounds unique, however.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Nah - I like playing Delta Force 2.