May 23, 2002

7:42 AM

US Army Introduces "America's Army" PC GameDeveloped by the U.S. Army and Department of Defense experts in simulations and virtual environments, America's Army blends two simulations: Soldiers, a role-playing portion, and a first-person action game, called Operations. The Army will distribute America’s Army for free through distribution partners that include leading computer game magazines, Army events, recruiting stations, and through internet download.
posted by Stuart_R (24 comments total)

And if you slow the frame rate down you can see the "Increase Defense Spending Now" now messages.

Will the post office come out with a version of "Where in the world is the anthrax guy?"
posted by srboisvert at 8:07 AM on May 23, 2002

"Where in the world is the anthrax guy?"

Hah! I'm waiting for the beta release, thanks for the laugh srboisvert.
posted by insomnyuk at 8:23 AM on May 23, 2002

I didn't even read it, but let me guess... it's going to run on Windows (only??) right?
posted by zekinskia at 8:51 AM on May 23, 2002

Maybe they shouldn't have used a GI issue server... it won't even load for me past the intro (DSL).

I'm with Zekinskia, they probably won't have an OS X version.
posted by password at 8:59 AM on May 23, 2002

I'm really stoked about the action-packed potato-peeling, toilet-scrubbing, base-mopping, warehouse-guarding gameplay! I hear the engine they're using will allow up to 800 polygons per potato!

If this doesn't attract more geeks into the Army, nothing will!
posted by straight at 9:07 AM on May 23, 2002

Don't forget the hazing rituals, striaght!

Feel the sadistic rush as you pummel your naked, unpopular barracks-mate in a homoerotic spectacle the likes of which has never been seen at this resolution!
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:13 AM on May 23, 2002

What, they're not going to glue it to boxes of Cheerios?
posted by darukaru at 9:26 AM on May 23, 2002

I think a lot of people would play this game just to see what it would be like to be in a gunfight without having to deal with the real consequence of death. At least that's what I got by playing Op Flashpoint. I suppose I'm also more reluctant to "join up" because of it.

srboisvert: Heh, the USPS is just entering the digital age....we'll probably have to wait until 2010 when they restructure or go privatized :)
posted by samsara at 9:26 AM on May 23, 2002

sweet! my tax money at work!

i must admit, however, this is damn clever marketing. they're getting pretty sharp over there. movie tie-ins? video games? genius.

(still, they need to enlist some editors -- "Did I mention its totally free!")
posted by fishfucker at 9:26 AM on May 23, 2002

I thought the Army liked using Mac Hardware. Or fileservers or something.
posted by thirteen at 9:46 AM on May 23, 2002

movie tie-ins?

I thought that was what Black Hawk Down was.
posted by holycola at 9:47 AM on May 23, 2002

samsara: I have OpFlashpoint, and I'm with you one hundred percent. The US marines use it as a training tool because of the accuracy of the way it models weapons (I think that's why, I did read the precise reason but can't find a link) and the cheapness of the hardware required.

Thing is, exciting and fun as it can be to play this with my friends, I know how vulnerable I am when I'm out there. It isn't the fact that someone's inside a tank and I'm stood there picking my nose wondering how to deal with it either. It's the fact that I'm concentrating on doing the job I'm supposed to be doing to help my real mates out (we always play as a team with guys from the office) and that someone else who knows what he's doing has a gun, any kind of gun, and is trying to kill me. Sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. It's every bit the lottery as to which it's going to be though. If I was the get-up-and-go type who was extremely confident of my own abilities and determined to make it in, say, the Marines (I'm assuming these are qualities you'd need) then playing this might make me reconsider subjecting myself to this kind of lottery.
posted by vbfg at 9:49 AM on May 23, 2002

{places soap in sock}

"xeaphon, cover the door"

'being unpopular is gonna get some these men killed'

.....later that morning

"honest sarge, I thought it was hazing"

"why you little frat house cuss, we dont haze here, we dont punish the mal-fee-cent scumbag who could fuck up a walk-on with betty fucking boop. We train there asses. unadjusted?, welcome to the rodeo private cub scout. hazing?, you must be from the suburbs...The next time you geta bright fuckin idea go write your momma cause your coming home now get in that line and dont blink until..."

well, you boys understand.
posted by clavdivs at 9:53 AM on May 23, 2002

{places soap in sock}

"xeaphon, cover the door"

'being unpopular is gonna get some these men killed'

.....later that morning

"honest sarge, I thought it was hazing"

"why you little frat house cuss, we dont haze here, we dont punish the mal-fee-cent scumbag who could fuck up a walk-on with betty fucking boop. We train there asses. unadjusted?, welcome to the rodeo private cub scout. hazing?, you must be from the suburbs...The next time you geta bright fuckin idea go write your momma cause your coming home now get in that line and dont blink until..."

well, you boys understand.
posted by clavdivs at 9:55 AM on May 23, 2002

Ya know, call me paranoid, but my first thought was...what a brilliant way to put stealth software on a large segment of the population's computers. Ah, the Trojan Horse trick...an oldie, but a goodie. :)
posted by dejah420 at 10:00 AM on May 23, 2002

well, tycho and gabe's comments (which means a lot to me, at least.) all seem to be positive. hand signalling? having to go prone when handling a sniper rifle? being free? that's enough to keep me interested.
posted by lotsofno at 10:33 AM on May 23, 2002

yeah dejah420 I thought the same thing, a marketing pitch could go somewhat like this:

And for a short time, you can pick up this free software from Epic Games and play the heart-pounging, frag pumping, fun that is combat!

Bundled Software includes:
Soldiers
Operations
simBackDoor
simKeylogger
Operation Tracert

fun for the whole, er, family!
posted by plemeljr at 11:05 AM on May 23, 2002

If anyone (US) wants to mirror this when they their free copy so that us poor Europeans can play at being in the US Army then that'd be cool.
posted by nedrichards at 11:20 AM on May 23, 2002

Anybody else notice the "must be 13-34 years old" to get the freebie CD sent to you? Very good sign-up now or later demographic marketing. Course it kinda cheeses me off that that's some of my money paying for it and they won't mail me a free CD.
posted by Wulfgar! at 11:41 AM on May 23, 2002

I found it kind of odd that the "date of birth" and "are you over 13?" fields were both mandatory. Seems a bit redundant, ya think?
posted by samsara at 11:50 AM on May 23, 2002

Samsara - That probably comes from Department of Redundancy Department. Remember, there is an organization inside the Army that is called "Military intelligence".
posted by plemeljr at 11:58 AM on May 23, 2002

"Adjust your soldier's personality and watch how it alters his decisions"

Basic training, all right...
posted by kahboom at 12:04 PM on May 23, 2002

coming soon: the portable TWO-MINUTES HATE™ for gameboy advance.
posted by ronv at 2:00 PM on May 23, 2002

Ditto lotsofno's comments. I have always found the team-based games much more interesting than just solo shoot-em-ups, not to mention the mindlessness of deathmatch. OK, I suck at the latter, no matter the game, but ultimately I enjoy Team Fortress best because it's objective-based, and the specialization makes it more interesting because at the same time as you get special skills or weapons you're also limited in important ways. But even the best team-based games like Counterstrike don't reach the extent of what they're talking about for this game. Maybe it won't have the edgiest graphics, maybe it won't run the latest engine, but if it expands the gameplay in such interesting ways it has the potential to be a hit.
posted by dhartung at 2:00 PM on May 23, 2002