Bamboo

Looks like this is official folks:

Arma 2 release set for Q1 2009

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Arctic1991

Looking forward to it

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BeerHunter

YAY!! Second Quarter of 2009 (going to try and pass on first release and wait for some patches) just fine.

Was looking at a major upgrade anyway.
Now
Intel Q9550 12MB cache Quad Core @ $700.00
GeForce GTX 280 1GB RAM @ $550.00

By next year I figure:
Intel Q9550 12MB cache Quad Core @ about $250.00
GeForce GTX 280 1GB RAM @ about $250.00

Saving $750.00. Enough to buy the game eh??

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I'm not in my second childhood , I simply never outgrew my first

Sc[ + ]pe

Ugh. That line about the engine being used by the military sounds like ArmA 2 will be based on VBS2. Yawn.

Tobruk

I just hope they're not throttling up the release to beat OPF2 to the market.

Strategically that would be good, because they could capture a greater portion of sales, however if it means an unfinished patch prone product...that could be be the kiss of death, especially if OPF2 is just around the corner.

BTW I will most likely buy them both, after I spring for yet another new system.

Long Bow

I am looking at buying a new video card this fall, It's almost worth waiting until ArmA 2 is released to see how it benches on different cards before buying.

I really hope that they don't create a beautiful but poorly optimised game. It caused me to drop ArmA after 6-8 months the first time around.

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deathknight

I think it means that Armed Assault, VBS2 and Armed Assault 2 will all use the same engine. From what I understand, VBS2 uses the same engine as Armed Assault but adds quite a bit of features and is much more unforgiving to simulate real combat better.

The content is up to the developer of the missions/campaigns and as such will be wildly different as these will be done by BI for AA2 and I would guess by the military for VBS2.

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Sc[ + ]pe

Right, but the VBS2 engine still sucks. Aside from a few upgrades, it is still the exact same shell that ArmA plays on, and ArmA looks dated enough now!

Tobruk

Yes I think the entire menu system needs to be overhauled and made more intuitive for starters.

Sc[ + ]pe

I can list a slew of problems with VBS2, almost all of which should have been fixed before it was used in ArmA.

Tracers. If anyone here played a game called STALKER, they'll know what I'm talking about when modders have to deal with tracers. There was no way, at all, in that game to mix tracers into ammunition: it was either on, or off. While there's a work-around in ArmA, it requires each mission to use a specific mod. Lame!

Physics. ArmA is a big boy's game, so why are we stuck with ragdolls, scripted collision models, and poor flight/drive models? Flying a cobra in ArmA is easier than it is flying one in Project Reality, which is silly. Torque on some vehicles is completely FUBAR, and the driving system needs tweaks (for one, having more sensitive steering controls).

Graphics. ArmA looks dated already, since it's using a modified OFP engine with no graphical overhaul. The parts of ArmA that look good (shadows, draw distance) are great, but things like ****-poor HDR and no bloom support makes the game look ugly. Is ArmA II really going to use this same graphical garbage?


What I'm trying to say is that if ArmA II is really going to use a modified VBS engine, AGAIN, I'm going to be awfully hard-pressed to pay full dollar. Argh!

socomseal93

ArmA 2's graphics will be better it does use the same engine. however, they spent their time to make everything look nice this time. ArmA 2 will also feature soldier drag and more destructibility. As far as the flight engine goes if BIS incorperated the improved flight model for jets that would be great. I see nothing wrong with helicopters they are a little clunky, like how 9/10 you get hydrolics taken out first and crash. The only other problem I see with choppers is auto hover, Im almost certain that in real life helicopters dont have that feature. Lets not diss ArmA 2 yet until we actually play it they could have many improvements but we wont find out until we play it.

jex

Helo's have an auto hover according to Yahoo (yeah ok I can't be bothered to put any effort in researching this right now...). Just having an adjustable throttle on the aircraft would be nice.

I hope they improve on the animations. The screen shots seem to say otherwise but it would be nice to feel like i'm in a new game rather than what is looking like an update of the existing one. However we'll have to wait and see what they come out with on release day.

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Jex

deathknight

I don't care as much about graphics as I do about gameplay. I think they need to fix the animations a little bit and get the ai both friendly and enemy. I've seen too many games that rely on great graphics and have nothing else.

IMO Arma's graphics are good so if Arma2 has the same graphics engine it won't bother me.

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Long Bow

Well said, if ArmA 2 comes out looking great but where plunged back into the dark ages of Arma 1 as far as bugs, performance, poor AI etc. whats the point then of a pretty game?

I would gladly settle for a slightly better looking ArmA IF it comes with improvements to the key areas of the game.

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Tobruk

I think the best that can be hoped for is a polished and optimized version of ARMA incorporating the various extras that are in VBS2 (e.g. cool tracers).

Graphics for me are not that big of a deal and I think they are currently okay, particularly since making them render perfect drives my system to its knees anyway. Imagine them making further graphic advances when most people currently can't run at full.

Considering that the new Island seems to be dominated by trees and bushland, I hope they can optimize the current graphics to ensure the game won't run slower than ARMA.

I imagine they will focus much of their efforts on delivering the single player campaign experience in ARMA2. This holds true to the OPF roots and is something that they completely missed in ARMA. Given the console market, I think this will be where the focus of ARMA2 will be.

The good part of this is that for it to work they will have to improve enemy and friendly AI.