VBS2, (Virtual BattleSpace 2), is being released to the public, you can now pre-order it and it ships at the end of April...for the low low price of 1500 US dollars.

[url]http://www.vbs2.com/site/index.html[/url]

[url]http://www.vbs2.com/media/docs/vbs2_handout_letter.pdf[/url]



[url]http://www.virtualbattlespace.com/store/[/url]

Please understand I do not recommend you buy this product with the May 1st US release of Armed Assault... I'm a news hound, thats what I do,I'm just sharing the news. Thou I love BI Studios (there my third favorite publisher after Battlefront and eSim games), and I love the OFP/AA series, and the VBS1 was great but over priced... I can not recommend a purchase like this to a casual, or for that matter a diehard gamer.

That said, got my tax refund yesterday for 1800 bucks, now down to 300, wife is pissed but she'll get over it. lol

Stay tuned for info, screens, and videos from the "simulation".

BTW: Do buy Armed Assault!

LOL, I just PAID Uncle Sam $1300, so I'm certainly not looking here!
However, I wish the fatigue and suppression stuff was in ArmA.



The Jedi Master

I've been beta testing and all I can say is...impressive...light years ahead of VBS1 folks...

Working with VBS2 is my job, amazingly enough. While I really like what they've done with it, I cannot imagine it ever being worth $1500 for a civilian to purchase. It's a fantastic military training tool, but for civvie purposes, ArmA (and later, ArmA + realism mods) is a much more sane option.

For those of you that want to see the neat features of VBS2 without dropping the money on it, there is a VBS2 "Tech Features" video coming out in the near future that will cover all sorts of aspects of it.

Hmm... lesse... College Tuition with my rebate... VBS2... Goddamn thats a hard choice.

In a nutshell...
ArmA: $39.95, very solid game out-of-the-box, will feature lots of great mods in the future
VBS2: $1500, will have a very small MP community at best, but will be an amazing tool for military training purposes.

I can't see why a civilian would buy VBS2 aside from them having an excess of money. If that's the case, though, rock out.

Yeah, Magnum, that is the way to do it!

I haven't got my money out of VBS1 yet, not even close, but I am still tempted... Of course, you're advice is right on: it would be insane to spring for VBS2 before spending a lot of quality time with ArmA, which I will be doing after the North American release. (I say "North American"- I assume it will be available retail up here.) I am really looking forward to your reports on VBS2 as compared to ArmA- don't make us wait too long! An "out of the box / first impressions" in a week or two, maybe?

Dslyecxi, I hear what you are saying, especially since you actually work with VBS2.

Off to check out the VBS2 page....

Edit:
Ok, I've calmed down.
It's clear to me that a lot of what one is paying for with VBS2, I just wouldn't have the time (let alone the professional knowledge) to take advantage of. For instance the Task Editor, or the still to come Tool Suite.
So I'm still a little tempted, but I'm definitely keeping my credit card away from my computer until Magnum's intel arrives.

Hey, don't blame me for credit bills and pissed wives, lol.
I got a job to do here at SimHQ, and thats what I'll do... but would never recommend the 1500 purchase.

Heh, no worries, I know it's every man for himself when it comes to that!

Yeah, I can understand that. Again, no worries, I just want to hear what you think of it, what the additional maps / vehicles are like etc, so I can make my own informed decision.

In the meantime, I just have to find some retailer in Canada or the US who will ship ArmA to me. Haven't found one yet- gah...

Oh, actually... now that I'm thinking about it...

There should be a way to do a 3-month trial of VBS2 for $120. I would strongly suggest you do that before making any kind of $1500 purchase decision.

Dslyecxi, thanks for the heads-up on that, I thought I saw something about a trial version on the VBS2 site...

Ok, just checked it out: the trial is listed as an option in the pdf "handout". I have a sneaky suspicion that it will only be available for prospective professional customers. I could not find the option to purchase the trial in the online store.
But I will definitely investigate that further.

I just got through watching the vid and was VERY impressed with it. I could see it beating ArmedA to death but then I spotted the price tag and nearly chit in my pants! I said 'Forget about it!'.

So does the concensus around think that ArmedA will get modded enough to match or even beat VBS2?

For civvy purposes? Sure. The mod I think will do the best in that area is the "Advanced Combat Environment" one by the creators of Wargames League for OFP (which was IMO the best OFP mod ever released).

Yeah, I played a lot of the WGL mods.


The Jedi Master