For those that don't read our SimHQ ArmA Series forum...how dare you!

ArmA3 has just been announced... released in 2012... a few in game screens from the official site/press release...

This is great news And amazing details! Wow!

I wonder if this is a complete new graphic engine or just new models and animations ect. ?

wowza. love the frogman

I knew i shouldn't have bought ArmA2 since i never play it. Should have went ArmA1 to ArmA3

Oh yes!!! Looks awesome but why the Comanche?

And Israeli Merkava and Namer APC with a Russian Mi-28 used by US forces? Or some hypothetical future Israeli faction? Those camo patterns are...unique.

You beat me to it. I thought it got sh!tcanned because of emerging unmanned vehicle technologies.

That frogman is ST6 going to check on their latest client.

Oh well the new computer gets put off again.

Wondering that myself.
Nice to hear a game like this finally steps up on the release schedule. Looks a lot better to boot, but I wonder what it will take to run it like that.

Def need to upgrade now! Same concern though, seems like a definite near future theme going. I love the commanche, so sad it was canned. and am perplexed, and concerned that they'll take liberties with it's capabilities and make it a bit...fantastic..

Looking forward to it.

I want a stealth blackhawk!!

Now we're talking. Something cool that also apparently exists. LOL

That Mi-28 looks interesting with coaxial rotors.

Awesome! hopefully, ArmAIII will be released before Christmas 2012!
I was planning to get a new comp this summer...my old comp runs ArmA at low settings and cannot even run ArmAII haha

Something decent to run on my future BullDozer 8 Core AMD HD 7000 Series Rig.....

Lol, I just thought the same. I just bought the whole arma II package!

Looks great though. And scuba!

Yeah, I don't get the "Ka-28N" hybrid there. At first I was excited to see the Mi-28N, then I saw the lack of tail rotor and then the coax rotors. WTF?
The Comanche was cancelled because it cost a lot and wasn't what the Army wanted anymore. At least not at that price, not during the whole Iraq/Afghan dual front war. However, it at least existed unlike that Russian helo.
If this is supposed to be some near-future fictional war, I don't mind, as long as there are enough current units. OFP and Arma have always been about real equipment in fictional locations (the original being a 1985 period piece), tending to leave this fanciful stuff to the GRAW and CoD:MW series. I hope this isn't a misguided attempt to compete with THEM.



The Jedi Master

Good news!

Looks like standard multicam to me.

Dear BI,

I've spoken with the other Sim Industry puppet masters, and this is your final warning: You are not to feature aircraft in anymore of the pre-launch marketing hype, unless you intend to actually give them due sim-diligence. As a word of advice, a well represented helicopter flight model SHOULD NOT be controllable with a mouse.

Also, for the love of all that is pure, PLEASE HIRE SOME WESTERN VOICE ACTORS AND WRITERS. The dialog in Arma II made me cry...

That is all.

Seriously though, I hope they clean that part of the title up. Way too much potential on the table for the Flight guys and the Ground guys to team up in one sim environment. I'm not asking it to be combat helo, but yea, the mouse control for heli's has to go. The fact that the team is making a dedicated heli sim certainly bodes well for adding some more balance to the game.

Also, a little worried that we're seeing a graphically advanced sequel already. Arma II had 99 problems, but eye-candy certainly wasn't one of them. I'll be interested to see what else BI is bringing to the table this time around.

Yeah, I hope so, too.

And there I was hoping that the campaign in ArmA3 might finally be the one I'd play in one breath (like the OFP one)..

Not for the IDF, not for any armored branch of any country I've ever seen. That digital pattern they're using looks like the game designers invented it as a conceit for the purposes of the time and setting. I'd be open to some source that has this if you've got one, but it's an unusual vehicle pattern. It's not an Arab pattern, and the IDF uses mono tone green-grey or desert tan/yellow.

Yeah, the KaMil-28 (NATO Codename "Hump") is definitely baddass

I'm speaking of uniform patterns, not vehicular. sorry for the confusion.

Oh, ok no worries.

Looking at the layout of the velcro on the arms of the U.S soldiers, they don't appear to be wearing combat shirts with their armor. oh well.

Does anyone recognize the rifle the soldier is carrying? It appears to be a bullpup of some type. Certainly isn't an M4 or SCAR.

In other words, what kind of machine is the game being developed on to show you these screenshots? Unless they're building the game on a mainframe computer, one would assume the programmers have the same limitations of hardware curve as the rest of us, or are these just stills that no one will be able to run with decent framerates for the next couple of years? I bought a new computer after ARMA 2 was out, and it still does not have enough power to run it with full detail and visibility maxed out.

FN F2000.

the graphics and figures look awesome, but seriously - if i want a future warfare sim i'll buy one of those brainless tom clancy thingos.

i was irked with the introduction of the SCAR for op arrowhead, now they seem determined to go further down this sci-fi route. bummer. i play arma 2 for realism .

Why is everyone so against "futuristic" (not "sci-fi") settings? It's not like there's going to be lasers or space weapons; it's stuff currently being developed that could very well be the future. Personally I'm tired of M4/M-16 and HMMWV's variants, seeing the same things recycled over and over and over...

Either way, I'm buying it because if there's something I don't like, I know BIS will still keep community support a top priority and I can DL a mod/addon to change it

Nice

@ JediMaster The Commanche wouldn't cost as much as the stupid F35 Program. Duh

agreed, its nice to have a change!

Because that's the beginning of the end. It's how they killed Ghost Recon. Once you slip a little on that slope, next thing you know you've got rank and perks all over the place. It's Killtacular!!

Thank you.

Eh, Arma 3 had lost me so far. The F-35 bugs me too-no reason to add stealth capability unless you can use that capability and the avionics and stand off weapons they would use. Arma 2 is where its at. Its current edge. The Comanche and futuristic prototype vehicles just kill it for me.
Just improve the harrier and A-10 flight models, features, and controllablity, add a "lite" F-16, and incorporate ROVER into the game. Leave the futuristic garbage somewhere else-unless this is going to be a cross platform-console marketted game -then its a good idea to generate cash flow.
It won't be something I'll go for unless the coming information reveals improvements in realism from Arma 2.
That strange Havoc-thingy looks like a Mi-28/KA cross breed with an attempt at a stealthy tail with a B-52 radar cross section front-end. And it looks like it may have a swollen middle with odd doors for moving troops. In other words todays version of the Mi-24-just uglier(never thought it possible) and probably much heavier and over all less capable outside of the new weapons.

This seems really fictional for a "Realistic" shooter. The soldiers are carrying rifles used by Belgium and Slovenia. They're wearing U.S. Army Multicam uniforms and flying RAH-66 Comanche helos. Is that a German Leopard 2 tank? Maybe it's a ragtag group of NATO soldiers mixing weapons, personnel, armor and aircraft. Also, swimming under water... that's new.


I'm really looking forward to the customizable loadouts. I have about 300 different rifles (mostly RobertHammer mods) in my armory that I sift through to find a specific one. M4, M14, M16, Mk16, Mk17, HK416, L85A1, etc. They all have accessories like CCO, RCO, EOTech, M203, black or camo color, etc. It would be nice to choose a basic rifle and then attach accessories you want for the mission.

Those minimum specs are pretty high. I wonder what the recommended specs will be. My current PC falls just below the minimum specs. Good thing I'm building a new one this fall.

I guess I'm in the minority but I loved OFP/Arma not because of super realistic camo patterns or even equipment, but because of the amazing gameplay, atmosphere, and realism in shooting, death, etc. The top notch multiplayer also.

Besides, it's May 2011. This game won't be out for over a year. There's no telling how much of this is just them showing off the graphics engine and how much is actually centerpiece in the game.

Israeli Merkava IV, Israeli Namer APC.

As far as recycled material, there is lots of stuff that's never been done before without mixing and matching equipment or inventing highly dubious backstories. Once you go down this path, the only way to go is even more forward into sci fi fantasy to in order to offer anything different from the last game, unless you stop at some point and take the series backwards for historical motifs. But then, why not just do that now- Cold War Arab-Israeli wars from the last 60 years, modern conflict in Southeast Asia, China or Iran, India or Pakistan. Lower tech gear as mentioned before coincides better with ARMA's simplistic vehicle controls, the more advanced the vehicles are, the more they diverge from point and click interfaces, the more they defeat the point of having this hi tech equipment with no computerized fire control or electronic sensors to begin with. The way modern vehicles are represented is just a graphics shell over models which are more like they were developed for WW2 or something. It elicits the same feel if your hi tech helicopters and tanks function as the first Operation Flashpoint vehicles did from decades earlier.

It's a matter of taste, of course, I think there's other stuff out there though that could be touched on before they go there. But it's their game, it's their choice to do that.

oh god they're going the future soldier route.

commanche?

sigh...

I just wish they would focus more on the actual game engine. For example ability to walk on moving vehicles, improved armor penetrations(tank battles are simply boring in ArmA 2, where T-90 explodes no matter where you hit it), etc.

Hrmm, Battlefield 3 competition....

Wow, surprised at all the hate on the futuristic setting.

If there's one game where content doesn't worry me, it's Arma. Incredible after-market mod opportunities exist, so I'm sure you current era M4/F-16/Humvee/Blackhawk junkies will get your fix.

What we really need to see with each new Arma is an update to the underlying platform (Saw a massive jump in optimization from I to II going multi-core). They could have the war set on the moon for all I care, as long as Arma III focuses on smoother controls, better AI, and better vehicle models, I think we'll be ok.

I'd just like to know what they are tweaking besides the graphics. Graphics have never been what's put me off the franchise, I buy them every time and the bugs and bad mechanics from OP Flash are still in the engine.

It looks beautiful, as have all BI titles but this time I want to see what's under the skin addressed instad of just continuing to upgrade to the polygons and shader tech.

Love the Arma series.. got the lot, and love the level of clarity and detail in those screenies..
But sorry, also have to have a little moan at the future soldier route..

They're jumping the gun; I want them to fix the bugs in the second one first

They just released the latest patch a month or so back. What bugs are left?




The Jedi Master

arma 2 with better animation and models and using ssao

not impressed.

I hope it doesn't get too sci-fi. Current gear in a reasonable setting is what I like about the Arma series.

I'm no expert but I don't see what is so futuristic about the soldiers? They look like modern infantrymen, rangers perhaps? Spec-ops style helmet with MS-2000, NVG and some sort of webcam is not exactly sci-fi. FN2000 is a bit out of place but that could easily changed. The designated marksmen look to be carrying M-14 EBR's which is rapidly becoming a common battlefield weapon.

The Comanche looks awesome, looking forward to that. Who knows, maybe the real Comanche program was never canceled, perhaps it was just pushed underground alongside that Stealth Blackhawk? Anything's feasible, and it's a game so bring it on.

Cheers

Yes, you know all that from a handful of screenshots and a small marketing blurb.

looking forward for this one

As far as the "Future setting", I also see no reason why the models currently already in game would be removed entirely. BIS seems to be looking to build the largest possible library with each new title, so they would simple port over the current weapons, at least most of them.

Well, I just got Arma2 and the expansion for $18 at walmart :p