americas-army posts

The US Army's free multiplayer shooter/recruitment tool America's Army is going to release an all new revamped version later this year (that would be the Unreal Engine 3-based America's Army 3) and now IGN's FilePlanet web site has announced that it is signing up folks to beta test the game before its release.

Apparently this beta is only for people who are members of FilePlanet's paid subscription service and is on a first come-first served basis (although that may change later). There's also no specifics on what will be contained in the beta test at this point. So if you want to spend some money to test a game that will be released for free in its final version, have at it.

These America's Army 3 videos go behind-the-scenes with the developers to discuss the different aspects that will make it one of the most realistic military shooters around. The video featured above talks about how the game strives for real-life authenticity while the two videos seen after the jump cover basic combat training and the new features players can expect. The client for the current version of America's Army can be downloaded here.

Download HD AA3 Behind-the-Scenes 'Authenticity' Video (197 MB)
Download HD AA3 Behind-the-Scenes 'Basic Combat Training' Video (109 MB)
Download HD AA3 Behind-the-Scenes 'New Features' Video (270 MB)
Check out all America's Army 3 downloads

Gallery: America's Army 3 Screenshots

The latest version of America's Army Includes four new maps along with some general game enhancements. New maps include SF Courtyard, SF Hospital, Urban Assault and ES2 Bridge. The update will download automatically when players launch the game, but those that don't have America's Army installed can get it now through the AA Deploy Client. Continue reading after the jump for the map descriptions and patch notes.

Download America's Army Deploy Client (9 MB)

America's Army has released for developer videos for the upcoming America's Army 3 (AA3), each interviewing a different member of the team and discussing different aspects of the game. Interviewees include Lead Designer Ace Aubuchon; Associate Producer, Brandon Foster; Audio Engineer, Will Brandt and Gameplay Level Designer, Evan Champlin. The interview with Ace is shown above. Continue reading after the jump for the rest of the videos.

Download HD AA3 Ace Abuchon Developer Diary (80 MB)
Download HD AA3 Brandon Foster Developer Diary (103 MB)
Download HD AA3 Will Brandt Developer Diary (75 MB)
Download HD AA3 Evan Champlin Developer Diary (97 MB)
Check out all America's Army 3 downloads

America's Army 3 is well underway in its development and the game's official web site has been posting up more info on the upcoming game that's being funded by the US Army as a free FPS they are using as a recruitment tool. Some recent new screenshots show off some of the first views of the character models.

As we have reported before America's Army 3 is actually the second PC game in the series (the "3" in the title refers to the fact that it's using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3). So far the official web site has revealed three roles you can play in the game (rifleman, automatic rifleman and grenadier). The game itself will ship with six game modes (Assault/Defend, Destroy/Protect, Extract/Defend, Conquer & Hold, VIP Escort/Ambush, Assault Alpha/Assault Beta). There's no word yet on a release date for AA3.

By John Gaudiosi

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina – Epic Games has seen an influx recently in the number of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games in development that utilize its Unreal Engine 3 technology – an engine that was not originally designed for MMO games.

The latest entry in this Unreal MMO games category is the new subscription-based NASA MMO game, "Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond." This game, which will ship next year, joins other Unreal Engine 3-driven MMO games like RealTime Worlds APB, NHN USA's Huxley, Acony Games' Parabellum and Sony Online Entertainment's The Agency and DC Universe Online.

"We're using Unreal Engine 3 for the new NASA MMO game, which will allow us to focus on gameplay and realism and not worry about things like multi-threaded rendering problems or issues with rigid body physics or network programming," said Jerry Heneghan, founder and CEO of Virtual Heroes.

"Unreal Engine 3 is simply one of the best, state-of-the art game engines available," said Daniel Laughlin, Ph.D., project manager for the game at NASA Learning Technologies.

It was Virtual Heroes work on another Unreal Engine 3 game, America's Army, that opened the door for Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond.

We gave you a glimpse into the future of the America's Army franchise late last year but today the US Army has now officially announced their plans to release America's Army 3, the next full version of their long running free multiplayer shooter game. This is the first major new version of the title since the original was released way back in 2002. The Unreal Engine 3 based game is scheduled for release later this year.

Like the original, America's Army 3 was designed to be a recruitment tool for the US Army and as such the game will let the player follow a recruit through basic training as an Infantry soldier (a second role, the combat medic, will be added later this year). After going through Basic Training in the game's single player modes players can take their characters and go through additional training to unlock more weapons and abilities. Of course America's Army 3 will also have multiplayer as well and players can use their persistent characters into the online field as well.

As with the original game players can expect America's Army 3 to expand over the years with new maps, missions, features and more. The game's official web site has now launched and is now taking sign-ups to beta test the game. Hopefully we will get more info on a specific release date soon. In the meantime you can check out the game's system requirements after the jump.

Update: We have added three more screenshots to the gallery. They do not appear on the America's Army 3 web site and show off two more levels (one for Ranch and two for Impact)

If you are like most of us, the economy's quick drop this fall may have left you with a lack of cash to pay for that new copy of Left 4 Dead or Far Cry 2. However if you want to play a first person shooter game for free and don't feel like paying for it there are actually quite a number of free-to-play titles out there that you can download and play right now.

Big Download has noticed a growing trend of first person shooter titles that are already out there, in beta testing or coming up in the near future that you can just download and play. Some of these games do have or will have premium fees or micro-transactions to get more content but all of them can be enjoyed for free without the need to pay a cent. We decided to do a quick round-up of just a few of the current and upcoming free-to-play FPS titles. And remember, the best things in life are free..or so we have been told.

Click on the image above to continue reading about Free-to-play FPS games

Two new missions recently released for America's Army: Special Forces. The first one is called District and the other is Canyon. Both can be downloaded automatically through the AA Deploy Client. Check out the official website for full details.

District : "Intelligence reports that insurgents forces are conducting reconnaissance against targets in the allied city of Dakrasi in an effort to collect sensitive information on the local infrastructure for future operations."

Canyon: "A local warlord has recently taken control of a small mountain village capturing a large cache of heavy weapons in the process. Intelligence reports the cache has been separated and moved to two locations, one in the Northern sector and one in the Southern sector of the village."

Download the America's Army Deploy Client (9 MB)
Check out all America's Army downloads

The US Army released the free multiplayer shooter America's Army as a recruiting tool (they are planning a major graphical update that we reported on several days ago) but the military also uses game technology for actual training purposes. Now it appears that the Army is planning to put even more money into this kind of training.

According to the Stars & Stripes web site, the Army will spend $50 million over five years for a "games in training" program. The program, which begins in 2010, "...will watch trends in the industry and identify technology that can be used for military training." That's not all. The Army also has plans to buy a commercial game that they will modify to create a new training tool called "Game After Ambush". The decision on which game to use will be made in the next couple of weeks.

[Via Blue's News]