Games: America's Army

		Relevant Links
		America's Army Web Site For technical support issues, please review the FAQ at the official America's Army web site.




			Developer: United States Army Publisher: United States Army ESRB: Teen Street Price: FREE Genre: First-Person / Role-Playing

We’ve all seen the games that you can play for free – they’re often Java-based throwbacks to the 80’s arcades, combining lackluster graphics with minimal gameplay. Well, no more. Check out these titles on the way from the U.S. Army.

The first game, America’s Army: Soldiers, gives gamers a chance to role-play the Army experience, from signing up at the recruiter to handling basic training to taking their first tour of duty. Players choose the attributes, career path, and goals for their character and apply six different resources to reach each goal (health, strength, knowledge, skills, finances, and popularity).

But the game that has shooter fans signing up is America’s Army: Operations. Using a next-generation Unreal engine, this ultra-realistic first-person shooter will contain 20 single- and multiplayer missions with 140 dedicated servers hosted by HomeLAN.

The game’s realism was evident during a demonstration at E3 – if you’re too close to a grenade going off, your ears will ring. And flash grenades white out your screen, making you useless for 20 seconds. Aiming a sniper rifle is affected by your breathing – and it’s much more accurate if you take the shot from a crouched or prone position or take the time to set up your tripod.

Optimized for GeForce2 graphics, weapon effects – from real Army weapons such as the M16A2 assault rifle and M24 sniper rifle – offer another layer of realism. Tracers zip by as machine gun fire barely misses, shell casings ping off the ground around you as you return fire, wood splinters and glass shards rain from the wall behind as bullets tear out chunks – this isn’t like any “free” game you’ve seen before.

Multiplayer missions support up to 32 players involved in assignment tours, but before gamers can play online, they’ll have to complete the appropriate training. Teamwork is emphasized, especially through communication – via speech, radio messages, or actual military hand and arm signals.

Gamers will also be subject to the Rules of Engagement for online combat. Any major violations – such as injuring or killing a teammate – could result in being sent to virtual prison. And just as in the Army’s real force-on-force training practices, players always perceive that they are fighting as members of the Army – the opposing force appears to be in enemy uniforms with appropriate weapons.

Soldiers and Operations can be played interdependently, with experiences in one reflected in the other. We sat down and spoke with Dr. Michael Capps, the executive producer of the Army Game Project, about both games and what’s in store for gamers.

Click images to enlarge

"I should note that the Army took a leap of faith that GF2 technology would be generally available by our launch time. Of course, two years later, we’ve seen Nvidia have great success, and their market penetration is just plain staggering."

Dr. Michael Capps
Executive Producer, Army Game Project

NVIDIA: When will America’s Army be released? Will it be available for download or just via CD?
Dr. Capps: America’s Army: Operations will be posted for download on July 4th. It will also be available later on CD, paired with America’s Army: Soldiers.

NVIDIA: Since the game will be free, what will the Army get out of providing it to gamers?
Dr. Capps: This is a chance for people to learn more about the Army, from the hundreds of potential career paths that you’ll see in AA: Soldiers, to the high-speed infantry missions in AA: Operations.

The only thing cooler than the Army building a first-rate, realistic action game is that they're giving it away for free. And the only way to top that is to keep adding new content to the game, and keep giving it away for free -- and that’s just what we're going to do. Players can expect regular content updates throughout the summer, and then a major update just a few months later.

NVIDIA: How does the game vary in its level of realism from other games of its nature (i.e. Soldier of Fortune, SWAT, etc.)?
Dr. Capps: First off, I should say that you’ve mentioned two games that we absolutely love to play, and that we’ve certainly been inspired by for this game.

Our clear mission was to provide the most realistic U.S. Army experience possible, from basic training to Special Forces missions. That meant visiting dozens of Army bases, interviewing hundreds of soldiers, and of course, hands-on experience with Army equipment.

In Operations, everything from the direction and velocity of bullet shell ejection, to the way soldiers high crawl when carrying a rifle, is based on the way the Army really operates.

NVIDIA: How have the Unreal engine and Nvidia graphics allowed the development team to recreate the “Operations” experience for gamers? How is the game optimized for GeForce2 processors?
Dr. Capps: From day one, we’ve been targeting the GeForce2 line of graphics processors with our content. We have a few of the latest GF3/GF4 cards here for compatibility testing, but generally, our team develops on a mix of 32MB and 64MB GeForce2 cards. Given our aggressive schedule, we decided to forego some of the latest, advanced technology (bump mapping, pixel shading, etc.) and focus entirely on optimizing our experience for DirectX 8 and the GeForce2.

Players are going to be amazed at the complexity of worlds that we’ve been able to build. We’re using the very latest, next-generation Unreal engine; it’s easily rendering scenes 100 times more complex than those seen in Unreal Tournament. Our content team has had a blast constructing within those parameters. Building realistic environments has always been much more difficult than fantasy settings, because everyone knows just what reality looks like. We’re finally at the point where the technology, put in the right hands, can pull off realistic urban environments, sweeping outdoor scenes, and even combinations of the two.

I should note that the Army took a leap of faith that GF2 technology would be generally available by our launch time. Of course, two years later, we’ve seen Nvidia have great success, and their market penetration is just plain staggering.

NVIDIA: What types of weapons and weapon effects will be used in the game?
Dr. Capps: We’ve basically modeled the entire standard infantry squad arsenal, their OPFOR equivalents, and a few special items. That means the M4 carbine, M16A2 assault rifle, M249 SAW, M203 grenade launcher, M24 sniper rifle, M82 heavy sniper rifle, M67 fragmentation grenade, M83 smoke grenade, and the flash bang. Then, for the OPFOR, we have the AK74-SU, AK47 assault rifle, GP-30 grenade launcher, RPK automatic rifle, Dragunov SVD sniper rifle, and more hand grenades.

As for weapon effects, we’ve put Unreal’s particle effects system to excellent use. We have 3D muzzle flashes, smoke trails, huge dust clouds for the heavy sniper rifle, and of course some great explosions.

You can’t overestimate the effect that a special forces weapon sergeant has when he looks over your shoulder and tells you what’s wrong with the weapons in the game. You don’t tell him why it’s too hard to do it that way – you just do it right, and our game reflects that attention to detail.

NVIDIA: What types of multiplayer modes and features will be available in the game?
Dr. Capps: The U.S. Army always operates with objectives in mind and our multiplayer levels reflect that. Therefore, rather than having standard “Capture the Flag” or “Deathmatch” maps, each mission has a unique objective (or series of objectives) that the team must accomplish. Those range from POW rescue, to gathering intelligence for the war on terrorism, to preventing the enemy from crossing a bridge, to homeland defense scenarios.

One interesting twist is that we support the MILES laser-engagement system, which is a version of ‘laser tag’ that the Army uses in training. In the mountain phase of ranger school, for example, a team of students must successfully ambush a team of instructors; we use MILES systems for that.

NVIDIA: How do you feel the game was received at E3? (In our opinion, gamers and industry folks alike seemed pretty dang excited about it.)
Dr. Capps: We’ve been running silent for two years now, working towards the surprise E3 launch. While we had positive feedback from our focus groups and beta testers, the development team was just thrilled at the reception the game received from the public at E3. The media have been both very interested and very supportive, and a surprising number of game developers and studios have contacted us with offers of support as well.

While we enjoyed all the attention the Army received for making the game, we were pleasantly surprised (and thrilled, of course) when we started receiving Best of Show awards. To me, that means that not only did the Army have a unique, brilliant idea - but that we built a darned good game. Try it out and see.

We definitely will do that. The novel approach of both Soldiers and Operations – and the excellent price tags – ensure that there will be more than just an army of one downloading and playing these games. So what are you waiting for? Download the game and start playing!

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