ARMA III Continues To Look Absolutely Absurd
I mean that, of course, in the best way possible. I suppose the best way I can put it is that I'm excited about a lighting trailer. I tried to count the number of graphics on display, but I ran out of fingers and toes, and my abacus resigned citing unfair work conditions and vague claims of harassment. Goodness, though, those underwater bits, especially, put other things that prominently feature water - which include other games, lakes, and the human body - to utter shame. Now then, let's just hope the engine doesn't crash and burn on day one - like ARMA II's bug-plagued release, or me piloting any sort of aircraft in ARMA II.
So that was impressive. And did you catch the incredibly not-subtle-at-all dig at Medal of Honor? There's also a fairly in-depth Q&A about tech improvements, day/night cycles, and potential effects on multiplayer balance. It's definitely interesting stuff, given that such a seemingly minuscule aspect of a game stands to affect overall combat so significantly. For instance, Bohemia's currently "working on fine-tuning the multiplayer situation, where, for example, one side might be considerably affected by attacking/defending against the Sun." And while I'm slightly disappointed that they're not referring to an outright war against the Sun, it's a fascinating look into something we hardly ever think about while playing other shooters.
ARMA III's scheduled for release at the end of the year, with a crowd-sourced bug-squashing session set to take place sometime after E3. With any luck, that'll also give players a chance to chime in on the series' notoriously rough-around-the-edges UI, which tends to be about as intuitive and user-friendly as a "back-scratcher" that's definitely just a piece of rusty barbed wire.