> which tasked the company with working on updates for "America's Army," the 2002 first-person shooter
30 seconds
Ahhh so they're the ones who made that game less realistic and more modern shooter-y. Which I have no doubt is exactly what they were asked to do, because the original AA game was slow and a lot of people hated it compared to ut or cs1.6
Shame though, it was the only game that kinda had that level of realism, with "rifle from prone while waiting can hit you at 400+ yards, but if you're running around you struggle making hits under 100 yards" that encouraged very methodical play with teamwork and spotting.
> Shame though, it was the only game that kinda had that level of realism, with "rifle from prone while waiting can hit you at 400+ yards, but if you're running around you struggle making hits under 100 yards" that encouraged very methodical play with teamwork and spotting.
The original Ghost Recon came out the year before, and the Delta Force series was already well underway. I recall enduring the interminable mandatory training of America's Army, just to discover that it was a flashier, gamey-er version of games I was already playing.
In fairness, I think you can definitely see AA's impact on the design of e.g. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter on the PC, but hilariously (and true to form) when ArmA came out in 2006, its clear they took not one cue about how to build a playable game.
I do remember winning a lot of AA games without ever even taking out my rifle, and just using binoculars and telling all my teammates (who were lying in bushes for minutes not moving) where people were moving.
Yes. Operation Flashpoint was made by Bohemia Interactive and published by Codemasters, with BI owning the code but Codemasters owning the trademark. When the companies went their separate ways (iirc there was some drama, but can't remember about what), BI had to rename the next installment of the game series.
Operation Flashpoint having also been spun off into “VBS” (Virtual Battlespace Systems) a military combat simulator whose first client/user was incedentally the USMC. So AA’s was probably arguably the first mainstream (from the heavy promotion and the fact it was free, something out of the ordinary for an “AAA Game” at the time) “realistic shooter”, but certainly not the first.
I purchased that as a kid, in a souvenir shop, on our way out of Cape Canaveral. We were there specifically to see the Space Shuttle slow-crawl to it's launchpad destination. I never got to see a shuttle take off first hand.
That book, though, began a life-long love of space and all things unexplainable.
I love space, science, and the unknown. That love all comes down to a childhood fascination with the Space Shuttle program, and Ben Bova opening my childish mind to the idea of life on the moon, and how different everything would be.
Thank you Ben Bova. And thank you NASA for daring to dream big. You've both made a lifelong friend.
This took me on a DECTalk rabbithole.
- Here's a web version (with backend): https://webspeak.terminal.ink/
- Steam thread: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=91936...
- "Modern" codebase and builds: https://github.com/dectalk/dectalk/
> which tasked the company with working on updates for "America's Army," the 2002 first-person shooter
30 seconds
Ahhh so they're the ones who made that game less realistic and more modern shooter-y. Which I have no doubt is exactly what they were asked to do, because the original AA game was slow and a lot of people hated it compared to ut or cs1.6
Shame though, it was the only game that kinda had that level of realism, with "rifle from prone while waiting can hit you at 400+ yards, but if you're running around you struggle making hits under 100 yards" that encouraged very methodical play with teamwork and spotting.
I still remember sitting through a legitimate field medic first aid course before unlocking the medic class. That game was something else!
> Shame though, it was the only game that kinda had that level of realism, with "rifle from prone while waiting can hit you at 400+ yards, but if you're running around you struggle making hits under 100 yards" that encouraged very methodical play with teamwork and spotting.
The original Ghost Recon came out the year before, and the Delta Force series was already well underway. I recall enduring the interminable mandatory training of America's Army, just to discover that it was a flashier, gamey-er version of games I was already playing.
In fairness, I think you can definitely see AA's impact on the design of e.g. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter on the PC, but hilariously (and true to form) when ArmA came out in 2006, its clear they took not one cue about how to build a playable game.
Fair, I guess I never played Ghost Recon
I do remember winning a lot of AA games without ever even taking out my rifle, and just using binoculars and telling all my teammates (who were lying in bushes for minutes not moving) where people were moving.
Wasn’t ArmA the successor to Operation Flashpoint?
Yes. Operation Flashpoint was made by Bohemia Interactive and published by Codemasters, with BI owning the code but Codemasters owning the trademark. When the companies went their separate ways (iirc there was some drama, but can't remember about what), BI had to rename the next installment of the game series.
Operation Flashpoint having also been spun off into “VBS” (Virtual Battlespace Systems) a military combat simulator whose first client/user was incedentally the USMC. So AA’s was probably arguably the first mainstream (from the heavy promotion and the fact it was free, something out of the ordinary for an “AAA Game” at the time) “realistic shooter”, but certainly not the first.
Doesn't the ARMA series at least support that level of realism?
Could snipe people at 2km+ in arma 2.
Which is also (arguably not easily) doable IRL. The most realistic part of it surely being the pacing and “tactical” aspects of it.
There was another Simcity-like game called Moonbase for DOS: https://www.mobygames.com/game/25993/moonbase/
aeiou aeiou
brbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr
-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6RbEOlqRo
I hope Elon or someone creates a moon base called aeiou
This video (on top of stuff like YouTube Poops) did an insane amount of damage to my sense of humor growing up.
That was what it was like
John Madden
Wow, I can see how many people would find this to be a very boring game but it looks amazing to me. Sad that I missed its golden age.
In case anyone wants to play around with DECtalk without downloading the game, there's https://webspeak.terminal.ink/
huehuehuehuehuehue john madden john madden
My wife and I still say this to each other all the time
Mamma mia
Pappa pia
Baby got a
I'm not sure why but that is one of the funniest things I've ever seen on the internet.
Another one is the Microsoft Sam (& co) speech synthesis, it can also produce funny results, like someone making copter sounds with it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_vNhLYW_e4
Here is my favorite one: https://youtu.be/aFbuSShYKpc
kick it in the front seat
Obligatory John Madden song clip showing off the speech to text engine: https://youtu.be/ovcTKHupdxo?si=Qh_nsYmkGtwcxrMR
John Madden? John Madden!
Bad TTS is like an inverse uncanny valley where it's so inhuman it's charming.
Ben Bova wrote a book: "Welcome to Moonbase."
I purchased that as a kid, in a souvenir shop, on our way out of Cape Canaveral. We were there specifically to see the Space Shuttle slow-crawl to it's launchpad destination. I never got to see a shuttle take off first hand.
That book, though, began a life-long love of space and all things unexplainable.
I love space, science, and the unknown. That love all comes down to a childhood fascination with the Space Shuttle program, and Ben Bova opening my childish mind to the idea of life on the moon, and how different everything would be.
Thank you Ben Bova. And thank you NASA for daring to dream big. You've both made a lifelong friend.
aeiou
Moonbase Alpha was the location where the TV show “Space: 1999” was set.
First episode saw the moon permanently leave Earth orbit.
somewhere, deep in my soul, I heard:
"JohnMaddenJohnMaddenJohnMaddenJohnMaddenJohnMaddenJohnMaddenJohnMaddenJohnMadden"
"uuuuuUuuuuUuuuuuuUuuuuuuUuu"
Spent years playing this game. It is the closest thing I've seen to real time chess. Also excellent soundtrack that sets the mood.
EDIT: whoops I thought this was moonbase commander, another NASA sponsored game from another time.
> real time chess
That would describe Crypt of the NecroDancer.
Bah, thought this was related to the classic UK TV series Space:1999.
here comes another chinese earthquake ebrrrbrbrrbrrbr