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| [Mar 17, 2003, 8:59 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments |
A new version 1.6 of America's Army Operations has been announced as a premium
service download on the America's Army
Website, where it says: "This Version 1.6 update expands the importance
of rules of engagement and teamwork within America's Army due to its
introduction of non-combatants in the new 'Radio Tower' non-combatant rescue
mission. New functionality such as the addition of projectile penetration and
ricochets add increased realism to game scenarios. Version 1.6 also marks the
transition of America's Army to the production version of Unreal's version 2110
engine." This paid download is for the full version of the game, and
meanwhile, an America's Army patch has appeared on several sites for download,
but we have been told the official patch will appear on the official website,
and event the developers aren't sure whether this is a beta or not. Here is a
quote from Abraxas from IRC: "People, stop asking me about the patch. We
only develop the game, we do not distribute. None of the Devs can tell you
anything. Obviously, there has been a snafu. The Army is aware of it and is
working on the situation." Meanwhile, there is now a mirror of the full
version 1.6 download on FileShack
(registration required).
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| 2. |
gah |
Mar 17, 2003, 20:21 |
trog |
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What is with game developers and publishers, really? How hard is it to get themselves organised to do a file release? As a fairly large (not huge by any means) mirror site, I can probably name off the top of my head about 2 companies that actually have a remote clue how to handle distribution of patches and files. One of these is Valve, who are so much better than everyone else it isn't funny (and quite a blessing considering the number of people that want to download this stuff) and the other is Atari (or whichever company handles the UT2003 patches - Kyle, you champion).
I'm really surprised to see they've moved to a pay-per-download system. Are they trying to make money? Or are they trying to just ensure they have a system through which anyone can get their downloads without having to wait through the awesome Akamai download system?
If its the latter, then I don't really get it. There are literally dozens of mirror sites all over the world that would be happy to mirror this stuff - it might not be as high-quality as the Akamai network but hell, if it is enough for Valve and the million-odd people that need to download Counter-Strike and Half-Life patches, then surely it is enough for a relatively small game like America's Army. All they need to do is just maintain a remotely up-to-date mirror page, which is surely less financially agonizing than having to pay for Akamai services and better for the customers in that they don't have to deal with the whole paying for the game thing - the $2 itself probably isn't a big deal, just the sheer slaw involved in organising an online payment would be more than most people would be willing to deal with.
If they're trying to make money, well, that's a bit disappointing considering that this was always going to be a free game. I have no doubt that the development costs for this title are fairly high, but as it is basically a marketing expense for the US Army, one would think the costs would be trivial compared to some of the other expenses it has - especially at the moment 
Anyway, just an idle rant about their chosen distribution method (and a complaint about this snafu that will undoubtably cause problems for mirror sites, developers and gamers alike).
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