Slashdot Mirror
Linux Games WIth Guns
ZaMoose writes: "Not to beat on the poor America's Army servers any further, but their sitrep for today featured the following interesting tidbit: "That's not all. We're also working on an in-game browser, linux port, and host of other features. Yes, we've been busy the past week!" (emphasis mine). For those not familiar with AA:Operations, it is a free (as in beer) first person shooter developed under the watchful eye of the US Army. It received mounds of praise at this year's E3 and was released to Windows users July 4th." Well, it says Linux server port, anyhow. And JD writes: "Apex Designs have announced that their GTA-style game Payback is coming to Linux. The port appears to already be fully playable as there is a status report here which includes some early screenshots.
(And their website doesn't require IE. :)"
Noone uses the Amiga :)
And come to think about it, is it really such a good idea for the government to fund a game like this when it has yet to be decided by a court whether or not games have influenced school shootings and other killings by teenagers?
Since when do courts decide the cause of human action?
the problem with my tax dollars being spend on this is that when it doesn't work on my system, I can't return it for a refund
Jesus saves souls and redeems them for valuable cash prizes
Am I the only one who sees the irony in this? What kind of subliminal message will people get while playing this game?
"How do I join the terrorist side?"
"You can't, you are always a terrorist"
"But I look like a US Soldier?"
"There is no difference... "
If you're always a terrorist in the game it's gonna affect the game flow.
Every few minutes the battle halts and everyone has to pray towards Mecca. That's gonna suck bigtime.
Yep, Army hardware requirements.
I'm waiting for "Soviet Army." It will probably run in 16 colors on a 486.
The funny thing is, ZaMoose quoted the website, but cut out that most important word, "linux SERVER port". Here's the real quote.
Hopefully next time timothy will actually visit the web page linked, and make sure that at least the emphasised, bold words correspong to reality.
The server runs in command line mode, so it should run pretty easy under winex. It even uses the Unreal 2003 engine, before the Unreal 2003 game is even out. But don't expect the game to run on your older linux boxes, the game runs on a 800mhz/gf2 basic machine with about 20fps in 800x600. On my AMD 1800/gfti500 I get about 40-50 in 1024x768 with every gfx option turned on. And boy the gfx are the best out, (until doom3!) Skins are handled nicely, where no matter what side you are, your always Americans. The enemy is either arabs, or normal soldiers without backpacks. You can run, jog, walk or take baby steps and each affects your shooting and sound. Walk slow hunched down, or lie on your stomach (and roll left/right) and you can snipe an enemy or surprise ambushed. Very realistic. (Thou we do need a knife in the game.)
:)
And if you like CS, you will really like this. This game isn't CS where you can jump and shoot an awp and kill someone, you have to plan, ambush, take aim, act as a team. The levels are awesome, the HQ mission, where you have to invade a camp and rescue a POW, is fantastic. The tunnel level has a very detailed collapsed ends with cars trapped, where you have to take out the terrorists and not let any escape. The mount mckenna mission is nicely detailed, you have 2 teams, honor or loyalty, and must capture and defend 3 points. Surprising how many people think this is quake3, and Die
And they are going to release special missions, (For free!), where you can train in special ops, sharp shooting, navy seals, etc. Im sure each branch of the armed services wants a mission pack for them.
BTW, not sure how Homelan got to host all the servers (Are they they only game hosting service out?) But they seem to on top of it, switching servers around so people can play. Thou 4th of july was a bad time to release, 500,000 people couldn't play, only 10 servers and buggy code. Hopefully a patch will be out soon, oh yea, that's this slashdot topic!
"This was an honest disagreement about accounting procedures..." - President Bush - The art of spin control.
Besides, who knows what kinds of hidden messages the Army could be putting in these games to influence the youth of America.
Who knows what type of hidden messages they're putting on the TV? Or on the radio? Or in the clouds? (they have complete control over the weather, you know.)
There's no solid evidence of any effective hidden messages. If you can survive the propoganda of school and TV and movies and radio and billboards, I'm sure you can survive the propaganda of America's Army.
As a guy who server 4 years in the Army, I can't "avoid your propaganda at all costs." Especially when you're sitting at +5. :P
... could it have been spent on better things? Probably. The game is hugely popular it turns out ... will it improve the Army's recruitment problem? I doubt it. Will it improve the perception of the Army with America's youth? Yes, for the same reason Saving Private Ryan and Blackhawk Down did.
... by the way, they're still doing it right now in places like Afghanistan.
... but damn it, these guys are due.
.... nothing more, nothing less.
Yes, the game cost taxpayer money
The Army is trying to portray itself as a professional organization, where a soldier has many educational opportunities and other benefits that most of them would not have otherwise. They're trying to change the typical perception from "People who join the Army out of high school are losers, and had no choice." to "People who choose the Army are doing their country a great service and are fighting for our rights." When the shit hits the fan, the soldiers are the ones who pay the price
In the grand scheme of things, the game cost almost nothing. Ask a Vietnam Vet sometime of the reception they got when they came home. I guarantee it wasn't the patriotic flag waving you see today. (Everyone's a couch patriot). It's PR ploy, that's for sure
One day, I was walking in a freaking toy store, and there was an action figure "Infantry Platoon Leader". I looked at it with some friends, and we were like "Holy shit, we're an action figure!". This game is the same thing --- an action figure for gamers, that's all it is
Think of the costs of this game as the fee for living in a free country. Now, get off your pedestal and enjoy it like everyone else, it's only a game.
United States Marine Corps!
A few months ago, I went through [most of] basic training at Ft. Benning, in a platoon with a bunch (as in, all but 3) of geeks, though not all of them were Linux geeks. I noticed a strange domination of Cisco yuppies with Novell skillz, harping on about Win2k. Plenty of UNIX programmers, though, which is what matters.
These geeks were in Ft. Benning (which normally only trains infantry) because Ft. Jackson (whom normally trains these sorts) was booked solid.
Thus, I'd like to say that not only is the Army hiring Slashdot-reading linux-using teenagers, but that they're recruiting them in droves.
And, yes, it -did- look like a Linux convention for the first week or so, but they were all looking and -acting- like soldiers within a couple of months. Even the former three-pack-a-day gamers were partaking in nonsensical pushup competitions, and the platoon was top in the company for fitness scores.
It was a strange transition to see, watching the flabby, pale, quiet Linux kids turn into hardcore rope-climbing, gun-toting freaks.
And in a few months, when those same kids are done training at Ft. Gordon and get shipped out to the front line as communications geeks, I'll be very glad to have them there, while I sit on my once-again flabby, civilian ass and read Slashdot.
Kid-proof tablet..
why do you suppose this is?
Ineffectual religious leaders who face being made irrelevant by the onslaught of technology and social progress. They fear basic human rights because it is the specter of equality of the sexes that threatens to unleash the pent up anguish of the long subordinated and denigrated women. They see in America and Israel obvious scapegoats to heap all of their society's ills upon. They fear education because it threatens to undermine their monopoly on wisdom and knowledge. The West glorifies everything that scares them the most.
They keep their subjects as dumb and seething as possible in order to legitimize their power. By giving their subjects a target, they have sown the seeds for terrorism.
Palestine's attacks on Israel are at least as Justified as Israel's attacks on Palestine, considering that Israel has stolen most of the land from Palestinians...Note that I am a born and bread USA citizen.
Then would you say that Native Americans would be justified in sending suicide bombers to your house?
What about all of the Kurds and Iranians who were killed by the USA using Iraq as a proxy? Giving killing machines and technology and giving them the go-ahead-and-kill-them-iranians is surely a morally questionable act.
What about the attacks on Iraq, which killed thousands of innocent civilians? Oops, American extremists.
Ok, that Iranian civilian passenger (747 sized btw) airplane that was shotdown by the USA? Sorry, American extremists again.
So what you're basically trying to say is that the deliberate strike on civilians on 9/11 was a military action fully justified by past sins of the US govt?
What about all those Muslims who had their mosques fire bombed?
So any unjust act is an excuse to strap a bomb to yourself and take out a few kids?
That wasn't Prez Dubya calling Sharon a man of peace, while at the same time calling Arafat a corrupt leader? Do a little search on "Sharon war crimes" in google. Not necessarily the kind of guy that I would call a "man of peace".
There is plenty of blood on hands on both sides. There is a distinct difference, though. If Israeli soldiers kill an unarmed kid, there will be a big outcry from within Israel. Yet there is routine killing of kids by Arabs and only deafening silence from the Arab community. BTW, Arafat is no angel himself.
Your justifications for killing are the same justifications that your "enemy" uses.
You know why Bin Laden hates the US? Because the infidels dared to set foot on the holy land. You know why he hates the Saudi Government, because they let the infidels do it. And still you equate his motives with the US's.
So why are we so quick to throw stones?
Ummm...hello? Remember 9/11?
Muslim extremists say, in justification of waging war against the USA.
No, wars are fought by militaries. They are engaging in a terror campaign to try and demoralize the public.
An interesting feature of the America's Army FPS game is that *both* sides play American troops.
The missions are set up so that you're either attacking or defending a base, and your team is always the Americans, and the other team always looks like terrorists. This creates an interesting unstated message to the game: American troops are exactly the same and have the same objectives as terrorists. I understand why the army doesn't want to encourage people roll-playing the axis of evil, but I'm not sure if this is the subtext they want to create either.
Of course it is a realistic portrayal of the way asymetrical warfare works. Everyone thinks they are fighting to defend freedom.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
An understandable question but I disagree.
The games are a clever way to romanticize the military in the minds of reasonably intelligent and computer-savvy (god I sound like Jon Katz!) young folks in the hopes of boosting enlistment.
While you may well see it as perverse that 'murder' (warfare) could be viewed as romantic/fantasy by some, I'd have to say that it's been going on for a while now and that it's really nothing new. You could say the same for war movies which you may well see as depicting murderers as heroes. Such is life.
For me, I'd really like to see a military staffed by personnel who are as creative and knowledgable as possible. Games like this are a creative step in the right direction.
**>>BELCH
If it wasn't for America you'd either be speaking Italian, German, Russian, or maybe even Turkish, take your pick. Just imagine what your life would be like if America hadn't been there to stop Mussolini and Hitler? Maybe the Russians would have defeated Germany in the end, but would you be better off if they had? You're free to speak your mind here on this forum in no small part because America was there to defend that freedom 60 years ago. Or what if NATO didn't exist and Greece and Turkey were left to their own devices in dealing with one another? How would you like to have to go to war? Don't complain about America stepping in and telling assholes to behave themselves when your own country was engaging in a war by proxy with Turkey in the balkans, a war we had to put a stop to ourselves because the nations of Europe couldn't seem to get their act together.
As for your statement that you're a non-racist, you could have fooled me. First you complain that America is multi-racial (your neighbour is from india and your wife from Africa), then say there is no such thing as a "pure" American. Unlike Greece, being American doesn't describe a single genetic or even an ethnic background. Being an American means that you live here and are a contributing member of society. You don't even have to be born here. I doubt that anyone where you were from would call me a Greek if I moved there regardless of how long I lived there or how well I spoke the language. I assume that by describing yourself as a non-racist you're implying that I am one. Where you get that idea I just can't figure out. You seem to be able to write english well enough, can you read it as well?
As for your ideas about American history, you really need some schooling. The United States is currently the oldest continuous government in the world. There are older nations to be sure, but none of the governments that were in power in 1788 are still around today in the same form they were then. Our system has not changed. That kind of stability, especially when you consider the unparalleled expansion and growth we've enjoyed, says that we are good at solving our own problems. Youth violence is a figment of the media's imagination. We didn't "invade" Vietnam, we were invited by the south Vietnamese government. We didn't even invade north Vietnam. We did kill over a million NVA and VC troops (too few if you ask me), but we did so in the process of attempting to preserve south Vietnam's soverignty, hardly an invasion. As for our reaons for doing so, they were a bit deeper than a desire to be "macho." Our war in Vietnam was a war by proxy with the Soviet Union, much like the recent conflict in the balkans was a war by proxy between Greece and Turkey. A war which, by the way, we had to step in and put a stop to because the "european community" couldn't seem to do the job itself. I'm not sure what your description of the US as a "bastard nation" is supposed to mean exactly. Bastard means illegitimate, and no government is more legitimate than ours, at least if you subscribe to the ideas of Thomas Jefferson or John Locke.
Just so you know, what we're doing now is not called playing "good cop." We're done doing that because its been made abundantly clear to us that it doesn't work. Trying to make everyone like us and feel all warm and fuzzy about the US is what led to the WTC and pentagon being bombed (a plane loaded with fuel IS a bomb) So instead we're now playing BAD COP. If you want to understand the nature of our current foreign policy, read this book and all will be clear. You might not like the United States, but then you're in no position to act on your dislike beyong harassing tourists. This means that your opinion, like that of europe in general when it comes to the US and what we do internationally, is essentially irrelevant. If you REALLY hate us so much, I suggest that you start a petition to have Greece withdraw from NATO and cease all trade with US based companies. Or you could take the easy way and just move to Cuba. That is what life is like where the US doesn't extend its power.
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.