Ubisoft Developing Next America's Army Game

altodarknight writes "Ubisoft annouced today that they are developing the new America's Army game: 'America's Army: Rise of a Soldier'. Working with the US Army, it will be released summer 2005 on XBox and PS2. The only question is, will it be free like past AA games?"

Comments

Free

[wot.narg]

Of course it wont be free. If it was free, all those TERRORISTS! could get it. Then we'd be attacked again, and they'd eat our babies!

Re:Free

[game kid]

If ya get this Army thingy fer free yer a terrist!

Offensive Bush impressions aside, I don't expect this to be cheap; it is going to be on the XBox and PS2 and I doubt either system's maker will go sans some dough--but then, that's exactly what I wonder: Do the system makers have to get paid for games licensed/made for their system? I do believe makers sign NDAs, etc. to make sure the system's technology doesn't get leaked to the public *cough*emulator makers*cough*...and besides Ubisoft have made non-free games (and quite a few from a glance of their main page).

Re:Free

[cjsnell]

I'll take the bait.

[Spoken as a former soldier]

If you have an axe to grind, grind it with US politicians, not the US Army. The US Army acts on the orders of their Commander in Chief, the President. The US Army does not make policy, it merely carries it out. Our soldiers are hard working young men and women who chose to serve their country rather than sit around and drink beer "back on the block" with the rest of their generation.

Gonna go out on a limb and say.

[rogabean]

It probaly won't be free.

1. They have had great success with the game and it has grown into it's own franchise.

2. Distribution costs

3. Can you really se Ubisoft doing anything for free?

Re:Gonna go out on a limb and say.

[Khakionion]

4. ??? 5. Profit!!

Re:Gonna go out on a limb and say.

[SoCalChris]

Can you really se Ubisoft doing anything for free?

Something tells me that no software company would do something like that for free.

If it does turn out to be "free", it will be because it came out of our taxes, just like the previous versions.

Re:Gonna go out on a limb and say.

[GreyWolf3000]

Who wrote that webpage? Although the images are disturbing, I don't feel like I can trust it. It frequently draws conclusions, and name-calls soldiers.

Don't the insurgents make children fight, anyways? Could the soldiers be talking about killing armed children?

Where does the author even get the quotes? To me, it's entirely possible that those soldiers are made up. I see no documentation or anything.

All the pictures of beat up children are from the cluster bombs--I think the author wants to confuse them and make it look like soldiers are running around leveling legions of children. Even if the quotes from the soldiers were real, I wouldn't be convinced of that by this article.

I'm not pro-war or anything, either.

Re:Gonna go out on a limb and say.

[JVert]

I think the "bigger issue" is the link at the bottom "The United States Government Committed the September 11 Attacks". If you belive that then you shouldn't have a problem believing the captions for the pictures.

Re:Gonna go out on a limb and say.

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Not to mention this picture is actually a fake, as proven by snopes: foto

Look around under "photos" for the original. I think it originally said "We're Ready"

Re:Gonna go out on a limb and say.

[Mork29]

Charging money for this would actually be alot of legal work. Ubisoft will get their money, but it will probably be US tax dollars that pay them. The Army has a huge budget, and the recruiting budget has gone through the roof as of late. Retention is a bit of a problem, so they have to get new soldiers to fill the ranks. I'm sure that they could develop a game for under $1,000,000. That is a trivial amount of money on the scale of the militaries budget. I work in a supply unit and I see that figure get spent several times a day in food, water, and mechanical parts. Besides, it IS an effective recruiting tool. On average, the army spends around $4,000 for every person who signs up for the army. That includes no training, no plane ticket to basic, just to get them in the door and signing their name. I'm sure that figure has gone up even more since I've come in. Also, I don't think the Army can legally sell a commercial product (they can auction off certain surplus, but that's different). In fact, I don't think any govvernment agency can (or the IRS would probably have their own version of Turbo Tax). Besides, if it's a console game, it'll have to be on a disc. You'll have to go to the recruiter to get that disk. He'll probably ask you a few questions before he gives up the disk. In the end, people will go to the recruiter to get a free game, and feet in the door is all they need. Selling the Army is the easy part, it's getting them into the office the first time that's difficult. A free game will do that, but a game you charge for won't. Well, that's my $.02 Oh, and IAAS.

Re:Gonna go out on a limb and say.

[Richard_at_work]

Also the picture that says 'Demonic American soldier humiliating an Iraqi man held prisoner' is a BRITISH soldier, hes holding an SA-80 and wearing British issue desert combats. Doesnt add a lot of credence to the claims of that site.

Re:Gonna go out on a limb and say.

[Wraithfighter]

Probably won't be free, but that's because of the distribution costs.

That said, it'll probably cost $5 or thereabouts, simply to recover the manufacturing and distribution costs. The army isn't looking for a profit off of this. Hell, there in enough trouble already with Full Spectrum Warrior.

On a side note, does anyone else find it kinda funny that a French company is making America's Army? Cause, ya know, it has a certain ironic appeal :).

Or more importantly...

[hexghost]

Will this next one not suck?

Re:Or more importantly...

[PKPerson]

I agree, but not as trollishly. The most recent game, while being very realistic, lacks the action of newer games. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for source, but, IMHO, it isnt fun at all with the +8 min rounds. If you happpen to get killes in the first munite or so, you have time for a snack...or two...

Its just annoying, and compared to other games, even (shutter) halo 2, it cany quite compete. Frcry was great, if a little pricy (this can be expected of new games) and mabey, Ubisoft can pull this off, funded by our (your...I'm still a minor) hard earned taxes.

I for one, welcome UBIsoft as the devoloper od a new game with a great potential, but ugly, and kinda smelly past.
(As long as its free, which is a different debate)

w00t

It Won't Be Free Because of Fucking DRM

[dcocos]

The game won't be free (for download at least) because with out modding you PS2 or X-Box you can't burn your own games. And I consider it a waste of tax dollars to distribute it any other way, thank you DRM mongers!

Free

[jericho4.0]

Of course it will be free. This is not a game, it's a piece of government funded propaganda, designed to instill a positive opinion of the US military in youth wordwide.

I played it, and was struck by how many times I died. This seemed highly instructive.

Oh the irony!

[Anonymous Coward]

A French company developing a US military recruitment tool.

Re:Oh the irony!

[Alarash]

Hi,

Ubisoft is a french from France company, created by the Guillemot brothers. They also possess the Hercules hardware manufacturer (formelly known as the... "Guillemot" brand). Ubisoft also posses GameLoft, a cellphone games developper.

The company is spread like this:

- Headquarters are in Montreuil, a city right next to Paris. A few games are developped there, like Rayman. That's also where the websites are designed.
- European warehouse is located in Bretagne (a France's departement, what you guys in US would call a state althought it's quite different).
- And last but not least, the main development studio is located in Montreal, Canada. Games like Splinter Cell or Farcry are developped there. This is also where most of Ubi.com teams are located (aka the evil GMs that get you banned in Shadowbane or EverQuest Europe). The reason is that the Canadian government made a very, very good offer to Ubisoft, and as a result it's 40% cheaper for the management to send people there rather than having them work in France (where social security, health care and transports are to be payed at least at 50% by the company, that's the law).

Just a quote from an old favorite game....

[dousk]

Kill, kill, kill..... Doesn't anybody **** anymore ?

Who said Ubisoft was doing it for free?

[Goosey]

I am not going to venture a stab at if it will be free or not, but I find it a possibility. Certainly Ubisoft won't do it for free, but that doesn't mean that the military won't pay Ubisoft to develope/distribute it for free.

I suppose it depends on if it is still seen primarily as a recruiting tool, which I suppose depends on how successful it has been as a recruiting tool. Some analysis on it's success in that regard would be VERY interesting, to say the least.

Of course its not free the us taxpayer is footing

[cyrax777]

the bill same with the other AA games!

Re:respose from the submitter

[Sierpinski]

Production and distribution internationally would not create any more US army recruits, and hence be a waste of money.

This isn't a recruiting tool. Its a propaganda tool. I played AA from version 1.6 to 2.2, and there were probably more international players than US players, all across the time board. Most people just wanted a free online game.

The whole point of the game was to make people think about our soldiers, and what they're doing "over there" (wherever "there" is at the time). Nobody ever discussed wanting to join the military just from playing the game.

A recruiting tool is the 'Army of One' campaign at the army is using, not this game. Making someone think that they are an army all by themselves (when in reality they are a drone that is supposed to do what theyre told and nothing more) is what might convince someone to join up.

So the government isn't wasting money on a recruiting tool. They are wasting money on propaganda. They want folks to sympathize with the American Soldier, which will bolster support for them, and for their warmongering leader.

(Yes, I am an American, and have been my whole life.)

GOOD!

[xchino]

I used to be an avid America's Army player, until I got so sick of all of the bugs. Half of the weapons dont work and aren't used in any maps, like the shotgun and fists.. which have been bugged for years. It also runs like absolute crap. I can play Doom 3 and HL2 both at 1024x768 with moderate settings and they play smoothly. With all the settings turned down in AA, I still get lag on any map more compliacted than Bridge Crossing. Sometimes it would bug causing your teammates to look like OpFor. I once hit a guy in the chest with a 203 round, it exploded, and didn't do a single bit of damage. This game is written like crap, and any time you complain to the community about it, you get 1000's foreigners crying "Quit bitching! It's FREE!". Well no sir it is most certainly not free to us Americans who's tax dollars were used in its creation. I have no problem with them making a game for recruitement but I would expect it to at least be commercial quality, i have seen open source projects done better than that game. I have since quit AA completely, and play Counter Strike Source exclusivly, but if Ubisoft can make this game, and make it right, I very well might switch back. Under current circumstances however, I find it to be unplayable.