=VG= SemlerPDX

A Balancing Act for a Small Fee The much anticipated Battlefield 3 Patch has released, and DICE has proudly touted this as a package that will make the game "more stable, fairer, and more balanced". Covering a very wide range of changes, fixes, and improvements, this is a BF3 patch to beat all before it. Most notable is the new and improved Commo Rose with it's intuitive design and interface features such as improved functions and readability. The mouse movement is now centered in the middle when the Commo Rose is displayed (by holding down Q), and moving the mouse from center to a selection, players can now activate that action by simply releasing the Q button. This will make for a much faster interaction, a great help to these call-outs for ammo, medic, or spotting an enemy - especially now that all these call-outs will be globally broadcast to every player on your team. Another immediately apparent addition is the new mini-map styles choices. Either a satellite view, a map view, or a hybrid of the two will show buildings and terrain features to better help the digital war fighter navigate his area of operations. Another big one that noOb flyboys are sure to love - flares are no longer an unlock item, but usable by anyone piloting an aircraft. These all seem like great improvements to a game that is all about earning rank and unlocking special weapons and gear, a system which makes for a very desirable degree of recognition that rewards the diligent, frequent player and his ever improving skills. The idea to limit certain weapons, equipment, and abilities is not a new concept in video games, and Battlefield 3 makes for a grand arena for such gameplay to flourish - putting more powerful items in the hands of seasoned players. Unfortunately for those dedicated players who worked so hard for their unlocks, the Battlefield is about to be leveled with the newest and most controversial concept of purchasing said upgrades outright from EA just as one would the game itself. In my opinion, and many others, this is a very contradictory concept, seemingly moving the core idea of Battlefield 3 online multiplayer gameplay in the completely opposite direction. For an additional $40, one can immediately have access to each and every unlock in the game - or for smaller fees, they can simply buy the unlock set that appeals to them. Now, I know many are going to jump and say that this is a good balancing feature due to the fact that anyone who buys the game today, with a desire to play online against others, would otherwise be at a severe disadvantage given the number of long time players who have already unlocked a number of powerful items and weapons now populating the online battlefields. In a game that features tracked stats, ranks, unlocks, and achievements, one must also argue that selling such achievements that would be gained over time through actual gameplay comes very close to unbalancing the fairness of the game in that now many, many more of these unique weapons or powerful gameplay features will now plague the battlefields, many in the hands of players who never had to work hard or learn to use any other weapon to achieve such a level of presence on said battlefield as a proven e-warrior. In my opinion, all the elements exist in Battlefield 3 to simply balance the fairness of the "unlocks paradox", not by merely selling unlocks to lazy, or more appropriately, casual players desiring full access to game features, but by ordering their ranked servers by rank itself. One of my favorite PvP online wargames of the past was the Socom series for the Playstation. Sure, there were plenty of ranked servers that had no rank restrictions - Ensigns fought alongside Captains, albeit in much shorter life spans - but also just as popular were servers such as Ensigns Only, Lt.'s Only, or servers barring lower or higher ranks. Surely this is a better system than flooding the game universe with each and every unlockable item/weapon/feature to anyone with a bit of green. Imagine how quickly those gamers without a large budget will be outclassed by players who haven't any more experience than they do at the game, or time spent online, but just a fatter wallet. Of course, Electronic Arts immediately stepped to defend this obvious profit motivated concept, and had this to say in a statement made to GameSpy regarding their editorial on the subject: "Yesterday we released new content for Battlefield 3 that included the ability for players to purchase a shortcut that unlocks earnable content in the game. The shortcuts are meant to encourage players to brave new territory. We want to offer newcomers a chance to catch up with the veterans that have been playing the game for the last five months. These shortcuts do not create an unfair advantage for any players ? new or veteran. In fact, withholding these shortcuts would actually put newcomers in a pretty steep uphill climb, splitting the community. We understand that everyone plays differently. Some gamers want to earn the unlocks, and they can continue to do so. Others have been wishing for a shortcut, which is now available. We're happy to be able to serve both types of players." What do you think about this new idea to sell the very unlocks that make the game a rewarding experience to play? Do you think that by selling these features to other players that those trying to work at it through gameplay will be disheartened and frustrated as they see other players left and right with paid for unlock packs? Will this force those players to purchase the unlocks themselves just to be able to compete on this new level where most all players have access to everything but they themselves? Please write your opinions in the comments section below! by Aaron Semler, Senior Editor VETERANS-GAMING

A Most Realistic Threat... In the year 2035, as the US defends the Pacific in proxy-wars with China, NATO struggles to retain members as more and more leave to join a growing Eastern alliance. Following the aggressive military expansion by Iranian Armed Forces, stopped narrowly by a treaty ratification in 2034, the small Greek Island of Limnos has become the focal point of a tense global conflict that threatens a world war of epic proportions. The Aegean Sea is the new frontline, with Iran occupying Greek sovereign lands. Battle scars still show on this little island of less than 300 square kilometers - wounds left from the Iranian invasion in 2033. Bohemia Interactive has spent a great deal of time creating a very real, very detailed feel to their upcoming military shooter, Arma 3. They have painstakingly fleshed out a seemingly possible near-future world caught on the verge of a gripping scenario featuring actual real world powers. The very thought of such an Iranian resurgence is almost a bit too close to home, but in that it gives us a more understandable battleground that doesn't patronize it's audience with a mere generic "terrorist" style enemy threat. It is true that many reviews and player comments of Arma 2 note the difficult learning curve, and because of the vast game modes and missions, may have a hard time figuring out "how to play". Bohemia Interactive, as a result, will release Arma 3 with a greatly enhanced GUI, giving the player a much more usable interface, along with better tutorial and training complements to round out the player and get them into the game. Players will enjoy a new degree of control and interaction with their characters, and the environment itself, with such concepts as diving underwater, and customizable gear down to the uniform itself. As in previous Arma games, Arma 3 will have factions of BLUFOR, OPFOR, and Civilians. The campaign will also feature Greek Resistance cells including units from the Hellenic Armed Forces who remained after the invasion of Limnos, and are rumored to have CIA and SIS support. The Iranian Armed Forces comprise the OPFOR faction, of course, and have taken control of several key facilities and strategic positions throughout the island of Limnos. The BLUFOR operatives supporting the region are comprised of NATO's Mediterranean Joint Force Command which include the US 7th Infantry Division and British Special Forces groups. Players will begin by taking the role of Cpt. Scott Miller of British Special Forces, in command of a small NATO taskforce security team for the Combat Technology Research Group. Arma 3 will show remarkable improvements with it's updated Real Virtuality 4 engine, and it will be complimented by Nvidia's PhysX engine for more realistic collision detection and vehicle handling. Improved flight models are being adopted from Take On Helicopters, and players will still have full head tracking support and TrackIR support that will make flying through volumetric clouds over picture perfect terrain a breathtaking experience. DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 will be supported to help show off the staggering view distances varying from 6-20 kilometers. I am personally looking forward to ragdoll physics - there'll be nothing like shooting a guard out of a tower and laughing as he tumbles to the ground like a sack of digital meat! More information is sure to come soon on Arma III, and we have the Community Alpha to look forward to this Summer, and a Beta directly following that. No need to freeze yourself and risk having to fight a bunch of intelligent atheist sea otters in the future! by Aaron Semler, Senior Editor VETERANS-GAMING

A Decade of Waiting... Announced way back in June of 2008, Blizzard Entertainment will soon release the much anticipated Diablo III, over a decade after the last Diablo game product. Development for Diablo III started in 2001, by Blizzard North, but greatly differs from the original design back then. They have departed from the Havok Physics Engine, and using their own custom in-house physics will allow for in-game damage effects in destructible environments. A full 3D environment will see enemies crawling up walls, and other such utilization of the world around. Sanctuary is the name of the fantasy world of Diablo, and has aged twenty years since the end of the last game, Diablo II. The world's geography has been changed by events in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Two large continents separate the seas, dotted with tiny islands to the Northwest. Players will begin to explore Sanctuary starting May 15th, 2012, but only in a singleplayer mode at first. In an effort to release the game and avoid further launch delays, Blizzard has pulled integration of their Player versus Player arenas. A future patch will include PvP at a later date, and players will be able to choose existing characters they have used in cooperative and single player games. They will have all the skills and gear they have earned, and can participate in unranked and ranked games that unlock rewards and titles, as well as multiplayer achievements. The public beta testing is currently underway, and the impressions of the players are generally good. Five character classes include a Wizard, a Witch Doctor, a Monk, a Demon Hunter, and of course, a Barbarian. Players have noted right away that the button mashing tactics of the past have been replaced with a clear need to use the in-game skills to prevail. Even gold is picked up automatically - gone are the days of playing Diablo with a "turbo" button! The game will launch with 300,000 Collector's Edition units for a price of $99.99 and will include a USB key holding Diablo II and it's expansion, a book with concept art, a soundtrack CD, and even a documentary DVD. The standard edition will cost $59.99, but those who took advantage of the "annual pass" for World of Warcraft promotion by Blizzard will receive Diablo 3 free as a digital download once it is released. Not a bad incentive for keeping an active WoW account for one full year. It is worth noting that a constant internet connection to Blizzard's Battle.net service will be required even for single player gameplay. This is sure to be an amazing game, and Blizzard is proud of it's achievement. Mike Morhaime, co-founder and CEO of Blizzard Entertainment had this to say: "After many years of hard work by our development team and months of beta testing by hundreds of thousands of dedicated players around the world, we're now in the homestretch. We look forward to putting the final polish on Diablo III over the next two months and delivering the ultimate action-RPG experience to gamers worldwide starting on May 15." by Aaron Semler, Senior Editor VETERANS-GAMING

Arma Content in Take On Helicopters On March 15th, 2012, Bohemia Interactive released it's first official DLC for Take On Helicopters, bringing the gunship to it's new helicopter game. Take On Helicopters: Hinds lets players take control of the Mil Mi-24V, the Mi-24P, and the Mil-24 SuperHind Mk.III gunships in all their variants across 25 nations that operate the Hind. Five difficult time trials accompany a new set of singleplayer challenges and even a new competitive multiplayer scenario, pitting players in adversarial battle against other Hind teams over internet or LAN. In an upcoming update, Bohemia Interactive promises Arma 2 content in the world of Take On Helicopters: Hinds. Flying a fully modeled Hind gunship over Chernarus, with a fully interactive 3D cockpit and TrackIR support sounds very interesting! This crossover update, code named "Downtown", will not allow for every conceivable mix of contents, but will definitely bring a new degree of depth to the game that fans of the Arma series will enjoy. These Hinds are meticulously modeled, with beautiful interactive cockpits, weapons systems, and the retractable landing gear looks great! They even recorded real-life sound samples from actual Hinds for that "extra level of detail". As a sim-style game, you might think that Take On Helicopters may be a bit difficult, but as someone who has played everything from Microsoft Flight Sim to Falcon 4: Allied Force, and of course, Arma, I can tell you that the controls are fully modeled, but interaction with them allows for a get-in-and-go ability. In minutes, I found myself chasing after Poffadder through downdown Seattle, Washington. During the flight, he told me about the actual controls of helicopters, and I was able to use them to my advantage right away and immediately felt a higher degree of control over my aircraft. I use a joystick, but the game was designed to be used with anything - mouse and keyboard, gamepads, and more. It's like having a sim game that responds to simple commands, or allows for a more in-depth, interactive experience at the players whim. With this newest addition of the Hind gunships, the small indie studio Bohemia Interactive is really showing off how it is fast becoming one of the hottest game developers of the new age. by Aaron Semler, Senior Editor VETERANS-GAMING

New Cinematic Kill Cameras The Skyrim 1.5 Update is now out! In addition to many, many bug fixes, a host of new features brings new depth to the game. Xbox and PS3 users will get their update through the Microsoft and Sony Online Networks respectively this week. Crash fixes and memory optimizations top the list of updates, and some players will be happy to note that their followers will now sneak properly when the player is trying to be sneaky. When Skyrim released in November of 2011, it made $650 million in it's first month, with over 7 million copies shipped to retailers in the first week alone. Over 10 million players fight dragons and explore the vast Skyrim world in what became the most played game of 2011. The newest feature now available is the cinematic kill cameras for ranged and magic attacks, as shown in this video: In the Skyrim world, you can explore to your hearts content, and now the world itself has been polished up. In the PC version, shadows are now cast on grass, and the visual transition for snowy landscapes and when going under water have been greatly improved. Even more features have been promised in the near future, including game add-on content in more free updates to come. It's no wonder why Skyrim won the Game of the Year Award at the 2012 Game Developers Choice Awards a few weeks ago. If you haven't already, check out Skyrim for yourself and see why it is being called the "greatest role playing video game ever made". by Aaron Semler, Senior Editor VETERANS-GAMING