catbarf on 8/3/2013 at 05:29

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Because it seemed relevant:

[video=youtube;E_mESOTbEPs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_mESOTbEPs[/video]

Neb on 8/3/2013 at 17:54

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:laff:

What's good about the alpha for people who haven't tried it:

Aiming with the mouse feels super slick. A large portion of Arma clunkiness is gone.

Rear view mirrors in vehicles. Also render-to-texture monitor displays, but the mirrors are way cooler IMO.

New movement speeds and stances are complex, but needed. No more pissing around to find the optimum spot for aiming out of a window. Soon we'll make it full circle back to the analog System Shock stances. Tactical speed is brilliant, but I still haven't figured out what I'm going to bind walk as (default toggle is "W" + "S", yikes!)

Drag and drop inventory. Also, 'tabbed' browsing of gear kept in apparel and backpacks. Right click to take or drop.

It's mostly very promising so far. I'll be giving away all 3 of my alpha lite keys here when they arrive. (They don't support modding or multiplayer.)

Jason Moyer on 15/3/2013 at 20:02

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I have 3 copies of Arma 3 Alpha Lite (afaik it's the alpha minus multiplayer) if anyone wants one.

Gryzemuis on 25/3/2013 at 12:10

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That model, where you have to pre-order to get early access, is the standard in MMOs these days. (I know, nobody here ever plays MMOs).

I would never pre-order a game. Never. It's a matter of principle. I want to see the game first (reviews, youtube, etc). Then I'll decide if I'll buy it. I also think that there are always cheaper prices after launch than when pre-ordering.

This works fine for single-player games.
But when you play MMOs with friends, you don't have a choice anymore. You can decide to skip participating in the beta (or alpha). But if pre-ordering gives you a 1 or 2 week headstart, you are almost forced to pre-order.

There are 3-4 of my online friends who sometimes play MMOs. If they decide to get a week, or 2 weeks early start when a new MMO launches, I am forced to follow them. Because if I don't, I'll be way behind in the leveling. And the biggest fun of playing MMOs is that you can play them with your friends. I think this happened when we played Rift, Tera and GuildWars 2.

At least in a shooter, you can decide to join in later, and not be behind.

Gryzemuis on 25/3/2013 at 12:44

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Sorry for not being more clear. Of course I did pre-order those MMOs games, and participated in the early start.

I just wanted to give an example where pre-ordering has more impact than it has for Arma 3. Although, you could say that people who participated in the alpha and beta will have more experience when the game launches. And therefor they'll be more successful. So if you plan to play Arma 3 for a long time, or play it competitevely, you'll also be kinda forced to buy the early access.

There's actually a benefit for MMO companies to use this model. Normally when a new MMO launches, there will be a huge crowd waiting at the doors to play it. And then 2 months later, the majority of them are gone again. The first weeks servers will be overloaded. There will be waiting times to log in during peak hours. Etc. When you find ways to let not everybody start on the same day, then the maximum peak usage will be spread out over time. And it will be lower. And you'll need to rent/buy less server power. So I don't blame them for doing it this way. This might be very similar for Arma 3 too, as the game does have a large online aspect. (Or maybe it is all online, no single-player even ?)