- Weekend Deal - Arma series, up to 80% Off! - 20 April 2017
Save up to 80% on the Arma series as part of this week's Weekend Deal*! *Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time
- Combined Operations Compatibility data patch released - 18 December 2015
A 160MB data patch ensuring Arma 2's compatibility with the recent Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead update has been released.
- Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead 1.63 patch transitions online multiplayer to Steam - 30 June 2014
Bohemia Interactive has taken the next step to ensure that Arma 2 survives the Gamespy shutdown . A new 1.63 update for Operation Arrowhead will ensure that online matchmaking survives by formally transitioning from Gamespy to Steam.
- DayZ video dev diary teaches how to get dressed - 5 February 2013
A nice slice of DayZ is on display in the mod-gone-standalone's first video developer diary. The 15-minute entry introduces its new menu system, how to put together a fetching outfit, item spawns which require actual searching to find, new swampland, the recovered island of Utes, and more.
- DayZ standalone delayed for 'groundbreaking' changes - 8 January 2013
You may have noticed that the standalone version of smash-hit ArmA 2 mod DayZ missed its planned December launch, but there's a very good reason for that. Creator Dean Hall explains in a new blog post, "Put simply, DayZ Standalone isn't here because we had the chance to go from making a game that was just the mod improved slightly, packaged simply, and sold--to actually redeveloping the engine and making the game the way we all dreamed it could be." The inventory and item management system has been "completely removed and rewritten from the ground," Hall explained yesterday , which lets DayZ do far fancier things. "The new system opens the door for durability of items, disease tracking (cholera lingering on clothes a player wearsâ¦), batteries, addon components, and much more," he wrote. "If you shoot a player in the head to take his night vision, you will damage the night vision." You…
- Day Z lead 'having meetings' about console port - 15 August 2012
We already know that Day Z lead Dean Hall wants to make his popular ArmA 2 mod go standalone sometime this year, but he's setting his ambitions even higher to multiplatform development as well. Apparently Hall would like to release the game on consoles as well, and actively meeting console developers at Gamescom 2012.
- Day Z standalone following Minecraft dev model - 7 August 2012
DayZ creator Dean 'Rocket' Hall has spoken before about a standalone version of the smash-hit Arma 2 zombie mod, but now it's properly official. The day after the mod hit one million players , Hall has announced he'll be leading the standalone project at Bohemia, following "the Minecraft development model." Hall, who already works at Bohemia on the Arma series, explained that it'll be introduced as an alpha version at "a heavily discounted price," updated in "fast iterations." A bit like how the mod already works, really--and how it'll continue to work. "Development and updates of the mod will continue in parallel with the development of the game, so anyone who is playing the mod now will be able to continue to do so," he reassured. Watch the standalone's official site for more.
- Day Z passes a million players - 6 August 2012
People might be getting tired of zombies, but they apparently aren't getting tired of hyper-realistic games that border on the impossible. Sheer gamer masochism is the only possible explanation for the Day Z mod having surpassed a whopping one million unique players today, after only four months on the market. The Day Z Mod site ticked past the threshold and the development team sent out word with a tweet . More than 2.1 billion zombies have been killed, which might make Day Z sound like a relatively zombie-free paradise. But that assumption would be wrong since almost 4 million characters have been straight-up murdered by other players. As usual in horror fiction, man is the real monster . That's just the kind of breakout success that might tempt players and publishers to come for its standalone version , which is hoping to launch later this year as long as things go smoothly.
- The Sweetest Person You Will Ever Encounter In DayZ - 3 August 2012
Raini won't steal your beans or kill you for your ammunition. All Raini wants to do is share her soda and tent with you. DayZ - Making Friends
- A Weird Glitch Makes This The Best Dance Off In A Video Game Ever - 2 August 2012
I don't even...what the hell is...ah whatever, don't question it. Because this is undoubtedly the best dance off in video game history, thanks to what looks like some funny bugs in Arma 2 . What the fuck kind of dance is that?!
- Arma 2 Czech Republic DLC rolls out today - 30 July 2012
Yeah yeah sure zombies great, but what about army men? For those who like to get together with their chums and simulate a little military action, Bohemia Interactive today launched its 'Army of the Czech Republic' DLC for Arma 2: Combined Operations . It brings shiny newness including vehicles, weapons, missions, and fittingly for this fine weather, two summery terrains. You can buy the add-on now direct from Bohemia for $12. A Steam release is due mid-August. Pew pew
- Arma 2 patch helps fix Day Z crashes - 25 July 2012
If Day Z has been a little too crashy for your liking, rejoice, for Arma 2 patch 1.62 has arrived with changes which developer Bohemia says "make zombie hunts much less prone to crashes and should improve server stability." Given that the smash hit mod has a whole new audience buying the military sim, it's only natural that it should get a little extra care and attention. The full changelog is on the Bohemia forums , but here are the highlights: * Multiplayer optimizations, security and server improvements; * Overall stability was improved with numerous tweaks and fixes; * Added new video options (Post-Process Anti-Aliasing, Alpha To Coverage); * Additional AI improvements and numerous bug fixes; * Resolved issues with several training missions; * Added a lot of new script commands for content makers; You can download patch 1.62 here at Shacknews , but Steam users will need to wait for…
- Day Z aiming to go stand-alone this year - 24 July 2012
The Day Z mod for ArmA 2 has been a runaway hit, boosting ArmA 2 sales and raising its profile among PC enthusiasts. The mod team has been open with its plans to spin off into its own stand-alone game, but it sounds like that's happening sooner than expected. Modder Dean Hall told VG247 that making it a stand-alone product could happen "certainly before Christmas," but that will rely on reaching an agreement first. Apparently he has entertained offers, but felt they were based on the mod's rocketing success rather than an understanding of the game. "We're really on borrowed time," he said. "I want to see it become a standalone game, following the Minecraft model of a low price point, but that will only work if we say that everyone is going to pay, and in order for people to not feel ripped off we need to have a load of new content; so, things like base-building, tidying and cleaning up…
- When a PC Game Gets Confused with a Military Aircraft Controversy - 23 July 2012
Today, the 12 MV-22 Osprey aircraft arrived in the Japanese city of Iwakuni, where it was met with protests. People in Japan believe that the aircraft is not safe, pointing to recent Osprey crashes in both Florida and Morocco. As AP points out , the U.S. military contends that the aircraft has solid safety records and plans to station Osprey at American military bases in Okinawa. To illustrate how unsafe the Osprey is, Japanese super blogger Kikko-san (who writes one of the most widely read blogs in Japan) tweeted a video of an Osprey crash to her 95,000 followers. It was a crash alright—an Osprey crash in tactical PC shooter Arma 2 . Mistakes happen! Especially on Twitter. Kikko-san quickly switched out the video game Osprey crash with a real Osprey crash (below). If Arma 2 's goal is to be a realistic looking shooter, it seems it passed the smell test—for one person, at le…
- Day Z 1.7.2 patch may cause equipment loss - 10 July 2012
After a short delay, the Day Z 1.7.2 patch for ArmA 2 has launched. That delay didn't quite stamp out all of the bugs, though, because the mod developers say that this update might make you lose some equipment. It also packs in a host of fixes and new features, as usual. A tweet from the development team said it could cause "equipment loss and loading problems," but on the bright side it improves server performance and lag. Other fixes include noise reduction through objects and a spawn fix. A few new features include smoother visibility based on the weather, bear traps that break players' and infected legs, sound reduction in rain and fog, and a replacement of the player syncing system. The team says that over 420,000 people are playing it now, with 22,000 concurrent at peak and 10,000 off-peak. The team originally planned to have two servers, but the game now sports more than a thousa…
- Russia's Billion-Dollar Rubber Curtain Saves Lives, Video Game Fighter Jets - 9 July 2012
This fake news report (an intentional fake, not a proper one ) is notable for two things: use of farm animals in a naval situation, and maybe the best impersonation of a BBC newsreader I've heard in my life . It was made using military sim ArmA 2, which explains both the janky visuals and the fact you can put an aircraft carrier and a goat in the same level. ВОЗБУЖДАЮЩАЯ НОВАЯ ТЕХНОЛОГИЯ
- Weekend Confirmed 120 - Dawnguard, Day Z, Diablo 3 - 6 July 2012
Despite the summer's dearth of new releases, the Weekend Confirmed crew get into some spirited discussions about Diablo 3's questionable end-game, and what it's like to be a vampire in Skyrim 's new expansion, Dawnguard. Garnett, Jeffs Cannata and Mattas, and regular guest Andrea Rene also delve into some talk about the Day Z beta mod that brings hardcore zombie survival to ArmA 2 , and opine a bit about ZombiU and Sim City Social as well. The eclectic mix of topics all wraps up with another batch of Finishing Moves. Weekend Confirmed Ep. 120 : 07/06/2012 Subscription Links: * Subscribe to Weekend Confirmed in iTunes ; * Weekend Confirmed is also available in the Zune Marketplace ; * Subscribe to Weekend Confirmed via RSS ; Here's a handy pop-up player so you can listen from right here on the page. Let us know how it works for you. If you're viewing this in the GameFly application, you…
- Community Spotlight: Shack Tactical, part 2 - 21 June 2012
(Editor's note: If you missed the first installment of the Shack Tactical Community Spotlight, you can read it here .) Dozens of infantry are lined up along the side of an airstrip. These soldiers are ready for battle. Meanwhile, another dozen soldiers cross over a nearby threshold and encounter enemy resistance. The battle with the enemy has begun. This is the next part of Shack Tactical's latest video, Town Sweep . Soldiers fight as a cohesive unit with a great sense of discipline. It takes a special breed of player to become a part of Shack Tactical. Among those that help determine who can hang with this group is Shacknews Chatty's own Andrew "dslyexci" Gluck. Such a structured community naturally receives its fair share of applicants. Gluck notes that the recruiting process is mainly passive. Would-be soldiers can find information on Shack Tactical through Bohemia Interactive's foru…
- Arma 2: Army of the Czech Republic DLC announced - 4 June 2012
If you can still conceive of using Arma 2 for anything other than simulating the zombie apocalypse in the smash-hit mod Day Z, its 'Army of the Czech Republic' DLC might pique your interest. Announced today by Bohemia, it'll bring new environments, weapons, vehicles, missions, and other gubbins. AotCR will send players to the pleasing summery terrain of Bystrica and Bukovina for 15 new single-player missions as the--you guessed it--Army of the Czech Republic. Naturally, a new force means appropriate new weapons, including the CZ 805 BREN and CZ Scorpion EVO III, and vehicles, like the L-159 Alca and Pandur II. Army of the Czech Republic is coming between July and September this year. Hit the announcement for more information, or pre-order now for $11.99. Czech it out
- Day Z patch welcomes ladies to the apocalypse - 28 May 2012
Women are hugely important in any zombie apocalypse scenario, as those baby factories shall be needed rebuild the human race. Accordingly, smash hit Arma 2 mod Day Z added lady characters in a new patch on Sunday. Oh, and bandits now look like everyone else. Good luck with that. Day Z's ladies look a little something like this . Players will be presented with a one-time option to switch to female characters when they first connect to a server after applying the patch. This is irreversible, tied to your CD key, and applies to all future characters you make, so you may not want to be a lady for a lark. Especially considering how charmingly hostile some players can be to ladies in multiplayer FPSs, and how easy Day Z makes it for someone to ruin your fun. As well as adding ladies and changing the bandit code so players don't automatically don a mask when their humanity dips low, patch 1.6.…
