Back when I reviewed Arma 3’s campaign, I whined like a hungry cat about how Bohemia never quite used the world to its fullest potential. I craved a mission that left me on my own to explore and adapt. Well, a mere five years on they've added something very interesting to the Steam Workshop. Arma 3 Apex: Old Man is an experimental, open-world, single-player scenario where you’re given a goal and a few hints, and then told to have at it. If you have Arma 3 Apex, it's free. I think I’ve found my Christmas present.
]]>There's a major new Arma 3 expansion launching next Monday, April 29th, bringing the military sim back to its Cold War roots. Impressively large as it looks, Global Mobilization isn't by Bohemia Interactive, but the first release from their "Creator DLC" commercial mod program and produced by small team Vertexmacht. Mods going commercial isn't a new concept, but it has backfired for a few studios, including Valve's own failure to get the idea off the ground with Skyrim, and Blizzard's swiftly-abandoned premium mods for StarCraft 2. Still, Bohemia's approach seems more structured, at least so far.
]]>Arma 3 might be in the tail-end of its time, but there's life left in the old military sandbox. Today, Bohemia Interactive rolled out Warlords, a free new multiplayer mode based on fan-favourite Capture The Island. Two teams (or one against AI, or just a solo player, even) start in bases on opposite sides of one of Arma 3's big maps. Between them lie towns and bases populated by neutral enemy NPCs. Clear out camps, capture territory and gain resources to spend on new units and push further into enemy lands until one home base falls. A trailer for the new mode is below.
]]>Bohemia Interactive's Arma series remain almost uncontested as the games to own if the idea of realistic infantry combat tickles your fancy. The only barriers to entry have really been your willingness to deal with a game that prioritises realism over entertainment, the need for a relatively powerful PC, and the not-insignificant cost of the game itself. The Humble Arma 2018 Bundle fixes a third of those, offering everything in the series to date (minus the latest wave of DLC) for $20.
]]>Phew, finally we get some new names in the Steam top 10 (previous weeks here'n'that), after the chokehold of the Steam Summer Sale is loosened. I did not expect that number 1, but I really did not expect that number 10.
]]>Arma 3 [official site] has jetted off on its summer hols with the launch of its Apex expansion today. Apex sends those surly soldiers to the sunny South Pacific to adventure on the tropical archipelago of Tanoa. Naturally, they've snuck a few fun toys into their luggage - one can hardly hit the beach without a thermal-masking uniform. A big update launched aside Apex too, with changes for all Arma 3.
]]>Like a man dancing to Belle & Sebastian, last week's best-selling Steam games saw some shaking at the top but not a lot of movement below. IS YOUR FAVOURITE GAME HERE AND WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT YOU AS A PERSON IF IT'S NOT?
]]>Arma 3 will jet off on its summer hols to the sunny South Pacific on July 11th, developers Bohemia announced during E3 this week. The military sim's Apex expansion [official site] introduces the archipelago of Tanoa with 100 km² of sun, sea, shanty towns, sugar cane fields, and submachine guns. Along with a new area, it adds new vehicles, men, weapons and whatnot. Observe the customary E3 moving pictures:
]]>Bohemia don't always seem the most organised with how they update their games, whether it's DayZ or Take On Mars, but they have been much better over the past few years with Arma 3 [official site]. I like especially their regular posts about their internal development roadmap, and there's now a post and new footage outlining updates and expansions to come in 2016.
]]>A leak last week made pretty clear that a new tropical landscape was coming to Arma III [official site], and now it's really, formally, officially happening.
The South Pacific archipelago of Tanoa (pronounce that last part like in 'quinoa' or everyone will think you're a right mug) will arrive in Bohemia's military sim with an expansion in the first half of 2016. I don't believe they've named the expansion yet. Of course, given that this announcement already leaked, all we really have to show you that's new is the trailer we couldn't see before:
]]>Forget Big Brother, the real gods of surveillance are ardent fans. A keen-eyed dude(ette) over at the Bohemia Interactive forums recently shared a shocking geographical discovery: a new South Pacific island has been spotted in the waters of Arma III [official site]. It seems a new expansion will be announced real soon.
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