America's Army Returning To Linux?

[niniendowarrior]

Come on Michael. This smells like a speculative article hoping for something that isn't there.

[me262]

Do YOU have what it takes to be a citizen?
Do your part and sign up now!

... Would you like to know more?

[Dragonlord]

Didn't hear about that title yet. Let's have a look on google later on.

About the army stuff. The army of America is anything else but "free to join". If you target people who are in deep shit live situations where mostly only the army "seems" to be the way out of the troubles ( without telling them though "what" they are supposed to sign up ) is not what I call "free to join". There has been a nice documentary over your army over there showing how it really looks like with this propagated "free to join" ( I can tell you, it's a fucking farce! ). In my country it's obligatory but you know what you get into. We are a pure defensive army since we simply lack in offense big deal. Therefore our army is mostly into peace making and catastrophe helping ( although all the required soldier stuff you have to get through too ). So I see a big difference between an obligatory army ( not a professionals army by the way ) you know exactly how it works and that is mostly transparent compared with a aggressive moloch type army which lies into the face of the people it is supposed to fight for and tricks them into doing things they would never have agreed to under normal circumstances.

[MamiyaOtaru]

Yeah, AA is unabashedly a propaganda tool. It also aims to be mildly educational. Fixxer_Linux, don't like training and taking orders? Hey the Army might not be for you! But yeah, there's a reason it's free. You can pay for a professional game, play a free game with questionable graphics built on a game engine charitably open sourced by a large company, or play a professional game supported some way other than you paying for it. This other way is usually advertising. If you don't like who it is advertising for, you can ignore it and play the game anyway or just ignore the game completely. Good for you.

Guess what, in my country it IS obligatory. Any questions left?

Yes. That being the case, how can you complain about a voluntary service? Vague insinuations about people being tricked into joining (citation needed) don't cut it. Fact: in your country you are forced to serve. Fact: in the USA you are not. Spin all you like, them's the beans.

That said, I totally agree with you about Deus Ex. I'm sick of shooting things being the only gaming experience in first person games. Mirror's Edge might be one to keen an eye on as well.

[kgroombr]

I agree, stupid military propaganda tool, rather pathetic that the us army has to resort to these kind of gimmicks to get naive fools to enlist. I thought the usa said patriotism was in an all time high!

How about a draft and force you to go in?

Only somebody that hasn't been in the military would call somebody naive to enlist. I have been in over 21 years and plan to do 30. I have been to the desert, and would go again in a minute. I love what I do and wouldn't change the last 21 years at all.

Ken

[Dragonlord]

You know, there are still countries, where military service is obligatory...
Those being drunk to loosing unconsciousness should blame only themselves - as they could have been as well used for sex, robbed or just beaten.

Guess what, in my country it IS obligatory. Any questions left? That said I prefer the army in my country. At last they are not as retarded as the American army.

[Fixxer_Linux]

I'll say this, if AA comes out on Linux before UT3 I'll be thoroughly angry at Epic.

Oh yeah, same here, as if AA runs with UT engine, this will really really annoy me as we would all then imagine that the port of UT3 linux client could have been done much much faster.

Imagine AA running with linux before UT3 and both games using the same engine ?

[reavertm]

A couple of points here. First you do not join them "out of free will". If you know with what tricks they lure people in ( including things like looking for drunk students on beaches since they sign any crap ) then you would not think that high of said army.

You know, there are still countries, where military service is obligatory...
Those being drunk to loosing unconsciousness should blame only themselves - as they could have been as well used for sex, robbed or just beaten.

[me262]

While these are valid points, I have to make a comment on all of this.

This in a sense the elitism that's been pushing companies away. We're getting a game on the Linux platform (forgetting the fact that it WAS), for FREE*, and you all are talking about it's bad points. In all the crap that's been going on lately with Linux gaming (UT3 delay, Carmack's supposed drop of official support, etc), I see this as... well kind of hard to explain, so I'll use a quote from The Dark Knight, "because it's the game we need, but not the game we deserve." One just has to look past the propaganda.

I'll say this, if AA comes out on Linux before UT3 I'll be thoroughly angry at Epic.

[Dragonlord]

Besides, what's really that bad in advertising national military service? As long as you are free to decide for your own whether to join...

A couple of points here. First you do not join them "out of free will". If you know with what tricks they lure people in ( including things like looking for drunk students on beaches since they sign any crap ) then you would not think that high of said army. Second this army has caused more bad press than their commanding president did. For me this is simply a red flag since this is not an army but a human disrespecting tool to oppress whoever has a different opinion ( remember the line "who is not our friend is our enemy"? ). I'm in general against war games ( that is, those based on real world wars that happened or trying to glorify the "almighty" American army <.=.< ) so this is not against one particular game.