Me, I like my video game wars unrealistic enough that I can cross an entire battlefield in five carefully-placed strafejumps but you, you may fancy them more simmy. If you like your shooty-shoots militaristic and damned demanding, yet you haven’t hopped into the Arma 3 [official site] APC yet, hey: give it a go, as the whole game’s free to try in a free trial weekend on Steam.

Arma 3 is also on sale this weekend, half-price, if you decide you want to keep it. Developers Bohemia are discounting their other games too, including a wee 15% off DayZ.

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Last year Arma 3 [official site] was in the process of getting AT-ATs, thanks to a Star Wars-themed mod. The mod was eventually abandoned by its creator, McRuppertle, but he’s uploaded footage from the first in-game test for people to peer at:

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Arma 3 [official site] has a nice approach to paid DLC. When makers Bohemia Interactive sell new odds and ends for cash money, they’ve also released free updates adding related extras for all.

This week they released the shooty Marksmen DLC, which adds more guns, scopes, ghillie suits, firing drills, and other things that go ‘bang!’ They also rolled out a hearty patch which improves the fundamentals of how guns work, and adds new bits and pieces including a scenario focused on feeling cool rolling around firing guns from moving vehicles. Heaven help me, I do enjoy shooty vehicle sections in games.

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Although winners have yet to be announced in the recent Make Arma Not War competition, the judges have published the shortlisted finalists. As a result a series of levels inspired by Hitman: Blood Money – far and away the best game in the Hitman series – have been brought to our attention. You can download ‘em over here.

There are eight Arma III [official site] levels in all, each inspired by one of Blood Money’s intricate scenarios. … [visit site to read more]

Part of Arma 3‘s recent roadmap includes more regular updates to the game’s dev branch, introducing all manner of tweaks and new tools to the terrifying military simulator. As of this past week, that includes new helicopter physics.

Using knowledge gained via Bohemia’s own Take On Helicopters (my title for this post is really very clever), a new set of flight physics have been introduced which “is more complex, taking into account things like a helicopter’s construction, the weight of fuel/ammo, wind influence, stress damage and much more besides.” There’s a video of the new model in action below.

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Arma 3‘s battlefield simulation may not be so complex that one needs the full 26 weeks of basic training the real army provides, but it could definitely do with offering a little more guidance. Which it now does, thanks to today’s ‘Bootcamp’ update adding all sorts of training, with a single-player mini-campaign, multiplayer bootcamp where players can play at drill sergeant and holler while forcing rookies to crawl on their bellies under barbed wire, and VR training that’s an excuse to play around with its fanciest toys.

It also adds a ‘Virtual Arsenal,’ which is perhaps the closest you’ll get to a soldier dress-up game.

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My first online experience with Arma 3 involved failing to grasp our mission, stumbling around in the dark, and falling accidentally out of a helicopter to be left stranded in a forest. Arma 3 Bootcamp is exactly what I needed. That’s the name of the next update to the military sim, and it’s going to introduce a new tutorial campaign, an ‘instructor’ scenario for multiplayer, a gun model-viewing encyclopedia and a virtual training mode. Plus greater Steam Workshop support and a new game launcher. Full details below.

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April 1st can be confusing enough already, and it’s only going to get harder if things that were jokes once upon a time continue to make the leap to really-real existing games. Last April Fool’s day, Arma 3 creators Bohemia Interactive released a go kart parody of a Volvo Truck advert. Now they’ve released Arma 3 Karts as a piece of DLC, out today for 1.19 on Steam and with a portion of the proceeds going to the Czech Red Cross. The original trailer is embedded below.

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While the internet is all a-bustlin’ with news of the latest Call of Duty, another maker of military manshoots announced their future plans. Except we like these military manshoots. Arma 3′s three-part campaign is out and finished, but a development roadmap posted on the official Arma site makes clear that they’re not done yet. Things to come: Steam Workshop support, new DLC and a full expansion.

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On Tuesday I began my second pen-and-paper roleplaying experience, joining three friends for our first trip into Numenera. I’m amazed at how much time and energy the DMs I play with – my other game is D&D – are pouring into the worlds and stories they’re creating. I have that impetus, but not the follow-through.

Arma 3′s new Zeus DLC is tempting, though. It allows you to act as a GM on multiplayer servers, shaping military maneuvers around players in real-time. Less lore-building, more tank-spawning? A button that causes lightning to strike? My laziness could probably stretch that far. It’s out now, and there’s an old developer playthrough below.

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