Your tax dollars at work...

From GameSpy

America's Army, the one game that is free but everybody pays for it. Say what you will about the American military and the foreign policy that directs it, but you have to raise your eyebrows at the Army spending tax payer money on this and the promotion for it, especially when there's no revenue for it and people outside of America can download it.

The game isn''t about making money, it''s about bringing new recruits into the army. The cost to make the game is probably less than a national ad compaign on TV.

Just a thought.

I''ve never played it, but does it give a lot away in terms of tactics and trade secrets of the Army? It''d be kind of ironic if the DPRK military has a bunch of ghost servers running this for their soldiers.

No, weapons are realistically modelled but they are relatively low-tech (no OICW). Of course there is no revealing of tactics as it is the players who decide how to go ahead.

I''ve never played it

Great game, go ahead and try it!

Yay, another FPS. Lord knows I don''t play enough of those as it is...

it just doesn''t have the same ""oomph"" without the rolling eyes emoticon.

Naw, not another FPS, this is more like another Rainbow Six only with longer range fighting and lots of goin'' prone. Heaps of fun though and all that for free!

Well, I remember seeing on cable an ad for the US army, with a guy going through ""levels"" on a dungeon, and he fought a dragon at the end. And it ran for a few weeks, maybe months.

This is not that dumb.

Well, *if* Certis is correct in that it was cheaper to do this then an Ad campaign, I''d have to agree. Thats assuming their budget means they won''t be using the TV/Radio media as much. I''m also for good free games ( and it is very good for free, btw) but at the same time, I''m not thrilled at my tax dollars going to this.

But since I''m not happy with how 90% of my money is being spent, I guess I may as well play a free game for it.

This is just the U.S''s answer to the Roman Coliseum: blind us with free games so we ignore everything else! I''m all for it.

And btw, Rat mentioned how he wanted the back, so its not just me.

I''ll just find away to get around it.

No, that didn''t quite work. Let me try this one.

Nah, last try.

Yes, that''s the one!

Mex, that would be the United States Marine Corps. The change is forever. *snicker*

Trade secrets from this game? Not in the way you''re thinking. Infantry tactics have remained virtually unchanged since the advent of the pratical man-portable anti-tank weapon in the sixties or seventies.
This is straight up propaganda through and through. With the new ""Stryker Combat Brigade"" (DAMN IT CERTIS! WHY DID YOU TAKE THE ROLL AWAY!) version coming out, I can''t help but shake my head. The Stryker, or Widowmaker as I affectionately call it, is perhaps our most ill-concieved vehicle ever. That''s a great idea! Take a truck, throw a 105mm main gun (eventually) on it and give it less armor protection than a Bradley! Good thinking boys!

Why the couldn''t come out with a M1a1 game is beyond me. God knows that''s the vehicle that did all the fighting in Iraq. Oh wait! That''s right the future isn''t in heavy armor! It''s in light vehicles and the infantry.
I could comment about how many times I saw on the global news networks of seemingly an entire infantry battalion held up by a single sniper in Iraq and a tank or close air support had to ""help"" them, but I won''t.

And actually Rat Boy, most of our military manuals or FM''s are unclassified. Not the really cool ones, anyway!

But since I''m not happy with how 90% of my money is being spent

Really?! My God, what is that like?

And btw, Rat mentioned how he wanted the back, so its not just me.

That''s nice. Irrelevant, but nice.

"Elysium" wrote:
But since I''m not happy with how 90% of my money is being spent

Really?! My God, what is that like?

Guess you''re not married.

No wait you are! And you''re both going to sweetly tell me how wonderfuly balanced you are as the blue birds chirp merrily over your shoulders beneath the rainbow.

damnit!

(And I think Mex also mentioned the need for the I''m slowly building a coalition that will have to be heard, right?)

Ooops, my mistake Yomm. I thought you said you were 90% happy with how your money was being spent. I missed that ''not''. Actually I agree with you here, though I bet we''d have different solutions.

I''m slowly building a coalition that will have to be heard, right?

I''m sure there are plenty of people you could find on the street, or at the supermarket, or the car wash who would hear you just fine. You should probably talk to them, because they''re far more likely to listen than Certis and I.

Roll is gone. The more we hear your dejected laments, the more we laugh. You''re making us so happy. So very very happy.

I laugh. Why? It is better than UT2K3 imo !!!

"Elysium" wrote:

Roll is gone. The more we hear your dejected laments, the more we laugh. You''re making us so happy. So very very happy.

Yeah, well I live to please.

(I''m not even going to add a emote and just leave you to ponder the meaning of that statement. Was I being sincere or sarcastic? You''ll never know.)

Ahhh, my fragile world has come crashing down in a deluge of witty-banter uncertainty!

"Elysium" wrote:

Ahhh, my fragile world has come crashing down in a deluge of witty-banter uncertainty!

Well, I''d rather have a beer in front of me then a frontal lobotomy.

(that was a Bloom County comic strip moment, whereby the blonde was telling Steve that even though he blew her off and she came to berate him in front of his friends, that he''d most likely try to save face in front of his ''beer drinking'' friends, rather then take the more mature route. She walked out, and that was his reply. I use it when I have no witty reply but feel like I still have to get the last word in.)

The game cost 7 million bucks to produce. It is coming out of the advertising budget of the U.S. military. At least we know where this money went. The Military lost a TRILLION DOLLARS! The Department of Education lost over 500 BILLION DOLLARS.

That''s what we should be pissed about.

WOW! 7 million?

Jesus I could make 3 America''s Army games for that!

The Military lost a TRILLION DOLLARS! The Department of Education lost over 500 BILLION DOLLARS.

Define ''lost''. Because I don''t think ""spent in ways I don''t agree with"" is necessarily lost. Even for me.

And, welcome back. The Politics section was strangely quiet without you. Hmmm, what does that say?

"Elysium" wrote:

And, welcome back. The Politics section was strangely quiet without you. Hmmm, what does that say? ;)

That Yomm needed reinforcements

"Elysium" wrote:

Define ''lost''. Because I don''t think ""spent in ways I don''t agree with"" is necessarily lost. Even for me.

Either way, it''ll all be made back relatively quickly now that the UN sanctions on oil sales have been lifted.

"Elysium" wrote:
The Military lost a TRILLION DOLLARS! The Department of Education lost over 500 BILLION DOLLARS.

Define ''lost''. Because I don''t think ""spent in ways I don''t agree with"" is necessarily lost. Even for me.

And, welcome back. The Politics section was strangely quiet without you. Hmmm, what does that say? ;)

Lost = They cannot find it. They had an audit and the money is just missing.

Well, that''s pretty bad then.

Well at least you know you once had the money ;). Over here the german gov misses 30 billion this year they never will get in the first place.

"Pyroman[FO" wrote:

""]

"Elysium" wrote:

And, welcome back. The Politics section was strangely quiet without you. Hmmm, what does that say? ;)

That Yomm needed reinforcements

Bleh! I held my own for a bit, but then Elysium plainly stated I wasn''t the Ulairi he wanted. So, I licked my wounds and went home.