Today's news comes in three parts including a video, some games, and a glance at yet another one of the different roles AA3 will bring us.  To start off with what I found most exciting is a new development video which takes you on a run through the AA3 obstacle course.  This is not the same course that we all know and love, but I'm sure it will grow on us with time...  

To view this new video, move your mouse this direction and click here

Next up on my top 3 list would be the games, which despite being fairly basic in concept and gameplay, managed to entertain me for a solid 20 minutes, which let me clarify is harder than it seems.  You can check out a screenshot of the downloadable game 'Blackhawk Challenge' to your right in case you didn't notice, or just go here and try them all out for yourself.

Now last, but definitely not least, is a new role that we haven't had very much experience with.  It is the Squad Designated Marksman.  This role is a cross between a rifleman and a sniper, and as such is designed to engage targets in between the ranges of a rifleman and a sniper (300-600 meters).  To read more about this position click here.  Now to watch/read/play everything in this article and more, why not take a browse through the AA3 website and see all the stuff the dev's are doing in anticipation of AA3.

Some interesting changes have happened in the Western scene.  Leading the board at the top for 4 weeks was IceNine, but lost their 1st place title after the Semi-Finals in the UGL Season. The final two teams in UGL are now the leaders in the west, over the past 8 weeks both teams have slowly crept their way to the top. No doubt Inevitable Defeat has earned their 1st place title with Just Cause Project right behind them.

Top Western Teams

This past week there has been some changes to the WLC.  One addition to the the ranking system is forfeit wins, before some teams would earn way to many points for not even having to play.  We have changed that now, the team that shows up will get their average Points Per Match (PPM) plus 2 for showing up...the 2 points awards you for being the good team and showing up, if you don't show up you automatically lose 2 points.  The theory is you won't earn much more for a FFW since you don't have to do much other than show up.  If anyone has any problems with that let me know, its open for change at any time...


Some new features where also put into the system.  A bit more team stats where added today, if you look at your team's profile you will see some new graphs and a few more bits of information (LINK).  Its kind of nice to see how each team does week by week in PPM and Ranking.  Later on (after 10 or 20 weeks), I will be awarding some AAC Awards to certain clans based on their match stats to add to the awards system. Also the Predictions system will get some work done on it next week, adding the map to be played and some stats (top predictors :)

Comments and Suggestions are welcome!

After a few weeks off, TWL teams will be firing off the first set of matches this comming monday. 14 teams will be competing in the Intermediate League and 24 will be in the Open League. Almost half the Inters are new teams this season and 10 new teams in the open scene. Last season's Open winners, eXtreme Fidelity, will be battling another new team in their first Inters match. Things should be interesting, its good to see so many new clans join the competition scene and we hope to see more in the future with a few more leagues rising out of the ashes.  We'd like to wish all the competitors the best of luck this season!  And don't forget to cast your vote this week on the TWL Inters & Open preseason matches HERE

Cast Your Prediction!

In the past year, many competitive teams in the European scene have been pairing up with MultiGaming Organizations.  Every few weeks AAO-Daily.eu reports a few more EU teams joining these organizations to take their gaming experience to a new level.  This is a good thing, these competitive clans joining MGOs helps advertise America's Army to the rest of the gaming market. How ever the NA scene hasn't really hit the multi gaming idea yet.  There is just a handful of competitive teams that actually belong to any, and last week one more was added to the group.  The former "Version 3" team that has done fairly well in the past few seasons (competing in CAL, TWL & UGL) decided to try out a MGO.  Infamy Gaming has picked up this excellent young team to represent their AA division. It will be interesting to see how the team does in their new home...good luck guys!

"A team name is just a name but it's the players that make the team what it is"
- [infamy.Twi$T]

Q: Version 3 has been building up a name in AA Comp scene, why the switch to Infamy Gaming?
A: A team name is just a name but it's the players that make the team what it is. People notice tags and team names at the start but then the more they play with you the more they start keying in on your as an individual player and not just a tag. I think Version 3 has proven a point that you can become a skilled team and fight along side of the best and yet stay overall a 100% clean team. We have one of the most in depth background checks around which include any ban history from all the major AC's, but also include any any bans or serious suspensions from all of the various leagues, if they fail the background check than they are not even considered. Currently we even have three AC admins from ACI and an admin from both TWL & CAL. We try to keep a good attitude towards others and run a clean name for ourselves as a team but also individually. Infamy Gaming brings us a fresh new look with the same skill and talent. It also allows us to promote Infamy Gaming in other games and help spread the word, they are great group of people.

 

Continue on to read the rest of the interview with Twi$T, leader of Infamy's AA Division (former Version 3 leader)..

Im sure most of you may already know that America's Army has been around for almost 7 years now, the AA series kicked off its first release in the summer of 2002 under the tag America's Army Recon.  Since then they have fired out 27 updates adding 42 new maps with hopes of AA3 in the near future.  America's Army has had its ups and downs, many "old school" players have seen their share of changes over the years...

It seems as time went on, the strong AA community has become something unlike it was before the 2.0 series.  Old time gamers quit, other players just stopped playing...but the biggest is the version spread that came when Mac OSX support was dropped back in 2.5 that left hundreds behind. According to many players, 2.5 was one of the most stable and liked versions. Redsack.com that has been doing a number of statistics for America's Army, below is the AA population spread across a few different areas.

There is lots of activity in 2.5 still, only in the past year has it slowed down with several major clans moving to 2.8. Many players are actually downgrading back to 2.5 just for the simple and fun game play, they have made it easier to get going with this old version by running 2.5 Assist (Deployment Client)..players can download this safe application to get them up to speed with AAv2.5 in minutes.  Besides the player activity, there is even a few communities and leagues going on. DRAAT is a really handy game tracker and community, DirectAction is a new league.  Then a few individuals took it apon themselves to develop some great programs & maps to make things interesting and help people out... 2.5 Assist and mAAp Pack Project.