America's Army Update Soon

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On Thursday, the Army is anticipating releasing a substantial update to the America?s Army (www.americasarmy.com) game. The update includes a new (and MUCH larger) map, more than a dozen 'tweaks' to existing gameplay, and several new features -- including a 'Combat Effectiveness Meter' and the inclusion of an 'Honor System.'

Here are some of the updates:

New Map: Mountain Pass: This is a large, snowy outdoor map, much larger than maps that have previously been released. It is a continuation of the battle that began in the Bridge Assault map. The assaulting team has passed through the tunnel and must reach and secure a convoy that has been attacked. The defending team is part of the convoy that has been attacked, and must defend it against enemy forces.

Combat Effectiveness Meter: A new meter next to the health icon now depicts a player?s Combat Effectiveness. This gauges the player?s ability to hit the target in different situations. The higher the meter, the more effective the player is. The meter is affected by the player?s speed, posture, native weapon class, proximity to leaders, health condition, whether they are under fire, and a range of other conditions. This new feature will greatly increase the feedback given to the player and provide a better understanding of how their actions affect their abilities. As development progresses, we will tie this feature in to many new features.

Honor System: The Honor System (previously called ?Trust?) is now online. Players will start out at level 10. Good team play and behavior will cause the number to rise, while breaking the Rules of Engagement and participating in dishonorable actions will cause the number to fall. The more rounds that are played, the higher the levels of Honor they can achieve. Honor level will affect account status, as well as provide preferential treatment during the selection-process of in-game features As the game evolves, watch for the many ways in which high Honor marks will add the gameplay and augment the players? abilities. High Honor will be rewarded, while Low Honor will be penalized.

Server Admin Command Post: New in-game GUI interface for server administrators will allow easier and more effective control over server functionality.

Other Features/Tweaks/Fixes:

Gun Lowering ? To fix problems where weapons were displayed through walls/doors, guns will now automatically lower at a door or wall under certain circumstances. In all cases, this will be overridden if the user presses fire.

Double firing of M24 fixed
M24: Fixed phantom bullet and reload bugs
Added Night Vision to Cameras
Ability to TAB out of an edit box in the menu
Scoreboard: Match end now displays number of tie rounds (if any)
GP-30 is auto instead of burst
Rankings on scoreboard for OpFor no longer shown
Fixed multi selection bug in server browser
Added sniper death message for m24 and m82
Fixed bugs related to burst fire not
decrementing ammo properly
Fixed bugs related to changing posture when
moving (sprinting/crawling)
m203 grenade is bound to support key
Fixed dropping parachute in plane
Fixed crawling at superhuman speeds