Red Orchestra, UT2003 Mod, Released 191
Neophytus writes "The first public edition of the long awaited Red Orchestra mod for Unreal Tournament 2003 has been released. 'Red Orchestra brings you in-depth infantry combat on the Eastern Front of WWII. With the emphasis on realism and authenticity, the Soviet Red Army meets the German Army on the ground across battlefields from Kiev through Stalingrad and on to the Reichstag in Berlin. Real weapons. Real battles. Real soldiers.' Download from FilePlanet (free reg. req.), FasterFiles, more."
I'll be downloading this one! (Score:2, Insightful)
Off-Topic Rant: Fscking Huge Downloads (Score:2, Insightful)
I just checked the filesize on this mod: 277 mebi [nist.gov]bytes. WTF?? I have a fairly fat pipe going to my house, but since when did it become a good idea to create demos and/or mods regularly exceeding 100 megs?
I recently downloaded the demo for Tron 2.0, weighing in at about 200 megs. Now, I might almost think this reasonable if it weren't for a few crucial facts:
Yet, despite this, the download was 200 megs. It should have been no more than half that.
There has to be more efficient ways to handle this stuff.
Schwab
Re:Uhmm right.. (Score:4, Insightful)
No, not at all. In order to add, it would first have to meet, then somehow exceed the current offerings. Or at least bring something significantly different to the table.
Note that this mod include no vehicles. It says it will include vehicles for ut2k4, but that's not out yet, so with this, you get no vehicles. So what we have here is a WWII mod for an FPS, without vehicles, introduced into genre ruled by Battlefield 1942 [battlefield1942.com], which has planes, tanks, jeeps, ships, and every other kind of vehicle you'd expect. That you can really drive (and ride in while someone else drives).
So, this doesn't even meet the current standard (bf1942). Maybe before bf1942 this would have been interesting competition for MOHAA or RtCW, but now it's just one more of the same old. And how is this News for Nerds or Stuff That Matters?
Is
Re:Realistic? (Score:4, Insightful)
I've heard a lot of complaints from vets that people forget about their sacrifice, which I think is somewhat true, but I've never heard any complaints about wargames set in WWII (remember the old SSI games? I know vets that loved playing those themselves).
Are you a WWII vet and are offended by this? If so, please tell me about how it makes you feel. Or, do you just know some vets and assume they'd be offended? Or are you just trolling? (DING DING DING - we have a winner!)
OT: good use for BitTorrent (Score:5, Insightful)
BitTorrent/p2p is an *excellent* way (and legitimate way) to get game demos out.
Why don't more companies announce "Hey, we've thrown this up on Kazaa too! Go get it!" instead?
INstead, we get ad-laden crap like FilePlanet/etc.
Re:Realistic? (Score:2, Insightful)
I can certainly understand that sentiment, but I think it's understood that any kind of game like this doesn't "make you feel like you were there". Take the Half-Life mod "Day of Defeat". The weapon characterisics are realistic, the sounds the guns make, the environment, etc, but I don't think anyone says, "No, I didn't fight in WWII, but I played DoD, so I know what it was like for those guys.".
Is it disrespectful? Perhaps. Making a game out of a tragedy seems rather crass, but for the people making and playing it it was so long ago that it seems like the ancient past, even though there are still vets living today. But I don't think anyone playing it believes it simulates what the vets went through.
Re:Good History Book for background (Score:2, Insightful)
As a former professional soldier myself, I can vividly picture the scenarios described in relation to military stratagems and political decisions, but I'm at a loss when it comes to the soldiers and their experiences and suffering. But "Stalingrad" excel at portraying both sides of the story, albeit a bit academic, as aforementioned by parent post.
As davejenkins states: "This is not an easy read." - I most defenitely agree. But on the other hand, if you want to know anything about WWII and it's implications and horrors, pick up a copy and behold the black, writhing chaos that is war...
Bit Torrent download link (Score:2, Insightful)