E3 2004: America's Army to be showcased in South Hall
by Kit

Monday, May 3 2004

New game features will be shown on floor.

The U.S. Army will showcase at the upcoming E3 show the rigorous training, high-tech systems, and new technologies that place the Special Forces at the forefront in the Global War on Terrorism.

The new game features are part of a series of highly-anticipated Special Forces games that include America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) as well as the America's Army: Special Forces (Qualification Course) game which extends gameplay from last fall's release, America's Army: Special Forces (Special Forces Assessment and Selection). Together, the games showcase the training and capabilities of the Army's elite and highly skilled Special Forces Soldiers.


The game provides civilians with an inside perspective and a virtual role in the U.S. Army. One of the top online action games on the Internet, the game has more than 3.3 million registered players who have completed 60 million hours virtually exploring the Soldiering in America's Army: Special Forces. Building on this success and in order to broaden the game's reach, the Army recently signed an agreement with UbiSoft to deploy America's Army to consoles and other game platforms.

At the Army's E3 booth (1080 in the South Hall) the Army will showcase the new Army capabilities and technologies that players will find in its upcoming versions of America's Army.

Combat Overmatch Capabilities
Drawing upon actions in the Global War on Terrorism, America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) incorporates key aspects of Special Forces operations drawn from the Global War on Terrorism. In Overmatch players will be able to explore first hand the combat overmatch capabilities of Special Forces Soldiers in which a handful of U.S. Special Forces Soldiers can engage and defeat armored forces of greatly superior numbers. Based on recent Special Forces operations, Overmatch drives home the unparalleled capabilities the Army achieves by melding top-tier leadership, teamwork, technology and training to create small units of action.

Special Forces Q- Course
In America's Army: Special Forces (Qualification Course) players progress through specialized language, survival, and weapons training to take on new SF roles including 18D - Medic, 18C - Engineer, 18E - Communications Sergeant, 18F - Intelligence Sergeant and 18Z - Operations Sergeant. E3 attendees will get a sneak peek at missions
that America's Army players will experience later this summer. Within multiplayer maps players will be able to virtually experience a new range of devices used by the Special Forces -- including the PDM (Pursuit Deterrent Munition), the Door Breacher, and the BDM (Bunker Defeat Munitions). Also, upcoming versions of America's Army will incorporate new systems now joining the Army as modeled by the America's Army Future Applications team. This team, which joined the America's Army effort in 2003, uses America's Army as a platform to model future weapons systems prototypes for virtual experimentation. Visitors to E3 will be able to employ the Combat Talon robot on the display floor and within America's Army.

Andromeda New Tournament System
The Army is co-developing a data driven game middleware solution named Andromeda for implementation within America's Army. Andromeda is a set of services that includes a detailed statistics package, a single sign-on facility and a unique authentication system designed to make game server hosting and administration easy. Andromeda will warehouse game data ranging from basic authentication information to full player settings. It will also incorporate features that will allow players to establish Official Honor servers on the fly.

Live Demonstrations
The Army will continue to capture the attention of E3 attendees with precision demonstrations such as aviation presentations and rapelling. These events will take place several times each day at locations within and in front of the Los Angeles Convention Center. The Army will demonstrate an urban tactical scenario featuring the 19th Special Forces Group with air support from the 140th General Support Aviation Battalion. In the South Hall, Green Berets from the Army's 20th Special Forces Group will present their skills in a Gabriel team capabilities
demonstration and discuss their role as subject matter experts in making America's Army: Special Forces the most realistic Army game experience. Finally, the Army will conduct live tournaments, including the final match between a team of four civilians and four active duty U.S. Army Soldiers in the AMD America's Army: Special Forces Tournament which is sponsored by Ultimate Arena.

--- Kit