hmmmm, tanks...

[easytarget]

[undead reindeer cavalry]

yeah, nice graphics. i wish they would make even a Team Yankee style game with this level of graphical sweetness. M1 Tank Platoon 3 would be perfect.

[Sergei]

W-what? Are they engaging the enemy tanks at a 100 meter range? Uh... looks realistic...

[Wildman]

Looks awesome....I wish Steel Beasts had that kind of graphics with the rest that they offer.

[dieseltaylor]

Well the Iraquis have been beaten we better go after the Iranians. Like we are not going to upset the Russians or Chinese are we! Pisses me off slightly.

The graphics are spectacular but the resemblance to real war I suspect is slight. And the whole shoot-em up genre I feel dumbs down violence. BTW since I read programmers manipulate the AI to always present a challenge it make me think that these games are like hamster wheels with humans scurrying inside believing they are actually in control of their own fate. Laughable ain't it.

[easytarget]

There's more than enough room under my gaming tent for a wide variety of games, and a levels of realism.

[dieseltaylor]

Although you might have a big grin on your face as you're blowing away your opponents when playing Halo, you would actually be happier if you were playing a game like Endless Ocean, in which you interact with marine life - at least, that's what Ohio State University's Brad Bushman will tell you. The professor of communication and psychology conducted two studies, each with over 100 subjects, and has concluded that playing relaxing, nonviolent video games leaves people in a happier, more sociable mood than if they had played fast, violent games.

Bushman has looked into the effects of violent video games in the past, and believes that they cause aggressive, antisocial behavior in their players. Until now, however, he didn't know if the opposite was true of relaxing games - mainly, he says, because there have been so few of them to test.

In his first study, a group of 150 Ohio State students were each randomly assigned to play one of three types of Wii games for 20 minutes - a relaxing one, like Endless Ocean; a neutral one, such as Super Mario Galaxy; and a violent game, such as Resident Evil 4. Afterwards, they were told that they were going to compete against another, unseen competitor in a reaction time game.

The players had to push a button when prompted, and whoever pushed theirs first won some money, whereas the loser received a blast of noise through a set of headphones. The test subjects were then asked how much money their opponent should get if they won, and how long and loud their noise blast should be if they lost. Players of the violent game chose to award the least money and deliver the loudest, longest noise, while players of the relaxing game chose to give the most money and the least noise. Subjects who played the neutral game came out somewhere between the two extremes.

And no, there wasn't actually another player getting deafened somewhere.

In the second study, a group of 116 students were once again asked to play one of the three types of games for 20 minutes, and then complete a questionnaire that rated their mood. Those who had played the relaxing game rated themselves as feeling more happiness, love, joy and related positive emotions than the ones who played the violent game.

Once the students had finished filling out the questionnaire, the person administering the test asked if they could help sharpen some pencils for the next batch of test subjects. Students who had played the relaxing game tended to sharpen the most pencils, while those who had played the violent game sharpened the least.

"Relaxing video games put people in a good mood," said Bushman. "And when people are in a good mood, they are more inclined to help others, and that's better for everyone."

Needless to say, the psychological effects of violent video games remains to be a highly-debated issue. We look forward to hearing your comments.

http://www.gizmag.com/relaxing-video-games-make-players-happier/18860/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=92d38b98f8-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email

[Sergei]

There's more than enough room under my gaming tent for a wide variety of games, and a levels of realism.

I don't think that no realism counts as a level of realism, though... anyway, yes I agree, games should be valued as games. But I generally dislike pipe shooters because not only are they unrealistic but most of the time the gameplay itself is repetitive - although there are exceptions. But that trailer looked like you were not in a pipe but on rails.

Did you ever play Operation Wolf? Same level of gameplay, as outstanding graphics (for the time) and we had it 24 years ago.

I just wish that game developers stopped trying to make more games like Call of Duty but with more cinematics, and more games like Operation Flashpoint, is all. Back in the 1980's, in the C-64 era, I most enjoyed the shooters that let you explore (Rambo 3) instead of forcing you to follow a single path (Commando).

Commando was still fun, though. But it grew old faster.

[gunnergoz]

Looks like NTC with the Whale over on the left. Not that I've been there, just seen a lot of photos of it...

Pretty stunning graphics if that is actually from the game and not something cooked up beforehand on a swarm of dedicated graphics machines.

Funny that with all that air power buzzing overhead, they were still surprised by the enemy tank unit at their 2 o'clock. No drones zooming ahead of the armor?

And what's with the 6-tank platoon? Just wondering.

[stikkypixie]

The graphics are very impressive, although I wonder whether it would be more suspenseful to use plausible real-world tactics rather than just charging in like that. Going hull down against an enemy that does a bit of shoot and scoot. Having to shoot and scoot as or the stress of an ATGM rushing towards you.

[Thomm]

Did you ever play Operation Wolf? Same level of gameplay, as outstanding graphics (for the time) and we had it 24 years ago.

I once got a fat blister from the trigger!

Best regards,

Thomm

[Lt Belenko]

is there a WEGO mode?

[Other Means]

Black Opps level won firing one bullet:

talk about on rails. As soon as you're used to the whizz-bangs they're dull as ditch water.

OFP was the last shooter that *really* got me. I still play some of them for the frantic fun but OFP was the first one that made me feel like I was being hunted. The last as well.

[Stalins Organ]

Did you ever play Operation Wolf? Same level of gameplay, as outstanding graphics (for the time) and we had it 24 years ago.

thanks for the memories!!

[womble]

The graphics are very impressive, although I wonder whether it would be more suspenseful to use plausible real-world tactics rather than just charging in like that.

When your silver bullets are travelling at 'lobbed baseball' speeds, and 'rocket artillery can hit you less than a kilometer away, the environment is so far removed from the real-world that you'll probably have a hard time bringing RL tactics to the table and making them work.