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U.S. ARMY TO SHOWCASE AMERICA'S ARMY GAMES AND MILITARY APPLICATIONS AT E3
Brand Expands with Console Game, Training Applications, Action Figures and More
West Point, N.Y., May 10, 2005 - Airborne insertions of the Army's Golden Knights parachute team into the environs of the L.A. Convention Center will signal the rollout of all new versions of America's Army, The Official U.S. Army Game at the 2005 Electronics Entertainment Expo (South Hall booth #1608). This rollout will include playable pre-release editions of America's Army: Rise of a Soldier for Xbox and PS2 by UbiSoft and America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) for PC by the U.S. Army. E3 attendees will also be able to explore Soldiering through hands-on use of America's Army training simulations built for use within operational U.S. Army units.
Launched in July 2002, the America's Army game has become one of the world's most popular computer games, and is consistently ranked among the top five PC action games played on the Internet. More than 5.2 million people have registered to play the game, and progressed to complete more than 1.34 billion missions, logging over 94 million hours of gameplay.
"The America's Army game was designed to place information about Soldiering into popular culture where young adults gather information about their life course alternatives," said Colonel Casey Wardynski, project originator and project director of the America's Army game. "As a result of its success, we are launching a range of America's Army branded efforts. These include new versions of the game on PC and console. They also include our Real Heroes program. In America's Army young adults can create their own virtual Soldier experiences to learn about Soldiering in the U.S. Army. With America's Army: Real Heroes they can learn about the backgrounds and accomplishments of actual Soldiers who have rendered distinguished service in the Global War on Terrorism. America's Army will also launch a line of America's Army branded merchandise. Together these efforts are designed to make information about Soldiering readily available and will provide civilians with new insights on the Army and its Soldiers."
America's Army highlights at E3 include:
America's Army: Special Forces Games for the PC: The America's Army: Special Forces games provide an inside look at the types of missions ongoing worldwide. The Special Forces series of games includes America's Army: Special Forces (Special Forces Assessment and Selection) released November of 2003; America's Army: Special Forces (Q-Course) which releases this May; America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) to be released this fall; and America's Army: Stryker- Overmatch to be released this winter. * In America's Army: Special Forces (Q-Course), players are able to assume the role of an 18D – Medic (Emergency Medical Technician), 18C – Engineer, 18E – Communications Sergeant, 18F – Intelligence Sergeant and 18Z – Operations Sergeant. Players experience an infinite number of gameplay scenarios with the implementation of random spawns, random objectives, and carryable objectives, and they are able to employ new weapons and systems such as the Door Breacher and the Bunker Defeat Munition.
America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) includes missions featuring cooperative gameplay against AI in which players experience the overmatch capabilities that Special Forces Soldiers bring to the battlefield in terms of their ability to engage and defeat much larger hostile forces. Gamers go through in-game training to use key new weapons and systems used by Special Forces Soldiers including the Javelin Missile and the Special Forces GMV variant of the HMMWV.
America's Army: Stryker-Overmatch will feature the Army's new Stryker vehicle and combat formation to allow players to explore the mobility and information dominance provided by these state-of-the-art units.
America's Army: Rise of a Soldier for Xbox and PS2 (Ubisoft) Built in partnership between Ubisoft and the U.S. Army, and developed by Secret Level, America's Army: Rise of a Soldier offers the most true-to-life Army experience on a console, allowing players to create a Soldier and take him through the adventures of an Army career. Intense single-player missions and high-adrenaline multiplayer action build the skills of the player's Soldier and advance him through his career from recruit to Special Forces team leader. Authentic weapons, equipment, and combat situations come straight from U.S. Army subject matter experts. The game will offer a top-notch multiplayer experience with up to 16 players online as well as split-screen cooperative play mode. Career mode will also be brought to online play, allowing players to create and build online characters. Available in Summer 2005 on the PS2 and Xbox. Those interested in getting a headstart on competitive play can test their skill against the Frag Dolls, the seven-member girl videogame team sponsored by Ubisoft, in the Army booth begining 2:00 p.m. each day of E3.
Live Demonstrations South Hall Booth 1608 - Working with Lasershot Shooting Simulations, Inc., the U.S. Army will present E3 attendees with the opportunity to don a kevlar vest and helmet and grab a real M4 carbine to enter a virtual combat experience in an Army shoothouse. Players will join real Special Forces Soldiers in a hands-on urban combat exercise featuring real U.S. weapons and America's Army scenarios. Future Warrior and Future Force Warrior Soldiers will be demonstrating next generation technology incorporated into Soldiers' uniforms, helmets, and weapons.
Outside of the Convention Center – The Army will take to the skies on Wednesday and Thursday. At 10am the Army's Golden Knights will conquer the skies by jumping from more than 4000 feet and landing adjacent to the Los Angeles Convention Center at the corner of Pico and Figueroa. At 2pm, the 20th Special Forces Group will rappel from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter flown by the140th General Support Aviation Battalion. E3 attendees can meet the Army's experts in verticle envelopment and test their mettle in the Special Forces Adventure Van located in the drop zone at Pico and Figueroa. At the South Hall entrance to E3, attendees can take command of the Army's Convoy Skills Engagement Trainer (CSET) or don Quantum3D's man-wearable dismounted infantry training systems.
The America's Army Platform Due to its ability to render exceptionally realistic and flexible environments, player interactions, and scenarios, the America's Army Platform (a government owned, core technology and content infrastructure based on the America's Army game) is seeing accelerating adoption as an educational, training, and visualization tool for the government and military. The America's Army Future Applications team uses the platform to model future weapons systems prototypes for virtual experimentation. At E3 the team will show its in-game version of the Javelin missile system (as part of the Overmatch game) and prototype weapons including the XM25 Air Burst Weapon System and the XM307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon. Attendees will also be able to employ the Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System robot as well as the TALON robot trainer which is being used by Soldiers in the Global War on Terror. The Applied Imagery Laboratory (AIL) of the Software Engineering Directorate (SED) will exhibit its Basic Skills Training device for the Common Remote Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) which was created with the America's Army platform.
Action Figures and Game Gear The Army's E3 booth will feature "America's Army Soldier" action figures which are part of the ‘America's Army Real Heroes' program. The Real Heroes program gives America's Army players a closer look into the accomplishments of real Soldiers and a greater insight into the wide range of individuals that make the U.S. Army the world's premier land force. These Soldiers will be featured as action figures, in the game and on the www.americasarmy.com and www.goarmy.com Websites. The booth will also contain an array of America's Army Game Gear available at www.armygamegear.com ., the official Website site for America's Army materiel.
About the Game America's Army was designed and developed to use online game technology as a virtual portal through which young Americans can explore Soldiering in the U.S. Army. In America's Army players can explore and dominate challenges ranging from basic training to Special Forces Assessment and Selection to Special Forces Qualification Course. They can join various elite Army units and see the power of Army teamwork, values and technology.
To create the realistic levels presented in America's Army: Special Forces, developers worked with Green Berets at locations ranging from firebases in Operation Enduring Freedom to the J.F.K. Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, N.C. America's Army developers also joined with elements of the 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division and 3rd Brigade 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington, to model Stryker Brigade missions and equipment. America's Army is rated T for Teen. The PC version of America's Army is available as a free CD at local Army Recruiting stations, ROTC Detachments and Army events, and can also be downloaded from various partners listed on the www.americasarmy.com site.
About the Army Through the teamwork efforts of the more than 1.2 million Soldiers in the active Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve, the U.S. Army is the world's relevant and ready land force. Today's Army Soldiers are on the frontline in the ongoing Global War on Terrorism in missions like OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM and OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, and joint-service missions for the Department of Defense. The Army will be 229 years old June 14. For more information on the Army, go to www.goarmy.com or www.army.mil.
America's Army (PC)
America's Army: Special Forces (PC)
America's Army: Special Forces Qualification Course (PC)
America's Army: Rise of a Soldier (PS2)
America's Army: Rise of a Soldier (XB)

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