Army of Two

[Melbosa]

Source: http://www.ea.com/article.jsp?dcr=ea&id=armyoftwo

E3 2006: Army of Two -- EA's Groundbreaking Action Game
Boutique Development Studio in Montreal Delivers Groundbreaking Action Title on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
You're not alone soldier, not anymore. Electronic Arts today unveiled details of the action title that has been kept top secret for the past year. Developed at EA's boutique production house in Montreal, Canada, the new, original intellectual property will redefine strategic TWO man cooperative play when it launches on the PlayStation? 3 computer entertainment system and Xbox360? videogame system from Microsoft in 2007. Army of Two? will throw gamers into hot spots ripped from current day headlines where they will utilize unique TWO man strategies and tactics while seamlessly transitioning between playing with intelligent Partner AI (PAI) and a live player. When one man is not enough, it will take an army of two to fight through war, political turmoil and a conspiracy so vast it threatens the entire world.

Alain Tascan, VP and General Manager of EA Montreal has been serving as Executive Producer on the title. Tascan comments, "Army of Two is a first for EA in many ways. This is the first EA studio to be built entirely from the ground-up. This is EA?s first original title for the next-gen systems. Army of Two is the first game to put players inside tactical warfare involving Private Military Corporations."

Reid Schneider, Senior Producer at EA Montreal noted, "This is the game we've always wanted to create. Until now, the hardware would not allow us to deliver truly intelligent AI characters. We've built this game with co-operative TWO man gameplay as the centerpiece of the experience. Whether you're playing with PAI or a friend, it's about the TWO man missions, TWO man strategies and the TWO man advantage that really sets this game apart."

EA established a state-of-the-art studio in downtown Montreal in 2003. It has since drawn some of the industry's most talented creative specialists ? programmers, digital artists, 3D animators, lighting experts, modellers, writers, directors, musicians and audio engineers.

And some screenies: VE3D

This one sounds like it might be pretty decent game.

[Mr. Analog]

I saw a video of this a while back and the bit where your virtual partner won't let you take, and I quote from the game "the f*cking shot" might be kind of frustrating, neat idea though. Snipers rarely work alone.

[Darren Dirt]

You wanna talk about ground-breaking military action games? Check out this baby! (oh but for the days of innovative gaming )

[Mr. Analog]

You wanna talk about ground-breaking military action games? Check out this baby! (oh but for the days of innovative gaming )

2 player lemmings?

[Darren Dirt]

Holy crap! Funny you should mention that:

On the Atari ST ONLY, there *WAS* a 2-player version of Lemmings built-in (with 20 unique levels especially geared towards the head-to-head match)... The 2 player mode didn't exist in any other versions AFAIK And that was the most addictive fun game I have ever played -- before or since, including GC Warioware Party Games! I had quite a few all-nighters at a friend's house, we'd play seriously for a while, pretty evenly matched, then we'd play "who can kill all the Lemmings the fastest" until our guts hurt from laughing, then play "rescue 1 of mine then kill everybody else" (pretty evil strategy)... Drowning was especially my favorite form of genocide, especially as my single survivor slowly treks to the "home" while all others sink into the water, arms a-flailing...


But that's off topic, sorry, "Cannon Fodder" is a game I just now heard of (thanks to MobyGames' handy "other games by the same developer" link) and sounds like it might be worth finding an emu to try it out -- along with "Wizball" which I was hooked on back in the Atari ST days (same developer, hence the Cannon Fodder discovery).

But sounds like Ao2 (AoT?) is pretty innovative, I was being sarcastic a bit... And hey wow EA building a game from scratch? Good luck in seeing your families this decade, code monkeys...