America's Army to report for console duty @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on April 15, 2004

News: Ubisoft has signed a deal to develop and publish the popular PC shooter on consoles.

In a press release littered with strange word choices, weird proclamations and confusing doublespeak, Ubisoft and the U.S. Army have announced a partnership to bring the Army's popular PC first person shooter America's Army to the console world.

The release mentions that this is the first time the U.S. Army has ever licensed it's "brand" to a video game company and that Ubisoft will have "unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the vast resources of the U.S. Army, to give console gamers the same realistic, action-packed, military experience players have enjoyed with the award-winning PC game" in the development of the console version.

"Ubisoft is in the business of delivering what the consumer wants, and consumers want officially licensed games," said Jay Cohen, Vice President of Publishing for Ubisoft Inc. "When you play a sports game you want to play the game from the official league, and now, when you play an Army action game, you'll be able to play the undisputed leader."

No specific platforms were included with this announcement, but when you consider the integral online aspects of America's Army, a PS2 and Xbox release seems likely. GameCube owners will probably be out of luck, but nothing has been set in stone yet. But we do know that Ubisoft has currently scheduled a Summer 2005 release for the game.

There is also the question of distribution of the game, as the PC version of America's Army is distributed as a free download on the Internet and in CD-ROM form at Army events and Recruitment Centers. There was no announcement of whether this free giveaway business model would carry over to this console release.

And I'm not even going to touch the irony of a French company being chosen as the developer of the U.S. Army game.

We'll keep you posted as we learn more.