According to ex-AA3 developers, the contract studio responsible for the latest America's Army entry was shuttered due to a lack of funds, with future development allegedly moving to an unnamed Alabama-based developer. The newest game in the publicly funded series is experiencing some growing pains, as one can likely glean from the game's official support forums.

The anonymous America's Army 3 developers in touch with Kotaku unsurprisingly didn't sound too pleased with the current situation, venting that "a lot of good people [worked] insanely long hours on this game that was butchered by outside sources."

We've contacted reps from America's Army public relations team to confirm the news.

One of the things the first two iterations of the game taught the developers is that they need to make the game as easy to find, download and install as possible, said Marsha Berry, America Army senior executive producer.

The new game, due out sometime this year, will also consolidate the account system to a single sign on and allow players to create multiple soldiers on that one account.

Other tweaks to the game include the ability to quickly jump back and forth between gameplay and training, breaking training down into much smaller easier to digest units, and a lot more unit customization.

"One of the big things we heard was that players like customization," Berry said. "We have a lot of customization on how you can load down your character."

If you're interested in reading up on how the game plays and some of it's amazing features, like tactical sound, realistic ricochet and how gravity effects the bullets your fire, make sure to check out our hands on with the game.

Now, seven years later, the game seems to be coming into its own as more a game than a recruitment tool.

What It Is
America's Army 3 is the latest iteration of the video game marketing tool developed by the U.S. Army. This latest version of the first-person shooter was built using the Unreal Engine 3 and is packed with more graphic and audio fidelity as well as overhauled stat-tracking, customization and plenty of new bells and whistles. And it's free.

What We Saw
I played a couple of matches with three of the developers in a single level of the first-person shooter on The Bridge level. The matches were two versus two and consisted of me dying... lots. I did manage to bag one of them when they tried to sneak up behind me and punk me with a rifle butt to the head.

How Far Along Is it?
I played a beta build of the game, which is slated to come out sometime this year. The developers pointed out that they were still working on polish and things like collision detection.

What Needs Improvement?
Collision Detection: This build is still far from done. While the mechanics are all there, the graphics tend to jitter around too much and collision detection is still quite an issue, with soldiers jutting out a odd angles when crouching near or lying on cover or rubble.

Vaulting: You can only vault objects if you get a running start. Understandable for higher hindrances, but a knee-high fence or rubble shouldn't require backtracking to pick up the speed to get over something.

Ladders: Hopefully this is an issue with collision, because trying to latch onto and then climb up a ladder was a mess, often leading to you scampering against a wall before you could get started or falling from a few feet up.

Polish: The graphics don't pop as much as I'd like. There's still some work needed to make the game compare favorably to the likes of Gears of War 2 or the latest Call of Duty games.

What Needs to Stay the Same?
The Sound: The America Army 3's development team went to extraordinary levels to capture realistic sound. And not just gun shots, but far more importantly the accurate noise of a round passing near your head. You can tell, while playing the game, just how close someone is getting to hitting you just by the sound of the bullet passing by. From pops, to whizzes, the realistic sound effects adds another layer to tactics and makes suppressive fire all the more effective.

Healing: While you can go through training courses to improve your ability to heal other players on the battlefield, all players automatically have some ability to do so. But it's not an easy thing to do. To heal an incapacitated player you need to read check their injuries and select the correct treatment among the four listed to heal them. Once they are up and on their feet you need to heal them a second time to reduce the damage done by injuries. Shots to the chest or arms, for instance, slow reloading, while shots to the legs or lower body, slow a player down.

Realism: This is a shooter made by people who work for the Army, you can bet that they get the details, the minutia dead-on. Weapons are accurately modeled after the real thing. The movements are captured from real soldiers, the situations, while all taking place in a fictitious war in a fictitious country, are all based on real tactics. In that sense it doesn't get any more real.

Detailed Scoring System: In the original game you only had to worry about honor, building it to rank up. In this latest version the game tracks seven different Army values and uses all of them to award points which go toward ranking. When players stick together, those points are shared out between them. On top of the scoring and ranking system, the game now also supports achievements, badges and ribbons.

Damage Modeling: This latest Amercia's Army breaks the human body down into 16 sections, each of which can take damage and cause different harm to a player. Bullets are tracked in real time and can deflect as they go through different surfaces, they can also ricochet realistically causing injuries. Grenades, when they explode, not only spew ricocheting fragments, but also can kill or stun by sheer concussion.

Movement: Player movement is based on their load out, the more they carry the slower they move. Soldiers can slide into a dive from a run, slide to a crouch. They can lean standing, squatting or laying and, finally, they can melee attack with their rifle.

Pre-Battle Management: Before every encounter players are dropped into a top-down map where they can use markers and routes to discuss tactics and assign tactics, pushing gamers to think more about movement than about running and gunning.

Final Thoughts
Aside from some of the cosmetic issues, America's Army 3 is shaping up to be quite a solid shooter. The developers listened to their fans and tried to create a game that answered all of the issues of their first two outings. Add the amazing sound, the details of ricochet too the versatile Unreal Engine 3 graphics and you have a game with enormous potential.

So how does the U.S. Army make a sequel?

"In AA3 we've taken all of the best features in AA2, incorporated feedback from the AA community and added the latest technology to develop a high-tech game that can be customized by the player to create a much more detailed interactive experience," said Michael Bode, executive producer of the America's Army game.

By the book, that's how! Take what works, add in new stuff, and boom - America's Army 3.

The new game will have a strong focus on training, Army values, and the Warrior Ethos, highlighting the Army lifestyle both on and off duty. Sounds just like Stripes with Bill Murray! Where do I sign up?

U.S. ARMY ANNOUNCES AMERICA'S ARMY 3 PC ACTION GAME

New Game in Hit Series Features New Missions, Training and Gameplay Features

Silver Spring, MD January 20, 2009 - Six years after the U.S. Army revolutionized military action games with the launch of the free PC game America's Army, the U.S. Army today announced the upcoming release of America's Army 3 (AA3). America's Army 3 is the only free action game that delivers an authentic and entertaining Army experience by reflecting the training, technology, actions and career advancement of a Soldier within a unique exciting game experience. AA3, which will be rated T for Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), will be released in 2009. As with previous versions of America's Army, AA3 will be constantly updated to include new features and missions and to highlight new technologies being incorporated in today's Army.

Using the state-of-the-art Unreal Engine 3, America's Army game developers brought the most popular trademark gameplay features from the previous versions to AA3. Highlights include authentic weapons and technologies, realistic training and exciting gameplay missions. AA3 provides players new insights into the Army and Soldiering while making the game easier to play, easier to install and easier to download.

"In AA3 we've taken all of the best features in AA2, incorporated feedback from the AA community and added the latest technology to develop a high-tech game that can be customized by the player to create a much more detailed interactive experience," said Michael Bode, executive producer of the America's Army game. "One of our key design philosophies is to make the game easily accessible to a new player, while at the same time keeping a deeper layer of complexity for the more advanced players to discover and take advantage of."

AA3 highlights different aspects of the Army from Army Values and the Warrior Ethos to Army career opportunities and lifestyles both on and off duty. Through their in-game characters, AA3 players will be able to experience the way Soldiers train, live, and advance in the Army. AA3 players will also experience different types of technologies and equipment used by the Army's high-tech Soldier. Players are bound by Rules of Engagement (ROE) and gain experience as they navigate challenges in team-based, multiplayer, force on force operations. In the game, as in the Army, accomplishing missions requires teamwork and adherence to the seven Army Core Values. In the game, a player's actions and demonstrated Army values will have consequences that are integral to success in gameplay and will affect a player's career progression.

"With AA3, we're taking military gaming to an all new level where every detail counts," said Col. Casey Wardynski, originator and Director of the America's Army game project. "We want our America's Army 3 players to have a greater understanding of the Army and its values. Our Soldiers are aspirational figures and our players are able to virtually experience many aspects of a Soldier's life from their training, to their missions, to the way the Army has influenced their lives."

As with the previous America's Army games, AA3's authenticity is second-to-none. Our Army development team worked closely with Subject Matter Experts from across the Army to make sure that everything about the game is as realistic as possible. AA3 has more authentic military elements including training, technology, weapons, and audio than any other military game. Built on Unreal Engine 3, AA3 delivers stunningly realistic environments, lighting effects, animations, and team-based experiences so that America's Army players can experience how the Army has strength like no other within its game that is like no other.

AA3 players will have persistent characters that they customize by embarking on career paths in which they advance by completing specialized training and accomplishing missions. The evolution of the player's career follows the same progression as it would in the Army. Players are rewarded at significant milestones, such as graduation from basic training or returning from a deployment, through pride moments — vignettes represented visually as an achievement screen, movie or a slide show. These pride moments transition the player from one state of training or character progression to another.

Initially, the core of the gameplay focuses on an Infantry Soldier (11B). Players can select from a variety of roles that the 11B performs such as Rifleman, Automatic Rifleman, Designated Marksman and Grenadier. The first additional Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) players can explore is 68W Health Care Specialist (Combat Medic) which will be added this summer. Players who complete advanced individual training modules can take on new MOS roles that will affect gameplay. For example, by completing medic training players will be able to treat minor and major injuries in single player training missions and render advanced medical aid in multiplayer missions. In subsequent game releases, players who complete Combat Engineer training will be able to assist in mission pre-planning, such as emplacing an obstacle to impede the mobility of enemy forces.

Training is a key element in the AA3 game just as it is in the Army. The game offers a variety of new training levels that will give players an advantage in the game. After completing basic training players can go to advanced training to increase their in-game skill level and progress in their Army career. Success in the game earns players the privilege of taking specialized training. This specialized training allows players to unlock new abilities and gear, and to customize the gear they carry as well as their equipment loadout. As players advance, they will be able to 'cross-train' on many different MOSs available in today's Army. Such players will be highly sought after due to the capabilities they bring to multiplayer missions. Additionally, as a new feature, players will have the ability to join online games with limited capabilities using the "instant action" feature.