Today, the U.S. Army and the Emergent Media Center (EMC) at Champlain College (http://www.champlain.edu/Emergent-Media-Center.html) announced their release of the America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) (Champlain College Map Pack) for download at the America's Army game website (www.americasarmy.com). The Champlain College Map Pack provides America's Army players with two new missions created by students at Champlain under a collaborative partnership with the U.S. Army. Since its first release in July 2002, America's Army has consistently remained one of the top-ten action games played online, gathering a following of more than 9.4 million registered users within the United States and in over 60 different countries. These players have invested 234 million hours in the game exploring Soldiering from Basic Training to operations in the Global War on Terrorism.

"We are excited and proud to share the student's accomplishments in the Champlain College Map Pack download," said Ann DeMarle, Director of the Emergent Media Center at Champlain College. "The America's Army development team continues to be an outstanding resource for the students' education and skill development. We are thankful for such a wonderful partnership."

In collaboration with the America's Army development team, Champlain students and faculty created two missions - District and Canyon - that highlight the training, technology, and values that make the U.S. Army the world's premier land force. The students are part of the Game Art & Animation, Game Programming, and Game Design bachelor degree programs. Two teams of students, each with their own student producer, worked collaboratively and competitively. Every two weeks the groups hosted a critique of their projects and received input from EMC Director Ann DeMarle, Project Director Ray McCarthy-Bergeron, and Operations Manager Sarah Jerger. The District student team consisted of Max Nichols, Dan Peavey, Halley Greaves, Emily Benton, Chris Matuszek, Jeremy Burau, and the Canyon team was Joel Pelletier, Trevor McEwen, Elken Richmond, Wesley Knee, Michael Ackerman, and Sean Thurler. Together the teams put in more than 2,500 hours of development on the missions.

The Champlain team created the Map Pack using the America's Army Mission Editor which was released to the public in December 2006 as part of America's Army: Special Forces (Coalition). Using the Mission Editor, players can create new levels or modify existing levels using any of the game's existing art, sound, particle effects and gameplay assets, and then showcase their mission for play by America's Army's global community at the America's Army Mission Depot
(www.aamissiondepot.com).

"The Champlain students really impressed the America's Army team with their creativity, teamwork and abilities," said Michael Bode, America's Army executive producer. "The District and Canyon maps are among the best that we've seen developed using our America's Army Mission Editor, and we look forward to seeing future work of these talented students."

America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) (Champlain College Map Pack) contains the following missions.

District is an atmospheric, night-time scenario that takes place in a small urban area based on an eastern European city. Teams start in opposite corners of the level – one in a park, the other in a warehouse, and each one must capture two objectives located in buildings near the center to achieve success.
  • Canyon takes place in a Middle Eastern mountain village where a local warlord has recently acquired a cache of heavy weapons. Orders are to secure these weapons from the village and engage enemy combatants as necessary.


    • About Champlain's Emergent Media Center
    The Emergent Media Center works with industry, public institutions, and non-profits, to discover concepts, processes, and applications in games and emergent media. At the heart of this are two key objectives: enabling Champlain students to become thoughtful leaders in areas of technology, media, and learning; and helping to define the future of immersive mediums and technologies.
    Champlain students have been hosting summits, building games and interactive media, and participating in international conferences to demonstrate future possibilities. Armed with a unique perspective, they are intent on pushing creative technologies to the next level by integrating art and code with cultural awareness, creativity, communication and a sense of history and place.

    About America's Army
    Launched on July 4th 2002, America's Army is an innovative PC action game that provides young adults with an inside perspective and a virtual role in today's high-tech Army. The America's Army game affords players a virtual "test drive" of Soldiering in the U.S. Army from basic training to the battlefield in the Global War on Terrorism.

    Since July 2002 the Army has released 24 major updates to its America's Army game for the PC. These releases, which are available at www.americasarmy.com, feature new technologies, missions, Army units and occupations. The most recent updates are part of the America's Army: Special Forces series which focuses on the central role Special Forces play in the Global War on Terrorism and includes America's Army: Special Forces (Special Forces Assessment and Selection) released November 2003; America's Army: Special Forces (Q Course) released May 2005; and America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) (released September 2006). America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) highlights technologies that provide small U.S. Army units with the ability to overmatch much larger enemy forces. The America's Army game also includes the America's Army Real Heroes program that offers a glimpse, through in-game videos, into the accomplishments of Soldiers who have distinguished themselves in combat and earned citations for bravery and valor.