14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Bohemia Interactive says that it is renaming the main island in their upcoming ArmA 3 Altis, in order to better reflect the Mediterranean environment that gamers will be fighting in.
The team also wants to make sure that players understand the difference between Altis and the real-world island of Lemnos, on which it is based.
Joris-Jan van 't Land, the project lead working on Arma 3, states, “As part of the creative process, our virtual environments are often rooted in real-life locations and, during development, they evolve and grow along with our design.”
The change was made after two members of the Bohemia Interactive development team were held by Greek authorities for 129 days under suspicion of espionage.
The pair maintains that they were only travelling for tourist purposes and that ArmA 3 is being created using only publicly available data.
Joris-Jan van 't Land adds, “The resulting fictional environment is often close to its inspiration, but it's never exactly the same - nor would we want it to be. For us, 'Altis' echoes the Mediterranean heart of our island, but differentiates it from any undesired real-life connotations.”
The main island in ArmA 3 is about 350 square kilometers, smaller than the 475 square kilometers of real-world Lemnos.
Marek Spanel, the chief executive officer of Bohemia Interactive, suggested the setting for the new game after spending a vacation on Lemnos a number of years ago.
ArmA 3 also includes a smaller secondary island, which will continue to be called Stratis, about 20 square kilometers big.
The military shooter will use a new version of the Real Virtuality engine, designed to bring the game experience as close as possible to the realities of the modern battlefield.
Arma 3 is set to launch during March 2013.