Arma 3 Karts goes from April Fools' joke to real-life DLC

Arma 3 Karts began life as an April Fools' joke , but as sometimes happens, fans thought it was actually a pretty cool idea. So Bohemia Interactive decided to run with it, and the result is Arma 3 Karts, released today as an honest-to-goodness DLC pack for the famed military shooter, with a portion of sales going to charity.

To be clear, this is exactly what it appears to be: Go-kart racing in Arma 3. Players will trade in their H&K G36 for a four-stroke, 20 horsepower kart with four selectable liveries (which is a fancy way of saying "paint jobs") and matching driver models with appropriate racing headgear. Various new objects useful for creating racetracks have been added to the game, as has a Race Marshal, who will ensure that all necessary safety precautions have been taken—probably not a bad idea when kart racing in a war zone. In keeping with the game's roots, there's even a new weapon: a starter pistol! It shoots flares, too, because what good is a videogame gun without an alt-fire mode, am I right?

It's obviously a bit of a lark but at $2, it's cheaper than horse armor ! (It's also included in the Arma 3 DLC Bundle along with the forthcoming Helicopters and Marksmen packs, if you're looking for an all-in-one deal.) Even better, a portion of the money earned from the Karts DLC will be donated to the Czech Red Cross.

Believe it or not, Arma 3 Karts is actually the game's first paid DLC release. The aforementioned Helicopters DLC is slated to launch in September while Marksmen is expected in the first quarter of 2015, each one selling separately for $16—a pretty good excuse to buy the bundle and go racing while you wait.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.