Army Opens New Office of Videogames

An anonymous reader writes "For the first time, the Army has set up a project office, just for building videogames. The military has been training troops with games for decades, of course. But this is the first wing of the armed forces dedicated exclusively for gaming. One of the first projects: a tool kit that would let soldiers "build and customize their own training scenarios — just like the Marines' did, adapting Armed Assault for military purposes."

Incorrect

[chanrobi]

The marines (USMC) did not "adapt" armed assualt. They use a version called VBS2 which (Bohemia Interactive) developed specifically for them (and other military customers). VBS2 and ArmA both use the same sim engine but the result is different. VBS2 is more "military" oriented rather than for gamers. For example the AAR/observer/instructor "Real time Mission Editor" which arma does not have. Other things such as realistic magazine change out times - reduced duration to cater to the gamer crowd.

Previously they used VBS1 which also had a gamer oriented counterpart - operation flashpoint.

http://virtualbattlespace.vbs2.com/ [vbs2.com]

Re:why bother ?

[joystickgenie]

Perhaps you missed this quote

"I haven't seen a game built for the entertainment industry that fills a training gap," said Col. Jack Millar, director of the service's Training and Doctrine Command's (TRADOC) Project Office for Gaming, or TPO Gaming.

As in the army agrees with us that video game do not train, training simulations do.

Re:Excellent!

[Real1tyCzech]

If we were hell-bent on world domination, would we not simply have taken over Iraq? Seems like it would have taken a lot less time and been a lot simpler to just swoop in, sweep up, plant the flag and colonize with an American population. Lord knows we could use the space for overflow.

No, sadly, our intent was not to claim, but to free, which leaves us with little real control over the end-game.

We should have just taken the cue from the whining left's accusations of oil/land grabbing and swallowed the entire Middle-East.