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E3: Epic, US Army Develop Games as Recruitment Tool
securitas writes "Reuters and AP tell us that Epic Games and the US Army have announced the America's Army series of games, jointly developed by the Department of Defense and Epic. The first two-part game in the five-year project includes an RPG called Soldier and a first-person shooter called Operations. The game will be free of charge and available for download in July or August, with 1.2 million CDs simultaneously released, attached to gaming magazines. Does this remind anyone else of the war-room scene from Toys or Ender's Game?" Future installments will include Sim Mess Duty, Sim Standing Guard in the Rain, Sim Blister, and Sim Invading Iraq to Keep Approval Ratings High.
This is great! Another fan of Ender's Game. I find them so rare and scattered. I try to convice Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow are the best books ever. But many people just stare at me blankly a few have even smacked me. Sad.
> SELECT * FROM brain_cells WHERE synaptic_rate > 0
0 row returned
It is based on the Unreal engine, and it is awesome. nothing like your regular FPS.. it has the reality dial turned way up... if you get hit once you are dead, or bleeding to death no mega heath, no railgun's, no ammo everywhere, just your handy GI issued weapons. From the demo I watched and played, FPS fans will hate it. and several of the "kids" though it sucked, it requires thinking, skill, and for the player to be clever... very unlike FPS games where most of the players just run around hopping firing at everything that moves... camping is a requirement and only the stupid players do anything other than camping (stupid players=dead players)
so basically, if you're the type of FPS player that gets' wildly mad at campers, you will hate it.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
1) Saddam Husain has used weapons of mass destruction( WMDs) such as nerve gas against Iraqi kurdish civilians.
2) He ejected U.N. inspectors who were making sure he complied with the peace terms stating he wouldn't continue to develop WMDs including the Iraqi nuclear program.
3) He has launched strikes on civilian populations in Israel during the Gulf War even though Israel was not part of the military coalition. He did this in the hopes invoking an Israeli response which would gain him the support of other Arab nations.
Now because you obviously didn't know this or understand the implications I will state it slowly:
If allowed to develope a nuke, he's likely to use it against a civilian target. Possibly in a pre-emptive strike.
Where is it going to happen? Who knows. Will it be trucked in or on top of a missle? Not sure. A strike against him is necessary to make sure that this doesn't happen.
Sidenote: Informative opposing opinions != Troll, a point often lost on the moderators of this "news source".
The America's Army videogame suite, Operations and Soldiers, were built completely by the MOVES Institute, not by Epic Games. We licensed the Epic Games engine for Operations. For more information on the games and imagery from E3, see http://movesinstitute.org
Michael Zyda
Dumbass. It's called the First Amendment.
But isn't that what Unit Cohesion is all about? You are many, but you are one. When one dies, the unit has suffered a death. When one succeeds, the unit is victorious. When one is threatened, the unit is threatened.
... and this Family takes no crap off anyone." More people would get that message, but I think it would attract a different subset of recruits ... a subset that is already fully represented, thank you very much.
The Army of One ad campaign is a cool campaign, but over the heads of 98% of the American public. Of course, maybe it is that other 2% they are looking for.
Army of One concept = You become part of a larger whole (your unit). As a unit, you are one. As an individual, you grow and become better, thus making the unit better. We are 'One' as individuals, but we are also 'One' as a unit and 'One' as an Army.
The same message could be made with "We are a family. The American Family. Mess with one of us, you mess with all of us
That new Unreal engine is just amazing, I can't wait to see all the modded games people make with it.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Several of the people involved in bringing you Slashdot, including the author who posted this story, have previously been in the U.S. armed forces.
And -- Hey... I may be sullen, and I may be directionless, but... uh what was that other thing you said?
AmericasArmy and GoArmy.com will have links to the download. BUT NOT CURRENTLY! The game is still in beta so don't even bother. We've been testing it for months as I work for the web group who does goarmy.com The game is truly awesome.
Heil Sig! -Rob
don't you mean army of "aboot" eight?
I'd imagine this recruitment thing is similar to getting Airborne and Ranger school in your contract when you enlist.
What happens is that you go to Basic and AIT, then you go to Airborne holdover until they have an open slot for you. After you graduate Airborne school (if you do), you go on to RIP (the Ranger Indoctrination Program) after which, assuming you pass, you go on to a Ranger Battalion and piddle your thumbs until you get promoted to Specialist (E-4).
Then, once you've got the rank and if you're still in the necessary physical shape, they send you through a Pre-Ranger prep course and then onto Ranger School, to return to your unit Ranger qualified, instead of some 5-jump chump sitting around at bat.
Essentially, I'm assuming you'll get SF in your contract, go to BCT and AIT, Airborne holdover, Airborne, some sort of pre-SF training, and then piddle around in an SF unit until you make SGT (E-5), when you can finally go through the SF Qualification Course, which you still have to pass before you become an SF soldier.
This is, of course, all assuming that you're enlisting. If you're commissioning, you don't get to choose your MOS, and you have to apply for SF once you're on the CPT (O-3) list just like everyone else.
Brian Voils
"A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students."
Korea = South invaded by Northern communist dictator with the support of China and Russia. UN decrees support for south and US and many other forces work to stop N. Korea. China invades and adds to the mess. Call it a conflict if you want, but it was war and the US was in the right to defend a smaller nation against despotic rulers and aggression.
Vietnam = Militarily it could have been over in a year. But, it was a political war and wrong in many ways. Not that the N. Vietnamese leadership and military were school marmes, they were nearly as bad as Pol Pot.
Irag = Aggressive nation lead by despotic leader who is a murderer even before he stole the reigns of power. He has performed mass murder, used weapons of mass destruction, and invaded his neighbor to escape a debt his country owed and which he spent on palaces instead. Sure, we got into the war for those reasons and for oil, but we were not all wrong in the end analysis, there for you made yet another bad example.
Iran = ? When did we fight there? The hostage rescue, executed by brave but underequiped and trained men sent in by a liberal president who oversaw the gutting of our military that resulted in that fiasco? Is that what you meant?
Haiti = ? Again, what war? That was a peacekeeping mission to one of the most insane and unstable countries in the world. The politices were all screwed up, to be sure, but I dare you to pick a better side to support given what was going on. Read up and think about it before you name names... you will see my point.
I don't pretend to be a military historian... I am one, so I am sure that you get my point, or at least you could if you did some reading and dropped those liberal defensive shields first.