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.

Comments

Army of One

[Imperator]

See, I don't get this whole "Army of One" business. If I were to join the army, I wouldn't want to be fighting alone. I'm not delusional: I know I can't defeat enemies Rambo-style. No, I'd want to be part of a "Big-Ass Army of Many Ass-Kicking Soldiers, Tanks, and Other Military Equipent". Apparently I have to sign up with some other country to get this.

Re:Army of One

[Martin Blank]

It's an attempt to stamp out the perception of a soldier being a mindless automaton, a concept well overdue. I know a number of military people, and aside from being generally more disciplined and more respectful, they're not all that different. Once they get into other, more elite units like the Rangers, Airborne, Special Forces, etc, they *have* to be able to think for themselves, particularly because their missions require flexibility and since command may well fall on them in an emergency.

Re:Army of One

[Rolker]

Join Canada'a army! Then you will be part of an "Army of about Eight"

Re:Army of One

[Pentagon13]

thats "Army of aboot Eight"...

Re:I just hope the games kick ass...

[reaper20]

"Green soldier has gained a level!"

YES! Fear me mighty urinal!

Navy games?

[pjdepasq]

Gee, I hope if the Navy does something like this, there will be SimTailHook.... now that's one I'd like to play!

Re:Gimme a break

[CaffeineAddict2001]

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." --George S. Patton

I have seen this

[Lumpy]

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.

Re:I have seen this

[FortKnox]

I thought the fundamental rule of game design is to balance Realism with Fun. Ask any famous game designer about it. Sometimes you gotta reach out away from the real to make the game flow well, or to balance out what you can do.

Lets look at some popular games:
CounterStrike: Most people would say this is as "real" as it gets, when you die, your gone. But you can get hit in the leg, stamper for a second, then are back running full speed again. You can get shot in the arm, but still fire back. This game has a lot of realism, but it still balances it out with a 'fun factor.'
Age Of Empires: The designers of AoE always talk about how stuff like Catapults had to be changed. Originally, you needed someone to fire and move them, but it lead to too many problems, so they just made them self useable, and movable. Upon doing this, they felt the game flowed better, and the testers had more fun with the game.

I could go on, but I think "true realism" isn't what the gaming community wants. Games are a time when you can do stuff you normally wouldn't do...

Re:Ender's Game?

[arkanes]

Yeah, but imagine the suprise when they go to recruit the high scorer and it's just some punkass kidd with a wallcheat and an aim bot.

America's Army is by the MOVES Institute

[Professor]

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

Submarine Sim

[bubblegoose]

Here is the new Sim being designed by the Navy to simulate Sub duty:
HOW TO SIMULATE SUBMARINE LIFE AT HOME
Surround yourself with a few people you don't like. Close all windows and doors tightly, close curtains. Seal any openings to the outside world with a proper vault. Unplug all radios and TV sets to cut yourself off completely from news, football games, Saturday Night Live, the Muppet Show, etc.

Hourly monitor all operating home appliances, if not in use, log as secured. If using the bathroom, do not flush toilet for first two days to simulate smell of blowing sanitaries and venting inboard. Then flush daily.

Wear only approved FBM coveralls, or proper Navy uniforms. No hats, special T-shirts, etc. Cut your hair once a week ensuring that you make it look like hell. Work 18-hour day intervals to ensure your body really gets confused. Listen to the same cassette over and over until you can't stand it anymore, and then put in one that you can't even listen to without acute nausea setting in. Set your alarm to go off just as you fall asleep, with alarm set at loud, or buy a special alarm clock with various settings, (i.e., "Man Battle Stations, Fire, Flooding in the Basement").

Prepare food with a blindfold on to simulate what real submarine cooks do. Then take the blindfold off and try to get your dog to eat it. Then break out a can of tuna and/or peanut butter.

Cut your bed in half, and enclose all but one side using the dimensions of a small casket as a reference. When not in bed, make up blankets properly so no one will see or care.

Periodically, for want of excitement, open main power breaker and run around yelling, "Reactor Scram", until you are sweating profusely, then restore power. Buy yourself a snorkel and mask, and again, periodically, just for want of nothing else to do, put it on and pretend you're in a smoke filled room with no way out. For added variety, hook up the garden hose and pressurize it.

To enable yourself to handle anything, constantly study wiring diagrams and operating instructions for various home appliances (stove, refrigerator, can opener). For no reason at all, at specified intervals (monthly, weekly, etc.) tear one item apart, just in case it was going to break down.

Paint everything around you gray (Navy FSN gray, no substitutes) or off-white. To be sure you are living in a clean and happy environment, every Friday, set alarm on loud for a short but hated drill sound, then get up and manned with only a bucket and sponge and greeny, clean one area over and over, even if it was already spotless. Then make out a discrepancy list.

Once a day, after normal programming hours, plug in TV and watch one movie being careful that it is (a) at least five years old, (b) made long enough prior to showing to be sure that you've seen it at least once before, or (c) be so bad you have to install a seatbelt in your chair to keep you there until it is over.

Since no doctor will be available, stockpile Band-Aids, aspirin, and Actifed as these are proven cure-alls. Practice if necessary on your dog (surgery, dentistry, or death).

When commencing this test simulation, lock your family, friends, and anything that means anything to you outside. Tests will run for at least two months with no end in sight.

Re:Don't Foget This One...

[cjpez]

(sigh, responding to trolls...)

No, he wasn't making fun of the game, he was using joke game titles to belittle the work done by the army.

Well, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it, of course, but I disagree. Anyone who joins into a branch of the military expecting to be all action and intrigue and excitement is going to be disappointed, if what my friends in the service have told me is true. Sure, there certainly is some more "glamorous" things that happen, but unless I'm mistaken, you can also expect a hell of a lot of boredom. Again, if you feel that he was belittling the armed services, that's your perogative, but it's also my right to disagree with you. I didn't find anything at all insulting in the jokes, and I stand by that opinion.

As to your dig at moderation, does that mean that you have absolute control over what other people consider insightful, or interesting? If I find a post interesting and moderate it so, but you disagree, does that mean that the system doesn't work? If you're going to get pissed off about it, just wait until you've got some mod points of your own and then mod it down. That's the beauty of it - YOU control moderation as much as the next guy, so what are you complaining about?