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Bradley Trainer Support in MAME 0.62

TheAlchemist writes "The Bradley Trainer was a modification to Atari's Battlezone arcade game created for the US Army to help train personel in the use of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Supposedly only two of these machines were built, and of the two only one of them is known to exist today. The latest version of the arcade enumator MAME (0.62) has support for the Bradley Trainer, which hasn't been emulated until now. Pictures and more information of the Atari Bradley Trainer be found on this site, and screenshots of it running in MAME can be found here."

59 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Great... by EvilCabbage · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I need to worry about impressionable school kids in trench coats carrying tanks as well?

    Better start carrying a few extra lives with me.

    1. Re:Great... by EvilCabbage · · Score: 2

      Heh.. ah.. yay for me then :)

    2. Re:Great... by jimmyCarter · · Score: 2

      From the looks of the screenshots.. it's even worse.. stick-figure tanks..

      --

      -- jimmycarter
  2. you know... by Savatte · · Score: 5, Funny

    it's still illegal to play the rom unless you own the original, which, especially in this case, is highly doubtful.

    1. Re:you know... by GigsVT · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Maybe not.... Since the work of government employees is public domain, if this was created by government employees, then at least the modifications are public domain, which seems to mean it would be legal if you own the original battlezone. If they contracted this out, which is likely, then it might be illegal.

      I guess the bigger question is... who the hell is going to care enough to sue you over something like this?

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    2. Re:you know... by fliplap · · Score: 2

      There's been an FOIA request out for that for a long time. Some of the details of Carnivore are on the FOIA website, but much of them are blacked out. One of the problems (besides the government not wanting to give it up) is that uncle sam licensed a lot of the pieces of carnivore from other companies, meaning they can't go releasing the source to those part. Granted it was probably just an excuse not to release it.

  3. The Bradley by Dr_LHA · · Score: 3, Informative

    Would this be a trainer for the same Bradley who's development and general crapness was lampooned by this movie?

  4. kewl by Tumbleweed · · Score: 5, Funny

    I didn't realize tanks had score and high score displays in them! Schweet. :)

  5. in other news... by nuckin+futs · · Score: 5, Funny

    The US Air Force is using a modified version of Choplifter originally from the Apple II to train its personnel for the Commanche Helicopter.

    1. Re:in other news... by yomegaman · · Score: 3, Funny

      I wonder how many hours you have to log on Zaxxon before you can be a Space Shuttle pilot? I may have a whole new career ahead of me!

      --
      ...wearing a skin-tight topless leather jumpsuit, with cutaway buttocks and transparent crotch panel.
    2. Re:in other news... by sconeu · · Score: 2

      And the Marine Corps used a modified version of DOOM for training as well.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    3. Re:in other news... by sconeu · · Score: 2

      I know they did. I wasn't trying to be sarcastic. I learned about it when taking a course on DIS. A STRICOM guy mentioned it... It was downloadable for a while, but google can't seem to find it. Maybe I should try the Wayback Machine!

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  6. seems a bit easy to me by myowntrueself · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The other tanks do not fire at you, and the only way to end the game is to run out of ammo or shoot a 'friendly' tank or helicopter"

    So, uh, this is a faithful simulation of actual American war fighting methodologies?

    I mean, you are in a Bradley, flying a US flag presumably.
    Right, so who would *dare* to shoot at you?

    --
    In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    1. Re:seems a bit easy to me by myowntrueself · · Score: 2

      Ok so if you are at war and you kill a friendly the game is over, right?

      My thought, though, was Saddam getting his hands on one of these babys;
      "ahhh I believe I have discovered a flaw in the strategy of the evil Americans...They will not be expecting our troops to fire back at them! Muwahahahaaaa"

      Hilarity ensues, and all that.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  7. WTF by almightyjustin · · Score: 5, Insightful
    arcade enumator MAME

    "enumator"?!?!?! That was painful even by /. standards...

    --

    Omnes arx vestrum sunt adiuncta nobis.

    1. Re:WTF by LS · · Score: 2

      It could of been a joke, like Internet Exploiter or Nutscrape 6.

      Hmm, probably not.

      --
      There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
  8. What is an "enumator"? by JessLeah · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe they meant "enumerator". I always wanted to enumerate an arcade. (Only every time I went in an arcade, I just kept "enumerating" my losses in quarters...)

  9. Marble Man by matthewn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is all well and good, but I'm not all that interested in playing it. On the other hand, I'd give my left nut to play the unreleased Marble Madness II on MAME.

    1. Re:Marble Man by charlito · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Just thought I would gloat... I played the original arcade cabinet of Marble Madness II a few months ago. There was an arcade and pinball machine convention (i can't recall the real name of it) here in SJ. Trust me, you didn't miss much. Joystick, no trackball. Where's the fun? Lots of weird, old, random games, though. Ones I wish I could have found back then. Oh, and you probably could've purchased it, too (maybe $1000 or so, most of the lesser known were cheap...i was so close to buying a Doctor Who Pinball for $1400)

    2. Re:Marble Man by Kurt+Russell · · Score: 2, Funny
      "i was so close to buying a Doctor Who Pinball for $1400"

      You could get one hell of a hooker for $1400

    3. Re:Marble Man by Tackhead · · Score: 2
      > > "i was so close to buying a Doctor Who Pinball for $1400"
      >
      >You could get one hell of a hooker for $1400

      Someone's already observed that the pinball machine lasts a lot longer than the hooker.

      I'd also like to ask if the hooker gives free replays if you play well enough ;)

    4. Re:Marble Man by CaseyB · · Score: 2

      Wow. You beat me to it! I was going to post a reply saying the same damn thing. When it comes to rare, unreleased games, playing MM2 is at the top of my list.

  10. Hmmmm I wonder by Jaguar777 · · Score: 4, Funny

    According to news media logic.
    If Doom/Quake = Kids shooting up school
    Then Bradley Trainer = Kids stealing tank and demolishing school.

    Remember you heard it here first!

    --
    Maybe you should educate the morons of tomorrow so they'll stop believing the leaders of tomorrow. - Dogbert
  11. New battle zone for old fans by dubbayu_d_40 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you were a fan, check out pandemic's battle zone II: http://www.pandemicstudios.com/games/bz2/index.htm It's like starcraft from inside a tank, only better. And does anyone know of a pc port of the Pointblank that used to ship with SGI's?

    1. Re:New battle zone for old fans by CoolVibe · · Score: 2
      No. Nooo. Noooo. Noooooooo!

      NOT bzflag! Man, that stuff is addictive. I can't remember how much productivity I lost when I had an O2 for a workstation and decided to give bzflag a go.

      Stay away from that game. It's too much friggin fun. And way to addictive. Just say no. Same goes for gltron and tuxracer. Just don't do it. Go play quake or something, at least that gets boring after a while and you can get back to work.

    2. Re:New battle zone for old fans by blincoln · · Score: 2

      If you were a fan, check out pandemic's battle zone II

      The first one in the series was excellent. I snagged the Gold Edition which came with a really well-done (but &#$#&#@ *hard*) expansion pack.

      II is sitting on my shelf waiting to be tried out. I heard it was not as good.

      It's too bad this kind of game never seemed to catch on. Sacrifice was the same basic style, and that didn't do too well either.

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
    3. Re:New battle zone for old fans by nounderscores · · Score: 2

      I've just rediscovered BZ II. I have to say the coolest thing is real time deformable terrain that reacts when you build on it.

      check out www.planetbattlezone.com for mods

  12. Lies! by Zildy · · Score: 2, Funny

    This wasn't training for tank-to-tank battle...

    This was for knocking those elusive spaceships out of the sky...bastards won't stand still!

    --
    Karma: Excer..ex...excellahhh...realll good (mostly affected by drinking not done in moderation)
  13. Of course I own one by fobbman · · Score: 5, Funny

    "By clicking on this link you stipulate that you own one of the original machines".

    Don't be silly. I don't have the simulator. I've got the damned tank in my backyard. It's just that the neighbors got upset last time I blew up their Buick.

    1. Re:Of course I own one by muzzmac · · Score: 4, Funny

      Made out of old coathangers?

  14. Well, maybe not a kid... by OffTheRack · · Score: 3, Informative
  15. Actually pretty cool... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Some relevant quotes:

    The Turret is controlled by a 'Star Wars' style yoke controller. It turns the guns and lets you change the elevation of the gun. . There are 3 type of weapons - 25mm cannon ; 7.62 mm coaxially mounted machine gun; TOW missile launcher with twin tubes.The upper left of the bezel hold the Range control, and also the magnification switch. The range control sets the height of the gun before you launch rockets or shoot the machine gun. The magnification switch changes your view from 3x to 10x. On the right side of the bezel, there is a switch for arming the TOW missiles. Once you fire these missiles, you can guide them with the 'laser' sights. You can steer the missile into targets, or into the ground if you overshoot the target.At the lower right near the yoke, are 7 buttons for selecting the 'AP' (armor piercing) rounds, or the 'HE' High Explosive rounds. You also have the choice of 'SS' single Shot or 'CF' Continuous Fire modes. You can also switch to the '7.62mm' machine gun also.


    The TOW was a wire-guided steered missile. The fact that they programmed that in is pretty cool. Also, different ammo types? I'm impressed. Did the MG and Cannon ammo follow balistic paths?

    1. Re:Actually pretty cool... by alanh · · Score: 2

      It has it backwards though. Star Wars is controlled by a Bradley Trainer style yoke controller.

      --
      - AlanH
    2. Re:Actually pretty cool... by CaseyB · · Score: 2

      Is that where they got that from? It's one of the very best arcade controllers ever. Totally natural UI for that style of game. Apart from a very small number of Atari games, no one used it again.

  16. Re:Any special Modifications by ryochiji · · Score: 2
    >why not mass market the trainer as an arcade machine

    Maybe they were embarrassed by the fact that the trainer for an armored personnel carrier (or "fighting vehicle" as they call it) had such...well crappy graphics. Hell, it certainly doesn't look like much more than a simple arcade game with wire-frame graphics to me.

  17. My karma may go to hell for this one but I have to by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 2, Funny

    All I gotta say is: Tanks a lot to all the MAME developers for all the hard work!

    *ducks* *runs*

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  18. Re:In more important news by k_187 · · Score: 2

    except this isn't yet-another-coin-op-arcade-game. Its about custom hardware, running a modified Battlezone ROM to train Bradley gunners in the mid 80s. Semantics I suppose in your world, but the distinction is important.

    --
    11 was a racehorse
    12 was 12
    1111 Race
    12112
  19. Actually, by YuppieScum · · Score: 3, Funny

    I thought the lampoon was this movie.

    --
    This sig left unintentionally blank.
  20. actually very real... by deft · · Score: 2

    "The other tanks do not fire at you, and the only way to end the game is to run out of ammo or shoot a 'friendly' tank or helicopter"

    So, uh, this is a faithful simulation of actual American war fighting methodologies?
    -----

    the way the persian gulf war went down, the other tanks rarely got a chance to fire at all, and there were more friendly fire incidents than enemy deaths.... so, yeah. :)

    --

    There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
  21. America's Army by 0x0d0a · · Score: 4, Funny

    Laugh now. Then wait until some ambulance-chaser files suit against the US government for a school shooting caused by the America's Army video game. :-(

    1. Re:America's Army by susano_otter · · Score: 2
      No single player levels that I found...

      It sounds like you may have missed the whole point: America's Army was designed explicitly as a realistic squad tactics simulator. There was never any intention of creating single-player scenarios, or long scenarios, or deathmatch scenarios, or whatever.

      I've never played CS, so I don't know how much overlap there is, and I can't say AA is my favorite game or anything, but if you do a little research, you may discover that AA occupies a pretty unique space in the FPS genre.

      --

      Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.

    2. Re:America's Army by susano_otter · · Score: 2

      Like I said, it's not my favorite game, mainly for the reasons you've mentioned.

      I guess I got confused by some of your terminology: In my schema, "deathmatch" means instant respawns, where you re-enter the round and attempt to rack up more points before the end. AA does what I think of as "mission-based" scenarios, where you don't respawn until the mission is over.

      I guess there's a lot more overlap than I thought. I actually liked a lot of the training stuff (which is where the uniqueness mainly seems to be), just... not to play.

      So yeah, I guess I can totally see the "AA is unique in the way it sucks" point of view. I hope the Bradley trainer works out better for you ;)

      --

      Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.

  22. MAME needs to emulate this now by WebMasterJoe · · Score: 4, Funny

    I want MAME to get to work on emulating the degenatron! "Swing from green dot to green dot with your red square monkey!"

    That's what I want MAME to support.

    --
    I really hate signatures, but go to my website.
    1. Re:MAME needs to emulate this now by ActiveSX · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's really a job for MESS, MAME's emulate-everything-that's-not-an-arcade-machine sibling. Wait, maybe MAME should do it. Crap, a console that takes quarters? Damnit, now I'm confused.

  23. Re:Any special Modifications by FyRE666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you'd read the actual story (imagine that?!) you'd have noticed the trainer had extra controls, and was more of a simulation than a game. The "player" did not control the tank itself, only the gun turret which would probably not excite teenagers out to whup some vector-based ass...

  24. Re:Wow...... by FyRE666 · · Score: 2

    Well, all I can really say is that I'm sure glad we didn't have any big wars during the 80's, because this is just funny. I'm off now, to download this incredible training simulation and turn myself into a lethal killing machine, able to blow up tanks with single shells.

    Yeah, of course they should have kitted it out with a nice 30 inch monitor and nice 3D hardware pushing 4,000,000,000 textured polys a second, with dolby 5.1 sound and authentic hydraulic motion.

    Oh wait, this was built about 20 years ago....

  25. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle by Chasing+Amy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sure, but they *wouldn't* like the Bradley if it had been constructed without the safety modifications mentioned in the film. Hot aluminum vapor filling the cabin when the tank gets fired upon isn't a good thing...

    Plus, it was originally designed as a fast troop transport and ended up a slower smaller tank after decades of bureaucracy and *billions* of dollars--a huge waste of resources at the taxpayers' expense. Remember the outcry against military cost overruns in the 80s? The Bradley was one of the big reasons. :-)

    --

    Chasing Amy
    (We all chase Amy...)
    "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
    1. Re:The Bradley Fighting Vehicle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Plus, it was originally designed as a fast troop transport and ended up a slower smaller tank after decades of bureaucracy and *billions* of dollars--a huge waste of resources at the taxpayers' expense.

      This sounds so familiar... Replace the words:

      - "fast troop transport" with "fast focused application",

      - "bureaucracy" with "marketing dept",

      - "billions" with "hundreds of thousands", and finally

      - "taxpayers" with "shareholders" and ... Welcome to my world!!!

  26. I resent your comment by x+mani+x · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I resent your "in more important news" comment. This is extremely cool news, as the Bradley Trainer has almost been a piece of mythology in video game history. The US military hired this guy to make an enhanced version of Battlezone to simulate tank combat. This isn't an arcade game, it is a military simulator, developed by an arcade game developer. Pretty much everyone interested in classic gaming has wanted to play this, and just about no one has been able to until now.

    Personally, I couldn't care less that a new version of FreeBSD came out. Go submit it as a story; don't go and use your "scoops" as troll ammunition. In short, your comment is a straight up troll and should be modded as such.

    -Mani

  27. 17 USC 117 and Betamax by yerricde · · Score: 2

    the computer software backup clause only applies to identical backups

    The backup law, 17 USC 117, permits some limited adaptations, such as (I'd assume; IANAL) copying the work from a Battlezone board to a computer. And even if the backup law doesn't cover it, wouldn't such copying be covered under the fair-use space-shifting right of the Betamax and Diamond precedents?

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  28. Re:In more important news by Hork_Monkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I for one found this interesting. If you look beneath the surface, you see a glimpse into history of what was actually being used to train our soldiers during the cold war.

    We may live in a world now where this level of application is laughable, but look at the fact that during the 80's this was cutting edge.

    With this in perpective, this game was probably much more advanced than the training programs used by the people we were training to fight. Sure, it probably wouldn't have trained people as well as blowing stuff up in the real thing, but this was a pretty large step into modern military training.

    I had never heard of this before, so I did find it worthy to be posted here. The re-relase story may not be too interesting, but the idea of early military computer based training is to me.

  29. Dump Battlezone and use the XORs by yerricde · · Score: 2, Informative

    makes it tough to claim you have the original ROM.

    It was a wirewrap, with few if any consequential changes made to the ROM. The diffs from the Battlezone ROM to the Bradley Trainer ROM are a work of the United States government; thus, the XORs from Battlezone to Bradley Trainer are legal to redistribute. (All works created by the US government enter the public domain upon first publication.) If you have a Battlezone board, dump its ROMs and then use the XORs.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  30. Real Experience by citking · · Score: 5, Informative
    I was in the Army for three years as a mechanized infantryman and can attest to the accuracy of the simulator. It really is very close to the real experience...except for sleeping in the hard driver's seat, driving 2 KM with the ramp in the down position, stalling, throwing track in the mud on a rainy day, spending 10 minutes fueling the beast, driving at night with an infrared display screen that looked like a big green blob...

    And you don't have a lieutenant four years younger than you yelling through the headset all the while.

    I miss the good ol' days! *sniff*

    --
    "This food is problematic."
    1. Re:Real Experience by lspd · · Score: 3, Informative

      I was Mech Infantry from 1996 to 2000 in the 1st Infantry Division. I've never seen this POS before. We used a UCOFT simulator (page 9) for regular gunnery training, and CCTT for company level training.

      Although I can't find anything on the net to back me up, if I remember right, the UCOFT ran on VAX/VMS. The graphics were about up to the level of bzFlag.

      CCTT is a fairly recent creation though. The graphics in CCTT are quite good, but the last time I got to play in one (1999) the AI was completely braindead. I believe the simulators in CCTT ran on Windows, but I never saw a BSOD to back this up.

      The TRUELY comical simulator was the MACS. This POS was a Nintendo light-gun built in the shape on of M-16 attached to a Commodore 64. My company still had these (though they were RARELY used) when I left in 2000.

  31. Re:roms by puto · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hey man, you didn;t hear it from me. But if you go to this link http://www.tombstones.org.uk you will find the info you need. It is a group of people who have a project to keep the roms alive. You can get all the mame roms on 10 cds for like 10-15 bucks, all verified and working. You have to find mame on your on. But you can get it off the site as well.

    I actuall ordered two sets. Paypaled money to two different people. Thinking that one would rip me off. And you know what? 7 days later they both came in the mail. It has been mame hell in my house since. 3200 working games.

    TheFlatline

    --
    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
  32. Give it up for these ROM GUYS by puto · · Score: 2, Redundant

    http://www.tombstones.org.uk

    They sell rom sets for the cost of media and shipping. You click on the area of the world you are on and they show you who is availible.

    I got all the games for 10 bucks. 3200. But you have to find mame on your own.

    Theflatline

    --
    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
  33. Oh my! by jsse · · Score: 2, Funny

    These guys are cheating! They used Wire-frame hack so as to see thru the obstacles to take advantages of others!

  34. Re:Only two people can use it! by k_187 · · Score: 2

    Yes, but these ROMs were created for the US army, so there's a decent chance they're public domain. I have no idea if that's true or not, but it is possible.

    --
    11 was a racehorse
    12 was 12
    1111 Race
    12112
  35. Re:Errr ... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2

    It's shocking what gaps are in the knowledge of the public...the Chinese Embassy bombing was due to the Chinese using their embassy transmitters to relay commands from the Serbian command to the units in the field in Kosovo. The Chinese took sides, and ergo were targets. The Afghan wedding party was an successful Al-Qaeda disinformation campaign. AQ did the killing, but hey you won't hear that on the `objective` media.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!