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Xbox Gets Military Tactical Planning Software
Thanks to The Baltimore Sun for their article discussing possible military applications of videogame technology, specifically referencing the Trex visualization tool from joint government training and videogame developer, BreakAway. According to the article: "In about a year, if all goes according to plans, soldiers flying to an overseas mission will play Trex on the Microsoft video-game system Xbox to familiarize themselves with actual streets, buildings and terrain before setting foot on foreign soil." The piece reveals that Trex "...will use satellite data to digitally replicate 3-D images of cities such as Kabul, Mogadishu or Baghdad", and the website explains that the software can be "...used to create tactical simulations for en route training." A different army tactical training simulator developed by Pandemic Studios, Full Spectrum Warrior, was highly acclaimed as a videogame at this year's E3 trade show in Los Angeles.
Please tell me these maps will be available to us normal folk. Sure would be a dissapointement if there's yet another 3d replica of giant cities we couldnt shoot at each other in :)
For the Civilian bosses of the soldiers may I recommend Civilization, Alpha Centauri, SimIraq, and other "God Game" titles .....
To see a world in a grain of sand, and then to step back and see the beach where the sand lies
if our troops can know the streets of mogadishu after a week like i know the streets of vice city - they'll be a hell of a lot better off i'm sure.
i really don't know how to consider this as anything other than a 'good thing'.
more knowledge + better visualization = less accidents = less senseless death.
if it takes an xbox to pull it off, more power to it.
What is SimIraq? Do you take over the role of the coalition in trying to rebuild Iraq with the ultimate objective to hand over to an entirely Iraqi government? Or do you take the role of an iraqi government that has just been given control of it's country? Or do you just replay the war, naturally on the coalition side? If so that is quite bad taste really considering you are playing war when our countrymen are dying (im British). 20 soldiers killed in suicide attack and my public opinion at home went down 20%! Doh! Tasteless!
Unless this is some Microsoft-funded promo stunt, why would they use the XBox? I'm aware that a standard unit makes a convenient smallish and cheap PC, but the difficulty of publishing titles to non-dev boxes in a hurry would be a larger issue than the extra money it would take for a Shuttle-cased PC, surely? I can't see why they wouldn't just do this on a PC, rather than a closed-down console, particularly if they used joypad to USB converters to make the interface simpler.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
i wonder how much money M$ are making out of this....... and i hopw the public get..fraggin' in kabul would rock!
world's biggest red bull drinker
I hope this gets released to the public.
Irony of ironies that a microsoft system could help people take over the world.
~To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation. -Yann Martel
OK, I can see the cost savings of using off-the-shelf standardized hardware for this, but isn't the display resolution of NTSC video just too low for something like this?
I mean, think about how detailed the map of your average metropolitan area traffic report looks like on the TV news. Here in New York, it's completely unreadable, and that's only with the most major roads.
How much readable TYPE can you even fit on a TV? Not enough for this application.
Even a relatively high-res mapquest map pales next to a printed one, but that's the price you pay for interactivity, I guess. But 640x480? Or does the software drive an HDTV in 1080p mode, which sort of kills the off-the-shelf/cost savings argument.
Why not? Like all game consoles it's homogenous. That way you don't have to deal with the hardware failures, bug fixes, and licensing issues. You should be asking why they aren't using a PS2 or Gamecube, but that's their decision, isn't it?
that Microsoft can do right? I mean, I dislike windows as much as the next guy, but if the Army wants to use the Xbox to produce their simulations then it must be because they feel it's the best way to train soldiers to the environment. I'm for anything that involves our troops landing on the ground in such a way that they can lay the smackdown on a bunch of terrorist thugs without taking casualties. And if that involves Microsoft, then good for them, good for us, and awesome for everyone.
It's good to tear up the streets of Baghdad together?
I'm sure they're trying to get the Xbox to output in both 720p and 1080i for this app. I think it will fare better at said HDTV resolutions when compared to titles like Enter the Matrix, while the Trex app doesn't look any more difficult to render than Simcity 3000. I think the biggest problem with running the Xbox at 720p and 1080i is that is was released in 2001, and HDTV-quality output wasn't a big issue as it it today.
720p = 1280x720 progressive scan
1080i = 1920x1080 interlaced
Oh yeah?! X-box can render full cities?! Well the GameCube has the ability to render an entire planet!!! So hah! Ok, that sucked.
It's bulletproof!
And if the XBox ever breaks it can be used as an impromptu club or shield thus further aiding our forces!
The NGA could just approach Microsoft to get a key to sign their own materials.
Am I the only one who thinks this is a dangerous idea? If anything, video games should be moving away from reality, not closer to it. I would never advocate censorship, but where is the line to be drawn? Perhaps when you can freely download floorplans to any major bank?