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Army Opens New Office of Videogames

Posted by samzenpus on from the johnny-get-your-joystick dept.

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."

11 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Makes sense. by celardore · · Score: 5, Funny

    Terrorists are easier to defeat if you make the game yourself.

    1. Re:Makes sense. by VirusEqualsVeryYes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't want to toss flamebait, but are we talking games or politics here?

    2. Re:Makes sense. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't want to toss flamebait, but are we talking games or politics here?
      Many of us are capable of discussing both.

      How exactly do you discuss a video game made by the US Military without mentioning the political considerations? I suppose we could only closely examine the framerates on various quad-core systems but that would require us to ignore some pretty important stuff.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. Quick, Someone Call Jack Thompson... by twifosp · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... Before these young impressionable kids are turned into trained killers!

    1. Re:Quick, Someone Call Jack Thompson... by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

      The voice over on that one is just terrible. Try this one. It's a lot funnier hearing him go apeshit in German with the subtitles.

  3. The first thing the headline brought to mind by Nova+Express · · Score: 5, Funny
    BOOOM!

    "Oh my God, your tank just blew up my house! Why? In the name of Heaven, why???"

    "Well, Mrs. Peterson, I'm afraid your little Johnny was spawn camping in America's Army III. We in the Army Office of Video Games take a might dim view of spawn camping, n00b-baiting, and all-around asshatery, and suppress such crimes by any means necessary..."

    --
    Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)

    http://www.lawrenceperson.com/

  4. My favorite military trainer by Weaselmancer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is the Bradley Trainer they made from hacking an Atari Battlezone game.

    Not a fantastic game of course, but it's old school and a neat hack.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  5. Mr General Pops Up by MrSteveSD · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do they have a little "Mr General" that pops up?

    It looks like you're trying to take that village. Instead of sending in troops on the ground, just call in an air strike to destroy everything. Don't worry about the civilians, their deaths are less politically costly than military deaths. If anyone complains, just say that it's the enemy's fault for hiding behind civilians.

  6. Re:Maybe I'll join back up... by RincewindTVD · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've always felt AA was different from real combat in that in one of them, you don't respawn. You don't respawn in AA? man, no way am I gonna play that game.
  7. Re:why bother ? by joystickgenie · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  8. Re: talking games or politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sometimes it's both? Military Recruiters Snag Underage Players at Halo 3 Launch Bash