US Army creates new gaming office

The military has always had an interest in computer games, dating back to Project I.G.I at least. Military forces all over the world have always had an eye on games as an effective medium for training soldiers and the US military has just made it official.

The US army, which has previously used games like America's Army as recruitment tools and pseudo-simulations, has just launched a brand new 'gaming brigade' called the Training and Doctrine Command Project Office for Gaming, according to sources. The aim of this new brigade is to develop brand new games for internal use as training programs.

In the past the Army has sought to modify existing games such as Full Spectrum Warrior, but now the focus has shifted to creating new programs.

The office has been split into two different divisions. One is set to focus on the graphics for their new simulation project, while the other is designing an easy to use level editor for commanders to use in the customisation of training scenarios.

Don't get too excited about copies being leaked to the consumer market or anything though - the projected release date right now is the far-end of 2015. Surely we'll all have been nuked by then anyway?

So, today’s assignment is thus; what role can computer games play in building real-world combat skills and how ethical is it to create simulated violence which can possibly desensitize people to the effects of their actions while, at the same time, training them in how to use and handle all manner of weapons? Thoughts in the forums.