The US Army has announced that it will be investing $50 million over five years in a new game development contract to update its existing “DARWARS Ambush” title.
That’s right kids, the US Army uses FPS titles to train (as well as recruit) future enforcers of peace and defenders of freedom accross the free world. I wonder if the existing enlistees would rather have $50 million worth of new body armour?
Anyway, you can read the full story at Stars and Stripes but I’ve included some pertinent quotes for the lazy.
Lt. Col. Gary Stephens, product manager for air and ground tactical trainers at Project Executive Office — Simulation Training and Instrumentation said Thursday that the $50 million has been approved for a “games for training” program starting in 2010.
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The Army already uses a commercial first-person shooter video game — “DARWARS Ambush” — to train soldiers. Since 2006, PEO-STRI has fielded more than 3,000 copies of the game to the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Homeland Defense, Stephens said.
“DARWARS Ambush” was modified by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to train soldiers using desktop computers, he said. It focuses on teaching soldiers how to react to ambushes and roadside bomb attacks on convoys, he said.
So there you go, watch out Activision, the next CoD might just be a little bit more realistic than you can imagine…