E3: Epic, US Army Develop Games as Recruitment Tool 820
securitas writes "Reuters and AP tell us that Epic Games and the US Army have announced the America's Army series of games, jointly developed by the Department of Defense and Epic. The first two-part game in the five-year project includes an RPG called Soldier and a first-person shooter called Operations. The game will be free of charge and available for download in July or August, with 1.2 million CDs simultaneously released, attached to gaming magazines. Does this remind anyone else of the war-room scene from Toys or Ender's Game?" Future installments will include Sim Mess Duty, Sim Standing Guard in the Rain, Sim Blister, and Sim Invading Iraq to Keep Approval Ratings High.
See US training (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Don't Foget This One... (Score:1, Interesting)
They deserve respect, not ridiclue.
Mod this parent up.
Re:Don't Foget This One... (Score:1, Interesting)
I served on active duty for 7 years with the Navy and Marines. I was in Somalia when the shit hit the fan but guess what other than that two weeks of my life in the military... it was yes boring mundane stuff like posted above. My best friend from high school joined the navy to see the world and work on aircraft engines... he spent the first 6 months cleaning toilets on the USS Roosevelt.
People tend to think that the military is rought with action and excitement... Then they enlist.
Army Game (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Hey, if you want realism who would know better? (Score:2, Interesting)
You know, this isn't necessarily a gaffe. Although a bullet has lots of kinetic energy, because of its low mass it doesn't have a high momentum. Also, bullets tend to pass through people rather than lodging in them so they may not transfer all their momentum.
The direction someone falls is determined more by physiology than physics.
If you shoot someone with a rifle bullet, they will collapse, but this is thought to be due to blunt trauma of the spinal cord [firearmstactical.com] (see bottom of page) rather than the momentum of the bullet per se.
With a pistol round, if they fall, it's likely to be due to blood loss or surprise at being hit.
In either case, there's no particular reason for them to fall away from the side they were hit on.
Re:Army of One (Score:4, Interesting)
Total agreement there. We have had that problem in Aviation since about 1983, when the branch was formed and immediately started training Aviation Officers within the branch from day one.
In the past, one had to work in another branch, at least through their Basic Course, before going to flight school and then they were still maanaged by their primary branch. We (I was Armor and Air Defense before going Aviation) had a much better understanding and appreciation of the "ground guys" than these newer folks seem to have.
On another note, they could add Sim bust-your-knuckles-repairing-track and Sim bang-the-crap-out-of-your-head-inside-the-tank, Sim fall-off-the-speed-rope, i.e., "you can get hurt without being shot" games.
Re:Sure to succeed (Score:2, Interesting)
That means the Army spends $25k in marketing and advertising for *each* recruit they get.
I wonder what would happen to enlistment if they gave up the high-profile dramatic ads in lieu of a much more simple campaign, modestly marketed in 5-10 second spots and in simple type in newspapers, magazines, and high-school posters:
"Join the Army. $20,000 signing bonus. Paid cash"
Re:You speak a very eloquent truth. (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Way to go (Score:2, Interesting)
"All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"
So, you accept orders unquestioningly, yet realise that by not standing up to the wrongs of others you are complicit in their evil? Interesting.
Re:You speak a very eloquent truth. (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, and possibly number 5: First Person Shooters. Once you've seen yourself go down in two seconds among a hail of enemy fire, you start to laugh at the idea of entering a similar situation in real life, only with one hit point instead of one hundred.
Re:Don't Foget This One... (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree, I spent 4 years in the Marines as well (like an idiot I joined the Infantry, because I wanted action). I was in Somalia for 3 months, other than the time in Somalia life pretty much sucked. Some of the training is fun, but it gets old pretty quick. Especially when you're out in the field in Feb practicing the same thing over and over again.
It was a great experience, I would have never traveled the world and done a lot of things I did, but the job itself isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Re:I have seen this (Score:2, Interesting)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series has been pretty damn realistic since day one. The latest game in the series, Ghost Recon, is excellent and, consequently, is damn hard too! I'd recommended it if you want a really good FPS challange.
Re:Don't Foget This One... (Score:3, Interesting)
1. Israel gets about 3 billion/year from the US. Most of this is actually a hidden subsidy for the defense industry in the US, as the money is spent buying US-made weaponry. The actual percentage of the Israeli budget that's composed of foreign aid from the US is something like 3%.
2. Egypt gets 2 billion/year from the US. But a Jew-hater like yourself doesn't care about that detail.
3. Israel has been trying to give back the West Bank and Gaza since it was captured in 1967. Problem is that the losers (the Arabs) keep on trying to dictate terms to the winners (the Israelis). When the "favorable" terms proposed by Saudi Arabia are "we'll make peace with you if you let 4 million people who hate you into your country of 6 million people", it's hard to take them seriously.
4. Bin Laden's chief complaint against the US has been the fact that US troops are in Saudi Arabia, protecting it from Iraq. This is a fit of pique; he offered to protect Saudi Arabia in 1990, and the royal family laughed at him and instead begged the US for help. So now he wants to overthrow the Saudi government and destroy the US. This is a spoiled, pathetic baby, not someone with a legitimate complaint.
He's also mad at the US about the way the British and French carved up the Ottoman Empire. Yes, I'm serious.
5. The per-capita GNP of Israel is roughly that of the UK. This isn't due to money from the US, any more than Taiwan's success is due to money from the US. It's due to hard work and dedication. Amazing, isn't it, that a country with virtually no natural resources (Israel seems to be the only spot in the MidEast where you CAN'T find oil or gas) is the richest country in a region swimming in oil. Arabs are jealous of Israel's success and can't stand the fact that Israel is prospering while they're mired in crap. So they want to destroy it.
It seems pretty obvious to me why someone as misinformed as you isn't taken seriously. Try to actually know something about the topics on which you have an opinion. Otherwise, just keep quiet.
-jon