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Games Entertainment

Sandia Labs Creates "Sim-Terrorist Attack" 158

Posted by chrisd from the i-want-a-copy dept.
linuxwrangler writes "This article in the San Francisco chronicle describes the new "Weapons of Mass Destruction Decision Analysis Center" software created at Sandia labs. Work started on the software, modeled after the popular Sim* series of games, well before 9/11. It is designed to simulate a "war room" atmosphere and looks like a cool way to put geek toys to practical use. Now if I could just download the tarball...." Be sure to examine the picture of it running on their CAVE like system.
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Sandia Labs Creates "Sim-Terrorist Attack" More

Sandia Labs Creates "Sim-Terrorist Attack"

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  • why a tar ball? why not a self installing exe?
    • why a tar ball? why not a self installing exe?

      Wine is slow. It's much preferable to compile the source myself using the optimizations I created for my self-designed Pentium XII+++++ killer.

      -Brent
    • Self installing exe available only to MS Outlook users.

  • Did they not see "Wargames"?!?! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Have these "scientists" learned nothing from the esteemed Dr. Falken?!?!

  • CAVE-like? not... (Score:5, Informative)

    by jabbo ( 860 ) <jabboNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Monday August 19, 2002 @06:07PM (#4100946)
    That thing looks nothing like a CAVE. I worked at the Cornell Theory Center and my group used our CAVE a lot... it is ideal to cover 3 angles (via 3 walls and projection) for immersion, and a CAVE is typically used for more immersive visualizations than spreading out information ala' their display.

    Theirs is more like a movie screen.

  • Oh Great... (Score:3, Funny)

    by M.C. Hampster ( 541262 ) <M.C.TheHampster@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Monday August 19, 2002 @06:13PM (#4100969) Journal

    I'm glad to know that our elected officials will be prepared to deal with the threat of large monsters destroying our cities...
    • give me the "no win senario". Simulated global bioterrorism, tactical and strategic nuke defense while trying to divert an asteroid on a collision path with earth ...

  • Let's hope the simulation doesn't go haywire and start to distribute real anthrax samples!

  • Cool Toys? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19, 2002 @06:17PM (#4100986)
    I don't see any cool toys in the pictures.

    It looks a lot more like non-technical people spending government money and trying to come up with something to show for it. And not doing a very good job...

  • geek toys (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    "looks like a cool way to put geek toys to practical use"

    Geek toys are never of practical use. That's the whole point of them.
  • ...or does the notion of playing a game of simulating a terrorist attack seem sick? The original poster mentions their want of the simulation "game" that was created, but I mean, c'mon.

    Then again, there have been plenty of nuclear war sim-type games released throughout the years, so why would this be any different.

    Damn...I just flamed myself.

    • does the notion of playing a game of simulating a terrorist attack seem sick?

      Sick? How about "necessary". What's surprising to me is that it's so new. We should have been simulating terrorist attacks for years. I'm sure there are military programs that have thought about it, but I don't know how much has actually been done.
    • We just have to be careful that the computer knows the difference between the game simulation and the real weapons. We should start it off slow with an easy game like tic-tac-toe. We should also make sure that the launch codes can be hacked one character at a time should the computer decide to take control.

      -B
    • They mean "game" as in "game theory," not
      as in in "game store."

    • or does the notion of playing a game of simulating a terrorist attack seem sick?

      Game is just the term used to describe a simulated situation in which all variables are free to move within constraints and the outcomes, combinations and emergent properties aren't scripted or known in advance. There branch of math for studying systems like this is called game theory.

      It's not a "game" in that it's played for fun, although it has characteristics in common with games that are played for fun. After all, something like this [nytimes.com] is really just chess on a grand scale.

  • Getting ride of terrorists attacks is easy... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19, 2002 @06:20PM (#4100998)
    Just go up to the menu and turn disasters off.

  • Bathroom time and Quake (Score:3, Funny)

    by T-Kir ( 597145 ) on Monday August 19, 2002 @06:20PM (#4101001) Homepage

    modeled after the popular Sim* series of games

    Sim City: Do they include the scenario when the aliens visit?

    The Sims: So will it take them 15 minutes to go to the bathroom, and set fire to the simulation room centre when trying to cook a snack?

    I thought it was funny enough when games were used for real life scenarios. Esp. the designers of a major building, creating a virtual version in the Quake engine... and then prospective clients/investors took a virtual tour and promptly died when trying to use an evelvator (falling down the lift shaft didn't help either).

  • ...just check out the Aeron chairs. They'll be bankrupt in a month.
    • Yes Aeron chairs are expensive ($600-800 USD), but if I'm going to be sitting for 10 hours a day, I wouldn't have anything else under my butt. (I do , so I don't.)
  • ...software run on Windows... people use giant projection screens filled mostly with empty space in dialog boxes yet don't have their own monitors, and sit in Aeron chairs... photos show infamous "text projected on a face" effect except that it's real this time, someone actually got a face in front of a projector, blocking it from all others...

    Why does it all look like a PR stunt, dotcom style, or something from a low-budget TV series?
  • -the program includes a 'Dr. Strangelove Scenario,' with clips...

    'Don't be so open-minded that your brain falls out.'

  • Aeron Chairs?! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by guttentag ( 313541 ) on Monday August 19, 2002 @06:34PM (#4101069) Journal
    What are thousand-dollar Aeron chairs, which the dot coms were criticized for wasting money on, doing at a government lab?

    • Re:Aeron Chairs?! (Score:4, Informative)

      by beer_maker ( 263112 ) on Monday August 19, 2002 @07:05PM (#4101189)
      I work across the street, at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and the answer is simple: They have the high tech ergonomic chairs to prevent RSI. It's one of the coolest features of working here that they will go to almost any length to accommodate a ergomonic need (not want, but need.)

      Waste of money, you say? Actually, given the cost of the security clearances (up to $100K) it's insanely cost-effective to spend money on keeping their people well. They don't buy these chairs because the chair is comfortable, they buy the chair because it is designed to let you work without hurting yourself, which seems to involve a high level of comfort.

    • Perhaps they got them on ebay from a failed dot com for way cheap..

    • Do you have a clue about... How much that screen setup costs or who those people might be? They aren't playing Sims or Simcity btw :))

      Sandia, gee.

  • Wow... (Score:4, Funny)

    by T3kno ( 51315 ) on Monday August 19, 2002 @06:36PM (#4101076) Homepage
    That text is really sharp. It's amazing how the pale whiteness of her skin makes for a really good projection surface.
  • Keep in mind that the value of such a simulation is NOT to play the game but to experience the decision-making cycle and understand the process of what comes at civic leaders with a potential pandemic on their hands.
    • you mean:
      Keep in mind that the value of such a simulation is NOT to play the game but to experience the decision-making cycle and understand the process of what comes at civic leaders with a potential pandemic on their hands, while sitting on 1000 dollar chairs.
  • You guys think they'll release this software to the public? Or is someone (probably someone in Congress) going to make the argument that "we'd be giving too much information to the enemy"?

    Oh well, since no one else has said it: THEY SHOULD OPEN-SOURCE THE PROJECT!!!!!

    :)

  • Sandia Labs forget about their flashy crap while we real megalomaniacs play World Dictator with some other [dreamcatchergames.com] nifty game that involves WarGames like scenes. Rawr!

  • How long... (Score:3, Funny)

    by I Love this Company! ( 547598 ) on Monday August 19, 2002 @06:51PM (#4101133)
    ...before Maxis releases this as another cheesy $30 expansion pack for The Sims?
  • Sim my ass! There's no "war room" like my seventh grade arts class. That's what people should be worried about.
  • I wonder what addon packs it would have?

    Sim Terrorism(R): Nuclear Winter anyone?
  • I thought Microsoft published this [microsoft.com] a while ago.
  • What I want to see is Osama getting it on with the attractive female maid.

    I wonder what their child would look like. You may have to construct a cave attached to the house.

  • Looks like Windows... (Score:3, Funny)

    by unsinged int ( 561600 ) on Monday August 19, 2002 @06:55PM (#4101152)
    "You have chosen to distribute medication to halt the spread of the bioterror weapon. Windows must reboot to continue saving the world. Please wait."

  • Flaws in this System (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Mirell ( 459881 )
    Since they term the system: Weapons of Mass Destruction Decision Analysis Center, then obviously it deals from simple plagues to tactical nukes, no? The article mentions about a possible nuclear holocaust. They plan to distribute this to various public agencies. The only problem that I have with this is the fact 1) This has already been done by the military, playing "war games" of such where you have a group of military/civilian high-ranking officials, being presented with a situation, having a narrator provide more details and sparse messages that manage to get through.

    The problem with allowing non-military public officials to use this software to possibly prepare for various "Attacks" of sort, is the issue of possible other means that could arrive from the military, since they are kept classified. Intelligence gathering and analyzing most probably does not play an issue in this situation. This is for the "anthrax attacks". And if it was a bioweapon to cause that many people to die, you would also have to deal with such things as A-4 Skyhawks with 80 rounds of Zeni missiles patroling the area, the National Guard mobilized, ports closed, airports closed, phone lines shifted for emergency use only, et cetera. I fail to see how this program could easily deal with the large amount of variables for a seemingly "attack upon the nation", without all the information for each and every military post, equipment, flight patterns, tours of duties, et cetera.

  • This is just another Disaster type of Preparedness/Emergency Management (DP/EM) software. I had the chance to see similiar software used by large government installations/institutions. This particular one was purchased by Camp LeJeune developed by Applied Ordanance Technology [aot.com]. The typical scenario use was either for prepardness, running simulations of disasters (everything from terror attacks to floods), or for Emergency Management where emergency professionals would use the software on site at an emergency location to help plan their efforts. Usually all of this was tied into GIS/Mapping software compiled with all kinds of information. You could program the software to raise the water levels by X feet in one area, or map out affected areas depending on a WMD you specify, weather, social events, population, season, etc. It would even allow you to get all the way down into the nitty gritty getting detailed architectural plans of any building you specify. This is great for emergency personel who need to know what type of materials are stored in a building at a location before they enter.
  • you mean the WOPR?
  • I want one. This would be perfect for Half-Life..

    That said, I think Sim-Terrorist actually sounds like both a good idea and a good game. Honestly, Counterstrike is based on an counter-terrorism scenario. Why couldn't you build a game where you're Tom Ridge, and it's your job to stop the fanatical flavor of the month.

    Speaking of "fanatical flavor of the month", Who's it going to be next? Think I'm being too cynical? Think Quadaffi, Khomeni, etc etc etc. In America we NEED someone to hate, otherwise we won't feel like we're better than everyone else.

    When the economy gets slow, we bomb stuff. Sometimes it's stuff we've never bombed before, but most often, it's the usual suspects...
    • Ummm, the Ayatollah Khomeni has been dead for quite some time, so if he's back to bother us there's something /really/ funky going on. The Colonel ain't yet, but he's actually been behaving himself lately as far as I've read.

      But you can see the fanatical flavor of the month anytime, by tuning into al-Jazeera or anything else that covers public opinion in the Arab world. You want interviews with young children who praise martyrdom as a worthy objective, and how if they die for The One True Faith they go straight to Paradise? They got it. You want "Death to America" protests? They've only been doing that since... well, at least the revolution against the Shah of Iran, and maybe earlier.
      • I know Khomeni is dead. So is Mao-Tse Tung, but we has the fanatic of the month. My point is that they are only fanatic of the month as long as we need someone to hate.
  • At UF [ufl.edu], we just had a NAVE installed (by students) this past year. Looks just like the one in the picture, except theirs is rounded.

    The main difference is that a NAVE is MUCH cheaper to build. The above link has more details.
  • Now we know what Dick Cheney was up to all that time.
  • Look at the middle image. Clearly a Win32 app running under WinXP, right? It would make sense that all the computers used for the same project would be running the same OS, and that is likely what is happening.

    However, on the left, we see a Windows 2000 style window. The two machines could still be configured the same, and the system would look like the picture, if the app running on the left was a Win16 app. This would suggest that the system is much, much older than we are led to think.
  • http://www.somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/ photoshop/fakegames/Dolex_sim.jpg Is there anything else to say?
  • Anyone else notice that they have H. Miller chairs in the "cave"? Good to know that my tax dollars are going towards something as important as a $1200 chair.
  • I would have thought that using a matrix style war gaming would be far more appropriate as it allows much more versitility. Computers should be an aid to this process, not the exclussive medium.
  • Sandia should be very experienced with mass destruction, after all, they've (along with Los Alamos) been developing weapons of mass destruction for decades.

    Guess it takes one to know one.
  • Where can I purchase a copy? Is it multiplayer? :-) j/k.

    Albeit, it would be really cool to try out.

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