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CryENGINE 3 To Power $57M U.S. Army Virtual Reality Training Technology

Murray Hibble — Sun, 29 May 2011 15:00:58 +0000

The US Army is investing in the world’s most expensive LAN-party by dropping $57 million into a Virtual Reality training program for its troops. Utilizing CryENGINE 3, the engine that powers Crysis 2, US troops will experience a high-fidelity battlefield representation that can be utilized for a wide variety of real-world military applications.

Here’s how it works, the US Army Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation has commissioned the VR unit project which is being led by Intelligent Decisions (a ‘technology solutions provider’) and in conjunction with Advanced Simulation Research, AVT Simulation, L-3 Link and RealTime Immersive. The unit itself is a ‘man-wearable’ high-end laptop (high end enough to spank anything CryENGINE throws at it) that feeds to a visor. Each soldier then moves around their own 10 foot square space and they’re linked in to a positional system to ensure their line-of-sight is concurrent with their squadmates.

“While the man wearable units aren’t running on an off-the-shelf Alienware, the internal components themselves are commercial off-the-shelf CPU’s and GPU’s like NVIDIA graphic cards and whatnot” – Floyd West, Director of Strategic Programs, Orlando Division of Intelligent Decisions.

The majority of the funds are understandably going towards the physical components of the techonology, including the most advanced motion-sensor apparatus in the world today.

“Kinect is not there yet, but it is getting closer. There are different types of camera-based systems out there in the market, but they’re not able to track a squad of four guys individually, which is what we do with our simulator.” – Floyd West.

Crytek‘s game-engine will bring an incredible amount of detail to life for the soldiers. With the graphical capabilities of the engine, light, particles and weather effects will offer a far greater sense of immersion than previous simulators. The simulator will also ship with the ability to mod missions within it so that troops can prepare for real operations based on actual terrain data and information rather than relying on satellites and HUMINT (‘guesswork’). Missions will be able to be planned and practiced with multiple runthroughs of single scenarios and it can only be assumed that randomness will be factored in to each run. Troopers will also get a score at the end of each session, even the poorest of which would make my shiny Battlefield 2 stats look like the meaningless numbers they are.

“…we’re able to transport soldiers to accurately recreated locales like Afghanistan and Iraq, where we can simulate everything from visuals to 360-degree sound.” – Floyd West.

Gamepro states that as a basic training tool, DSTS will come programmed with five basic rule sets; major combat operations, irregular warfare, peace operations, limited intervention and peacetime military engagement, as well as offense, defense, stability and civilian support.

The story doesn’t end here either. For years, many Armies have looked at battlefield positioning awareness systems (remember Metal Gear Solid 4?) with the desire to deliver a Ghost Recon-like ability for troops to identify threats and friendlies from any distance.

The first project I could find in the public domain was Canada’s Integrated Soldier System Project that seeks to wield individual troops as more of an armoured Hive-Mind. Featuring head-bourne mounts, tablet-PC battle management and navigation systems as well as all manner of high-tech weaponry (camera mounted weapons, micro-UAV’s) the idea is to have this system rolled out by 2020 allowing chain of command control over a body of troops who can instantly receive orders and threat assessments in the field.

Next up is the Virtual Squad Training System located at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. This is virtually indistinguishable from the DSTS as troops have a head-mounted display and motion tracker, a load-bearing vest (to carry all the batteries), a body motion tracker and a wireless weapon controller that matches the specs of the real weapon. This is powered by their proprietary software and while it looks a little old-school, it also looks like a stack of fun.

It’s no surprise to any of us to see that gaming has real-world applications as military VR projects have been around for a long time. They’re cheaper to run and healing a failed mission is as simple as resetting. Current conflicts aside, the world is a dangerous place and people who join an active arm of the defense forces put their lives on the line for each and every one of us whether we feel the benefit of that sacrifice or not. Until the people of this planet start to get along, we’re always going to need soldiers… and anything that can help bring more of them home from the fight is a laudable and noble pursuit.

Let’s see this article out with another RealTime Immersive vid showcasing a submersible vehicle, a limpet mine and the very pretty CryENGINE 3:

U.S. Army Uses Resident Evil 5 Best Buy Launch Party to Recruit Fresh Meat Shields

Chad Lakkis — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:31:29 +0000

Resident Evil 5 and the U.S. Army? Where do I sign up??!??!!

The only thing comparable to the way I feel when I see U.S. Army recruiters mixed into events packed with teenage kids would be witnessing Michael Jackson driving a bus load of Catholic priests to Chuck E. Cheese for a quick bite to eat.

I know I may take some heat for this, but I couldn’t help but notice the “GO ARMY” recruitment tent mixed into the Best Buy Resident Evil 5 launch party video (which you can also see after the jump). I don’t mind the idea of recruiters but what I do mind is the methods by which they often recruit.

This isn’t the first time the U.S. Army has been accused of blurring the lines between gaming and recruiting. Promoting an official U.S. Army videogame and lacing their official army game website to contain soldier bios designed to look like videogame stat cards is youth marketing at its finest. Look at all the stats you can wrack up kids – assuming you don’t die first.

Hit the jump for the RE5 launch party video as promised.

Video source: Kotaku

Microsoft and The US Army Team Up To Offer Halo 3 Tournament

Wade Larson — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 03:33:52 +0000

This is my copy of Halo 3. There are many like it but this one is mine.

Maybe Jack Thompson isn’t as crazy as we all know he is, and the Department of Defense actually is training an army of super soldiers through video games. Or maybe he is crazy and the Army is just jumping on the Halo 3 bandwagon.

Either way, The Army has teamed up with Microsoft to offer all you scum suckin’ maggots a chance to prove you aren’t a worthless lump of dog excrement – by putting together a Halo 3 Tournament, exclusively on Xbox Live.

Registration starts in March and the tournament starts in April, with prizes for winners and finalists. So if you think you’ve got game, prove it, and you could be the lucky winner of an all-expenses paid trip to a land of sun and sand (and oil). Or maybe just some exclusive Halo swag and Microsoft goodies.

For those interested in getting a little pre-tournament practice, There will also be some training drills to keep your skills sharp. Team Xbox reports there will be training sessions for sniping, heavy weapons and vehicles.

Registration for the first of three training sessions begins on Jan. 7, with gameplay beginning exclusively on Xbox LIVE on Jan. 19. Winners of these Basic Combat Training sessions will receive prizes, including Microsoft Points, exclusive “Halo 3” art, and more.

The Basic Combat Training schedule is as follows:

* Registration begins: 1/7, Training begins: 1/19 – Sniper School
* Registration begins: 1/28, Training begins: 2/9 – Heavy Weapons
* Registration begins: 2/18, Training begins: 3/1– Vehicles

Registration is open now, so get your butt into boot camp you useless ape, and earn the name “Spartan.”