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With only a few short weeks before Christmas, Razer prepares to take preorders on their dedicated gaming laptop, the Razer Blade. Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan explains what's changed since the "world's first true gaming laptop" was revealed in August, and talks about the Army origins of the laptop's sleek and sexy design. More »
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This week was the first time we heard of publisher 505 Games' Blackwater, an FPS that would cast you in the role of Blackwater Worldwide mercenaries. The topic seemed thorny—the mercenary company, now renamed Xe Services LLC., has been at the center of a multiple of controversies and the subject of highly critical Congressional hearings. Blackwater has been linked to the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians, and the alcohol-fueled fatal shooting of a security guard in the employ of the country's vice president. According to 505, the game was designed in consultation with former mercenary agents, and with Erik Prince, the founder and former head of the hot-button security contractor. Some gamers have been piqued; a NeoGaf thread devoted to the topic of the game was titled "Somewhat murderous scumbag PMC Blackwater gets an FPS." Is 505 Games trying to court controversy? More »
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Brothers Ondrej and Marek Spanel—who spent their childhood in communist Czechoslovakia playing Atari games "bought on the black market"—are the surprising originators behind a military-training game employed by the governments of at least five major nations. Among the brothers' sources of inspiration: heavy metal music. More »
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Are you desperate to take your videogame performance to the next level—and willing to indulge in some high-risk behavior? Hint: you'll need a 9-volt battery and a wet sponge! More »
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Long hours, hard work, crap weather. Then there's the boredom, the long hours of boredom, followed by the bursts of heart-pounding adrenaline. This is war. More »
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Everybody knows that armed forces around the world train using what are essentially advanced video games, but it's rare we actually get to see one in action up-close like this. More »
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Stars and Stripes, the foremost independent publication covering the United States military, examined the Army and Air Force's recent decision to forbid Medal of Honor from being sold in their exchanges. One enlisted man blasted the decision as shortsighted. More »
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You can call the devices the U.S. Army is testing out at Fort Dix in New Jersey wrist mounted phosphorescent OLED Displays is you want. We're calling them PIPBoys. More »
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It's amazing, even years after getting out of the Army, how much it colors your everyday life. More »
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A U.S. soldier plays Red Faction: Guerrilla inside his tent at a forward operating base in Dand district of Kandahar Province in Afghanistan. as seen on Boston.com - thanks Gordon. More »
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The Army is remaking its basic training for the first time in 30 years to cope with a generation that, as the general in charge says, has a courage and physique shaped by, you guessed it, video games. More »
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Back in 2006, the US Army approached Microsoft with a lucrative contract offer: supply a ton of Xbox 360 consoles to the Army for the purposes of training soldiers. Microsoft's answer? No, thank you. More »
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Army officers are practicing counterinsurgency strategies for Iraq with using a video game plainly inspired by SimCity. In fact, a frustrated officer unprepared for the fall of Baghdad asked for such a thing by name years ago. More »
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Soldiers who grew up in the burbs playing video games instead of shooting varmints in the country, or avoiding trouble in a bad neighborhood, are singled out by Army research as particularly poor at spotting roadside bombs. More »
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America's Army 3 is bringing Northrop Grumman Corporation's MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Unmanned Aircraft System to the digital battlefield, allowing players to experience some of the military's newest technology. More »
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If, to feel safe and secure, you depend upon the image of the U.S. fighting man as 200 pounds of rompin' stompin' shitkickin' dynamite, this might not be the video for you to watch. More »
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Or, maybe they're Mass Effect-ified. But the U.S. Army's concept for a soldier in the year 2030 definitely looks video game-ified - especially with its strength-enhancing exoskeleton and ... combat drugs? Maybe it's Helghast-ified? More »
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Last week, GamePolitics brought you the live coverage of a demonstration against the Army Experience Center, a video game recruiting expo in Philadelphia. Seven were arrested. One has now written about it, and why. More »
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Yesterday in Philadelphia, a crowd of 100 marched on a mall demanding the shutdown of the "U.S. Army Experience" - a video-game based recruiting station. Seven were arrested for cosplaying Shyguys wearing masks. More »
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I had been curious about Prototype since I heard the title. For some reason on my various jaunts to game events I had never gotten a chance to see it demoed. So I seized the opportunity to check it out at Sierra's Spring Event. More »
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It's the stuff press releases are made of, but the story is great to boot. Paxton Galvanek never had medical training, but he'd gone through medic certification in the America's Army video game. Then one November night as he drove down the highway with his family, he watched as an SUV flipped multiple times in the opposite lane. More »
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Whilst strolling around PAX I happened into the back of the of the hall and noticed this massive Army booth. I was surprised and a little curious because not only could I not see any games present, but the sign hanging over the booth seemed a bit odd, reading ""No Power-Ups, No Cheat Codes, No Easy Mode." I mean, I understand the point they were trying to make, but it almost seemed a tad insulting. Needless to say the Army booth had tumbleweeds rolling through it, so after spying the Bungie Store around the side of the booth I went over to check that out. As I turned the corner, I saw that the Army actually did have one lone gaming station set up to show off their America's army game, strategically placed directly across from the Bungie Store. More »
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Liberal news and politics weblog The Raw Story is calling out the U.S. Army over Gears of War. The beautifully violent game is one of the titles chose for gamers to compete in during the first Army Gaming Championships, and in an article entitled " Army tournament features chainsaw massacre video game" The Raw Story suggests that perhaps including such a work in a competition that is admittedly geared towards recruiting gamers into the military could be sending the wrong signal. They could very well have a point. A website that supposedly tells gamers the Army's side of the story probably shouldn't contain information on curb-stomping. More »
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While the Army is somewhat notorious for some eye-rollingly bad recruitment advertisements, they hit on a campaign that works with their America's Army online game. Now they're sallying forth and have entered into a sponsorship with the Global Gaming League - and catching flak from anti-recruitment and anti-war groups. More »
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First came America's "Not a Recruitment Tool" Army, which the U.S. Army assured us was not a recruitment tool despite the giant glowing neon "JOIN THE ARMY" signs littering the playfield (creative embellishment - lies). Then came the talking video game commercial, which seemed to say war is just like a video game, only you can die. Now the Army has entered into a $2 million sponsorship deal with the Global Gaming League, a community site focused on facilitating worldwide tournament gaming. In June they will launch a National Gaming area, in which players can compete in an America's Army tournament for the chance at being *reads through original story* recruited by the Army. Well, at least offered a chance to possibly try out some high-end Army simulations. At the beginning of each tournament each player will receive a special briefing. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=251718&view=rss&microfeed=true The BBC reports that the U.S. is funding a computer game that will aid soldiers in the deciphering of Iraqi body language to ease tense situations. From the piece: "The program teaches military personnel some key gestures such as an up-down movement with the right hand to ask someone to slow down and gives them tips such as removing mirror sunglasses when approaching local people." This doesn't actually sound like a very fun "game." "Right-click 'Remove Sunglasses.'" "Click 'Extend Hand.'" More »
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As Clickable Culture points out, that maybe Jack Thompson isn't so far off when he calls video games "Murder Simulators." The debate comes from a Washington Post article titled "Virtual Reality Prepares Soldiers for Real War." A guardsman, Alfred Trevino said something pretty harrowing: "The feel of the actual weapon was more of an adrenaline rush than the feel of the controller," he continues. "But you're practically doing the same thing: trying to kill the other person. The goal is the same. That's the similarity. The goal is to survive." More »
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