• charity

    Angels Donate Wiis To Soldiers

    Nonprofit group Soldier's Angels is donating Nintendo Wiis to severely wounded veterans.

    Donna Jo Blake, Chief of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation at Department of Veterans Affairs in Eastern Colorado thinks that this could lead to (and I do apologise for this) "Wii-hablitation".

    "We are aware of many colleagues throughout the Veterans Affairs medical system who have developed dynamic Wii programs in multiple areas, including PolyTrauma, Spinal Cord Injury/Traumatic Brain Injury, and Long Term Care," says Blake, "Wii gaming has great potential for physical, mental and emotional well-being. We are delighted to receive this support from Soldiers' Angels."

    Nonprofit Donates Wiis To Injured Soldiers [The Wiire]

    6:40 PM on Tue Nov 25 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    896 views, 35 comments

  • department of fps

    U.S. Army Investing $50 Million in Video Games

    The U.S. Army has created a video game training unit that will begin operation in 2010, and has funding for it set aside to the tune of $50 million, reports Stars and Stripes. This isn't for recruiting or marketing, but the training of its soldiers in virtual environments.

    "The Army takes this seriously," said Lt. Col. Gary Stephens, of the Project Executive Office — Simulation Training and Instrumentation, which will supervise this unit. "We own gaming for the Army — from requirements through procurement."

    While the Army will not compete with video game development per se, nor is it producing commercially available products, it will still be interacting with the civilian games industry. The Army will be closely monitoring trends that may be able to help its video game training unit. It also has an undisclosed budget to purchase or have developed a state-of-the-art successor to its "DARWARS Ambush" trainer (pictured), basically an FPS with 20th-century technology limitations. More »

    2:00 PM on Sun Nov 23 2008
    By Owen Good
    6,351 views, 82 comments

    Most discussed Saigin: With a debt of America that's so high we can afford our army dropping 50 Mil? more »

  • military

    UK Military Investigating Smelly Games

    You know who likes the smell of victory in the morning? The British Army, that's who - and now the Ministry Of Defence is pumping research pounds into creating a Virtual Battlefield complete with Virtual Smells so soldiers can sample that smell - alongside the bouquet of bullets, the whiff of weaponry and the perfume of the paramilitary - without having to step into harm's way.

    The MOD already uses modified videogames to train ground troops but researcher have just invested £20,000 to investigate whether adding the sense of smell to a game experience can significantly enhance its realism and hence its value as a training aid.

    "Smell is so closely linked to emotion and memory," says Professor Bob Jones of Birmingham University, "it's something that we need to take seriously." More »

    4:20 PM on Fri Nov 7 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    1,598 views, 37 comments

    Most discussed Repent: Teabagging just got a whole lot worse. more »

  • military

    Do Drone Pilots Feel Combat Stress?

    Slate is running a story covering the debate about whether pilots of drone aircraft (which feels rather like playing a video game) suffer the same stress as pilots in actual combat.

    We've all felt a bit stressed when playing a video game - whether its the tension of creeping around a Doom map that you know contains a Cyberdemon or just the feeling of panic as the Tetris blocks creep inexorably up the screen - if you game you know that it can take a real mental toll.

    Of course, there is a big difference between BFGing some demons and guiding an actual missile that you know will kill actual human beings. Could it be that the reverse is true & that the video game nature of drone piloting gives a sense of distance that insulates people from killing?

    As an aside, current recruitment ads for the British Army show someone piloting a recon aircraft using an Xbox 360 controller. Make of that what you will.

    Ghosts in the Machine [Slate]

    5:20 PM on Fri Aug 15 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    2,495 views, 47 comments

  • spies

    Custom Video Games Training American Spies


    Fascinating article on Wired.com — the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's CIA counterpart, just paid $2.6 million for three custom video games to train its entire analyst corps, young and old. So, you want to bitch about $60 titles on the Xbox, think of that next time. Plus, these games are bereft of squad-based FPS tactics or any real arcade action. They're designed to get to the heart of epistemology, which is, in essence, how you know what you know, and in these three cases, it's how to assess a threat or judge the quality of information. More »

    1:00 PM on Sat Apr 26 2008
    By ogood
    3,503 views, 35 comments

    Latest by GovernorWatts: "The three titles are called Rapid Onset, Sudden Thrust and Vital Passage, which is a Freudian trilogy if I've ever more »

  • wii

    Scientists Create Wiiimote-Controlled Bomb-Bot

    We're already well aware of the various health-related applications for the Nintendo Wii, but what about the military uses? The U.S. military, who were up until recently confirmed Xbox 360 fanboys, are now looking into the possibility of Wiimote-controlled robots. Scientists have created the Packbot, a Wiimote-operated robot armed with a machine gun, to be used in clearing mines and bombs. The military would generally use a standard remote for such purposes, but scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy say the Wiimote is more instinctive, allowing users to focus on date processing rather than which button to press. In my world the device would come with a screen so the soldier operating it could watch his Mii diffusing bombs and tip=toeing around land mines. My world is a much happier place.

    Wii controls to defuse bombs [Metro.co.uk]

    10:40 AM on Thu Mar 27 2008
    By Mike Fahey
    2,538 views, 45 comments

    Latest by freespeech: SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! more »

  • war games

    Major General Hammond Invokes Pac-Man

    U.S. Major General Jeffery Hammond, delivering a press briefing on the progress of the 4th Infantry's efforts in Iraq, revealed the inspiration behind their current strategy for dealing with Al Qaeda operatives and Shiite extremists.

    "I believe they have been degraded, we continue to PacMan, like the video game, away at their efforts, at their different levels," Major General Hammond said.
    While it's nice to see a video game reference made by high-ranking military officers, I have to wonder exactly what this means. I get this bizarre mental image of an overhead view of the streets of Baghdad, fruit carts spilling into the streets and the military struggling to pick up the produce for extra points. Are we the ghosts, or are we Pac-Man himself? Are power pellets sanctioned under the Geneva Conventions? With so many questions, one thing remains quite clear - we need to air drop Billy Mitchell into the war zone immediately, hot sauce and all.

    4th Infantry Update from Baghdad [KXRM Fox 21]

    10:20 AM on Fri Mar 21 2008
    By Mike Fahey
    3,268 views, 60 comments

    Latest by Enkur: There's been a lot of exciting news and announcements already, but this is hands-down the best thing I've read today. more »

  • military

    DARPA's Crusher, Xbox 360 GOTY

    This is DARPA's Crusher. This 7-ton unmanned vehicle can drive through almost any terrain you can throw at it. But the most interesting point is its operation. While a hacked iPhone related system diagnostics in real time, a standard Xbox 360 controller is used for raising the antenna, camera control and, yes, even weapon fire.

    We've heard of console gamepads making their way into military equipment before, and we always knew our soft, girlish hands were really advanced killing machines. But it's still odd to think of Xbox 360 hardware driving DARPA's latest and greatest machinery. (Cue RRoD jokes).

    Pentagon's 'Crusher' Robot Vehicle Nearly Ready to Go [FOXNews via Maxconsole]

    11:20 AM on Wed Feb 27 2008
    By Mark Wilson
    5,958 views, 106 comments

    Latest by Scruffay: @K-Squad! (Badass Edition): alas, kb&m is how the soviets lasted so long. more »

  • military

    Air Force Unveils Plans For Air Force 2.0

    Never accuse the USAF of being too far behind the times - they've just unveiled a long term plan to create 'Air Force 2.0,' including social networking (MyBase!), virtual training, and more ways to appeal to those tech savvy kids than you can shake a stick at. The Air Education and Training Command paper details the plan (but no real mention of cost), wrapping up with a look at three of the ways they hope Air Force 2.0 will function:

    Attached at the end of the white paper is a series of three vignettes, detailing narrative form how MyBase will operate for each sector: recruiting to and inspiring the public after a recent terrorist attack with games as well as social settings; training new cadets in a virtual Squadron Officer School (vSOS) with avatars of famous historical thinkers, guest lectures at the University of Texas, and full-blown simulation of what it's like to watch an air mission from the ground in an Army M1A2 Abram; and, finally, using avatars as interaction methods for research about security issues and further training.

    Ooooook. Well, they've projected plans running through 2030, so we'll see how long it takes for the USAF 2.0 to become reality.

    Air Force Unveils Potential Plans for MyBase Virtual World [Virtual Worlds News]

    2:30 PM on Sat Feb 2 2008
    By Maggie Greene
    1,475 views, 28 comments

    Latest by Estrelo: All MyBase are belong to US(AF) ...What? Someone had to say it! more »

  • court

    Thompson: Stocking Full of Crazy

    It's been a roller coaster ride of a year for embattled Miami attorney Jack Thompson. Being the most maligned person in the gaming industry (besides whoever made the ET game) can't be an easy job. Even now he is fighting to keep his license after a series of behaviors that have left the worlds of gaming and law wondering "What the hell is this guy's problem?" So it should come as no surprise to anyone that ol' JT has decided to stir up some more trouble as a last ditch effort to be the guy with the most outrageous lawsuits of 2007. More »

    11:00 AM on Sat Dec 29 2007
    By fdemarco
    11,688 views, 136 comments

    Latest by azriphale: @sithninja Well done sir. Well done indeed. more »