Army paying $17.7M for training game

[unhappycamper]

Army paying $17.7M for training game
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, January 6, 2009

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — The Army is shelling out nearly $18 million for a new training simulator game that will allow soldiers to drive virtual vehicles, fire virtual weapons and pilot virtual unmanned aerial vehicles in combat situations.

The contract for "Game After Ambush" was awarded late last month to software developers Laser Shot, of Texas, Bohemia Interactive, of the Czech Republic, and Australia-based Calytrix Technologies.

The new simulator — a modification of the commercial "Virtual Battle Space 2" — will replace the Army’s official video game "DARWARS Ambush," which the service uses to train soldiers for combat.

Since 2006, the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation, or PEO STRI, has fielded more than 3,000 copies of "DARWARS Ambush" to the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Homeland Defense Department, according to spokeswoman Kristen Dooley McCullough.

In an e-mail, McCullough said the contract included $10.7 million awarded on Dec. 19, with another $7 million in options.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59814