TracGunny
06-17-04, 07:32 PM
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Story last updated at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, June 17, 2004
Civilians get a chance to play joystick soldiers
By ELLIOTT MINOR
Associated Press Writer
FORT BENNING, Ga. - THQ, the nation's second-largest independent video game publisher, celebrated the launch on Thursday of Full Spectrum Warrior with a demonstration of the commercial version of the game the Army is using for urban warfare training.
Young soldiers, many of them veterans of the Iraq war, gathered in two large Army tents, pitched end-to-end, to try out the game, which uses artificial intelligence to give the make-believe soldiers personalities and human-like reactions.
There's Sgt. Mendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, who leads the four-member Alpha team. Among his soldiers is Pfc. Silverman, "the resident smartass, who joins the army to escape his domineering step-father in Philadelphia."
Sgt. Williams, the Bravo team leader is a New York City cop who was on patrol during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, then was mobilized as an army reservist. His most difficult soldier is Pfc. Shimenski, who has a knack for doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.
The eight soldiers, wearing desert camouflage and wearing the patch of Georgia's 3rd Infantry Division, which led the bloody push to Baghdad, are sent on a day-long mission in a bullet-riddled town to quash terrorists in the fictional nation of Zekistan.
As they maneuver through the streets, terrorist fire machine guns from windows and appear on rooftops with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Bullets steak through the air and blood spatters the screen when the soldier is wounded.
"It's pretty cool," said Iraq war veteran Pfc. James Palmer of Hastings, Minn., a mortarman with the 3rd Division's 130th infantry.
"I thought it would be a shooter-type game, but this is pretty amazing," he said. "It shows how easy things can go bad."
Staff Sgt. Christopher Robinson, 35, a weapons instructor at Fort Benning's Infantry Training Center, said he often plays combat video games, but the $49.99 Full Spectrum Warrior is the best by far.
The team leaders can assign tasks to certain members, such as the automatic rifleman or the soldier with a grenade launcher, or the whole team can move in unison, he said.
Robinson said he believes there is no substitute for hands on training, but the game should motivate young soldiers to want to "go out there and do this physically."
Fort Benning spokeswoman Elsie Jackson said the Army has been using a version know as Full Spectrum Command for about a year to teach captains to lead small groups in urban warfare.
"Simulated training will never take the place of boots on the ground, but any time you have a chance to practice it can only help," she said, noting that Fort Benning has two urban warfare sites where soldiers train.
THQ spokesman Tom Stratton said the game, currently available for the Microsoft X-Box, was introduced earlier this month. He said Thursday's event was to honor the soldiers at Fort Benning, for whom was the game was designed.
"This is definitely a game designed for an adult audience," he said. "If this were a movie, it would R-rated."
Copyright Associated Press
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/061704/D83910L80.shtml
Story last updated at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, June 17, 2004
Civilians get a chance to play joystick soldiers
By ELLIOTT MINOR
Associated Press Writer
FORT BENNING, Ga. - THQ, the nation's second-largest independent video game publisher, celebrated the launch on Thursday of Full Spectrum Warrior with a demonstration of the commercial version of the game the Army is using for urban warfare training.
Young soldiers, many of them veterans of the Iraq war, gathered in two large Army tents, pitched end-to-end, to try out the game, which uses artificial intelligence to give the make-believe soldiers personalities and human-like reactions.
There's Sgt. Mendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, who leads the four-member Alpha team. Among his soldiers is Pfc. Silverman, "the resident smartass, who joins the army to escape his domineering step-father in Philadelphia."
Sgt. Williams, the Bravo team leader is a New York City cop who was on patrol during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, then was mobilized as an army reservist. His most difficult soldier is Pfc. Shimenski, who has a knack for doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.
The eight soldiers, wearing desert camouflage and wearing the patch of Georgia's 3rd Infantry Division, which led the bloody push to Baghdad, are sent on a day-long mission in a bullet-riddled town to quash terrorists in the fictional nation of Zekistan.
As they maneuver through the streets, terrorist fire machine guns from windows and appear on rooftops with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Bullets steak through the air and blood spatters the screen when the soldier is wounded.
"It's pretty cool," said Iraq war veteran Pfc. James Palmer of Hastings, Minn., a mortarman with the 3rd Division's 130th infantry.
"I thought it would be a shooter-type game, but this is pretty amazing," he said. "It shows how easy things can go bad."
Staff Sgt. Christopher Robinson, 35, a weapons instructor at Fort Benning's Infantry Training Center, said he often plays combat video games, but the $49.99 Full Spectrum Warrior is the best by far.
The team leaders can assign tasks to certain members, such as the automatic rifleman or the soldier with a grenade launcher, or the whole team can move in unison, he said.
Robinson said he believes there is no substitute for hands on training, but the game should motivate young soldiers to want to "go out there and do this physically."
Fort Benning spokeswoman Elsie Jackson said the Army has been using a version know as Full Spectrum Command for about a year to teach captains to lead small groups in urban warfare.
"Simulated training will never take the place of boots on the ground, but any time you have a chance to practice it can only help," she said, noting that Fort Benning has two urban warfare sites where soldiers train.
THQ spokesman Tom Stratton said the game, currently available for the Microsoft X-Box, was introduced earlier this month. He said Thursday's event was to honor the soldiers at Fort Benning, for whom was the game was designed.
"This is definitely a game designed for an adult audience," he said. "If this were a movie, it would R-rated."
Copyright Associated Press
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/061704/D83910L80.shtml