Games as Therapy for Walter Reed's Wounded

It's video-game night at Mologne House, a brick hotel-like building that is the largest residence at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Five new game consoles and some of the latest games are hooked up to large, donated television sets in a meeting space off the lobby. There are Tiger Woods and Tom Clancy games alongside Nintendo's Wii Sports. One soldier debates bringing down his copy of Dance Dance Revolution. Just-unwrapped copies of Guitar Hero 2 are running on two of the TV sets -- the evening's biggest draw.

Like most video-game get-togethers, this crowd is mostly young guys. The difference is that everybody here sports that clean-cut military look -- and, of course, there are more scars, prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs than you would typically expect to see.

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U.S. Army Prepares For Iraq Deployment With Language Training Game

Serious educational game developer Alelo has announced that its Tactical Iraqi Language & Culture Training System will soon be utilized by the U.S. Army's 73rd Airborne Brigade and other units of the Army’s Southern European Task Force (Airborne) in preparation for deployment in Iraq.

The serious game, which was originally developed by the University of Southern California, teaches not only what to say in Iraqi Arabic, but also how to speak the language as well through lessons that focus on relevant skills, everyday situations and tasks. In addition, the software also covers cultural awareness topics such as Iraq’s non-verbal gestures and norms of politeness and etiquette.

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Army Games for Good

Computer games are being adopted by dozens of different industries to conduct training, information visualization, data analysis, education and exploration. In addition to many civilian examples of Games for Good (G4G), the U.S. military has created some very interesting and useful games focused on medical training and cultural education.

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Game Branches Out Into Real Combat Training

When the Army launched its PC-based video game, America’s Army, three and a half years ago, the service’s intention was to connect with young people, encourage teamwork and promote its core values. But now the action game is morphing beyond its original mission, becoming the platform for numerous other military and government training simulations.

“Before we even launched the public game, we knew from development that this type of technology was pretty powerful for training, especially small units—small infantry teams, special forces teams,” said Christopher Chambers, deputy director for America’s Army, in an interview with National Defense.

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Maritime Security Creates New Market for User-friendly Simulation Software

HUNT VALLEY, Md. — Agencies in charge of port security, such as the Coast Guard, are target customers for a new video-gaming technology that allows individuals to create simulations and rehearse complex missions on desktop computers.

A developer of military simulations, BreakAway Ltd., recently introduced a software package that could allow government customers to custom design their own games to meet their specific training needs.

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Games Are Gaining Ground, But How Far Can They Go?

When it became clear that insurgents would interfere with reconstruction efforts in Iraq, Pentagon technophiles thought it would be a good idea to develop a videogame to help guide soldiers through the messy business of rebuilding war-ravaged communities. Thus came "Stability Operations Winning the Peace," modeled loosely on the commercial games "Tropico" and "Sim City." Players assume the role of local military commanders of a stability operation, and are exposed to the political, military, economic, social and intelligence levers they can pull in a particular situation, while they learn the consequences of their actions.

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War Games, Serious Games: "Learning How to Learn" in a Net-Centric World

The military has teamed with video game designers such as Zombie to develop dynamic, interactive games that are used to train, instruct, and even recruit. What is often overlooked is that they are extremely powerful tools for understanding learning and knowledge in the new network-centric world. The games focus on "learning how to learn" in the civilian world as well as the military / wargame world.

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