According to a report on GamePro, the US Army is blowing $57 million on a combat simulator built with Crytek’s CryEngine 3, most recently featured in Crysis 2. That’s a lot of cash NOT going into R&D for a proper holodeck, which does seem somewhat counterproductive, but whatever.
The “Dismounted Soldier Training System” (or DSTS in official militarised acronym form), in development over at Intelligent Decisions, is intended to train soldiers within a photorealistic combat environment via a head-mounted display on their helmets.
“What we’re trying to do with infantry squad-level training is suspension of disbelief, and the CryEngine 3 is the best video game technology on the market today,” said Floyd West, director of strategic programs at Intelligent Decisions.
“With CryEngine 3 being used for Crysis 2 and the capabilities that game engine provides, it allows us to make the most realistic simulation possible. We’re able to transport soldiers to accurately recreated locales like Afghanistan and Iraq, where we can simulate everything from visuals to 360-degree sound.
“The goal is to complete common operating environments, so the things the Army is doing today would be Afghanistan, the mountainous, cavernous regions, and the Iraqi desert-like regions, as well as wooded areas. We have some geotypical and common operating environments built-in for training, but the system will come with an editor that allows real missions to be created in the field.”
So it probably won’t have a nuke perk.
The US Army aims to have 102 systems out globally by January 2012. Don’t expect to find it in your local BT Games.
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