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US Army: $50M On Video Games

What did you first think of when you read that headline? I wouldn’t blame you if you thought that it was for video games for the troops to play while on break. They, of all people, deserve that! What this piece of news is about, however, is not our troops playing video games for fun but the Army spending serious money on simulation video games.

The idea is to allot $50M for combat training over the next five years. The Army publication, Stars and Stripes reports:

The Army has created a video game unit and will invest $50 million over five years on games and gaming systems designed to prepare soldiers for combat.

Lt. Col. Gary Stephens, product manager for air and ground tactical trainers at Project Executive Office — Simulation Training and Instrumentation said Thursday that the $50 million has been approved for a “games for training” program starting in 2010.

“The Army takes this seriously,” Stephens said of PEO-STRI and its Army gaming unit, which will handle military video game requirements. “We own gaming for the Army — from requirements through procurement,” he said.

So are we going to be able to get our hands on the video games that the Army develops? I seriously doubt it. Gary Stephens actually dispels any such notions:

“We want to take advantage of that, but we don’t have the intent to become a competitor with the commercial gaming industry,” Stephens said. “We don’t have the intent or capability to be a commercial game house.”

Indeed, why would the government want to enter that fray? However, this piece of news does give a lot of credence to the importance of video games, doesn’t it?