Is the U.S. Army wasting $17.7 million on game simulator?
In this time of penny-pinching, it makes sense that even the U.S. Army would try saving money everywhere except on the things directly affecting our national security.
Example: More money spent on body armor for our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq is good; more money spent on costly toys like video game simulators might not be so good.
Nevertheless, the Army plans to spend nearly $18 million on a training simulator that lets soldiers fire virtual guns, drive virtual tanks and launch virtual air strikes, according to Stars and Stripes, the military’s newspaper of record. The outlay would replace a PC-based training game called “DARWARS Ambush” in use since 2006.
Not only that, two of the three software firms contracted to do the work are foreign: Bohemia Interactive is based in the Czech Republic, and Calytrix Technologies is based in Australia. The third, Laser Shot, is out of Texas.
And about $7 million of the project goes toward game “options,” Stars and Stripes said.
The estimated $17.7 million price tag is just for development; 70 of these similators will be built and installed across the United States and in parts of Europe and South Korea.
That could buy a whole lot of other things — I’m guessing about 88,000 Xbox 360s or 44,000 PlayStation 3s, for example. (Besides, Sony’s PS3 division could really use the business right now.)
Which makes Game Guy wonder: Why not just save a little money and buy the game consoles instead? I mean, hasn’t anyone in the Army ever heard of “Call of Duty”?
I’ve heard about this story via GamePolitics ( http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/01/08/army039s-18-million-training-game-waste-tax ). It’s an interesting point of view, but keep in mind that there are HUGE differences (in hardware AND software) between home video games such as “Call of Duty” and military simulators. By the way, it may be good to spend money on things that make soldiers better prepared to war (which commercial video games can’t do at all, but military simulators might be able to do).
Happy new year, as it’s not too late.