US army releases 2 games to help recruit

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by tniem
I at first was outragged at the idea of the government spending the money like this on recruitment. Then I reconsidered. They are paying to use the Unreal engine and then spent money on a design team to complete the game. No more than like five million.

It is going to cost more like $7 million.

From CNN:

Recognizing that the target audience knows a quality title when it sees one (and ignores and ridicules poor quality efforts), the Army has assembled a team of proven developers and licensed one of the premier engines on the market to make its games. Quality doesn't come cheap, though. The budget for the first titles in the "America's Army" series is in the $7 million range.

That's not as expensive as it sounds. Publishers say the average PC game typically costs between $2 million and $6 million dollars and "America's Army" will launch with two titles - "Soldiers", a role-playing game that lets you live boot camp life, and "Operations," a multi-player first-person shooter that, developers say, accurately reflects rules of engagement and squad teamwork.

Thats for two games so it is more like $3.5 million for each, which is a pretty good deal.

[tniem]

Originally posted by Apocalypse
It is going to cost more like $7 million.

Thats for two games so it is more like $3.5 million for each, which is a pretty good deal.

Even at 7 million that is a bargain price. Once a game is produced it is easy to make copies of. It can't cost them more than a dollar to ship and hell I have been getting about that much in mail every month from the American military anyways. So it would seem cost is not very high.

Then there is a chance that this will bring in some recruits. Or at least have a better chance than their tv ads that they are paying to show every time on top of production costs. I think that this game will be more cost effective for them.

[Apocalypse]

It won't recruit me. I'm joining the Merchant Marines

[Cyclotron]

to the Army. It's about time they start using recruiting methods that actually work.

[Apocalypse]

They have been using methods that have worked. This way other people can benefit from it.

[MBD]

There was a movie a few years ago that had the same premise. I forget the name of it though.

A space-invaders type video game had been put in a bunch of different places by an alien race to find the best human pilots for their interplanetary war. Some kid in a trailer park in the Southwest US was recruited by the aliens and ended up saving them from the invaders.

So maybe there is something benefit to playing war games after all.

[Apocalypse]

That was The Last Starfighter. It was made back in the early 1980s. There weren't really any invaders, but just two sides fighting some war.

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by Apocalypse
That was The Last Starfighter. It was made back in the early 1980s. There weren't really any invaders, but just two sides fighting some war.

And that movie holds my record for the worst movie of all time.

"What do we do now, sir?"
"WE DIE!!!"

[Apocalypse]

It was really funny at times though.

10 year old kid seeing a clone of the starfighter pilot with it's head off: "Holy ****!"
Clone of the starfighter pilot: "Go to bed or I'll tell mom about your playboys."

Or something to that affect.

[Cyclotron]

And the "special weapon" or wahtever it's called... talk about dizziness...

[Apocalypse]

I forget the name of the weapon, but it was pretty cool looking. It was better than any of the starfighter weapons in Star Wars.

[Cyclotron]

But... he just spun like a top, magically shooting everything! It was pretty funny, especially because the "boss" ship looked like a biplane, and the spiky scepter thingy... but in general I think that movie should be burned. Many times.

Now, let us never speak of this again.

EDIT: Actually, this sums up what I think of that movie quite nicely:

[Apocalypse]

It has a place in movie history. I'm pretty sure it was the first space movie to use cg graphics.

[DanS]

Looks like it could be really slick. It's stress on teamwork and multiplayer is refreshing. None of this Army of One BS.

[DinoDoc]

It looks like it might be a Counter-Strike killer.