SGS Feature: 'Bohemia Interactive Talks Serious Games'

Today's main feature written for Gamasutra sister site Serious Games Source, which deals with games created for training, health, government, military, educational and other uses, takes a look at Bohemia Interactive's recent activities within the serious games industry. Specifically, the site sat spoke with Peter Morrison, lead VBS2 developer at Bohemia Interactive (Operation Flashpoint), to discuss the company's recent dealings with the United States Marine Corps (USMC), as well as its Virtual Battlespace (VBS) software. In this excerpt, Morrison discusses how VBS will be used by the USMC, and what this software offers the military over the competition: "VBS will be used by the USMC for networked mission rehearsal and tactical training (up to the combat team level, ie 100 human participants). VBS allows for combined arms training, for example tank crews can operate virtual vehicles and interoperate with infantry or air. We are also linking VBS into the USMC Deployable Virtual Training Environment (DVTE) via HLA, so VBS participants will be able to participate in scenarios involving a number of different simulation systems. A user can create any imaginable scenario in VBS without requiring contractor support, from helicopter insertions onto roof tops through to a complex combined arms assault. We can (and have) simulated almost all military hardware available ranging from ground vehicles through to ships and aircraft, and also systems such radar and even a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). And of course VBS remains commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS), requiring no special computer hardware!" You can now read the full Serious Games Source feature on the subject, including more of Morrison's comments on the topic of Bohemia Interactive's work with both serious games and the military (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).