Giving gamers the ability to wantonly wreak destruction in exotic locales has done wonders as a military recruitment tool, but it doesn't have much value when it comes to training. To address that issue, the US Army is setting up a new project office devoted to integrating the graphical capabilities of modern-day commercial shooters with training simulators that more accurately depict real combat situations, reports the Training & Simulation Journal.

　　The new office, dubbed TPO Gaming, has been installed as part of the Training and Doctrine Command (or TRADOC in militaryspeak). According to TPO Gaming civilian chief Robert Bowne, the goal of the office will be to create simulators that "immerse [the] soldier into a virtual or synthetic environment, then have them conduct a training task, using their SOP [standard operating procedures], and then AAR [after-action review] that capability."

　　TPO Gaming is hoping to create a simulator program that is flexible enough for soldiers to quickly build a situation relevant to their impending missions. The Army also hopes to branch this program out to include genres other than first-person shooters.

　　"We are finding many uses for games and it is just the beginning," Maffey said. "Currently, we are focusing on first-person shooter and real-time strategy games, but there are many other genres of games that have desirable training capabilities. They provide an immersive environment capable of stimulating thought within a given context, thus giving us the ability to exercise cognitive skills along with functional tasks."

　　The US Army has had its hands in several commercial gaming projects in recent years, including the free-to-play online battlefield simulator America's Army and Pandemic's real-time strategy wargame Full Spectrum Warrior.