Military Training on the Xbox? Microsoft Says No.
As many of you may know, the military "is a PC." And when it comes to training soldiers, the PC is used. But, if the military had had their way, training would now be taking place on a console. The big issue was convincing the console-makers that this is a good idea.
According to
Danger Room, a part of Wired, Roger Smith, chief technology officer for PEO STRI, the Army command responsible for purchasing training equipment, is saying Microsoft refused to sell him consoles. Apparently, Smith met with Microsoft reps in 2006 at a trade show, in order to negotiate the bulk purchase of Xbox 360 consoles for use as training equipment. And Microsoft declined.
Smith tells that Microsoft gave him three reasons for not wanting to sell the Xbox as training equipment:
1. Microsoft was afraid that the military would buy up lots of Xbox 360s, but would buy only one game for each of them, so MS wouldn’t make much money off of the games.
2. That a big military purchase would create a shortage of Xbox 360s.
3. That if the Xbox became an Army training device, it would taint its reputation. Microsoft was concerned that “Do we want the Xbox 360 to be seen as having the flavor of a weapon? Do we want Mom and Dad knowing that their kid is buying the same game console as the military trains the SEALs and Rangers on?”
The last point on that list is the only viable reason Microsoft has. With as much controversy that surrounds the video game industry that games are corrupting kids, the last thing that argument needs is consoles being used to train soldiers. That basically hands a win to anti-video game lawmakers. And yet, it's still hard to imagine that Microsoft would risk a similar PR faux pas by refusing to help American soldiers.
When the writer of this article, Michael Peck, contacted Microsoft for comment, the rep claimed to have no knowledge of this meeting between Microsoft and Smith, but provided that the Military use the tools they have in the past, and work with developers (like with
America's Army), or use the XNA Game Studio to develop their own software. Though, I don't really see how useful this is for them if they can't purchase consoles to play the software on.
Now, three or so years later, Smith has said that it doesn't really matter anymore. The novelty of the Xbox 360 and the XNA Game Studio has worn off, and the Army isn't really interested in pursuing their use.
The article delves deeper into the use of consoles as training tools and some other, finer details. It's a good read. I suggest you hit the link up top and check it out.
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