Unreal gaming engine liscensed to train FBI, U.S. army medics

With popular game titles such as Gears of War and Batman: Arkham City, the Unreal Engine platform is widely known for its realistic gaming experience.

Divisions of the U.S. government have taken notice, but killing subterranean creatures and beating up the Joker's thugs are hardly skills that apply to the real world.

With the help of Virtual Heroes, a teaching software developer, the Unreal platform will so provide a more practical learning experience, one that will assist in the training of U.S. army medics and FBI agents.

"By using Epic's Unreal Engine 3, some United States government agencies like the FBI and U.S. Army are hoping to give their employees tools for virtually practicing their skills in a more realistic environment and better prepare them to save lives," reveals Jonathan Fincher in a Gizmag piece.

"With the new agreement, Epic Games (creator of the Unreal platform) and Virtual Heroes, a division of Applied Research Associates, Inc., are establishing the Unreal Government Network to support government organizations in the United States and its allies that license the engine."

As Fincher indicates, this would not be the first time the Unreal platform has been used by U.S. government. Virtual Heroes had previously teamed up with NASA to develop a space exploration simulator called Moonbase Alpha, and the Department of Defense used the engine to help promote recruitment with the American Army series of games.

"But these outings were focused more on introducing the general public to the basic tasks of each organization," Fincher explains. "The proposed projects in the works now are being designed for trained professionals to further hone their skills."

"Most of the revealed projects have not disclosed specific details, but the types of applications under development already appear widely varied in scope. For instance, the U.S. Army Telemedicine Center has supplied funding for Virtual Heroes to build a program for training medics in anesthesiology, while on the other end of the spectrum, the FBI Academy is creating a multiplayer crime scene simulation for new agents to practice their observation skills."

(Snreengrab Gizmag photos)