Army releases new video game training.

• Position: MODELING AND SIMULATION

The Army in March debuted its newest flagship video game, Virtual Bat-despace 3, meant to help troops practice tactics before enacting them in a live environment. The new game boasts more realistic graphics and larger maps than the older system, but also reflects changes to how the service is training soldiers, officials said.

"As we iterated from [its precursor game, Virtual Battlespace 2] to VBS3, we realized the Army was going back to decisive action, or major combat operations," said Maj. Greg Pavlichko, chief of the Army games for training requirements branch. "When you think of decisive action, think of the Gulf War in 1991--mass actions of mechanized vehicles on mechanized vehicles," as compared to the smaller, locally-aligned counterinsurgency operations of the last decade.

In order to replicate that operating environment, the game contains more expansive map sets to accommodate the movement of mechanized brigades. VBS3 can also incorporate a larger number of entities on screen, which will facilitate larger-scale battles, he said.

Among other changes is a "human dimension" plug-in allowing a user to import their own physical data, training records and marksmanship scores so that a soldier's avatar reflects that individual's real-life proficiency. Anthony Rolfe, a gaming technology integrator for the program, said 98 percent of soldiers that tested the plug-in at...