Contracts highlight growing role of video game training.

• Author: Insinna, Valerie

The Army and Navy are seeking out video game technology to engage young soldiers and sailors, and both services plan on awarding major contracts in 2013 for virtual, PC-based training.

But even though the military increasingly wants to get its hands on technologies that look and play like Call of Duty, industry executives say there are still barriers keeping the most innovative and entertaining games from being acquired.

Although graphics and game play in simulations have become more up to date, outdated technology is still prevalent in the industry. The military sometimes still uses software written in 2002, said Brian Waddle, worldwide vice president of sales and marketing for Havok, a gaming technology developer that expanded into military simulation after specializing in entertainment.

"The industry needs to find a way to get past the older code that's sitting out there," he said. "They [soldiers] look at these simulators, and they don't take them seriously because they don't look as good as what they're playing in their living rooms."

The simulation industry has been largely welcoming to game developers, but the military tends to lock onto a certain kind of technology and can be resistant to change, he said. Sometimes when a request for proposals goes out, "the RFP is designed for older technology to win, and that's a shame."

Currently, the Army is conducting a competition for the flagship of its Games for Training program, with an award of approximately $44.5 million over five years. It wants another first-person shooter to replace Bohemia Interactive's Virtual Battlespace 2 (VBS2).

Officials at the Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (STRI) said they are evaluating proposals for the competition, which were received in October, but declined to say more about the Games for Training program until a contract is awarded.

That will likely happen in March or April, said Bohemia Interactive President John Givens.

In the weeks following proposal submissions, the Army required companies to prove that they could create a specified terrain in 24 hours. Within that scenario, they then had to demonstrate a list of capabilities, such as showing a squad climbing up a hill and taking down a target. Givens said.

Havok had partnered with other companies to bid for the Games for Training recompete, but pulled out months before the proposal was due, Waddle said. "We felt that it favored Bohemia and it didn't make sense...