The Showdown
Teams BRAVO and FOXTROT join together for a Force-on-Force competition utilizing Airsoft rifles. A film crew from the G4TV show X-Play led by Host Blair Herter and Producer Anne Hill were on-hand to cover the showdown between guys (team Bravo) and gals (team Foxtrot). Both teams ran transition-of-arms drills to demonstrate the “realness” factor of the video games before facing off in battle. While the showdown between the men and women was a fierce yet fun competition, the purpose of the scenario was to show how strategy, position of advantage, teamwork and communication are essential to winning. This is true for both virtual training and in real-life.
While covering Virtual Wednesday for X-Play, Blair Herter recognized the incredible potential of the virtual training concept that Controlled F.O.R.C.E. is capitalizing on: "Controlled F.O.R.C.E. has discovered and implemented what the future protectors of America have known for years: they don't need a $10,000 virtual reality rig to learn tactics. Everything they need to train virtually is already sitting in their living rooms." New recruits know that they don't need expensive simulators because they are already doing it on their home game consoles.
The Presentation
The Controlled F.O.R.C.E. Team presented the Virtual Training Concept as it has taken shape over the past year. Video from the Virtual Preparation and Reality Preparation phases were combined to demonstrate how both worlds can be utilized to reinforce one another in training. Key points included: using gaming scenarios that mirror real operating environments to enhance mission readiness; the concept of “respawn” (option within the game that allows for regeneration of character) as it relates to real-life training; and cost analysis of COTS such as Xbox versus current LE derivative simulation systems such as FATS, LaserShot, PRISim, and RangePro.
Tony Grano
(L) and Vik Long (R) present the Virtual Training Concept
