Culture Watch by Bill Berkowitz

Hollywood is churning out war flick after war flick. VH-1 recently premiered Military Diaries, a first-person series on military life. Country-western stars are popularizing "kick ass" patriotic songs. Iran/Contragate figure Oliver North is hosting War Stories on the Fox News Channel.

Welcome to America's escalating "homeland militarizationî designed by a Bush Administration in cahoots with defense contractors, and aided and abetted by America's culture hawkers.

The U.S. Army is even getting in on the action with its new "America's Army" video. You don't have to go traipsing about the globe to wield the latest high-tech weapons, engage terrorists in armed combat and rescue kidnapped hostages. But if "America's Army" achieves its mission, however, 18-24 year-olds will be rolling off their couches and heading to their local U.S. Army recruitment center.

Paid for by America's taxpayers and designed by the U.S. Army, "America's Army" was recently unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. The video "is the first computer product created by the military and designed to give an accurate depiction of army life," reports USA Today's Marc Salzman. According to Maj. Chris Chambers of the army's Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis, "[America's Army] is a communication tool designed to show players what the army is -- a high-tech, exciting organization with lots to do." He also observes: "We know that Americans love this type of electronic entertainment. It just made sense the army communicate its
story where people like to spend time."

Not surprisingly, creating the videogame has been a costly venture. According to ign.com's Todd Simmons, developing the game has cost taxpayers $6.3 million thus far and "is sure to rise between now and the game's release this July." (Ign.com is the Web site of IGN Entertainment, Inc., a Brisbane, California-based company that bills itself as "the Internet's leading information and entertainment destination for PC, video, multi-player and handheld gamers.")

"America's Army" is actually two games in one: "Operations: Defend Freedom," and "Soldiers: Empower Yourselves." According to the "America's Army" Web site, "Operations" allows players to "go to Basic Training, Airborne, Sniper School and train to be an Army Ranger." Ign.com's Simmons writes: "Players are put in real combat situations where they have to complete mission objectives without falling to the hands of the counter-party." There are twenty missions and each can accommodate as many as 32 players. "Soldiers," says Ign.com's Steve Butts, allows a player to follow any career path the army offers, including "infantry, combat engineering, air defense artillery, Special Forces, E warfare systems maintenance, public affairs, chemical, transportation, medical, military police and military intelligence."

Since September 11, recruiting for the "war on terrorism" has been regular fare on television, with jazzed-up advertisements trying to entice young people into making a career out of the army. Is "America's Army" specifically designed to be an action-packed
contemporary recruiting device? "Definitely not," claims Maj. Chambers. "There are no embedded messages. This is simply an entertaining and informative tool to connect with America about what the army is about."

"Three years ago, Lt. Col. Casey Wardynski, then director of the U.S. Army's Office of Economic & Manpower Analysis (OEMA)... decided the Army needed to make a game [to cultivate] interest in and understanding of the Army among 'young Americans,'" writes Ign.com's Steve Butts. "Wardynski saw games as a great way to communicate with
the tech-oriented, online community of young teenagers."

Michael Gartenberg, research director at Jupiter Media Metrix, told USA Today that he believed the game is "more of a positive marketing tool than a recruitment strategy." He added that "clearly the 18 to 24 male market that plays these types of games might find appeal in something that was 'authentic.'"

But Rob Smith, editor in chief of PC Gamer magazine, believes the army may be trying to target those with technical expertise. "Modern warfare equipment requires a level of computer savvy that wasn't the case in years gone by. Many game players fit the demographic." Dr. Michael Capps, the game's producer who is also a research professor in the Department of Computer Science at Naval Postgraduate School, told a Games Domain reporter: "Operations is useless for teaching anyone to really use a sniper rifle, for example. But it will teach you how to properly communicate with your squad and move them safely."

The key to the game's success, says Rob Smith, whose magazine will bundle the "America's Army" CD with the publication, is how good the game is. "And from what we've seen, the game itself is actually really good." Calling it a "surprise hit of the year," the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) awarded "America's Army: Operations" a runner up award in the category of Best of E3 - Action for 2002. ("Battlefield: 1942," which "places you in the middle of World War II," received the first prize.) For a review of "America's Army: Operations," see: http://www.gamespy.com/e32002/awards/index15.shtml

ìAmerica's Army" is designed for Windows PCs and should be available now. "America's Army" can be downloaded free at americasarmy.com, where you can alternatively sign up to receive the "America's Army" CD Pack (which includes both "Operations" and "Soldiers"). The site also offers a monthly newsletter about the game.

Is the game an accurate, albeit bloodless, depiction of today's Army? Will it be a successful recruitment vehicle for the new millennium's "computer savvy" youth? Given the millions already spent on the game, it's a stretch to think that the game's will be merely an electronic curio for America's young people.
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