Look, we’re not expecting the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to go all out with a triple-A video game for training purposes, but damn. Despite being such a technology-driven military force, our soldiers are apparently playing with something that looks like a flash game.
“‘Video games’ are serious business for the SAF,” wrote Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen in a Facebook post. “Through them, we train all vocations, especially needed for land-scarce Singapore”. Well, surely not all vocations — can’t imagine them making a simulation about being a clerk or a storeman fun. Not to say there aren’t such games out there already.
A closer study of the simulation software called Virtual Battlespace reveals that it’s actually a professional-grade product. Made by Bohemia Interactive — the same game development studio that produced the popular likes of Arma and DayZ — Virtual Battlespace is described as the “de facto standard in game-based military simulation”. The virtual sandbox allows for customized models, terrains, maps and environmental factors to immerse trainees in simulated missions. The software already powers simulation projects used by military forces of countries such as the United States, Australia, and Germany.
According to Minister Ng’s video, the SAF is using the latest version of the Virtual Battlespace engine (VBS3), and demos available on YouTube show that the simulated environments can definitely look a lot more immersive than what our soldiers are currently playing with.
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