The US Department of Homeland Security is developing Ground Truth, a video game. So if you thought America’s Army or Full Spectrum Warrior was the end of government-created games, think again! The United States Department of Homeland Security was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to help protect the US homeland.
Ground Truth (probably a temporary name) has been in development for the past year with an estimated $600,000 dollars worth of funding pumped into the project so far (not much at all in mainstream video game terms). The game has you playing as a first responder to a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Success in the game would be dependent not only on the quickness of your response, but also how you go about responding. Make poor choices and you can expect larger casualties and a lower score.
Computer scientist Donna Djordjevich who is a designer on the game said that she is designing Ground Truth to be on par with anything on a next-generation console. “I think it’s very important to at least get to a certain level of production-quality or private industry-quality graphics, so that way people don’t just turn away from it immediately and just dismiss it as old technology, old software. You have to stay relevant,” she said. The game is being developed at Sandia National Labs, with grad students from the University of Southern California doing graphics work. No word yet on whether this game will be released to the public or not ala Full Spectrum Warrior, but it’s an interesting premise.