Homeland Security does game
Not about checking your papers.
The US Department of Stand Behind The Yellow Line, Sir [surely "Homeland Security"? - Ed] has spent the last year ploughing USD 600,000 into a videogame that helps train people to respond effectively to terrorism and natural disasters.
Called Ground Truth, the game tasks players with coordinating a response and trying and minimise casualties after - as an example - a tanker collision results in a lethal cloud of chlorine gas sweeping across a random US town.
As reported by ABC News, Ground Truth could end up being used to train people, or it could even be turned into a commercial game - and the dev-team strives to make it look the part. Computer Scientist Donna Djordjevich reckons it needs to look as good as anything on PS3 or 360 to "stay relevant".
Describing it, she says: "It is a sandbox. They're able to play through it and say, well, that idea obviously didn't work out, but I'd rather have them make the mistake in the video game than in reality."
Sounds good to us, although we'd rather play the CIA one about flying prisoners across Europe and then whistling nonchalantly every time air traffic control asks us where we're going.