Why does the combat video make people think of video games?
The Apache pilot’s live video feed bears a striking visual similarity to video games like “Call of Duty 4.” But some commentators say what really stands out is the arguably callous banter among helicopter crew members as they kill the Iraqis on the ground — Example: “Look at those dead bastards,” one soldier says. “Nice,” another responds. Are those similarities coincidental? Visually, probably not. “Video games are created to mimic war, not the other way around,” says military blogger Troy Steward in Bouhammer.com. But the military also draws on commercial gaming to train soldiers and conduct warfare. For example, remote-controlled weapons like the Predator are steered by controllers modeled after the Xbox and PlayStation, notes Peter Singer at the Brookings Institution. Do Army pilots train using video games? Yes, as do other soldiers. The U.S. military released its own video game, “America’s Army,” as a (very successful) recruiting tool in 2002, but it’s now used to train soldiers,
