UK invades California in cyber MMORPG wargame

All next week a worldwide virtual war is being fought. Soldiers, warships, jets, and unmanned drones from the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand are combining in cyberspace to form "Task Force BISON," which will join NATO's "Task Force ATLANTICA" to mount massive amphibious landings in a conflict-stricken West African …

[Anonymous Coward]

Arnolia = Arnold Schwarzenegger land

Now, that's humour!

[amanfromMars]

In Reality, there are always Special Forces.

""Tactical commanders...require minimal functionality and maximum adaptability," according to the MoD. "

Yes, of course, they do. That is why the SAS are Fielded/Energised/Enabled/Embedded into Systems Controls.

With nothing [but their bare hands and a Passionate Belief] can they counter anything with ITs destruction. And you are invited to Suspend Belief in that thus to allow for their Black Watch/Dark Side Stealth.

What a silly Power Game to be playing though, whenever Control is so inter-dependent upon Communications. Only a Mad Idiot plays War for Real.

[Anonymous Coward]

Realism

i'm currently working as a Solutions Architect within an African Defense Force. I have to admit that I was pleasantly suprised that a 1st world country has the same limitations within the deployed arena as an emering nation. The communication gap experienced by deployed personnel is very scary in 90% of the situations seen. I know of, and have seen it myself, situations in which the canopy of a African rain forest have prohibtied even rudimentary radio links to be established.

Working within the industry it is very good to see that the major nations are starting to force suppliers to prove their products within real world simulations. This type of approach will save countless lives when and if the troops are faced with real invasion of an African country without any infrastructre. Good show!

[Steve Evans]

Just wondered...

...Which one of these countries had the oil they were really after? After all, in reality, evil African dictators *cough*Mugabe*cough* don't attract any action.

[Ian Ferguson]

Storming the beachfronts

Not very realistic is it? Can you really expect the UK and US to storm a beachfront with actual troops, on their actual feet? If this scenario really played out, all we would do is chuck bombs willy-nilly from a safe distance at anything that moved.

Not to mention the problems stabilising a region even after invasion (look no further than the Middle East for some real-life examples).

Cynicism aside, I hope this kind of virtual war game helps avoid real conflict.

[peter]

Crunching power

Why not put huge amounts of money into hardware/RISC for crunching/encrypting/compressing video and audio data like my cheapo camcorder that does h.264 low profile encoding on the fly. If as I imagine the streams with problems are mainly video & were using any one of the most outdated codecs there is; a guy in China is selling the solution for 60 bucks.

There is even a Nokia N95 phone fake, advertised as such for $60, which just shows how fast you can move with cheap technology.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Storming the beachfronts & Just wondered..."

Please learn somthing about polotics and the laws of war befor mouthing off.

1) BTW I am anit war and Anti war in Iraq, but I do see that under the infomation given at the time a war with Iraq could be justified. If it had been true that they had WMD's they they were a threat to the whole world (They didnt, but I do beleave that there was an intel problem which no-one thought to doble check). Mugabi is not, so therefor nothing anyone can do... at the moment.

2) Again I am anti war, but I do have a grate respect for what Bitish forces do. They do accualy fight. Infact if you wached the news you would see British Troups petroling on foot every day.

[Steven]

Why not invite other countries to play

Phone up Kim Jong il and tell him we're planning to invade. He hooks up to the network, has a bit of a barney and then at the end of each week we tally up the losses on each side and agree to dipsose of them humanely in a kind of gentleman's agreeement. I think I may have seen this somewhere before (Star Trek). It's a great idea and the only way that IT is ever likely to become a reserved occupation.

[cloudberry]

reality?

"A hundred metres across the field are the fighting unit command posts, connected to theatre HQ by 'Falcon' and 'Cormorant' terrestrial data-link vehicles. In reality these might well be several countries away."

Surely that should read, "In theory, these might well be several countries away"?

[evil tom]

...Then we go home. Mission accomplished!

They forgot to add:

"Then in the wake of our glowing victory for the forces of democratic freedom, the people of Arnolia demand free elections and full health care, not to mention electricity, running water, and a clean up of all the depleted uranium rounds we used.

"Next thing we know, the Scientologists are car bombing the Qabbalists in Hollywood, the Latin Kings control everything from San Jose to Santa Barbara and Coalition forces control little more than a small area in downtown Sacremento including the statehouse, a Starbucks and an In & Out Burger. Meanwhile, the free people of Wassegon sip their grande lattes and throw rocks at presidential/prime ministerial motorcades every time Bush or Blair comes to Seattle.

"Do we cut & run? Do we stay the course? Do we come up with a strategy that is more than a single sound bite?"