
Bradley Trainer: Atari’s Military Project - videotopia
https://arcadeblogger.com/2016/10/28/bradley-trainer-ataris-top-secret-military-project/
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artgillespie
By the time I used BFV simulators in 1989, they were more advanced: The driver
and gunner had independent screens and controls, and the wireframes were
shaded. Still, I remember thinking at the time that it felt similar to my
misspent youth in arcades playing Battlezone. Wouldn't be surprised at all if
there was a direct lineage.

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douche
Battlezone was better than many simulators I played decades later. For
instance, there is no real difference in the Mako sequences in the original
Mass Effect. Basically just better graphics.

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fapjacks
I was a Bradley gunner for three years about ten years ago as an infantryman
in the US Army. We trained on systems that were completely immersive virtual
reality rooms which were built just like the inside of a BFV. They were pretty
realistic, but of course nothing prepares you for live-firing in combat. Of
all the things the Army does, the training is one of the things that doesn't
suck.

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wyldfire
These trainers served as inspiration [1] for "Armada" [2]. It's along the
lines of "The Last Starfighter" (which in turn draws inspiration from the
Excalibur legend).

[1] [http://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2015-07-31/ernie-
cline-g...](http://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2015-07-31/ernie-cline-gets-
his-game-on-with-armada/)

[2] by Ernest Cline, of "Ready Player One" and "Fanboys" fame.

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eltoozero
In my early consulting days I got sent to an ex-Atari execs home and was told
this exact story, although he said the final call was to just "give the whole
thing away to the army" since internally Atari was so strongly against the
endeavor on a political level.

Besides he said, "they could just have just taken it from us anyway".

I don't know if that was a comment on their contract terms or what but it was
clearly an uncomfortable arrangement for Atari.

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videotopia
Yeah. I think someone at Atari saw an easy pay day, with no marketing spend.
10 or 20,000 machines presumably charged out at a top dollar govt sponsored
price per unit, sent to one delivery address? Kinda makes sense on the surface
of it; notwithstanding the moral sensitivities within the company at the time.

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toomanybeersies
I always find it fascinating looking at these old "simulators" compared to
modern ones, and have to wonder about the utility of them.

I guess people will say that in the future they will look at simulators like
Virtual Battlespace (the military training version of ARMA) and wonder how
anyone found them useful, when now you can get full VR and omnidirectional
treadmills.

I guess it's all about what you're training for. I've played around on a very
expensive (to the tune of 6 figures) static C-130 Hercules simulator. The
point of the simulator wasn't to simulate rolling etc though, it was to
simulate processes, so all the switches and panels were in the exact location
that they were meant to be.

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gaius
Making a good tank simulator is surprisingly hard; you need to model
constantly changing terrain and gradient and their interaction with the
tracks. Flight simulators are much easier. That may be why it was only
designed for the gunner not the driver too.

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MrTonyD
Years ago I worked at FMC. I remember being told that Atari had designed a
game based on the M113/Bradley. I was also told that it didn't work well - and
the tank drivers found it to be unrealistic - so they didn't use it. (Well,
they actually used stronger words than that about how the game wasn't
realistic.) I don't have any real first-hand knowledge. That is just what I
was told.

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Lord_Nightmare
Sadly, the Bradley trainer doesn't actually work properly in MAME, because the
mathbox (a math accelerator circuit) in the Bradley Trainer used custom PROMs
which differ from the stock Battlezone (implementing several more commands
than 'stock' Battlezone does), and these were never dumped by Scott Evans.

Hence the "AI" (and collision detection?) doesn't work correctly.

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grogenaut
someone who is interested should just file a foia about the trainer, it's
likely declassified by now.

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videotopia
The general consensus is it never got to production beyond the two prototypes,
but who knows?

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grogenaut
Urm, exactly the point of my comment... if it was continued or cancelled there
will be contracts that can be requested under FOIA.

