Recently, the United States Army has announced they planned to invest $50 million over a period of five years into purchasing a video game unit aimed at helping soldiers to prepare for battle.

Moreover, the gaming unit for the U.S. Army will also entail a yet undisclosed amount to pay for a state-of-the-art commercial video game system that is scheduled to be aggregated into the soldiers’ training in February.

The Army is set to begin investing in games and consoles in 2010, for the time being, the soldiers being trained for combat with the aid of DARWARS Ambush, a game that has been offered to over 3,000 members of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Homeland Defense since 2006.

Furthermore, according to Leslie Duvow, project director for gaming at Program Executive Office - Simulation and Training, the Army plans to have 70 gaming systems, each with 52 computers fitted with steering wheels, headsets and mice, in 53 locations across the United States, Germany, Italy and South Korea up until September 2009. These systems will help soldiers with their training by enabling them to fire virtual weapons and fly virtual vehicles.

Back in 1999, the U.S. Army, along with gaming and Hollywood professionals, founded the Institute for Creative Technologies in Los Angeles, which went on to become one of the best schools for simulation-building. Moreover, in 2004, the Army established a videogame studio in North Carolina, while one year ago, their Training and Doctrine Command opened an office for gaming.