The Army claimed to be saving money by developing games as marketing/recruiting tools. America's Army sounded like a very expensive creation though. I thought the quizzing of the US Army guy who spoke about the game was a bit off track because the questioners seemed to be assuming that America's Army was created as a training tool, which it certainly was not (as the presenter noted). Personally, throughout the US Army's presentation, I was thinking "what sort of person would want to join the Army after their virtual player gets fragged repeatedly in this game?" The presenter said the game was supposed to represent situations you may find yourself in were you to join the Army...well, count me out, I got nailed every 2 minutes when I played America's Army. It is well known that the army has been using specially created simulations, much like games, to train soldiers for years. Not to mention their importance in the creation of the internet in general, via DARPA. Perhaps the conference atendees disapproved of their motive in creating America's Army because it is meant for the general public, but I see it as a predictable extension of something they know how to do very well--make games and recruit for a volunteer army. There seemed to be a general antipathy for the US Army at the conference, which wasn't altogether surprising, especially after the comment about training us to speak spanish before they send us to Camp X-Ray (was it because of the tough questions?). We should applaud them for dumping money into these technologies. There are worse things they are spending wasting tax dollars on. As a marketing tool, I wonder how the price of America's Army compares to sending out bass booming customized Hummers to college campus' in their recent attempt to recruit hip young kids? This was a great conference, my thanks go out to the organizers!