The U.S. Army today announced that it is expanding its technology agreement with Epic Games. Since 2000, Epic's Unreal. Engine 2 has served as the foundation for America's Army, the Official U.S. Army Game. To take advantage of leap-ahead capabilities afforded by Epic Games' newest engine, the Army will begin developing its next generation versions of America's Army on the Unreal Engine 3. in the coming months.

"The Unreal Engine has enabled us to develop one of the most popular games in the world. At the same time, the Unreal Engine has provided us the power and flexibility to develop revolutionary training and education applications for use across the government," said Colonel Casey Wardynski, project director and originator of the "America's Army" concept. "The gameplay, environments and immersive action generated using Unreal Engine 3 will allow us to create ever more realistic scenarios and environments through which young adults can learn about Soldiering and through which Soldiers can master skills ranging from lifesaving to countering IEDs in the Global War on Terrorism."

The America's Army game has placed Soldiering into popular culture by providing young adults the means to explore key Soldier lifecycle experiences from basic training to operations in the Global War on Terrorism. Since the America's Army game launched, gamers have completed more than 1.34 billion missions and 94 million hours virtually exploring progressive developmental experiences ranging from basic training to the Special Forces Qualification Course. Upcoming versions of the game include America's Army: Special Forces Overmatch, which will release this fall; and America's Army: Stryker-Overmatch to be released this winter.

By harnessing the power of the Unreal Engine, America's Army produces extraordinarily engaging and realistic environments and experiences. As a result, a wide variety of agencies from the U.S. Navy to national laboratories have repurposed America's Army for applications ranging from appended training devices for weapon systems to adaptive thinking and leadership training simulations.