In the year 2040 on the Gregorian calendar,
(courtesy of Rising Eagle)
There are no longer any “bad guys.” There are only political interests. You are a marine – whichever marine you choose to be.
(courtesy of Rising Eagle)
Welcome to Rising Eagle 1.3.0, a 1.2 gigabyte first-person shooter multi-player game that is free to download and play from the internet. The game includes the
(courtesy of Rising Eagle)
“It’s all about futuristic infantry warfare,” says creator Yaron Dotan, a 34-year-old veteran of the Israeli high-tech industry. A long-time computer programmer, the Ramat Aviv resident did his stint in the army like everyone else, including a year and a half in
“After 26 years of playing computer games,” Dotan says he decided five years ago to create his game development brainchild, Invasion Interactive. “I took my youngest brother, Guy, and my best friend, Shay Ozer, and we started off,” he says.
(courtesy of Rising Eagle)
"We plan on sending news about the game to Al-Jazeera and Arab TV stations and we expect Arab gamers to go online as Iranians. Israeli gamers will probably play as IDF Golani troopers so we expect to see 'blood' on the servers.
A Politically Correct Game – More or Less
Rising Eagle is a politically correct game, more or less, he comments. “Of course, in our minds, the Iranians are the bad guys. In the game, they are faced by Israeli Golani infantry fighters. But basically, you play what you want.”
Since it is a war game, there is some violence, he notes. However, “there is no blood, no gore – no body parts and stuff like that – no civilians, no innocents. It’s a legitimate war between soldiers,” he stresses. “I would be much more worried if my kids saw the evening news.”
There are a few sly bits that belie the game’s “political correctness,” such as the “Allah Hu Akbar” ambient sound that plays in the Victory Gate in
Dotan calls for all Israeli gamers to download and play the game -- especially in light of the new
"We plan on sending news about the game to Al-Jazeera and Arab TV stations and we expect Arab gamers to go online as Iranians. Israeli gamers will probably play as IDF Golani troopers so we expect to see "blood" on the servers," Dotan laughs.
But the best thing about the game, he says, is that it’s “wildly fun” to play. “It’s a little crazy,” he says, “but we integrated some things that are a real advantage. There is almost unlimited movement capability, for instance. All soldiers have exoskeleton suits made of composite material that you wear around your body. It helps you carry very heavy loads,” he explains, “four or five times heavier than you could carry on your own.”
(courtesy of Rising Eagle)
There are also more than 40 type of weapons, a "Battle Hacker" that can take over hostile enemy systems and myriad cooperation possibilities between gamers that are extremely advanced.
Exoskeletons in Virtual Reality Come to Life
What’s not funny is that the IDF is actually developing this exoskeleton thing for real. So is the US Army. And so is
In fact, according to Dotan, it already exists and although you can’t buy it, you can rent one if you have what it takes – money, lots of it. “It will come into service within the next 10 to 15 years,” he says. “You can carry a lot of weapons and ammunition because of it. You can jump into high places as well.”
According to an article posted on PopSci.com, the XOS exoskeleton is the most advanced of several in existence, developed at Sarcos, a small United States robotics factory purchased by military industries giant Raytheon this year.
The exoskeleton has other applications as well, some not nearly as glamorous, or aggressive. The Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (BLEEX), also developed for military use, is used to complement a pilot’s strength and was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. According to a 2004 article in Wired magazine, the BLEEX was intended to help soldiers, firefighters and other rescue workers carry heavy loads for long distance and haul heavy equipment up high-rise buildings.
The HAL exoskeleton suit produced at
The ReWalk exoskeleton developed by Israeli engineer Amit Goffer is now in clinical trials at Tel Aviv’s
Ironically, Goffer, who suffered an accident in 1997, cannot use his own invention because he does not have the full use of his arms. The ReWalk is not expected to become available for commercial sale until 2010.
As correctly estimated by Dotan, the device will retail for at least as much as the more sophisticated electric wheelchairs on the market – and those cost approximately $20,000 apiece.
Benefits of Reality Brought Into Fantasy
The phenomenal amount of research that has gone into development of the game becomes obvious when one begins exploring what the characters can do.
In Rising Eagle, there are no penalties for falling, because of the exoskeleton suit. Anything related to movement earns no punishment. It is also clear from the way the characters move, and what their capabilities are, that the programmers involved in the company have done their homework in the field of bioengineering.
All the soldiers have regular exoskeleton suits, says Dotan. However, Armored Battle Engineers (“ABE is a combination of infantry, heavy armor and engineering,” says Dotan) have a special, enhanced armored exoskeleton suit which protects them from most weapons.
The ABE is almost invincible.
“Grenades and missiles, of course, will kill him. Enough bullets from a rifle and he will die, like 30 to 35 bullets… You need to shoot at him a lot. Unless you shoot at him in the head,” reflects Dotan. “Head shot into an ABE and he will die immediately. But it is harder to kill him because he has a lot of strong, heavy weapons like a Vulcan machine gun, missles, auto grenade launchers…”
Sounds like just the thing for a quiet afternoon in