27 Mar

Epic Games and Virtual Heroes – a division of Applied Research Associates Inc. (ARA) – have recently founded a partnership for serious gaming applications. The Unreal Government Network, in addition to sounding like a Congress run by aliens and demons, will support government developers of serious gaming initiatives. Virtual Heroes will both support browser-based Unreal Engine 3 development across private and public enterprise networks, and act as a designated partner with Epic for Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT) development.

Unreal Engine 3 will be licensed on multiple platforms (from console to mobile to Flash), and be associated with gaming applications such as medical and crime scene training. Current projects under the UGN include an anesthesiology training program for Army physicians in collaboration with Duke University’s Simulation and Patient Safety Center, and custom model integrations and visualizations for a Top Five defense contractor.

“We recognize the growing market needs of our government customers and are excited to have Virtual Heroes provide a full spectrum of focused services and support using our game engine technology,” said Dr. Michael Capps, president, Epic Games.

“Virtual Heroes is committed to providing world-class support to our licensees to ensure that all UE3 solutions achieve the best possible results across multiple platforms,” said Jerry Heneghan, founder of Virtual Heroes and director of HumanSim product development at ARA. “Our technical and creative staff is uniquely qualified to provide a new standard of responsive, personalized service to government customers worldwide.”

(via GamesIndustry.biz)