When the U.S. Army commissioned the development of "Full Spectrum Warrior," it intended to get a training game out of the deal. The St. Petersburg Times Online reports that developer Pandemic and publisher Sony "...were required to provide the Army with $2.6-million of 'in-kind' work on the game. That was supposed to give the Army a better product for its $5-million investment." Instead, "The Army got what some say is a mediocre training tool, but the companies that designed the game got a sweet deal." The commercial version of the game sold nearly a million units on the Xbox alone (the PS2 version comes out next month). Both the commercial and military versions of the game are reportedly bundled for the Xbox--the military version can be accessed via a cheat-code.

While an infantry trainer gave the game a failing grade, Full Spectrum Warrior's Army product manager says "the Army was satisfied with the product it got," while the Army officials who commissioned the game cite it as "a useful experiment in how video games can teach urban warfare."

If military games available commercially teach urban warfare, who's to say that Grand Theft Auto doesn't teach kids to kill cops?