Unreal Engine licensed by US Govt

Epic Games has announced a long term agreement with Virtual Heroes, a subsidiary of Applied Research Associates, to license Unreal Engine 3 for use by the U.S. Government and its allies.

The initiative is being called the Unreal Government Network, and makes the technology available to all departments, agencies, and units of the government and its allies.

Virtual Heroes is Epic’s "designated partner" for advanced learning technologies, and licenses and supports the multi-platform use of UE3 across a variety of platforms, including browser-based content for secure government and corporate networks.

"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 of Epic Games.

Projects underway include an anesthesiology training program for U.S. Army doctors, a multiplayer crime scene invesigation simulator for the FBI, and a $10m dollar contract with the Sirius program, which makes "serious games" to help people improve their decision making skills by overcoming biases.

Virtual Heroes and Epic will be leading sessions at this week’s Defense GameTech Users’ Conference in Orlando, Fla.