About the Game
History
How to Play
Geneology
Imitations
Links

Original Release
Arcade

Other Releases
Apple II
Atari 2600
Atari 5200
Atari 8-Bits
Atari ST
Commodore 64
Commodore VIC-20
Super Famicom / SNES

Picture Galleries
Coming Soon

Screenshot Galleries
Title
Tanks
Homing Missiles
Super Tanks
UFOs

Audio Clip Galleries
Theme

This Is (Simulated) War!

Can video games be used to train military soldiers? And if they can, should they? With current technology allowing pilotless drones, and modern computers and game consoles capable of creating complex, richly detailed scenes of war in games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, these questions are now debated constantly. In 1980, however, few people gave any thought to the matter. That began to change when the U.S. Army approached Atari about making a custom version of their newest arcade game, a game called Battlezone.

Battlezone began as a desire to create a 3-D, first-person perspective game. Such games are incredibly commonplace now but in the late 1970s, programmers and video game manufacturers could only dream of having the technology to create such a game. Atari's Digital Vector Generator, used originally in Lunar Lander and then very effectively in Asteroids, became the key to making that dream a reality. Once the developers settled on making a tank fighting game, they paired the DVG with a computer chip capable of crunching the numbers needed to animate 3-D tanks and other objects, using vector or "wireframe" graphics. Then, with a third processor overseeing the game's operation, and an arcade cabinet complete with a "periscope" and dual-joystick controls, Battlezone came into being. The 3-D presentation and the extra authenticity of the controls, particularly when compared to the more common single joystick, lead many to declare Battlezone to be the world's first virtual reality game. Perhaps it was these immersive qualities that prompted the Army to come knocking.

The Army asked if Battlezone could be retooled for use as a training simulator for gunners of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Atari agreed, despite protests from Battlezone head programmer Ed Rotberg. Rotberg believed Atari should not get into the business of military hardware, but eventually he was persuaded to work on the project. Battlezone became The Bradley Trainer, capable of firing multiple weapons on an even greater variety of targets, some of them friendly. It is unknown if the Army ever used the new game for actual training, but one cabinet was in fact delivered to the military.

After Battlezone's release and transformation into The Bradley Trainer, Atari developed home versions of the game for several systems, including the Atari 2600. Sequels have also appeared, most recently on the XBox 360 in 2008. As time has passed, the graphics have gotten better and the tank simulation has become more realistic, both in Battlezone's sequels and in other war video games. At the same time, other advances have allowed actual combat to be handled more and more like a video game. Whether these are good things, and whether they justify training soldiers in ways that allow them to treat real war like a simulation, likely will be argued for years to come. Even so, one can't help but marvel at the ability to make real life and virtual reality mirror each other. Battlezone helped get the ball rolling.