The Dubai Police Want You (To Make a Game For Them)
The Dubai Police Force is looking for a game developer to help them create a virtual training program for their department, according to a Gamasutra job posting.
There aren't a lot of details about what exactly the police department wants the "serious game" to do, but they job opening is for a CryEngine Game Developer and that the developer will report to Dr. Ahmed Bin Subaih, the department's head of the virtual training section.
Requirements include experience with artificial intelligence and multiplayer games and the job pays $70,000 and include health and transportation for the employee and family.
Looking at what appears to be a screenshot from the initiative, I'm intrigued by what the virtual training program could be. It looks like it will include pretty detailed environments and, perhaps, a third-person point of view.
Maybe it's for training people on how to approach suspects and situations?
Back when I was a police reporter I had a chance to check out Denver's virtual training program which involved standing in a room with a wall-sized video playing, while armed with a modified handgun. The trainer was in the back of the room manipulating the video as I spoke to the people on the screen. It was sort of a like a more interactive version of Mad Dog McCree.
In each situation I had to decide how to approach the person, whether to draw my gun and whether to fire. The trainer would change the reaction based on what I said and what I did. If I drew my gun, for instance, he could have the people on screen freak out, which seems sort of reasonable.
It was an interesting, an eye-opening experience, especially when confronted with the last situation which involved a school shooting and a gunman taking a student hostage.
I was told the more advanced version of the training module can actually shoot back with tiny balls.
I can't imagine how much these training systems for police have evolved in the five or so years since I checked that one out.
Dubai Police Job Opening [Gamasutra, thanks Nik]
Remember back in the day when Google was only activating 100,000 Android units a day? You should — it was May. By June, that number had jumped to 160,000 units a day. And today it now stands at 200,000 Android units activated a day. That’s pretty incredible.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt revealed as much today during a sit down with a group of journalists after his panel at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA. When asked about how the Android platform is doing, Schmidt was practically glowing. He cited the recent quarterly shipment numbers (the ones showing total shipments passed those of the iPhone in the U.S.) and said that he just checked their own internal numbers this morning.
When someone said they didn’t know a good way to measure Android’s success, Schmidt quickly responded, “trust me, we do.” He then joked about the fact that he carries around the recently cancelled Nexus One. When someone suggested that was a classic, sort of like the Apple II, Schmidt joked: “is that a compliment?“
Schmidt specifically cited the Droid X as a reason for the recent Android surge. And he noted he was excited about the new Galaxy as well because it’s on all the carriers.
When questioned if the revenue coming in from Android was enough to make the whole project worthwhile, Schmidt said that it absolutely was. He noted that the idea behind Android is that it drives search — and that search is still their primary means of revenue. “Trust me that revenue is large enough to pay for all of the Android activities and a whole bunch more,” he noted.
He said that they don’t break out Android revenue numbers because they consider it a part of search.
Schmidt also quickly transitioned to note that they “love the success of the iPhone” as well thanks to how much it also drives search.
Below find the video of him talking about Android.