Harrington Group’s Vigilance™ Selected as a Finalist in 2007 Serious Games Competition

Orlando, FL, October 19, 2007 --(PR.com)-- The National Training Systems Association (NTSA) has announced that Harrington Group’s serious games entry Vigilance™ has been selected as one of the finalists in the 2007 Serious Games Showcase & Challenge held at the Interservice/Industry Training Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). As a finalist, Harrington Group will be eligible to win distinction as "2007 Alion Best Serious Game" as well as the "2007 Presagis People's Choice" award which will both be announced on November 29th at the Orange County Convention Center during the annual conference.

About Vigilance™

Vigilance™ is a serious game developed to help train U.S military personnel to locate and identify Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). These weapons have become the single greatest threat to deployed military forces in the Iraqi Theater of Operations (ITO) and are expected to be a continuing threat in future combat operations. Although the basic components of an IED are simple, the application of the weapon is limited only by the creativity of the insurgents.

Vigilance™ is powered by cutting edge tools produced by Crytek and Scaleform. Crytek’s CryEngine2™ gaming engine provides a degree of immersion unmatched in the gaming industry, including almost photographic reality and exceptional environmental simulation. Scaleform’s GFx™ software was used to facilitate the rapid production of the highly interactive user interfaces. Both tools were designed to support the demanding commercial gaming market by reducing the amount of effort needed from programmers, designers and graphic artists. Vigilance™ was tested and evaluated using state-of-the-art GeForce 8800 GTX™ graphics cards provided by Nvidia.

Vigilance™ provides a controlled educational experience, exposing players to both visual and verbal instruction on the specifics of IEDs. As players gain experience, they are asked to locate and identify IEDs among increasingly complex surroundings. To facilitate instruction and minimize the time to “learn the game,” a highly interactive user interface was developed which includes a HUD type display. Following the instruction, exam questions are administered and assessed, and remedial information is provided as required.

###