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Image credit:TPO Media / Rock Paper Shotgun
Image credit:TPO Media / Rock Paper Shotgun
As described inthe video, the system is designed for use against infantry and lightly armoured targets. It’s not clear from the video how the system works in practice, but it looks like operators can view camera feeds from the turret and shoot at people and vehicles using the Steam Deck’s built-in controls. Having done a bit of digging of my own, Ukraine’s military appear to have been experimenting with the Steam Decksince April 2023. Valve have yet to acknowledge or comment on all this - I’ll let you know if they do.
The footage is a reminder that the games industry and the military sector are heavily enmeshed. The overlap isn’t just limited to military engineers hacking consumer devices - military technology and practices and video game development and production are entangled at many levels, in what has become a circular exchange of ideas and expertise. Game engine company Unity have taken on military contracts towork on battlefield simulations for training purposes. So have Bohemia Interactive, in addition to working on their own, fictitious yet “authentic” war simulations for consumer usage - their attention to detail has reached the point thatpeople have successfully passed off videos of Bohemia games as real war footage. The US military has a long history of adapting video game controller technologies to work withdrones, unmanned vehicles and submarines.
Video games developers have, of course, borrowed ample material from the military sector, fromlicensed guns in Call Of Dutythrough the fact thatHelldivers 2is grounded inits developers' experience of military serviceto the many live service games that cast you as some kind of private military contractor. People Make Games recently publisheda comprehensive video on the subjectwhich is worth sitting through.
