Business & Games: The Blog

Leveling the Market Playing Field

Visual simulation is nothing new. The military and other organizations have been using it for years to train and prepare people for a variety of roles. Simulation offers a balance between the difficulties of imparting real-world training and rehearsal via classroom lectures, and the risk and expense of live exercises.

Traditionally, it can be very costly and time-consuming to bring proprietary simulation solutions to market. A company requesting a new simulation solution generally has to build from scratch, and has to acquire multiple licenses for their engine, tools and content. The process can often take months or years for development, and costs can typically run into the millions of dollars. Those kinds of large up-front costs reinforce the current centralization of the simulation experience.

Microsoft ESP aims at turning that around by means of a full platform of tools, engine and content for building new solutions on top of it, rather than starting all over from scratch each time, with the base capabilities required for a rich immersive experience. “Our licensing model is unique, and our cost model is unique, allowing developers to deploy a simulation in a shorter time period and for less cost", MS says.

MS believes that, by making the development and distribution of mission-critical training tools easier and more affordable, it will greatly expand the breadth of people who can create and consume simulation solutions in the marketplace.

Original post: http://elianealhadeff.blogspot.com/2008/01/microsoft-esp-leveling-serious-games.html