Intelligence Gaming announced their Immersive Cultural Simulation Product today, which uses a highly specialized Flex Application designed for Flash Player 10 to deliver full panoramic 360 degree video and 8 channels of binaural audio to users. The 3D player and framework have been dubbed "RealityV". Users participate in the simulations through use of a specialized headset that projects the display through goggles and the audio through a headset and moves the scene to correspond with changes in the user's head orientation.

The RealityV headset by Intelligence Gaming. Click to zoom in.

The current simulations were built under contract for the Army and focus on teaching soldiers how to correctly respond to cultural cues in the middle east. The idea behind the simulations is that the experience required to learn how to react to different situations in a totally different culture can only be gained through realistic experiences where real social cues (complex facial expressions, body language, etc.) are of vital importance. The complexity of these social cues made the simulator beyond the realm of normal 3D rendered video games, where facial expressions and body language are still not completely realistic.

Participants in the game experience a situation in fully immersive 360 degree video and audio, and are then given a decision to make based on the situation. Soldiers choose actions based on the cues they've received and their situational awareness, and a new clip of video plays based on their choice, choose-your-own-adventure style.

The player was built on top of Adobe Flash Player 10. A special AIR version of the player was also produced for training soldiers in areas where the internet isn't available. The army plans to deploy the application immediately and will start using it to train soldiers within the next few months.

A sample decision dialog in the RealityV simulation. Click to zoom in.

The opening screen from a simulation on the differences between Shi'a and Sunni cultures. Click to zoom in.

The current set of simulations is being built for the Army in the same location where the middle east scenes of Iron Man were filmed. Intelligence Gaming has plans to bring the application to other spaces, especially corporate training and other entertainment-focused games, but wasn't at liberty to talk more about those opportunities at this time.

The platform for the games, including the 360 immersion, was built in Adobe Flex 3 by developers Maikel Sibbald and Jim Cheng at EffectiveUI. Maikel and Jim used Pixel Bender and a special version of Adobe Flash Player 10 to make the video and audio correctly respond to the 3-D environment and headset interface (full disclosure: I also work for EffectiveUI.)

Here's a demo video that includes some live gameplay and more info on the technology:

RealityV and the simulator itself will both be on display at Adobe MAX in San Francisco, so if you're there be sure to stop by and try it out yourself.

It's worth mentioning that Intelligence Gaming is currently a company of only 15 people. It's a testament to small, agile teams that they were able to land a contract with the army, build an entirely new interface device (the headset), contract the development of the game out to an expensive high-end software company, and raise enough capital to do all of this while staying small. This is definitely a company to watch in the future!

Read more from RJ Owen.