Despite his hectic schedule, we were able to sit down with America's Army Originator, COL Casey Wardynski, and ask him about the future of the America's Army game. In the following interview, COL Wardynski gives us some insights about himself, the Army, and what you can expect in America's Army 3.

Q. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

COL Wardynski: In addition to being the Project Originator and Director of the Army Game Project, I am also the Director of the U.S. Army's Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis (OEMA) at the United States Military Academy. In this role I provide policy analysis and advice to senior Army leaders and serve as an Associate Professor of Economics at West Point.

Q. How long have you been in the US Army?

COL Wardynski: I was commissioned as a 2LT in the Army after graduating from West Point in 1980. Since then, I have served in Germany, Korea and at posts in the U.S. such as Company Commander, Battalion S3 and Brigade S3. I returned to West Point as an instructor in 1990 where I served as an Assistant Professor of Economics at the United States Military Academy until 1993. I then attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, and served as the Division Support Command Operations Officer for the 1st Infantry Division.

Later I attended the Rand Graduate School where I completed doctoral work and graduated with General Distinction with a Doctorate in Policy Analysis. In August 2000, I returned to the United States Military Academy as the Director of OEMA.

Q. You must know that America's Army fans are eagerly anticipating the release of the newest version AA3. What are your thoughts about AA3?

COL Wardynski: Based upon lessons we learned in creating the AA2 game series, we have put a lot of effort into creating AA3 as a solid foundation for future expansion in game content, features and technologies. This means players will see a greatly enhanced user interface, seamless game updates, and greatly enhanced realism in the form of virtual environments, Soldier models, Soldier roles, equipment, and kinetics. When we first delivered the AA game in 2002, we broke a lot of new ground in terms of delivering a full game and providing ongoing game expansions via the Internet, and in terms of realism and using the Army's value structure to motivate game play and game reward structures. With our original game, we also inherited several software practices from the electronic entertainment industry that ultimately proved to be a poor fit to our strategy. In 2002, the typical game industry business model focused on shipping new titles rather than expanding content within existing titles. To some degree, such an approach increased industry sales turnover by delivering games that were replaced rather than enhanced. Of course, America's Army is free and rather than maximizing sales turnover, we are interested in maximizing realism and player engagement within a persistent experience that can span years. This means that in creating AA3, we employed software practices that anticipate five years of game content expansion so that we can deliver a world class game in 2009 and expand this game for years to come. Of course, over the past seven years, America's Army has also provided a major platform for education, training and exploration within the government. Therefore, whereas we adapted the AA2 game for government use, we have now designed the AA3 game to allow us to readily migrate new missions, technologies and features from government applications into the public game and from the public game into our government applications. This capacity for game content reuse across public and government user communities makes AA3 an entirely unique product and greatly increases our ability to ratchet up realism, user engagement, immersion and learning

Q. Many of the past releases of America's Army have focused on specific aspects of Army life or training. Will AA3 continue this tradition and how so?

COL Wardynski: True to the AA2 tradition, America's Army 3 will provide public users with a virtual means to test drive Soldiering within the context of small unit operations. As a departure from AA2, the AA3 game will include a much wider range of occupations and provide greater insight into the back-story or off-duty aspects of Soldiering. In addition to covering aspects of Soldiering common to all Army occupations, AA3 will greatly expand players' abilities to develop skills that will enhance their specialization and value as a team member. By mastering these occupations, players will be able to bring to bear state-of-the-art Army capabilities in the areas of medicine, intelligence, communications, leadership, fires, and mobility.

Q. Will AA3 feature any new Army weapons or training?

COL Wardynski: AA3 greatly expands the degree to which realistic ballistics and penetration effects enter the Game. While friendly forces will be able to employ the small arm systems found in the Army, we have created a set of fictional weapons and equipment for the Opposing Force (OPFOR) so that AA3 players can experience full spectrum operations against a "peer" OPFOR that has the capabilities of a modern standing Army. This focus upon engagement with a peer or near peer force within the context of "Blue" on "Red" operations marks a departure from AA2's focus on counter terrorism operations.

Q. What new features does the Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) bring to the game?

COL Wardynski: The UE3 engine is simply stunning and it allows us to create visual, audio, kinetic, and animation effects that are amazing. For example, the engine brings us a more sophisticated lighting system and allows us to create much more detailed player models. As a result we can deliver stunningly realistic environments, Soldier models, and Soldier animations. We can also deliver greatly expanded game level complexity and variability. With the AA2 game on Unreal Engine 2, all of our spawn points and objectives were fixed within game levels. In the AA3 game which was developed on UE3, this fixed structure is eliminated, allowing us to deliver wide variations in gameplay in any game level. Due to the power of UE3, a wide range of technology firms also create tools to enhance UE3 games. We are taking advantage of many of these tools to include Scaleforms, Beast and Teamspeak to amp up the flexibility of our user interface, the realism of our virtual environments and the capacity for teamwork within our multiplayer missions.

Q. What's in store for the future of America's Army? What is your long term plan and how do you see AA evolving?

COL Wardynski: With the release of AA3, America's Army will pass the first of what I am sure will be a long list of major milestones. In March of 1999, it seemed to me that the growing adoption of home computing, the popularity of electronic entertainment, and the increasing Internet connectivity of households via broadband were delivering technologies that would displace traditional mass communication media. In place of legacy media, it was apparent that these technologies were creating a new framework for information search, acquisition and assimilation. Given the popularity of online military themed games, it was a small step to see that the Army could secure access to youth decision space by creating an online virtual Army experience in a form that ultimately entered public service as America's Army _ Recon. When we launched America's Army - Recon in 2002, we followed some simple rules _ protect player privacy, protect national security, reward mission accomplishment subject to player adherence the Army's set of noble values and provide a realistic Soldier experience. I would expect that these principles will continue to guide America's Army as they are fundamental to the Game's role and success. In terms of the future, we have about six future releases of AA3 in the works. These releases will carry us into 2011 and will focus on medicine, intelligence, communications, fires, leadership and mobility. Since America's Army seeks to reflect key aspects of Soldiering, the game will include new technologies found in small units, it will focus upon current operating environments and opportunities and challenges presented in Soldiering.

Q. Have you played America's Army on a public server? If so, what is your in-game name and what was that like for you as the creator of the game? Was your experience in line with what you intended the AA experience to be?

COL Wardynski: I play America's Army on public servers when I need a good butt-kicking. My game name is COLW. Right now my focus is on AA3 and the ongoing beta of the new game.

Q. What are your favorite AA missions?

COL Wardynski: Bridge and Farm.

Q. What is the best advice you could offer someone who is considering a career in the US Army?

COL Wardynski: Play America's Army, checkout the basic training missions, chat with Soldiers who play the Game and do lots of research. The Army has lots of great opportunities and like any major decision it requires a fact base, some thought, and desired outcomes. By playing the Game, folks considering the Army can get a pretty good understanding of what key entry level training experiences are like, how Army teams operate, and where they operate. The Game also provides an informal space to network with Soldiers currently in the Army and recent veterans to gain their insights. Finally, chatting with Soldiers and recent veterans can provide insights as to how these young adults see Soldiering within their overall life plan and setting and achieving their life goals.