340°

Soldiers in Afghanistan using £19 iPhone app to kill Taliban fighters

Soldiers in Afghanistan are using a £19 iPhone "app" created from computer game technology to kill Taliban fighters.

BulletFlight helps sharpshooters work out how the wind and the rotation of the Earth will affect their bullet - and even predicts the wounds the enemy will suffer if it hits him. Snipers are using the ballistics program downloaded on to their iPhones to target the enemy over long distances.

Allied forces already use adapted Xbox 360 video game controllers to pilot robotic vehicles.

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mirror.co.uk
devilmaycry20205647d ago

I thought they were using a constant attacks of Phone ads.

kaveti66165647d ago

A friend of mine is a student at Rose Hullman, a computer engineering school in Indiana. During the summer he worked with a military technology contractor in Texas and their goal was to create a program for the Iphone that would broadcast video from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

The point of the tech was to allow soldiers on the ground to spot enemy locations and obtain other field data by viewing the video from Iphones. Anyway, my friend and his team managed to pull it off.

I just thought you all might be interested to know this because I sure as hell was.

Mr Bot5647d ago (Edited 5647d ago )

its just a waist of time!! everybody knows taliban is winning the war with their primitive weapons while US army have satellites and clever bomb and airplanes without a pilot etc yet they cant even control 1 small city with resistance except if they wipe out all living beings on that city.

its not technology that wins the wars but the cause that each side fight for that wins the war!! and always the native people of the occupied land win the wars sooner or later if the occupying force cause is to destroy or steal etc and thats a fact that history never failed to show.

the only way to win a war is not by technology or force etc but by the good cause!! Nazis lost because their cause was terrible!! Soviet union lost because of their terrible ideologies (and the same thing will happen to Capitalism, just because Capitalism is open free market it doesnt mean its heaven, companies always want to rub/steal customers and maximize their profit by any means necessary/possibly) and many other examples but who ever fighting for their land against and evil force(at least in the point of view of the natives) they will win certainly even if the evil force was million times stronger.

dgroundwater5647d ago (Edited 5647d ago )

People win wars when their cause is just? I hope your joking! The Nazis were the best standing army in the world for their time. It took a triple pronged assault to take them down. Evil or not they won plenty of battles.

I'll be sure to tell my genocidal rapist African warlord buddies what you think. They will be pleased to know they go unchallenged because of their "good cause."

Didn't you play Modern Warfare 2? General Shepard quotes Napoleon when saying "History is written by the victors." It says nothing about a just cause. Or in CoD4, "War does not determine who is right - only who is left" by Bertrand Russel

Pumbli5647d ago

Mr Bot - What simplistic and flawed logic.

Cause is not something you win a war on. The Soviet Union didn't collapse because they were lead by evil people. Nazi Germany was not defeated because Hitler was evil.

As a response to the "native people win the war in the end", take South America as a prime example. The Spanish arrive looking for gold (what a just cause right?) and decide they'll just kill any living being in their way to the gold. So did the Aztecs win just because defending their homeland was a just cause?

I'll give you a chance to answer that.

Besides... It's not always black and white in a war.

Proxy5647d ago (Edited 5647d ago )

Interesting stuff.

I recall hearing something in the news recently about the drones using unencrypted data streams and the enemies can see the video as well as anyone else can.

http://www.wired.com/danger...

Looks like your friend still has some opportunities open.

kaveti66165647d ago

My friend did mention that even the taliban could view the broadcast if they were on the right channels. I don't know why they didn't try to make an encrypted broadcast. My friend said it would be unnecessary because the insurgents wouldn't have time to react or flee.

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devilmaycry20205646d ago

This is real life not some anime or a game saying if it is a good cause then we will will win. If that was case then damn Taliban would not even exist. If you didn't know, Taliban is known for hitting and killing women for trying to have a voice.
I live in society that that wont let you have your own voice or cant speak your mind with out watching your back we don't have cinema's and women are not allowed to drive. a lot of stuff are not available because the government wont allow it.
I am not saying that war is justified I am not in the liberty to say that. But it's like saying that all of the men and women died because they fought for an unjust cause and I find that offensive and I have nothing to the army.

@ dgroundwater nicely said.

darkmurder5646d ago

Hmmm although this app exists I hardly believe they'd use it, who in their right mind would take an Iphone to battle, expensive as it is the risk of it getting shot or having shrapnel or falling and cracking the screen and ruining it is too great.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 5646d ago
dgroundwater5647d ago

This is what Capt. Price and MacMillan needed during "All Ghillied Up" in COD4.

Sniping the Taliban: There's an app for that!

5647d ago
AstroZombie15647d ago

Hold up correct me if i'm wrong but don't Snipers go through 3-4 years training their spotter is trained specifically for this, surely he is good enough to judge bullet drop and distance with the specialist sights he has without this app.

hitthegspot5647d ago

But how much better would it be if you could use tech to assist you? This allows for better watch for your escape...

snipermk05647d ago

I read an article once that gamers are excellent marksmen in real life. That dude who shot down a bunch of people in a school after playing Doom, did so with amazing accuracy.

dgroundwater5647d ago

Snipermk I have to disagree. There are no studies proving your actual shooting accuracy is above that of anyone else. Hand eye co-ordination is one thing, but real life headshots take more skill than autotarget CoD ironsights lol.

hitthegspot5647d ago

You are a definite candidate for therapy my friend...

kraze075646d ago

Actually playing shooters does help your marksmanship. Well, it at least helped mines. Shooters taught me proper breath control(games that let you control breathing to increase accuracy), sight/target alignment, effects of weather on accuracy, etc. I will say that arcady shooters definitely didn't help though.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 5646d ago
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120°

Switch 2 accessory makers are “working hard” on magnetic analogue sticks to combat stick drift

Nintendo Switch 2 stick drift is already an issue, but accessory makers are already working on magnetic joysticks.

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videogamer.com
Neonridr1d 7h ago

I've never had stick drift in any controller I've ever owned. All my joycons (3 sets) from my Switch are perfectly fine. My Switch 2 ones are good. Never had a dualshock / dualsense have it (did have a dualshock get a stuck trigger once). Even my Valve Index controllers which were notorious for drift were fine for me.

Goodguy011d 4h ago

Varies. Just because you've never had one doesn't mean others won't. I've had PS, Xbox, and Nintendo controllers indeed drift on me. Remember the drift lawsuits that Nintendo has had.

Please stop trying to say that traditional potentiometers are absolutely fine when hall effect/tmr sticks are beyond superior lol, not sure why so many people keep trying to defend potentiometers when hall effects are so pro consumer.
Companies like nintendo, sony, and mcsft don't want to implement them simply because they want you the consumer to keep buying them. Most casuals will just buy a new controller if theirs difts, easy money for the big 3.
I've gone hall effects and have never gone back, can leave my controllers out absolutely fine without worry of dust ruining the sticks.

Neonridr1d 4h ago

when did I say that traditional joysticks are absolutely fine? I'm sharing my own experience here. I never said that others don't experience issues, nor that this is somehow acceptable. Strange leapfrog from A to B on that one.

People love to say it's a huge widespread issue, yet you only hear about it because the minority is vocal whereas the majority don't report anything because they are fine.

I'm happy you switched to hall effect sticks, if that's what works for you, then awesome.

Christopher1d 3h ago

Cool? Pretty sure this is for those who are having it happen. Not sure how your anecdote addresses other peoples' problems.

Neonridr1d ago

people around here act like everyone will get drift. I'm willing to wager more people won't get drift than will.

Pyrofire953h ago

lucky you. I've only had minor drift once in my L Joycon which I fixed with some card stock, but drift is an undeniable problem as a whole.

repsahj32m ago

My 2 sets of Joy-Cons from my OG Switch started to drift with just a month of use. That is why I bought Dobe Joy-Cons with just $25, and until now they are still fine. I hope this will never happen again on my Switch 2.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 32m ago
jznrpg3h ago(Edited 3h ago)

The tech is already there. I had a couple of my PS5 controllers modded with Hall Effect modules and they work great. They should come standard with them these days but they don’t.

OtterX3h ago(Edited 3h ago)

Nyxi already made some fantastic Hall Effect controllers for Switch 1. I don't know why Nintendo couldn't have it by now if Nyxi has had for years.

spoonard23m ago

Cheap, frictionless sensors ALREADY exist. Why are they "working hard to combat stick drift"? Stick drift should be a thing of the past at this point. The technology is here...NOW. It has been...for YEARS! Why is stick drift even still spoken about? It shouldn't exist!

290°

The Real Enemy of Gaming Isn’t DEI. It’s the CEO

From Horse Armor to Mass Layoffs: The Price of Greed in Gaming. Inside the decades-long war on game workers and the players who defend them.

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rushdownradio.net
jambola3d ago

maybe a real enemy is people who use terms like "the real enemy"
there can be more than 1 bad thing, t's not like a kids show with 1 big bad

senorfartcushion2d ago

This is very much a “dummy who volunteers themselves to the middle” comment.

The real enemy is a common phrase, people use it all the time.

Calm down.

jambola2d ago

i'm very calm
you seem very upset however

Notellin1d 12h ago

You don't seem calm at all. Don't take this so seriously, you seem desperate responding to others defending your opinion that lacks any value or critical thought.

jambola1d 11h ago

stop projecting
i'm not desperately dong anything, i'm tapping at keys on my keyboard bud

PapaBop1d 12h ago

It's not like kids show with one bad guy? I present to you.. Bobby Kotick

ABizzel11d 9h ago (Edited 1d 9h ago )

DEI was never the problem and it was an ignorant take to begin with.

DEI is why games like Kena Bridge of Spirits, South of Midnight, and Ghost of Tsushima exist.

DEI is why we have a huge resurgence in Japanese, Chineses, and Korean developers producing games like Stellar Blade, Black Myth, and why Nintendo & Sony exist.

DEI is why more and more games have HUGE accessibility options with both Sony and MS fully behind this.

DEI was never a bad thing, the entire purpose of DEI is representation of all people, genders, disabilities, etc…

The problem was people used DEI as a default derogatory term to describe what they believed was forced representation, which allowed colorist, racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, and xenophobic fools to run away with the negative DEI narrative.

jambola23h ago

you don't get to decide other people's motivations
sorry to break it to you

ABizzel12h ago(Edited 2h ago)

To each their own, however, nothing you said invalidates why some people take offense to DEI incorrectly.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2h ago
Sciurus_vulgaris3d ago

Executives seem to often have an obsession with perpetual revenue growth. There is always a finite amount of consumers for a product regardless of growth. Additionally, over investment is another serious issue in gaming.

Killer2020UK2d ago

The fact that they also rarely have any real expertise in game development compounds things. They'll look at what's been successful elsewhere, lack the knowledge to properly understand why they have been successful and then force a team to 'reproduce' their badly interpreted idea of that success.

We see it so often with sequels to games that were successful too. The team are left well alone, they have a break through hit and all of sudden the money men descend on the IP and completely railroad the dev team's ideas. Usually winds up being 'make the same game but MORE'

LoveSpuds1d 12h ago

This is true throughout all of the corporate and public sector organisations to be honest. CEO's generally move amongst the corporate world without any need to have experience of a particular industry, they simply need to rely on their senior leadership credentials. A CEO of a retail giant will just as easily transition to a CEO role in the energy sector for example.

Not defending CEOs here to be clear, I think it's a huge part of the reason the western world is so fucked up. CEOs don't need to care about the sector they work in, in fact it's better if they don't care if they want to screw everyone to make profits.

GhostScholar2d ago

Companies don’t hire executives to break even. If the goal is breaking even then why start the company in the first place.

Soy2d ago

That's understood; it's getting record profits and expecting to always beat those record profits, and seeing anything less as a total failure. Then they lay people off and raise prices to reach those record profit levels again, just to sate shareholders. It's setting expectations way too high just to spike share prices, then inevitably falling short. It's feeling entitled to being more successful than everyone else. It's the CEOs doing all this to boost their own bonuses.

ABizzel11d 10h ago

Growth benefits the company’s profits and therefore the company’s stock if publicly traded, which pleases the shareholders making them more and more rich, which is why Growth is always at the forefront of the vast majority of any publicly traded company.

More growth = More Money and the people at the top want all the money they can get. I can’t really blame them anyone would love to see their profits go from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to multi-millions it’s almost like a gambling addiction.

But it also goes to show someone how morals can go out the window for a lot of these people, and how amazing some CEOs are when they catch this early and provide a balance solution that takes complete care of their employees across the board while keeping the business sustainable IE: Insomniac Games ALWAYS on the best places to work list. The rest of the industry could learn.

jambola3d ago

honestly, the "real" enemy of gaming, is ourselves
if nobody bought horse armor, shitty dlc would have died almost overnight
if we stood firm and nobody bought games from companies that were bad with layoffs, it would be solved
we're the idiots supporting awful business practices, we are the ones enouraging it

TiredGamer2d ago

I think the reality that we don't want to convince ourselves of is that without the rise of "horse armor" and DLC, game budgets would have essentially stagnated (smaller teams/smaller games), or game prices would have risen much more dramatically than they have. There was an incessant drive for bigger worlds, infinite detail, and hundreds of hours of "gameplay" over the last two decades, that while perhaps a natural evolution of things, needed a suitable funding stream to accomplish.

HyperMoused1d 19h ago

What...CEOs make tens of millions and that doesnt include SLT etc etc...we now have multiple editions of games, in game currency, MT's, battle passes.....and what do we get..worse game than what was coming out 20 years ago....dont drink the cool aid, its this nickel and dime crap that is absolutely leading us to gaming destruction.

senorfartcushion2d ago

This is the worst possible answer to this conundrum. Blaming the masses is blaming the only people who are constantly “told” to buy.

Consumers are the only ones not to blame here. People make their own choices all the time. Disney movies are bombing and DEInis being blamed. Has that been enough to put Disney out of business? No and it never will.

Christopher2d ago

Disagree. Businesses are able to do what they do because people are bad consumers and don't think critically about purchases. Disney got away with doing shit stuff for years and it's just the last year where people got tired of it. It's not like it didn't work for 5 years or so for Disney to do the things they've done. They'll just move onto another way to get people to see movies and it will be just as bad but more profitable until people wake up and realize it.

TiredGamer2d ago

Consumerism drives business behavior. It's not so much "blaming" as it is observing behavior. The point I'm making is that the direction that games have gone are driven by the spending. Consumers are spending on DLC and they are driving the expectation of more glitz and padded out (lengthier) games. If they continue to pay, they will continue to drive that direction until a threshold is reached that forces a change in behavior.

senorfartcushion2d ago

Corporate advertising is the most powerful force on the planet.

This is N4G for god sake, every day there are arguments between people who are Team Xbox and Team PlayStation because they’ve been convinced that having an identity built on paying money to Sony and Microsoft matters more than having one as individual gamers who can play whatever they want.

And THEN we get to the corporate advertising part: to play whatever you want is to sink MORE into the advertising pits, making it so that you can more than one specific product.

jambola2d ago

ah you're right
they were told to buy it, it's clearly impossible to avoid that
if enough people stopped supporting, it would stop
disney not stopping would only be because enough people didn't stop

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2d ago
victorMaje2d ago

Agreed. I’ve been saying for years, announce you won’t be buying the upcoming game because of the practices of the previous game, then you only have to stick to your guns once, see how quickly things change for the better.

We have to unite in what we shouldn’t purchase.

jambola2d ago

just imagine a world, fifa came out worse, nobody buys the next one until they see proof it's better and stick to it
or games being forced online for single player and nobody buys it
things would change so fast

HyperMoused1d 19h ago

Just like scooby doo, you have shown us the real monsters are us

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1d 19h ago
Inverno2d ago

Greed and greedy people have and always will be the main issue for everything wrong in the world. Everything is a product to be exploited for monetary gain. Even when there are things that could help progress us along for the sake of making our lives easier that thing must be exploited for monetary gains. Anything that tells you otherwise is propaganda to make you complicit.

coolfool2d ago

I've never thought "DEI" (although the way most people use it doesn't match it's real definition) is the problem with games. Good games have continued to be good when they have a diverse cast, and likewise, bad games have continued to be bad. There isn't a credible example I've seen where a diverse cast has been the direct cause of a game being bad.

Show all comments (51)
110°

PC Gaming Show 2025

Tune in on June 8th for this summer's PC Gaming Show, featuring exclusive trailers, new game announcements, and developer interviews from around the world. Hosted by Sean "Day[9]" Plott, Mica Burton, and Frankie Ward, the showcase will include 70+ of the most exciting games in development, all of which can be found on our Steam Wishlist.