This article was taken from the December 2014 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
After a generation of modern-day conflicts, Call of Duty is launching an assault on the future. "We decided at the beginning that we weren't going to do science fiction," says Glen Schofield, head of California-based developer Sledgehammer Games. "We were doing science."
For Advanced Warfare, Sledgehammer consulted with futurists and advisers from MIT and the Pentagon to extrapolate the game's tech from existing prototypes. Developers initially questioned the realism of a tank with unfolding legs -- until they saw a prototype during a research trip to Nasa.
Central to the game is the exosuit (left), which lets players run faster, jump further and hit harder. But just like exoskeletons in real-world warfare, it forced Sledgehammer into a rethink. "We designed a level or two like the old days and realised it wasn't going to work. The design and gameplay all have to change." Take note, military strategists.
Exoskeleton
Inspired by Lockheed Martin's Human Universal Load Carrier.
Sledgehammer consulted with UC Berkeley on its design.
Air Hud The game's head-up display is based on helmets used by the US military's Future Force Warrior project.
Weaponry The game's directed-energy weapons are influenced by Lockheed Martin's Area Defense Anti-Munitions.
Threat Grenade
Darpa has funded movement- and image-recognition systems that can spot targets using an image database.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is out now for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4 and PS3
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
