In Iraq and other conflict zones with unfamiliar cultures, U.S. soldiers can find it hard to identify threats and targets amid the hubbub of everyday life. Yet their interactions with locals yield far more information than intelligence officers could collect on their own -- hence the emerging military doctrine that "every soldier is a sensor."

Now the U.S. Army Research and Development Command's Simulation and Training Technology Center in Orlando, FL, has translated that doctrine into a video game. The purpose: to help soldiers learn to recognize signs of danger or opportunity in the field. Teaching through video games is nothing new for the army. Full Spectrum Warrior, a "first-person shooter" for PCs and video game consoles, was originally developed as an army training aid. But the Every Soldier a Sensor Simulation (ES3) is heavier on social skills than on combat. "In our environment of asymmetric warfare, you're trying to win the hearts and minds of people," says Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Compton, director of military operations at the Orlando center. "The last thing you want to do is to pull your trigger."