Video Games to Help CSI Teams Solve Crimes

Gaming platform will recreate crime scenes

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 28, 2009 2:26 PM CST

(Newser) – The real-life counterparts of forensics experts on all those CSI shows will soon be getting a helping hand from the world of video games. A team at North Carolina State University is adapting the platform behind games like FusionFall and VooDude to recreate crime scenes, allowing investigators to play out various "what-if" scenarios.

"We'll be building an easy-to-use interface on top of the game environment that will allow CSIs and other investigators to link locations in the crime scene to external sources of data, such as hair and fiber databases, fingerprint images, and investigator notes," one professor tells Reuters. The team hopes the technology will allow experts from around the country and the world to collaborate without losing time traveling.

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"The game world will be embedded within a Web page also containing data in the form of text and 2D graphics," a NC State computer science professor says. (Shutter Stock)

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We envision that experts from around the globe could be brought virtually into a scene and will be able to collaborate with diverse teams effectively. - NC State professor Dr. David Hinks

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 6 comments

JoeQ

Nov 29, 2009 5:16 AM CST

The software development cost has to be amortized across all the users. There are a lot fewer users for this application than for a game, therefore, the software would have to be very expensive. Ergo, its not really a very good idea.

JGirl

Nov 28, 2009 9:20 AM CST

excellent tool!

kokuaguy

Nov 28, 2009 8:54 AM CST

Actually I was intending to reply to my comment here, not Rocket's. Probably should have refrained. This just makes my earlier comment on the next story look silly.

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Video Games to Help CSI Teams Solve Crimes