Growing up, your parents may have told you that playing video games was nothing but a waste of time. They probably tried to encourage you to play outdoors or study the dictionary rather than waste countless hours with a joystick, but you didn't listen. And now, there's finally a little ammunition for the "I told you so!" war. Adayana Government Group announced today that it received a contract from the U.S. Air Force Negotiation Center of Excellence (NCE) to develop an experiential learning environment designed to train negotiation skills in cross-cultural environments.That's right. The U.S. Air Force will use video games to provide training. So much for video games being a waste of time! The training objective is to prepare junior Air Force and Department of Defense (DoD) personnel (median age 30) on the application of basic negotiation principles in a culturally specific context. Interactive, 3-D game-like training scenarios will be scripted to allow students to practice foreign language skills, and to learn the cultural principles that form the basis of the societies where they operate. The solution will also support the use of interpreters to provide airmen exposure to this additional skill set.Jeff Kidwell, Adayana Government Group President, had this to say regarding the announcement: "Understanding of cultural differences is a critical factor in developing trust relationships between ourselves and those in other societies – and is essential for successful negotiations with foreign nationals. Implementing a training solution using video game technologies that will be compelling for the users – especially those from today’s millennial generation – is an exciting proposition for us, and we look forward to the delivery of positive results for NCE."We suspect that this kind of partnership won't be the last we hear of. With Move and Kinect out there, it's clear that video games are much more than just mashing buttons, and it doesn't take too large of an imagination to figure out how they could be used for more than just killing time.