Russia designs patriotic computer games

MOSCOW - The next generation of computer games in Russia will not be providing “simple entertainment” - they aim to nurture patriotism among the younger generation by eliminating any “falsification of history”.

Russia’s software manufacturers, backed by the communications ministry, have announced the launch of a series of games intended to teach the new generation about the Great Patriotic War and detailed lessons about Russia’s victory in World War II.

The government is also being asked to get involved in the whole project by providing 500 million of the 720 million roubles required to fund the six new game releases.

“There has already been a patriotic game developed for anti-drug police, but it was unplayable and generally terrible,” Alexander Kuzmenko, publisher of Igromania magazine, was quoted as saying by Moscow News Sunday.

Kuzmenko said computer games could have educational value, “but like any mass culture, 90 percent of it is merely entertainment.”

Though there are simulations of submarine battles and tank attacks of the 1980s at the Museum of Soviet Era Arcade Machines, art director Alexander Vutman feels the erstwhile USSR had been unable to insert a politically correct message in the games.

“There have been games in the Soviet Union that developed accurate eye and dexterity, but they were based on foreign products and nothing about our country could be learned from them,” he said.

But manufacturers are hoping to improve on past efforts with a series of six games - including flight simulators and submarine-based war games.

There are also games involving a World War II flight simulator, which invites pilots to take on the Nazis in battlefields in western Russia and Eastern Europe. The game also found its place among lists of top 25 computer games of all time.

The manufacturers also hope to turn a profit within four years by selling over 10 million copies. This will also boost home-grown games’ share in the domestic market by about 10 percent.

Despite this, the government is unsure about its involvement in the project. Though it was an interesting idea, the government does not feel the need for state funding in a commercial enterprise, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich has said.