Russia to encourage patriotism through computer games - paper

The Kremlin views encouraging patriotism and preventing attempts to distort history, especially about World War Two, as a key element in its efforts to consolidate the nation.

The Communication Ministry and the 1C company have presented a project concerning six flight simulator games that they say are helping to improve Russia's international hi-tech image and increase patriotism among teenagers.

Vedomosti daily quoted 1C CEO Boris Nuraliev as saying he had already demonstrated a flight simulator game to President Dmitry Medvedev.

The project's cost is estimated at around 720 million rubles ($24 million), Vedomosti daily quoted Communication Ministry's statement as saying. The Ministry has asked the government to allocate 500 million rubles. 1C is ready to spend 200 million rubles, and another 20 million rubles will come from the government of Russia's Khanty-Mansiysk region.

The Ilyushin Il-2 attack plane game simulates World War Two battles and includes an encyclopedia of Russian military hardware.

The Communication ministry's statement said the main goal of the computer games is to create low-cost educational and professional simulators for pilots, promote Russian information technology abroad, and increase Russia's hi-tech exports.

Vedomosti said the authors of the project expect to make their money back within 4 years, with 10 millions copies sold throughout the world, adding that Russia's share in the computer games' market will grow to 10%.

However, the project is still to win the crucial backing from the Kremlin. Russian presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich told Vedomosti the project was interesting but he was not sure whether it needed government support, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.