First PLA made ego-shooter

[Hongjian 11]

It seems that the PLA is developing their own game now... Maybe as an reaction to OF:DR and RR?

Or even as a wink to the faithful chinese modders here, who bring us their awesome work?

http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=4abfd4700e9ef210VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=China&s=News

PLA's video game to teach communist values

Stephen Chen

May 14, 2011

An Apache attack helicopter hovers above palm trees in a tropical forest as a surface-to-air missile blasts off from the shoulder of crouching solider. The missile draws a graceful curve in the air and hits the engine, bringing the chopper down.

The soldier is wearing a People's Liberation Army uniform and it's a scene from Mission of Honour, a first-person-shooter video game developed by the army and a commercial game studio for more than two years.

The scene from the game, just completed and soon to be played by PLA soldiers in barracks across the country, was aired by China Central Television on Thursday.

According to details of the game's development released by the PLA Daily newspaper yesterday, Mission of Honour's purpose is to improve modern warfare skills, to experiment with new assault tactics, to boost the morale of computer-savvy young soldiers and to avoid copyright disputes.

There are also political and ideological factors at play. The PLA has been using foreign games, but the PLA's "values and military ideology" are very different, the daily said.

"Using these [foreign] games for the long term is not beneficial to the training of the army and it may even mislead soldiers," it said.

The PLA, with a new generation of recruits, has been looking for ways to improve "political education", especially as many of the new recruits are better educated than earlier generations of soldiers.

Modernising the army for warfare in the digital age is also on the agenda for the 2.3 million-strong force.

Countries such as the United States have long used commercial PC games in military training. The US Army, for instance, invested US$50 million in 2008 on games and gaming systems designed to prepare soldiers for combat, according to Stars and Stripes, a news outlet authorised by the US Department of Defence.

Mission of Honour has been jointly developed by the Nanjing Military Region and an IT company called Wuxi Giant Network Technology, a Shanghai subsidiary of US-listed Giant Interactive Group, the PLA Daily said. The company could not be reached for comment yesterday.

First-person-shooter games put the player behind the gun and project a virtual world on screen. The player can command the character to jump, run or shoot, and if linked to a network, he or she can interact with other players. It's designed for leisure use in barracks, but also has ideological and military training purposes.

The PLA Daily report said Mission of Honour had three gaming modes - training mode, offline mission mode and online combat mode.

The training mode sets Mission of Honour apart from similar PC games. It not only teaches players how to play the game, but also guides them through propaganda material on issues such as Communist ideology and military history.

"The game will influence soldiers at a subconscious level and help them to have a deep understanding about the substance and the essence of the core values of contemporary revolutionary soldiers," PLA Daily said. "It will also create good political character, fighting spirit and improve their psychological qualities."

The game would be particularly attractive and persuasive for young soldiers who were used to playing PC games for entertainment, it said.

A previous report by the newspaper said that one of the foreign games that the PLA had been using in military training since 2006 was Counter-Strike, a popular first-person shooter developed by the US studio Valve.

The report also highlighted that the PLA held intellectual property rights to the new game.

Beijing-based retired PLA Major General, Xu Guangyu , said that the introduction of PC games to the PLA's military training had obvious benefits, but also side effects that could not be overlooked.

"Combat simulation on computers will help our soldiers get used to the highly sophisticated equipment in modern warfare, improve the efficiency of digital communication among officers and soldiers and cut training costs significantly," Xu said.

"But over-using computers will also make our soldiers rely too much on technology and hardware. Games can make soldiers lonely, physically weak or even disillusioned."

The PLA Daily said the designers of the game would add elements involving different military services.

and another article:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-05/13/content_12507242.htm

The gameplay looks pretty much like COD:MW instead of ArmA. But it seems to involve combined arms operations including driving tanks and vehicles... Anyway. It looks better than what CM churned out in the recent years.

[celery 8]

Who are the enemies?

[jw custom 56]

The gameplay looks pretty much like COD:MW...

I was more at COD2.

[Daniel 0]

Anyway. It looks better than what CM churned out in the recent years.

Absolutely, looks really cool actually! D-Day style mission too, Taiwanese invasion? Ha, it's certainly no VBS2!

Edited May 14, 2011 by Daniel

[Hongjian 11]

Absolutely, looks really cool actually! D-Day style mission too, Taiwanese invasion?

Looks like the invasion of Okinawa or Guam.. :p

[Beagle 684]

Who are the enemies?

The USA obviously...just look at the AH-64 beeing shot down.

[Hongjian 11]

The USA obviously...just look at the AH-64 beeing shot down.

...which is pretty astonishing, considering that the Chinese govt. censored and banned even BF2, C&C Generals etc. for featuring the PLA fighting against a clear foreign country. Open showing of these antagonism is banned by the Communist Party, since they wish to propagade their 'Harmonious World' and 'Peaceful Rise' narrative for years.

But it seems that the armed forces arent giving a damn about the official policy... :butbut:

EDIT: The CCP also censored chinese modders for OFP back then in 2005 for making the China vs. Japan mod, since they wanted to ban militant nationalism that could get out of control. But the PLA itself seems to be pretty much independent from the party.

Edited May 14, 2011 by Hongjian

[Daniel 0]

The USA obviously...just look at the AH-64 beeing shot down.

Not necessarily, Singapore and Japan fly them too. It's more likely to be a fictional enemy.

[Beagle 684]

Not necessarily, Singapore and Japan fly them too. It's more likely to be a fictional enemy.

US made games depict the PLA as enemy so I guess they just strike back.

[Hongjian 11]

The PLA Daily said the designers of the game would add elements involving different military services.

This quote is what makes me hope.

for now, it looks like a greater scaled COD series game.

But if the devs would include more military services, like airforce and navy, it may become a "ArmA-light" or at least a vastly better OFDR in the final version...

well, one can hope.

[Colossus 2]

Meh, why not? It seems only fair to get "their side of the story" for a change. There doesn't seem to exist alot of games focused on the OPFOR's* perspective in this world.

However, it doesn't look like much of a training game, but more equivalent to America's Army.

*(OPFOR from a western perspective)

PS: Hm.. Not sure armed troops jumping out of an ambulance is the smartest PR move though (vid #2, 0:20).

Edited May 15, 2011 by colossus

[Hongjian 11]

This is indeed a multiplayer game with 36 person PvP modes.

One would be able to play as US-forces too.

[daman3 19]

Bet that the M16 is going to jam every 5 seconds and take 20 shots to kill anyone.

I mean, after all its reflecting the "reality"

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

Part of me thinks we will see Fromz's models in this "game". If so, and if they ever release a public version, I think a boycott would be in order...

[Beagle 684]

Part of me thinks we will see Fromz's models in this "game". If so, and if they ever release a public version, I think a boycott would be in order...

You can boycot what you want since this is obviously not going to be a comercial release. 20% of World population is chinese already, they won't bother about your boycot in any way. The future of the planet is chinese. Edited May 15, 2011 by Beagle

[Hongjian 11]

Part of me thinks we will see Fromz's models in this "game". If so, and if they ever release a public version, I think a boycott would be in order...

cant confirm, but in the chinavme forum, Alex.XP talks about having been involved in the project during the development. which would make sense, since he is a PLA soldier.

I wouldnt be surprised if we found quite a bit OH/VME models or general ArmA2 ideas in this game...

http://www.chinavme.com/forum-redirect-tid-18126-goto-lastpost.html#lastpost

[maturin 12]

The future of the planet is chinese.

Meh, their population levels off by 2050, by which point Latin American and parts of Africa should be really taking off even if China is a superpower.

[Beagle 684]

Meh, their population levels off by 2050, by which point Latin American and parts of Africa should be really taking off even if China is a superpower.

Just having lots of people at the egde of starvation does not make a superpower (Africa). That's exactly what China has gotten over with since the 60's.

On the other hand the population in europe is reduced drastically in 2050germany taking the most of this reduction...the best thing that could happen here. Currently birth rate per woman in German is 1.3 while yearly population reduction is 3,4%.

Thats why our unemployment rate is so low nowadays and why rent rates are so low.

btw. 2011-2050 is already future, no nation is on top forever..just ask the Greeks, Egypts or Italians. Decadence of society brings all empires down sooner or later.

Edited May 15, 2011 by Beagle

[maturin 12]

Just having lots of people at the egde of starvation does not make a superpower (Africa). That's exactly what China has gotten over with since the 60's.

Africa isn't on the verge on starvation. A third of the continent is middle class. All the countries no has heard of (because there haven't been enough civil wars) are going to take off sooner or later.

China was doing a lot worse than that forty years ago.

Europe's low demographic pressures make it the best place to live, but it also means that it doesn't have much of an economic future. Russia has the same problem. Dirty, nasty capitalism that leaves millions behind and comes back later to sort things out, that's what makes superpowers. It's what China is doing, with two types of citizens. They've got Urban or Rural right on their ID cards, and can be illegal immigrants in their own country.

Edited May 15, 2011 by maturin

[[aps]gnat 28]

However, it doesn't look like much of a training game, but more equivalent to America's Army.

Agree. With that sort of game-play, more an anti-training tool. Soldiers could loose skills and get a "gamer" addiction ;)

And guys. THIS ISN'T A CHINA - WORLD POLITICS THREAD ..... take it elsewhere.

[Hongjian 11]

It was stated that this game is for recreation and leisure only and not as training tool for the PLA.

So, yeah. It is more army propaganda like America's Army, but more aimed at the already enlisted servicemen to make them play something homegrown instead of always foreign games.

[nodunit 397]

Technicly any war game can be seen as propaganda, what I saw though didn't seem like propaganda, for that I'd expect to see amassing chinese numbers, destroying NATO equipment with little trouble and what have you.

In truth if this does get released I would be interested in playing it just to play a combat perspective from someone other than NATO. If it is EGO then likely the opposing force would be the USA since the entities are already there.

I'm curious if this will be released in the US and if it will be marketted at all, the 'only' reason MOH was baned from some stores is due to the recent US vs Taliban, but technicly we aren't at physical war with the Chinese.

I don't think it would be Japan, that might be a bit too...controversal.

Edited May 15, 2011 by NodUnit

[Beagle 684]

Technicly any war game can be seen as propaganda, what I saw though didn't seem like propaganda, for that I'd expect to see amassing chinese numbers, destroying NATO equipment with little trouble and what have you.

In truth if this does get released I would be interested in playing it just to play a combat perspective from someone other than NATO. If it is EGO then likely the opposing force would be the USA since the entities are already there.

I'm curious if this will be released in the US and if it will be marketted at all, the 'only' reason MOH was baned from some stores is due to the recent US vs Taliban, but technicly we aren't at physical war with the Chinese.

I don't think it would be Japan, that might be a bit too...controversal.

It is no commercial release... it if from the PLA for the PLA.

[nodunit 397]

Aw, well there goes the hopes for something differnet.

[gossamersolid 155]

I kinda wanted to try it lol, just to see these types of video games from the other country's prospective.