China's army develops 'online war game'

After setting up its own cyber-warfare team, China's military has now developed its first online war game aimed at improving combat skills and battle awareness, state press said Wednesday.

"Glorious Mission" is a first-person shooter game that sends players on solo or team missions armed with high-tech weapons, the China Daily reported.

Weapons used in the game are part of the actual arsenal of China's People's Liberation Army, it added.

The final version of the game, which took nearly three years to develop and test, was launched on June 20.

"I think it is possible the game will be made open online for Chinese military fans to download and play," an unnamed PLA press officer was quoted as saying.

China has the world's biggest online population at more than 477 million users, according to official data.

The launch of the game comes after the military announced earlier this year that it had set up an elite Internet security task force to fend off cyber attacks.

Despite numerous allegations from around the world pointing at China as a source of cyber attacks, the state press, citing military officials, denied that the elite task force was set up as a "hacker army".

(c) 2011 AFP