May 21, 2007

GAMES: 'Food Force' Video Game Sweeps Northern Europe

'Food Force' Video Game Sweeps Northern Europe

As Europe's largest games industry event gets underway in Sweden, "Food Force," the world's first humanitarian video game for children, is celebrating the launch of three new language versions, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced.


"Children have very few opportunities to understand the realities of a hungry world. By engaging children in a fun and creative way, 'Food Force' will help children become better global citizens – now and in the future," said John Powell, WFP Deputy Executive Director for Fundraising and
Communications.

In the days leading up Nordic Game 2007, the gathering of video game professionals from the Nordic region and the world, WFP presented translations of the game about hunger in Finnish, Norwegian and German.

These come in addition to versions of the game in Japanese, Chinese, French, Italian, Polish, Hungarian and the original English. Swedish, Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish are under development.

Launched in 2005, as the world's first humanitarian video game, Food Force explores the problem of global hunger and the logistics of humanitarian aid work, and is designed for children aged 8 to 13. The game is available as a free internet download from www.food-force.com, where it has been downloaded about 5 million times.
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Chris Schuepp
Young People's Media Network - Coordinator
 
Youth Media Consulting GbR
c/o ECMC (European Centre for Media Competence)
Bergstr. 8 / 11th floor
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