John Hooper in Rome
You'll watch the concert. You'll lobby the summit. And thanks to the UN's Rome-based World Food Programme you can play the video game too.
Ideal for all those whose consciences have been stirred by the approach of Live8 and G8, the phenomenally successful Food Force is not so much a shoot-em-up as a feed-em-up.
Players are wafted to the make-believe Indian Ocean island of Sheylan where they have to bring emergency food relief to a stricken population. The action includes nutritional planning, air drops and even negotiations with rebels.
UN officials say they have been flabbergasted by the response to a game in which not a single character has to be liquidated.
Food Force was launched in mid-April and such was the immediate demand that within days the WFP had turned to Yahoo! for hosting support. A WFP official said this week that the number of downloads had reached at least 1.2 million.
"It's astonishing the niche that this game is filling," said Brenda Barton, WFP's Deputy Director of Communications.
Food Force, which is targeted at the 8-14 age range only exists in English but, said Barton, there had been surges of interest from places as far apart as South Korea and Portugal. WFP has just negotiated its first translation and adaptation contract for an Italian version and is now in the closing stages of talks for editions in Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese.
The existing game received a glowing review from the specialist forum for games with an agenda, Water Cooler Games. But one visitor sounded a sour note, asking if "we get extra points for taking bribes or raping the locals like real UN workers do".
