# 3631
While we’ve seen shoot-em-up bird flu games on the net (object, shoot the infected chickens!), this is the first serious game on pandemic control that I’m aware of.
It’s pedigree is pretty impressive.
Dr. Albert Osterhaus, professor of virology at EramsusMC, Rotterdam is one of the designers.
A one-minute Youtube video gives a brief overview of the game.
I will admit that I haven’t played this game, so I really can’t critique it. It does look interesting, however, and you can access the game at Thegreatflu.com
The BBC’s Technology page has this to say about the game.
Battling swine flu in cyberspace
Inder Bugarin
BBC Mundo, Brussels
The game shows how well, or badly, a player handled the outbreak
Like many other nations, the Netherlands is battling swine flu on many fronts.
At the forefront of the fight against the pandemic are the ranks of specialised doctors and millions of anti-viral tablets. But it also has one unusual weapon to call on - a videogame designed by experts at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam.
Dubbed "The Great Flu", the game is based on the threat that the emergence of a new flu virus and its rapid spread across the globe would pose to humanity.
"The game is based on the need to increase public awareness to the threat posed by a pandemic and the measures in place to contain it," said Albert Osterhaus, head of virology at the Erasmus Medical Centre and one of the experts involved in creating the game.
"In no way is it intended to be a substitute for any advice given by the medical authorities," he said. "Its purpose is simply to create another avenue of information."
(Continue . . .)
