US Navy to launch new game

The US Navy has announced plans to release Navy Training Exercise: Strike and Retrieve, a new PC game available for free download from the official Navy website.

It seems they've has been inspired by the success of America's Army, a military training sim launched three years ago to encourage more Yankee youngsters to sign up for protecting the homeland and killing dangerous foreigners - and which today has three and a half million active players and counting.

Now the Navy Recruiting Command is hoping that NTE will prove just as popular and "help build interest and awareness of Navy high-tech jobs."

It's designed to give you the chance to see what life in the Navy is like as you undertake a top secret mission to retrieve sensitive documents from a downed plane, all the while dealing with the underwater terrain, fighting off aggressive deep sea creatures and racing to get there before the other side does.

"While Navy Recruiting continues to reach out to this audience via more conventional recruiting methods, gaming and interactive electronic media have increasingly become an aspect of this audience’s daily lives," said Capt. David Faasse.

"Accordingly, the Navy is working to reach them via these new avenues."

And this could be just the beginning: "Plans for future missions and versions that will grow with technology, the Internet and player demands are still under consideration and planning," Faasse added.

Navy Recruiting has already released some screenshots for the game, which is due out on Friday.