When it comes to military-style computer video games, realism sells. In first-person shooter games like the top-selling "Call of Duty" and "Modern Warfare," players are virtual participants in realistic battlefield scenarios inspired by and often based on actual combat situations. But while the onscreen firefights, death, and destruction are not real, the decisions players make in order to "win" the game are another matter.

A Chinese online game developer has released a military-backed video game that allows players to fight alongside Chinese troops in seizing disputed Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea. The Glorious Mission Online game series is the first to be developed jointly by a Chinese company and the People's Liberation Army. Its release date coincides with the 86th anniversary of the PLA's founding.

Online games featuring Chinese culture have become an important force for cultural exchange and cooperation as it spread through global markets, head of a leading Chinese online game maker told Xinhua. "We insist on creating game products of pure national originality, and take the online game industry as a new cultural carrier and a new cultural communication, " said Perfect World CEO Xiao Hong, who was attending a conference of Chinese and Mexican entrepreneurs here.

China is the home of pandas and kung fu, yet it took Hollywood to make the smash-hit animated movie Kung Fu Panda, the sequel of which was China's most popular film in 2011. Through massive investment, and countless censors, the Communist Party aims to boost China's "soft power," or cultural influence, abroad.

Nowadays, video games have become a dominating entertainment medium. The industry alone creates tens of billions dollars for other industries, every year. Like other pop culture staples, people have noticed the cultural influence of video games. By releasing online game featuring Hollywood characters, Taiwan's innovation and soft power are manifested.

In a new documentary video game tracing the life of the late Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, Iran's hugely popular prime minister, users get to play his frisky pet cat. The cat sets in motion many key historical events of Mossadegh's life, starting from his death under house arrest and moving backward through the pivotal 1953 Western-backed coup d'etat that saw his overthrow.

The Smithsonian has announced that in 2012 it will display the exhibition: The Art of Video Games. The exhibit will no doubt delve deep into the history of video games, their 40-year evolution, and use of new technologies to produce such detailed visual effects.

“Soft Power” has become more and more apparent. Through Hollywood movies, America exports its culture and ideology to every corner of our planet, making the western culture continue to be the mainstream culture of the world.