So You Wanna Be a Crab Boat Captain?

Anyone who has watched the Discovery Channel's Emmy-nominated series The Deadliest Catch, which returns to TV this April, has seen what it's like to make a living plying the waters off Alaska's unforgivable Bering Sea: Danger in the form of Big Wind, Big Storms, Big Waves. But if all goes well, there's also Big Money! Well, Liquid Dragon Studios and the crew of the Northwestern (Sig Hansen, the boat's captain pictured here) have spent three years developing a virtual way for you to feel what its like to be in the wheelhouse of a Bering Sea crab boat.

The game, created for Xbox, is called Deadliest Catch Alaskan Storm. You start by selecting one of five different boats to run, some of which are the series' featured boats like the Cornelia Marie, Sea Star, and the aforementioned Northwestern. Once you've selected your boat and choose a crew from a roster of 20 real crabbers (Hint: Choosing the boat and crew will effect the game's outcome), you head out in search of Alaskan gold, crab.

The realism of the game is enhanced by the fact that more than 34,000 miles of Bering Sea for the game was created from an actual United States Geological Survey. Deadliest Catch Alaskan Storm also includes more than 4,500 lines of dialogue, U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue Missions, 100 crew interviews, and a virtual tour of a real crab boat. Not only are you looking for crab in challenging conditions, part of the game involves trying to best the Northwestern's lifetime catch of 20 million pounds of crab. Good luck...