When a disaster strikes, the first responder to arrive on the scene becomes the incident commander, at least until a senior official arrives. But most police officers, firefighters, and EMTs have never been in charge of a disaster before, and there's no time for on-the-job training.

First responders will be better prepared to organize response teams after they've played "Incident Commander," a new simulation game developed by Breakaway Games. The game was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice, which will be distributing it free of charge to first responders throughout the country.

Up to 16 players can train together, playing over a local network or the Internet. Players assume roles as commander or team member in scenarios such as a natural disaster, a school hostage situation, and a terrorism incident. Users can even add locations, buildings, events, and emergency agencies to make the scenarios more similar to what they might encounter in reality.