Developers Vicious Cycle Software have offered up the studio's cross-platform Vicious Engine middleware to students attending the Indiana University School of Education, giving those aspiring to a life of game development some helpful hands-on time with real-world tools.
But don't go expecting the university to churn out the next Puzzle Quest or Dead Head Fred, as according to the school, students will be using the engine to make so-called 'serious games." Students' games will be "designed to teach various subjects of their choosing," and will be part of a larger university study on "how people learn through games." Even so, we imagine the experience will likely prove invaluable for those students wanting to eventually grease the wheels of game development with their sweat and blood.
Video games. Is there anything they can't do? Not if you believe advancements in the emerging serious games market, which has produced programs aimed at doing everything from teaching cancer awareness and medical practices to treating veterans for posttraumatic stress disorder. Now Chrysler and developer SBK Interactive have come along and developed their own game aimed to teach teens what to do when they get behind the wheel.
According to a NBC report, the freely downloadable game, called Streetwise, is part of the group's larger Road Ready Teens program, and is designed to teach "new drivers lessons on the road without ever venturing outside." We're interested to see what sorts of drivers this game turns out, though the idea of teens cutting their driving teeth on the same format that gave us Burnoutmakes us inclined to lock the doors and order out for pizza.
A new glucose monitor targeted at children with Juvenile Diabetes hopes to entice its young users by doubling as a video game. The GlucoBoy tests small amounts of blood for glucose levels, just like a normal glucose self-diagnosis device. Upon plugging it into a Game Boy Advance or DS, however, GlucoBoy rewards players for routine glucose checks or having correct blood sugar levels by giving them points, which can be used to unlock mini-games on the cartridge.
Interestingly, we originally reported about GlucoBoy way back in 2005, with Engadget having reported on it first in 2004. Due to the device's small market, its inventor Paul Wessel has spent three years trying to get approval from Nintendo to produce the device. GlucoBoy launched in Australia on World Diabetes Day, with plans to bring the glucose-testing device to more regions soon.
America's Army is without question the most widely recognized name in serious games. The game, which started off as a tool for Army recruitment, has become something of a marvel, bridging the emerging serious games market and the larger mainstream video game industry. According to those helming the project, since America's Army's initial launch for the PC in 2002, players have taken part in more than 212 million hours representing some 3.6 billion rounds of online gameplay. In addition, the game, which now has players in over 60 different countries, has been downloaded more than 40 million times, and has received more than 24 different releases, including new missions and gameplay additions. There's strong, and then there's America's Army strong.
Later this month Ubisoft and developer Red Storm will release the latest game in the America's Army franchise, America's Army: True Soldiers, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Army exclusively for the Xbox 360. We recently sat down to speak with America's Army software manager Marsha Berry to discuss this game, as well as America's Army's possible console future, and who exactly is being targeted with this and future games in the series.
DDR and the Wii have done a good job getting kids (and adults) off the couch and moving. Now HopeLab, a prominent contributer to the growing 'serious games' movement and developer of the surprisingly fun third-person cancer awareness shooter Re-Mission, has announced Ruckus Nation, a new online competition looking to award more than $300,000 for game-related product ideas designed to increase physical activity in children and young adults, with one one grand prize brainstorm netting the submitter a cool $75,000.
HopeLab will develop and test one or more of these ideas, turning successful prototypes into broadly distributed serious gaming products. Individuals and teams of up to six people can register at the Ruckus Nation website until October 15, with registration limited to 1,000 teams who then have until November 20 to submit their ideas online. Semifinalists will be announced in February, with winners being called out the following month in March. Maybe we've finally found an outlet to pitch our idea for a For Your Eyes Only cross country ski trainer/FPS using the Wii Zapper and balance board.
According to Bogost's blog, he'll be talking about his book, and his company of the same name, which has been producing news-oriented games for the New York Times' online Times Select section. The Colbert Report airs tonight at 11:30 PM EST. Who's gonna post the YouTube video? Anyone?
Updated the time; thanks to everyone who corrected this.
Wish you could play games at work? You know, without having to sneak around? Soon you might be able to. Entrepreneur.com has a short report on the growing number of companies and government agencies that are making their work interfaces more like games.
The article doesn't go into much detail, but organizations from IBM to Microsoft and even the military are looking to integrating games into their work processes. The move comes partly because an increasing part of the workforce are growing up with "neuropathways ... being formed around game logic," according to John Beck, co-author of The Kids Are Alright.
It's fine in concept, but we're skeptical that any game can make the drudgery of cubicle life more enjoyable. Regardless, playing games at work will bring a new meaning to the term daily grind. *rim shot*
For all the bluster about serious games being the wave of the future, most examples of the form thus far are missing that key element of ... what's the word ... oh yeah, fun! Slate takes a withering look at the state of the serious games industry by asking the simple question: "Can a game still be called a game if it isn't any fun?"
It's a good question, and one that doesn't reflect kindly on many of the serious games out there. The author is especially derisive of training games that mirror the repetitive, mindless nature of the workplace -- games that are "less alluring to people who love games and more alluring to people who don't. Your boss, for example."
The author suggests that developers who want to make learning fun should focus on the fun first and the learning second. We couldn't agree more. We learned more about urban planning from SimCity than we ever learned about arithmetic from Math Blaster -- mainly because we kept playing SimCity long after Math Blaster got donated to the secondhand store. In other words: you can lead a player to an educational game, but you can't make them play. They have to want to do that.
The New York Times has begun publishing Persuasive's newsgames on the opinion page of their website. Currently, a title called Food Import Folly can be found under the Times Select heading.
As Persuasive founder Ian Bogost note, this move by the New York Times is unprecedented. "I think it represents another important shift in videogames as a medium ... The fact that the Times is often considered the national newspaper of record makes this moment even more notable, and gratifying," he said.
Indeed, exposure to serious games on the face of such a prestigious and prominent publication marks a bold step for games as an interactive medium. Can games be used as editorial much in the way political cartoons convey their message in a noninteractive manner? Bogost recently discussed such a topic at this year's Living Game Worldsconference.
In Food Import Folly, players "protect the United States from contaminants found in foreign food imports." Previous newsgames by the developer had been published by Addicting Games and Shockwave under the series name The Arcade Wire.
Peace Maker, a serious game concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is now commercially available via independent games publisher Manifesto Games. The simulation / strategy title places you as either the leader of Israel or Palestine as you face situations inspired by real events.
Created by a team of American, Palestinian and Israeli students at Carnegie-Mellon University, Peace Maker has won USC's Public Diplomacy Games Contest and was a finalist for Ashoka's Entrepreneuring Peace Contest. It has been highlighted by NPR and The New York Times. Said Manifest CEO Greg Costikyan, Peace Maker "takes on one of the most difficult world issues, presents it without bias or prejudice, and challenges players to think about the issues, to do better than the real-world leaders."
The game is available in English, Hebrew and Arabic for Windows and Mac OS X for $20. A demo is available for download; trailer embedded after the break.
When you combine the words "serious" "learning" and "hard" in the same sentence, chances are you're going to end up with something that gamers won't like. But that's what the Serious Games Initiative is all about, developing games for "non-entertainment" purposes. Of course, the problem is games for non-entertainment tend to scare people away faster than the phrase "edutainment."
That's the main problem facing Serious Games, how do they make it seem like they aren't hiding the broccoli under the meatloaf? All of the games shown off were educational in one form or another, having to do with zapping cancer cells inside the human body, or how to interact with people in the workplace. Seriously, there is a game about the proper way to run a meeting, collaborate with coworkers, and generally function in an office. Too bad it's not running on the Unreal Engine. Zing!
Serious games are all the rage at GDC this year and nothing could possibly be more serious than an adorable jelly-thing lighting up the town. Found at the Student Showcase area of the expo floor, De Blob began life as a project to show what the station region of Utrecht, Netherlands, could look like 10 years from now.
Taking their simulation and tossing in a few simple mechanics, De Blob plays like a cross between Katamari Damacy and Mario Paint. Although it's more of a sandbox title than anything, there are still a few objectives to be found while rolling about the virtual recreation of Utecht. The most prominent of which being the colorization of the city, done by swallowing up tiny, color coded people and slamming headlong into any and all objects. There are also hidden coins to be found that can be as hard to find as they are hard to reach.
You too can check out De Blob in both English and Dutch at their GameDev site.
At her Serious Games keynote this morning, Jane McGonigal, ex-lead designer for alternate reality game big shot 42 Entertainment, announced her new ARG, World Without Oil. McGonigal calls the game -- which lets players share their ideas for better life during an international oil shortage -- a way to shift from alternate reality games to games that alter reality.
In an effort to promote discussion and raise awareness of AIDS as a problem, mtvU and the Kaiser Family Foundation have begun Change the Course of HIV Challenge, a contest "aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people in the United States."
The full rules can be found on the contest main page. Entrants need not make the game themselves but are expected to have a fleshed-out idea that meets the listed criteria. The winner will receive $5,000 and the chance to help mtvU create the final game. Those with a few brilliant ideas and the determination to make a design need to complete the application form by March 16.
Last year's contest, where entrants were asked to make a game about the crisis in Sudan, spawned the oft-discussed title Darfur is Dying. You can play the game here.
The Chicago Tribune recently published an expose on the efforts of David Williamson Shaffer, an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a long and accredited background in education. Shaffer is pushing to use video games as a means of teaching kids new specializations, as opposed to enhancing currently-covered curriculum (e.g., Math Blasters).
Shaffer, who just released a bookHow Computer Games Help Children Learn, argues that we should utilize interactive entertainment to better prepare children for the real world. "We already choose to have our kids think like historians [in history class]," he said, "or like cartoon scientists ... In thinking like a journalist or an urban planner or a lawyer in society, you prepare kids to enter the workforce as more prepared citizens."
We await the day where our descendants enjoy a round of Mario Teaches Electrical Engineering.
