via: chronicle.com

How Video Games Can Help in the Classroom, and in the World

By DAVID DEBOLT

Ms. Flanagan, a professor of film and media studies, was recently named the first holder of the digital-humanities chair at Dartmouth College. She is part of a research group, the Games for Learning Institute, that has joined Microsoft Research to study the most efficient ways to use video games in teaching math and science to middle-school students. She is also director and founder of Tiltfactor Laboratory at Dartmouth, which designs games to promote social change.

Q. You started out as a designer of mainstream computer games. What prompted you to begin working on your own?

A. When I was developing commercial software, one of the things that kept coming to mind was questions about the kinds of products we were making. I was thinking to myself, ‘How do we know this game is really educational? What are the ways you measure something like that? How do we know we are addressing diverse audiences?’ I developed this real sense of curiosity about the various ways that things I was making were being used. Sometimes you have a real push to get your product out the door, and you fail to have the time to ask important questions about what games are doing socially and culturally.

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via: Thaindian News

Washington, October 12 (ANI): San Francisco-based firm Posit Science has developed a set of five video games, together called InSight, to improve the mental acuity of older drivers.
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Originally posted on: Grand Text Auto

by Dr. Mary Flanagan

Perhaps you have heard reports of the new study funded by Pew and MacArthur on video games. The survey, Teens, Video Games and Civics, was conducted with 1102 young people aged 12-17. Some are saying the results are “surprising” and even that they “shatter stereotypes” by finding that almost all US teens play games (console, mobile, online, etc) and at least half play games on a given day. Other findings include that most teens play games socially, either with others physically or online, and these games can “incorporate many aspects of civic and political life.” Interestingly, this study, with its particular look at civic engagement, found that “civic gaming experiences” (defined in the study) occurred equally among all kinds of game players without distinction among income, race, and ethnicity categories.

Both the survey and the Questionnaire are available online. I’ll be curious to hear what our community thinks!

I’m sure readers here are pretty familiar with what America’s Army is so I’ll skip most of the article, but there are some salient details that were new to me.

via: Truthout

…

What the game’s “realism” is attempting to do is to mask the violent reality of combat, and military experience in general, for very specific purposes. At a minimum, the Army hopes “America’s Army” will act as “strategic communication” to expose “kids who are college bound and technologically savvy” to positive messaging about the Army. Phase one of the propaganda effort is to expose children to “Army values” and make service look as attractive as possible. The next phase is direct recruiting. According to Colonel Wardynski, who originally thought up selling the Army to children through video games, “a well executed game would put the Army within the immediate decision-making environment of young Americans. It would thereby increase the likelihood that these Americans would include Soldiering in their set of career alternatives.” To make the connection between the game and recruitment explicit, the “America’s Army” web site links directly to the Army’s recruitment page. And gamers can explore a virtual recruitment center through the “America’s Army Real Heroes” program. Local recruiters also use the game to draw in high school children for recruitment opportunities. Recruiters stage area tournaments with free pizza and sodas; winners receive Xbox game consoles, free copies of “America’s Army” and iPods. Game centers are also set up at state fairs and public festivals with replica Humvees and .50 caliber machine guns, where children as young as 13 can test out the life-sized equipment.

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Does anyone remember that movie War Games? No wait, this is more like Last Starfighter. Yep, the merger of military training, video games, and actual combat is upon up. The military is learning to help gamers transition as easily as possible from virtual war to actual war. This is like Toys At least there’ll be no more gender bias designed into jet cockpits.

via: Busines Week

by Mark Scott

Sitting back in a leather chair, with both hands on the controls, I’m scanning three flat-screen monitors in front of me, on the lookout for my next target. Sounds like a sneak peek of the latest shoot-’em-up video game, right?

Think again. This is the next generation of ground controls for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sometimes also known as drones, used by the U.S. Air Force and its overseas counterparts. As remote-controlled planes take on larger military roles in both Iraq and Afghanistan, defense companies are borrowing techniques from the video-game industry to make it easier for pilots on the ground to fly these unmanned aircraft from afar.

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This article is kind of confusing, and I haven’t found any others that offer a clearer explanation. I’m imagining that the Thai government is just being reactionary here and there is no clear justification for banning the game. They say the boy murdered the taxi driver because he wanted to see if it was as easy in real life as in the game. Then they say he needed money so he could play the game more. So first the danger is that the game is a bad influence on kids, then the danger is that it’s addictive and we could see gamers like crack addicts robbing bodegas to buy the latest first person shooter. Finally, in an AFP article, a police officer claims the game is being banned because of obscene content. Obscene content? The country with one of the biggest sex tourism economies in the world is fretting over naughty language, guns, and digital strip clubs? No, GTA is no worse than an Ong Bak movie. Games are just convenient scapegoats.

via: BBC

The 18-year-old high school student is accused of stabbing the cab driver to death by trying to copy a scene from the game. The biggest video game publisher in the south-east Asian country, New Era Interactive Media, has told retailers to stop selling GTA IV. It is due to be replaced by another video game title.
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Metal Gear: love it or hate it, the game is one of videogamedom’s most iconic franchises. Maybe it’s too cinematic, maybe it’s too preachy, but give it credit for trying at least. Even if you never want to sneak around in the shaddows chocking out gentically engineered super soldiers, or watch mercenaries wax philosophical about the meaning of life and fate vs. destiny, at least give the series credit for trying. It’s trying to be something different.

The New York Times had an artlicle last Sunday about the debates over Metal Gear’s hidden meanings. Kotaku writer Stephen was interviewed for the article, and was then so interested in the game he wrote a follow up email to the NYT writer discussing Metal Gear Solid’s 4 unique venture into game tragedy. I think serious games broke from the triumphant hero paradigm a long time ago (Septemer 12 or Hush for example) but it’s interesting to see a mainstream game attempt it. Read more

“Of course don’t ever tell anybody that they’re not free, because then they gonna get real busy killin’ and maimin’ to prove to you they are. Oh yeah they gonna talk to you and talk to you and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual it’s gonna scare ‘em.” Jack Nicholson Easy Rider

via: Game Politics

City officials in Troy, New York apparently used the municipal building code to shut down a controversial video game art exhibit. Read more

Yes, just months after writing my post on torture porn video games, there’s news that a Saw video game is in development. Details are sketchy, but it will be interesting to see if the game lets you play against Jigsaw or as him. We’ll also see if it challenges the standard set by the Manhunt series. Let the race to the bottom begin.

Though I know we’ve said it before, I don’t think it can be said enough: the Values at Play project is NOT about creating boring goodie-two-shoes games. We talk a lot about social values, and appealing to diverse communities, and promoting a more just, equitable society, but that doesn’t mean we’re condemming violent videogames or controversy. I’m actually quite fond of controversy and enjoy well done violent games.

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Gamasutra has an interview with Craig Allen, CEO of Spark Unlimited, about the company’s new release. The game is called Turning Point, and it takes a “what-if” scenario. As it asks what might have happened had the Nazis invaded the U.S. in WWII, the game seems to ponder on the nature of war.
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The SimCity series has always given players a wide array of choices for powering their city, but Societies is notable for being the first game that specifically brands the eco-friendly power solutions with BP logos and likenesses.

In an apparent effort to explore the currently pressing issues of pollution and global warming, publisher Electronic Arts and energy giant BP have collaborated to incorporate a global warming minigame in SimCity: Societies, which is available now for the PC. In addition to traditional coal and nuclear power plants, the latest SimCity game also offers greener solutions such as wind farms and solar stations. The environmentally-sound – and BP branded – power options naturally cost more money to build and maintain, but yield significantly less pollution in the virtual city.
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I found this on Kotaku, and the concept seemed very interesting to me. Basically, it’s a vest and helmet that allow video game players to feel all the shocks and bumps within the game. Are game players really in the mood for a little more action in their first-person shooters?
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The Nintendo Wii has been out for some months now, so you may have heard about the phenomenon of the Wii and the elderly. Yes, the elderly and the Wii. If you need a refresher, take a look at this article. Read more

Generally, first-person shooter games are considered “masculine.” The weapon of choice is an obvious stand-in for the phallus, and the game usually puts the hero in a “search, kill, conquer” situation. But the game Portal, which was released on PlayStation 3 this past week, seems to be made of something different. Read more

The Values at Play research project launched version 1.0 of its website, http://www.valuesatplay.org, which offers a wealth of game design ideas and scholarship about games and human values. Read more

Today’s New York Times features an article about the merger of Activision and Vivendi games that was announced Sunday. But the article really seems to be more about the company’s CEO, Robert A. Kotick.
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I am a nube. In Second Life, I spend a good deal of time standing in one place awkwardly moving my mouse and clicking, desperately spinning my scroll wheel trying to get my view back centered on myself. Somehow, I’m looking down from the clouds, and then in the next instant I’m zoomed in to the side of a bank examining the wood grain of digital shiplap from an inch away. When I’m inside buildings and I try to look around at the audience, somehow I end up outside, stuck staring at the party through tinted windows. Everything’s dim as I watch the other figures gyrate and flex with their programmatic perfect, looping dance moves (someone’s got the Chicken Noodle Soup dance activated in their inventory!) I am the watcher on the outside, frustrated and ashamed as my avatar stands as still as Chief Bromden. Read more

Even non-serious games can teach serious lessons.

Clive Thompson has a nice little article about what Halo 3 has taught him about geopolitics and the logic of sucide bombing in asymmetrical warfare.

Read it here

I don’t mean to sound bleak here folks, but the world is full of poison and propaganda. Both are often cloaked in noble rhetoric or obscured by innocuous intentions. Manhunt 2 was released last week, and while I don’t think it’s the new face of evil, I do think it’s the digital equivalent of candy cigarettes. Read more

Apparently, real life and video games are merging. Read more

Although it doesn’t come out until March of next year, there’s a preview of the EA/ Will Wright (of the “Sims” games) game “Spore” on 1UP.com.

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