Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from March, 2009

Live From GDC: Serious Games Emerging Trends

The response to current market challenges reported by several presenters at the GDC’s Serious Games Summit, due to its high degree of commonality, could eventually configure emerging trends for the segment. Early Prototypes Many presenters strongly recommended planning for very early prototypes. Prototype goals would be three-fold: have functioning core game mechanics ASAP; mock-up the basic layout and key screens and elicit feedback. As Serious Games sponsors often don’t understand game technology, which is in stark contrast to entertainment games where publishers are usually game experts, half of early design assumptions might not wind up in the final product. This method, called rapid iterative development, is necessary for drawing out what customers really want, since they often can’t express it as a formal requirement. Therefore, the importance of early producing concept/de-risking demos, especially for customers who don’t know what Serious Games are about, was highly

Live From GDC: Serious Games Connection 2010?

Following my previous post Live From GDC: Are Serious Games and Corporate Customers In Sync ?, and having realized that Serious Games and Work-For-Hire have become practically entwined, I've started to explore the possibility of having Serious Games booths added to Game Connection, from 2010 onwards. Game Connection - The Business Meeting Machine for Game Makers (Serious Games Included) Game Connection is a unique speed dating event for business-focused game makers. It is a one-stop shop to meet face to face dozens of targeted potential partners involved in all stages of the production pipeline, from the concept to the outsourcing, publishing, distribution and financing, in back-to-back 30-minute meetings. Where else would we get to conduct an average of 27 tailored meetings in just three days, network with the best developers, publishers, distributors and service providers of the industry who are committed to make great games? Potential Benefits For Serious

Live From GDC: Are Serious Games and Corporate Customers In Sync

Session Background In the last 18 months, before the economic events of the fall, activity in the Serious Games space from the corporate sector was beginning to achieve sizable momentum. However, the existing projects still seem exceptions to the rule which is that many corporations still seem out of sync with games, and vice-versa. To begin to deal with this issue, such that it could result in better takeaway for the Serious Games community, the organizers of the Serious Games Summit began a round of Internet discussions trying to ferret out a community analysis of how the world of games, and Serious Games, can garner even more attention and revenues from the corporate sector now and in the future. The Serious Games Summit session Are Serious Games and Corporate Customers In Sync , having Ben Sawyer (Co-founder, Digitalmill) and David Warhol (President, Realtime Associates Inc.) as speakers, presented the summary of that community discussion in a digestible format for further

GDC 2009: Serious Games @ Holland Pavilion

Via: Dutch Game Pioneers 2009 - Holland Pavilion @ GDC 2009 In 2009, a large number of new initiatives, to internationally showcase the Dutch Game Industry, will be launched, starting with a Holland Pavilion at the Game Development Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. Not only are the Dutch responsible for creating games but research shows that Dutch people are also hooked on all kinds of games: combined the Dutch people spend 48 million hours a week on several different game genres. The growth of the games industry in the Netherlands is enormous, growing 50% faster than any other industry in Holland. Approximately, 250 organizations and 2,500 individuals are involved in the Dutch gaming industry. These include, but are not limited, to suppliers, educational centers, researchers, specialized media, event organizers and game developers. Although most titles sold in the Netherlands come from major international video game publishers, many of these titles have had some type o

Serious Games & Microsoft Futures

Hrvoje Benko demonstrating a Microsoft projection system that lets people manipulate large video images with their hands Over the past week or so, I've come across some hard evidence that Serious Games may become a relevant stream of Microsoft futures. Corporate Governance REDMOND, Wash.–March 9, 2009–Microsoft Corp announced that Maria Klawe, Ph.D., president of Harvey Mudd College, was appointed to the company’s board of directors, returning the board’s size to 10 members. Whilst Klawe has made significant research contributions in several areas of mathematics and computer science, her current research interests include discrete mathematics, Serious Games and assistive technologies. Pervasive Serious Games Apps Lynn Marentette, in her superb Blog Interactive Multimedia Technology , has just published a most comprehensive post about Microsoft and the Future of Interaction . There you may find what she has gathered about Microsoft's vision for the future acros

Serious Games Plug Into The Smart Grid

Via: GridEcon 2009 - Smart Grid and the Future Energy Economy There is a great deal of interest in the Smart Grid today. Legislators, regulators, utilities, consumers, vendors, R&D organizations and others are working hard to learn what the Smart Grid is and to understand how it will impact them. At the federal level, the fight to legitimize the Smart Grid is over. It has been recognized in several key pieces of legislation – mostly recently the stimulus package – as an essential national asset. Some are looking at the Smart Grid as a "transactive agent" that will enable resources, assets, and consumers to create new markets that otherwise might not be possible with today's grid. With the increasing awareness of the need of an information network to help manage the electric grid and make renewable energy a reality, by the creation of a Smart Grid (SG), there is a critical need to explore the economic realities and opportunities of this complex system. Th