Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from December, 2009

KTM Advance: Serious Games For Corporate Training

Via: KTM Advance PRESS RELEASE (SkyNewswire.com) – Based on complex educational scenarios, including realistic simulations and decision trees, KTM Advance’s training products (e-Learning, Serious Games, Blended Learning) are benchmarks for creativity and high quality 2D and 3D graphics. KTM Advance also offers pre-production advice and assistance and Knowledge Management consultancy; particularly focusing on implementation issues such as distribution methods, change management and learner motivation. KTM Advance’s intensive collaboration with all actors involved in their customers’ projects are a key factor in the continued success of their programs. KTM Advance has recently focused on the Serious Games Market. Valerie Boudier, Knowledge Manager at KTM Advance says: "Serious Games are training programs that require for their developments very contrasted professional protagonists: when the professionals of education express their needs in terms of “pedagogical objec

New Research: (Serious) Games Raise Kids IQ

Via: Richard Carey > Digital Media  - UC Berkely Study: Gameplay Shown to Raise Kids IQ Richard Carey reports on his latest post the study conducted by Dr. Silvia Bunge, a neuroscientist at UC Berkley, concluding that some video games help enhance kids' reasoning and processing skills. Findings even yielded that some games helped in raising kids' IQ points. Dr. Silvia Bunge, a neuroscientist at UC Berkeley, has long been interested in understanding the development of children’s intelligence. She’s been measuring kids’ intelligence and scanning their brains for several years in order to understand what exactly makes some brains function better than others. This has given her unique insight into the mental processes kids are capable of, and how to test for it. Last year, Bunge and her graduate students decided to see if they could train up, or sharpen, children’s minds. Their study might sound remarkably simple, but the results have been flat-out astonishing. Dr. B

Serious Games As Coca Zero Advergames For Avatar

Via: Total Immersion   - Coca-Cola Zero™ Announces Global Film Partnership With James Cameron’s Avatar The Coca-Cola Company announced on Friday its Coca-Cola Zero brand has partnered with Twentieth Century Fox on a major global promotional campaign for James Cameron’s epic-adventure film AVATAR. Set to be activated in over 30 countries, the partnership centers on bringing consumers unique access to exclusive and authentic content from the world of AVATAR in a variety of exciting ways. Chip York, Worldwide Entertainment Marketing Director, The Coca-Cola Company, said: “AVATAR shares the same aspirational, edgy and unconventional brand values as Coca-Cola Zero. Working so closely with the studio and filmmakers has allowed us to create authentic and exclusive content that provides fans’ unique access into the world, deepening their AVATAR experience.” Digital  In an effort to provide consumers with the most compelling information about the movie, the digital team at Coca-Co

AR Serious Games For Public Parks and Castle Keeps

Via: YDreams  - Interactive technologies for public parks and castle keeps The last quarter of 2009 has seen some pretty YDreams cool project rollouts, ranging from works in public parks to sprucing up medieval castle keeps. Augmented Reality Scenic Viewer Adds Virtual To Real Inaugurated in early October, the project involved revamping Santarém’s Portas do Sol Garden by deploying cutting edge tools such as Augmented Reality-enabled Virtual Sightseeing units to explore the pretty surrounding landscape, interactive tables and displays for learning more about the city’s rich history as well as the Roman digging site located right in the park and, to round things off, multimedia audio-guides for making sure no stone is left unturned. YDreams brand new scenic viewer  for parks, monuments and heritage sites. Featuring a truly intuitive interface and enhanced Augmented Reality (AR) technology, The Virtual Sightseeing viewer provides a fun way  to explore information about the w

Serious Games As AR Extensive Deployment For Avatar

Via: Total Immersion PRESS RELEASE MCDONALD’S ORDERS UP AUGMENTED REALITY FROM TOTAL IMMERSION, IN GLOBAL PROMOTION FOR FOX ’S ‘AVATAR’ AR Experiences Connect Film and Filmgoers Worldwide, In Biggest Mass Deployment of Augmented Reality to Date LOS ANGELES (Dec. 17, 2009) – You’ve seen the trailer -- now grab a bite of Augmented Reality to accompany your Big Mac as you gear up for the Dec. 18 opening of 20th Century Fox’s “Avatar.” Augmented Reality pioneer Total Immersion announced that it has teamed up with McDonald’s on a global promotion for the film at its restaurants in 40 markets around the world – the most extensive deployment of AR technology to date. The promotion kicked off earlier this month, on hundreds of millions of McDonald’s boxes -- and, on Dec. 18, on the web. During the month and into January, product packaging in the U.S. for Big Macs will feature an AR “Thrill Card” on the side of each box, delivering an up-close experience with the rich e

Reimagining Learning Competition: Submission Countdown

Via: Digital Media and Learning Competition Official Site – Reimagining Learning PRESS RELEASE $2 MILLION COMPETITION OPENS FOR IDEAS TO TRANSFORM LEARNING Durham, NC and Irvine, CA – December 16, 2009. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with the University of California, Irvine, Duke University and the virtual network HASTAC, launched the third annual open-call competition that will provide $2 million in awards to innovators shaping the field of digital media and learning. President Obama named the Digital Media and Learning Competition as part of his initiative to improve education in math and science in a speech on November 23rd. The competition is supported through a grant to the University of California, Irvine and administered by HASTAC. The competition seeks designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and others to build digital experiences—the learning labs of the 21st century—that help young people interact, share, buil

Serious Games Reduce Digital Disconnect Home X School

Via: EdTech Tools – Trends: The Digital Promise EdTech Tools has blogged about The Digital Promise: Transforming Learning with Innovative Uses of Technology , a white paper on literacy and learning in a new media age, by Jeanne Wellings and Michael H. Levine. The paper reviews what technology can do for schools, pointing the first steps toward more rigorous standards and assessments. It also includes steps to encourage teacher innovation; the role of video games in education and some interesting literacy-relevant technologies developed by Apple. Under the section First Steps Toward Rigorous Standards and Assessments , the authors state that “children have embraced the digital world in creative ways on their own time, but an increasing number now report being bored or disengaged in school. Many complain that they must “power down” the moment they enter a school campus.” This supports the views of proponents who argue that wise deployment of stimulus dollars should

GDC 10 Serious Games Summit: The Unconcerned

Via: Game Developers Conference 2010 - Serious Games Summit SGS Session: Prototyping for Engagement and Metaphor Speaker: Borut Pfeifer (Freelance Game Programmer/Designer, Plush Apocalypse Productions) Session Description By looking at the prototyping and development process for The Unconcerned , a character based puzzle game set during Iran's election protests, this talk illustrates methods of dealing with the conflicting needs of creating game mechanics that reflect a serious real world situation, while providing engaging feedback and gameplay for players. Idea Takeaway Attendees learn best practices and pitfalls to avoid while prototyping serious games that attempt to have both engaging gameplay and deliver a deeper social message. Game Concept The Unconcerned (working title), is a 2D puzzle/action title that follows a father and mother searching through rioting crowds in Tehran for their lost daughter. Players interact with the protesters (who react di

GDC 10 Serious Games Summit: Picture The Impossible

Via: Game Developers Conference 2010 - Serious Games Summit SGS Session: Picture the Impossible: Building a Successful City-Wide ARG on Shoestring Budget Speaker: Elizabeth Lawley (Director, Lab for Social Computing, Rochester Institute of Technology) Session Description In 2009, the Rochester Institute of Technology's Lab for Social Computing partnered with the local newspaper to build an ARG targeted at bringing people back into the city, teaching them about local history, and giving back to local charities. PICTURE THE IMPOSSIBLE incorporated casual online games, newspaper puzzles, and location-based activities. Built on a budget of less than $50,000, the game attracted thousands of players and succeeded in all of its goals. In this presentation, Elizabeth Lawley, RIT's game design lead on the project, discusses the planning process for the game, the technical infrastructure implementation process, and the ongoing game development and management process. She

GDC 10 Serious Games Summit: Code Of Everand

Via: Game Developers Conference 2010 - Serious Games Summit SGS Session: Code of Everand: Designing The Serious Casual MMO Speaker: Kevin Cancienne (Director of Game Development, Area/Code) Session Description Code of Everand is a lushly rendered, browser-based MMO that hides a more serious purpose in plain sight. Learn how Area/Code applied a holistic design philosophy to a serious but mundane topic -- road safety for kids -- and produced a serious game that refuses to sacrifice fun. This session will argue that Serious Games can benefit by embracing the constraints of their subject matter and refusing to compromise on the unique benefits of the medium. Idea Takeaway How to translate a serious but seemingly mundane subject into compelling gameplay - How to communicate about gameplay with a government client - How to use the constraints of your serious purpose for all they're worth.   Game Background   On November 19, The UK government's Department for T

Bridging Serious Games X eLearning Chasm

Via: Networked Learning Design – Patrick Dunn on Distinctions Between Serious Games and e-Learning In his post I was wrong: games ARE an alternative vision , Patrick Dunn states that “games are an utterly different vision of learning, separated from e-learning by a huge and uncrossable chasm”. He starts with a recall of his three-year old post Games are not an alternative vision. His basic argument then was that we need to get away from either/or distinctions when we're discussing Serious Games and e-learning. The latter can be very game-like; the former can be like e-learning. If we think of all the elements that go to make up an online learning experience - narrative, interactions, media, scoring, timing, user contributions, characters, questions etc. etc. - we can assemble these in various ways. Depending on the elements you choose, and how you assemble them, you move up and down a spectrum at one end of which is a "pure" game, while at the other end there'

Presagis Serious Games Pre-Live The Future

Via: Presagis  - 2009 Presagis Award Winners PRESS RELEASE Leaders In Military And Emerging Markets Expand The Frontiers Of Modeling And Simulation With Presagis Off-The-Shelf Software Orlando, FL – I/ITSEC 2009 – December, 2009 – Presagis™, leading provider of commercial-off-the shelf (COTS) modeling, simulation and embedded graphics solutions, announced earlier this month the winners of the 2009 Presagis Awards. This year’s award winners demonstrate how using COTS tools can push the boundaries of modeling and simulation in military markets and create innovative applications in emerging markets. “COTS tools are firmly entrenched in the military market because they streamline development and help in delivery of compelling and highly realistic training and simulation applications more quickly and with greater cost-savings,” said Nick Giannias, Vice President, Research and Technology, Presagis. “As a result, we are now seeing customers leverage COTS tools to develop sc