Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2010

The Bible Online – Serious Games To Meet & Play Real Heroes Of Genesis

Via: The Bible Online: Heroes Official Site - The Bible Online: Heroes Beta Launches On September 6 Serious Games to Get Closer To The Bible German developer FIAA GmbH announced last week the first chapter of their new online game based on the bible. The Heroes is the first in a series of upcoming chapters of this free MMO. It is based on the first book of the bible, the Genesis. Players slip into the role of Abraham and his descendants and have the opportunity to reenact and witness the incidents of their times. The Bible Online: Chapter 1 – The Heroes is a MMORTS (Massive Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy Game), where players can create their own nomadic tribes and be upgraded by hunting animals and having battles with other tribes. As the leader of their tribe, players have to construct their villages, manage resources and the budget. They will have to decide between diplomacy and warfare. However, players do not stay in one place. They will go on a quest to go to the

Futurelab: Challenges In Embedding Serious Games Into Formal Education

Via: Futurelab Blog – Serious Games In Education Research Project The latest literature review from Futurelab – Games In Education: Serious Games - considers the potential of "Serious Games" as an important teaching tool, addressing the various types of digital games and the underlying pedagogy in education games. It also looks at the challenges of embedding Serious Games in formal education and three current methods for assessing appropriateness and effectiveness of games for teaching. From this it argues that what is required is a toolkit for educators, game designers and policy makers that allows the design and assessment of games to be used with an educational goal. Here are the highlights. Executive Summary This report is a review of research around gaming environments for education. Games are used widely outside of formal education systems, for example by the military and within the health and commerce sectors. Yet their use within schools is

Serious Games Facilitating Language Learning And Cultural Development

PRESS RELEASE BY CASPIAN LEARNING - Dated: Aug 20, 2010   Simulation Tool Makes Light Work of "Serious Games" in Malaysia 3d Simulation Software and "Serious Games" Authoring Tool, Thinking Worlds, plays its part in facilitating language learning and cultural development in 2 day workshop in Malaysia delivered by the Serious Games Institute. On July 14th/15th, David Wortley, Director of the Serious Games Institute, based in the Coventry Innovation Village, ran a 2 day workshop on "Serious Games" for Education Development in Penang, Malaysia. The workshop used Caspian Learning’s Thinking Worlds as its core technology application of choice and the aim of the two day workshop was to show the possibilities that exist for immersive learning simulations or Serious Games to aid the learning and development of language courses. During the first day of the workshop, the class of delegates were tasked with completing a short tutorial course that taug

Serious Games Research: Press Play To Grow!

Via: Press Play To Grow! – Play Video Games & Grow The Press Play to Grow! initiative was founded by Moses Silbiger, M.A. and has been developed in partnership with like-minded researchers, game designers, critics, and enthusiasts for gaming and human development. Moses Silbiger has a Masters degree in Integral Psychology at John F. Kennedy University, with an academic certification in Coaching. He is also an architect, graphic designer and entrepreneur. Along with his Integral Coaching & Consulting practice,  Moses has been continually exploring and researching the potentials of designing video games for catalyzing and integrating human development, and has presented his work in various conferences, articles, and interviews. As part of his integral-developmental video games initiative,  Moses has developed the INDENTRO video game design framework designed to catalyze personal growth in multiple intelligences through video game play. Games as “Trojan Horses” for

Re-Posted: e-Guru - Serious Games Supporting Career Paths & Choices

Via: e-Guru – The Art of Teaching Without Limits Established in 2001 in Brazil to provide learning solutions for large corporations, e-Guru has been developing Educational and Recruitment Programs that make use of game-based approach and technology. e-Guru employs Serious Games as a means to ensure content retention by simulating everyday work situations. The methodology developed and adopted by e-Guru can be applied to Sales Force Training, Induction Programs, Business Games, Coaching and Feedback, Company Policies, Product Presentation and even Recruitment Games and Competency Diagnosis. e-Guru has recently developed an interactive platform for Santander Bank - Santander Paths & Choices - to support young professionals in their vocational discovery and career choice. From the observation that the model adopted for the selection of trainees did not allow bank recruiters to know the candidates well, the platform was designed to meet specific demands and wi

IDATE: Serious Games - A 10 Billion Euro Market In 2015

PRESS RELEASE Montpellier, 7 July 2010 - IDATE has released its Serious Game Market Report which provides in-depth analysis on the different markets, and their growth outlook up to 2015. The top Serious Games Market players are profiled, along with the sector’s latest trends. “This report provides readers with a comprehensive portrait of the Serious Games market through an analysis of its impact on the video game industry’s value chain, and by examining a series of business models,” explains Laurent Michaud, Head of IDATE’s Digital Home Entertainment Unit. “Up until now, Serious Games have been designed to be played on a computer, but mobile handsets are already much more widely used in emerging economies which makes them the platform of choice for the development of Serious Games.” The Serious Games sector is expected to grow significantly in the medium term. IDATE estimates that it currently generates 1.5 billion EUR in revenue around the globe, and that by 2015 sa

Serious Games Supporting Career Paths & Choices

Santander launches an interactive platform for vocational discovery Via: e-Guru – The Art of Teaching Without Limits Established in 2001 in Brazil to provide learning solutions for large corporations, e-Guru has been developing Educational and Recruitment Programs that make use of game-based approach and technology. e-Guru employs "Serious Games" as a means to ensure content retention by simulating everyday work situations. The methodology developed and adopted by e-Guru can be applied to Sales Force Training, Induction Programs, Business Games, Coaching and Feedback, Company Policies, Product Presentation and even Recruitment Games and Competency Diagnosis. e-Guru has recently developed an interactive platform for Santander Bank - Santander Paths & Choices - to support young professionals in their vocational discovery and career choice. From the observation that the model adopted for the selection of trainees did not allow bank recruiters to know

Serious Games For Online Language-Learning

Via: Gamasutra - Middlebury Enlists Muzzy Lane for Online Language-Learning RPG Serious Games to immerse players in environments unique to each language's specific culture Middlebury Interactive Languages , a leading figure in foreign language instruction for children and young adults, has reached an agreement with Making History series creator Muzzy Lane Software to produce an online language-learning role-playing game. The upcoming game, aimed at high school students, will supplement Middlebury's full-immersion online foreign language courses. The company operates the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy , a four-week language learning program that will reach over 800 students this summer. Muzzy Lane's game will be a first-person online RPG that immerses players in environments unique to each language's specific culture. Students will interact with other players and with computer-controlled characters that are voiced by native speakers.   "

Serious Games Capturing How Humans Really Learn

Massively multiplayer virtual world for teens Whyville Via: Richard Carey Digital Media Richard Carey has posted earlier this week a must-read article, The Future of Video Games: The Kids Are Alright , where he recaps “the long strange trip it’s been, since video games were seen as nothing more than a waste of time until recently when the conversation has shifted to how Serious Games are an ideal learning environment". Richard Carey also highlights the work of Dr. Jim Bower, a computational neuroscientist at the University of Texas and the CEO of Numedeon, publishers of the massively multiplayer virtual world for teens Whyville.net . He was on a panel “The Future of Video Games” and interviewed at the South By Southwest festival earlier this year, portions of which were recently published on the September 2010 issue of Discover Magazine, and discussed why he thinks video games are good for learning. Looking at whether video games are different from other forms of p

Serious Games Video Lectures By Daniel Floyd

Via: You Tube Kirithem’s Channel Daniel Floyd is an aspiring character animator living near Athens, Georgia. He has recently finished his studies at Animation Mentor and looks forward to starting his animation career. Prior to Animation Mentor, Daniel studied animation at both the Savannah College of Art & Design, and the University of Georgia. In addition to his animation work, Daniel also runs a series of video "lectures" with game designer James Portnow, co-founder of Divide By Zero Games, presenting a wide variety of video gaming issues and game design theory, including Video Games and Learning. These videos have been featured along with Portnow's columns on sites including Edge and Gamasutra. Daniel Floyd’s You Tube Channel has more than 9000 subscribers and 16 video uploads, Video Games and Learning being amongst the top rated ones with almost 100k views. As of July 26, 2010 they’ve been picked up by The Escapist and we'll be airing a new

Serious Games Deployment To The Web Streamlined By Caspian Learning

PRESS RELEASE Caspian Learning Unveils Powerful Web Deployment Technology London, UK, 1st August 2010 Summary "Serious Games" Design and Technology Company, Caspian Learning, today unveiled their latest technology development that will allow their award winning Thinking Worlds rapid 3D authoring tool to deploy games to the web without the need for additional 3rd party downloads. The company behind the award-winning Thinking Worlds rapid 3D authoring tool, Caspian Learning, is proud to announce their recent breakthrough in web deployment technology that allows simulations created with Thinking Worlds to be deployed to the web not only in Shockwave, but in Java too. The new development means that Serious Games and simulations created with Caspian Learning’s authoring tool could be deployed to the web without the need for any additional downloads or 3rd party plugins that could affect network security or require special clearance. In their most recent Researc

Playnormous Serious Games Featured in Nickelodeon Back-To-School Event

Via: Playnormous PRESS RELEASE PLAYNORMOUS TO BE FEATURED IN NICKELODEON BACK-TO-SCHOOL EVENT;  AWARD-WINNING VIDEO GAME WILL APPEAR IN AUGUST’S ONLINE MEET AND GREET PARTY Houston, Texas (August 3, 2010) -- Playnormous, an award-winning producer of health entertainment media for children, announced today its Fun For A Change childhood obesity prevention Serious Games will be featured in Nickelodeon’s August ParentsConnect Back to School Bash! online party. Playnormous and its video game CD-ROM will be a featured partner. Fun For A Change is winner of Creative Child Magazine’s 2010 Media of the Year Award . One lucky ParentConnect participant will win a Fun For A Change CD-ROM. Moms will gather at parentsconnect on Friday August 19, 2010. Registered members will “party” by playing games, chatting about parenting topics and winning prizes. Nickelodeon’s monthly parties are hosted by a celebrity guest. Previous hosts include Tony Award Winner Marissa Jaret Winoku

STEG'10: Third Workshop on Story-Telling and Serious Games

Third Workshop on Story-Telling and Educational (Serious) Games (STEG'10) December 8-10, 2010, Shanghai, China Call for Papers Early bird registration deadline: Nov 15, 2010 In conjunction with the 9th International Conference on Web-based Learning (ICWL 2010) Stories and story-telling are cultural achievements of significant relevance even in modern times. Nowadays, story-telling is being enhanced with the convergence of sociology, pedagogy, and technology. Recently, computer gaming is also deployed for educational purposes and has proved to be an effective approach to mental stimulation and intelligence development. Many conceptual similarities and some procedural correlation exist between story-telling and educational gaming. Therefore these two areas can be clubbed for research on Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). Many facets of story-telling and educational gaming emulate real life processes, which can be represented either as complex story graphs or as interl