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Showing posts from January, 2013

Serious Games Building A New Paradigm For Language Learners

Following my prior post Serious Games To Build Competency In Ethical Thinking   and coming soon from the Learning Games Network (LGN) is Xenos, where you play Serious Games with friends and become the hero of your own English language-learning adventure. Xenos is an online Serious Game where players participate in activities that support sustainable English language learning. The expansive learning space immerses players in new contexts across a variety of colorful and engaging zones populated by other English Language Learners, Coaches, Mentors and Teachers. Players will learn to listen, read, speak and write in English, while playing games. Jumping Into A World Of Language Players will meet the citizens and fellow visitors of Xenos on the pier, in the marketplace, in town squares, at the university -- everywhere!  Introduce yourself to other players at the port Bargain at the market until the price is right Choose Your Own Learning Path -

Serious Games To Build Competency In Ethical Thinking

The Learning Games Network (LGN), established in 2007 as a non-profit spin-off of MIT’s Education Arcade and the University of Madison-Wisconsin’s Games + Learning + Society Center, released their ethical and critical thinking "Serious Game"  Quandary  in September 2012. Last Friday, Quandary has become available on  BrainPOP .   Quandary  is a free, online game for players aged 8-14 that presents engaging situations purposefully designed to build competency in ethical thinking. Quandary was developed by a team of experts across the fields of child development, social and emotional learning, moral development and game design. Scholars from Harvard and Tufts University devised a prototype that was tested for viability. Designers at the MIT Education Arcade and the Learning Games Network refined the game, which was produced by FableVision , an award-winning digital production and learning company. Quandary is a unique gaming experience that puts player

3rd Annual Serious Play Conference Inviting Serious Games Experts

Via:   Serious Play Conference  -  Call for Speakers for 3 rd Annual Serious Play Conference Opportunity for Professionals in Serious Games Industry SEATTLE – Jan. 22 2013 – Submissions are now being accepted from professionals who create games or sims or lead game programs for the education, corporate, military, healthcare or location-based market to speak at t he third annual  Serious Play Conference . The annual gathering for leaders in the industry will be held August 20 – 22, 2013 at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash., just outside Seattle. A new feature of the conference will be four pre-conference workshops on Monday, August 19 designed as introductory sessions for new Serious Game program directors, workforce and talent development professionals and K-12 educators and university faculty: ·         How to Integrate Games into the Classroom – created for heads of school districts, curriculum specialists and cutting edge teachers ·         Using L

9 Locations For Global Serious Games Jam Next Week

Via: Games For Change For the Global Game Jam event happening next weekend (Jan. 25–Jan. 27), there will be 9 locations around the world dedicated to making Serious Games for Change . These dedicated game jam sites will give creators the opportunity to make games for social impact. Along with a secret theme passed from the Global Game Jam (GGJ) , there will be an additional challenge given from Games For Change (G4C) to encourage people to make games that go beyond entertainment. Games created will be featured on the Games for Change's website, with the potential to be featured during the 10th Annual Games for Change Festival in 2013 (June 17-19). Here is the full list: USA: Games for Change @ DSI  (New York, NY) – Organizer: Ben Johnson George Mason University - G4C  (Fairfax, Virginia) – Organizer: Trey Reyher MIT Game Lab - G4C  (Cambridge, Massachusetts) – Organizer: Richard Eberhardt The Art Institute of Portland w/ PIGSquad and G

Muzzy Lane Dials Serious Games to Eleven

Via: Muzzy Lane Blog – In 2013, Muzzy Lane Dials Serious Games to Eleven                                                                                                     In January 2003, Muzzy Lane was a year old. Beginning its eleventh year, Muzzy Lane is dialing Serious Games to eleven. The company started with the bold idea that games were a valuable tool for learning, and "Serious Games" -- for purposes other than pure entertainment --could have a wide array of applications. At the time the idea was met with skepticism by many.  A mere decade later and Muzzy Lane’s vision of Serious Games lets students experience being anything from civil engineers to marketing managers. The company’s latest game, Practice Government in Action (find also Serious Games For Internalizing How Government Works ), actually lets you be a member of the United States Congress. GinA is the second in a series of subject-specific games that  Muzzy Lane is developing for

Serious Games As A Toy Box To Create Your Own Game

Via: Forbes – Disney Infinity Revealed: An Ambitious Cross-Platform Gaming Toy Box On Tuesday, executives at Disney Interactive finally pulled back the curtain on Disney Infinity , a compelling gaming initiative that brings together the Disney and Pixar universes from the past, present and future (Please find also Imagineering 101 Lecture: Walt Disney Educational Serious Games ). Disney Infinity is a "Serious Game" that allows you to create your own world by unlocking virtual toys, characters, buildings, gadgets and more, and bring them into the Disney Infinity Toy Box where you can mix them all up to create your own game. A first look at Disney Infinity's base, figurines and power discs | Photo: Jason Evangelho A base allows you to transport figurines and power discs into the game worlds, but the worlds themselves are sprawling environments that encompass both a traditional story mode, and an open-world Toy Box The more you play, the more you

Handwriting Serious Game Wins Prestigious Award At CES

Via: San Francisco Chronicle – Serious Game LetterSchool Wins Prestigious Award at Consumer Electronics Show (CES®) in Las Vegas Serious Game LetterSchool , by Boreaal, turned one late December and on January 10, 2013 was crowned Best Younger Children’s App by the KAPi Awards at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES®). This is the cherry atop an impressive stack of awards and accolades the app has won in its first year (Please find also Serious Games For iPad Put Children In The Education Driver's Seat ) In the game, children practice the complicated art of handwriting without even noticing it’s difficult, thanks to a truly compelling gaming experience. The wide variety of entertaining games captures the attention and keeps players practicing their letters and numbers, over and over again.  Though it is a newcomer on the mobile market, the Educational Serious Game has managed to reach the top of the App Store’s Education category—and to stay there. Learning To Write W

3D Serious Games Bringing Sense of Presence To Learning Experience

Via: Caspian Learning Caspian Learning posted yesterday a must-read article titled Afraid Of What The Future Of Learning Holds? You Should Be!  3D Serious Games for learning offer unrivalled opportunities for the introduction of more cost-effective synthetic, presence-based training in both corporate and defense industries. Back in 2010, they talked specifically about the idea of Presence , and how a greater sense of presence in a learning experience could result in higher levels of performance and transfer. They also talked about how the levels of a learner presence experiences can be affected by a number of elements – sensory fidelity, avatar properties, level of interactivity, agency and control responses, and personal relevance. According to Caspian Learning’s article “where 3DTV [has so far] failed to capture sustained general interest in entertainment, let alone learning, the Kinect has managed the complete opposite and succeeded beyond expectations. With its succ

The Global Serious Game Jam

Via: Games For Change – Global Game Jam Announces New Games For Change Locations On January 25-27 hundreds of game makers around the world will create "Serious Games" for social impact in a single weekend. PRESS RELEASE Global Game Jam Inc. (GGJ) announced last week a new partnership with Games for Change (please find also Serious Games in Latin America: G4C Festival 2nd Edition ), to celebrate G4C’s 10th anniversary and allow GGJ13 participants from all over the world to visit sites that focus specifically on positive social impact. Jesse Schell, renowned game designer, author and Carnegie Mellon Professor will deliver a special video keynote to launch this unique effort on January 25th. Through this partnership, GGJ site organizers will be offered the opportunity to register their site as a G4C site, and invite participants to create innovative digital games that go beyond entertainment.  G4C has a purpose to raise awareness around real-w

Serious Games Preparing Affected By Autism For The Workplace

Via: iSpectrum Project iSpectrum is an European funded project committed to the use of "Serious Games" as a way to increase employability of people on the Autism spectrum and related special needs (Please find also Serious Games As Autism Therapy ) The iSpectrum Serious Game is a result of two years work by a consortium that included Coventry University’s  Serious Games Institute (SGI), and was funded through the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme. Developed by Imaginary , iSpectrum simulates a job interview and the first day at work, allowing players to familiarize themselves with certain possible situations in a variety of work environments. Users are able to learn, understand and act out different social roles as an employee and carry out a series of tasks to develop employability and social interaction skills. Dr Alex Woolner, Senior Researcher at SGI, said: "The beauty of this game is that it addresses an issue that is affecti

Update Converting Cybersecurity Practice Into Engaging Serious Games

  Via: MAVI Interactive LLC - Agent Surefire: Inside Threat Shortly after my post Converting Cybersecurity Practice Into Engaging Serious Games , , MAVI released Agent Surefire: Insider Threat , which is over three times larger and provides a more in-depth cyber security awareness training than the previous Agent Surefire: Breach Buster . The new "Serious Game" has won the Gold Stevie® Award for Best Training Application in the app awards categories of The 2012  International Business Awards ,   plus 6 others. First released in 2010, the  Agent Surefire  series of immersive Cybersecurity Serious Games allow trainees to practice—in first person view—how to notice and avoid cyber-security vulnerabilities inside the workspace. The Stevie Award-winning Agent Surefire: Insider Threat  is the third chapter in this series. Cyber Crime is an ever-evolving threat. Developing skills in identifying and detecting tell-tale signs of breaches help individuals to respond