Serious Games: Replacing Market Entry With Sustainable Evolution Model

Serious Games building brand experiences

Via: Rivers Run Red and Virtual Worlds News

Second Life has been seeing a change in its growth. While the initial adopters were United States users and United States brands, it is becoming more and more of a global platform. Justin Bovington of Rivers Run Red offered his perspective on what those changes mean, and how marketers can react, at the SLCC (Second Life Community Convention), last Saturday:

"Arguably, Second Life is now a European product. There’s a massive shift in active users and there’s a difference in branding.

We’ve done some research on why virtual worlds are catching fire. One of the most important reasons is that people are generally seeking richer experiences. We all know it, the challenge is how we deliver it.

The old model of market entry has shifted to the new model of sustainable evolution: we think 60% of our business in the next year will be in the collaboration space."

Rivers Run Red was the world's first agency to establish a working presence in the virtual worlds. Established in SL in 2003, with bricks and mortar offices in London and San Francisco, and soon in New York, they define themselves as "an immersive spaces company, working to develop virtual worlds as new channel to engage in communities, reach consumers and build brand experiences."

The tag line of Rivers Run Red is “Taking An Idea, Creating It’s World, Making it Real” and that’s exactly what they’re doing for brands as rich and varied as Reebok, Adidas, BBC, Calvin Klein, ING, Philips, Heineken, Penguin, Vodafone, and even agencies like BBH and Carat.

Justin Bovington has a seemingly unrivalled understanding and insight into how brands can harness the power of technology to deliver involving brand communications.

Known as Fizik Baskerville inside the virtual world, Bovington also uses Second Life as a design studio and virtual meeting-place

RRR is currently the leading development agency for Second Life in Europe. Justin sees Second Life as the future of the Internet because it lets companies do business and promote their brands more vividly than on the Web.

Avalon: The Rivers Run Red virtual world island

To visit avalon click here:secondlife://Avalon/160/85/26

RRR is also working on Web Metrics for Second Life. The analytics that Rivers Run Red are developing is based on the behavioral theories of a company called Synovate that measures customer loyalty .

Examples from their virtual world clients may be found below:

Calvin Klein

Philips

Reebok

Shelly Poole

Read more at Rivers Run Red virtual portal space think dream

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VOLVO CAR UK: Serious Games Replicating A Real-Life Showroom Experience

Volvo Dealers benefit from groundbreaking Serious Games

Via: Caspian Learning - Serious Games As A Highly Engaging Learning Solution For A Dispersed Workforce

Caspian Learning designs and delivers 3D game-based learning solutions for the Education and Corporate setting.

Caspian's authoring engine, Thinking Worlds™, is an incredibly versatile and globally unique technology that allows Caspian, its partners and clients to rapidly and cost-effectively build highly interactive and engaging learning solutions.

Thinking Worlds™ was object of my prior posting Where Serious Games in Education Is Heading, which gives us “a taste of” its extremely worthwhile results in the sphere of Education.

This time I would like to focus on Caspian’s impressive Training Portfolio.

VOLVO INCORPORATES PLAY INTO WORK

Car salespeople not only need to be experts on their products, they need to be well versed in legislation such as the Trade Description Act and Data Protection.

Learning the intricacies of data protection, consumer credit and trade description legislation is dull at the best of times. Finding time to release staff from the forecourts to undertake the necessary training, whilst ensuring staff are engaged in what are traditionally dry subject areas, is a serious challenge.

Volvo Car UK was looking for a way that would be flexible enough to train staff on essential topics from legislation to product sales. The training programme also needed to be innovative to encourage participation, easy to update to ensure longevity, accessible to a dispersed workforce, suitable to be used in short sessions rather than half or full-day sessions and finally, be a refresher training tool for those that want to scrub up their knowledge of a particular area. And of course make Volvo’s training more fun!

The car manufacturer needed to ensure sales teams across its dealer network understood the law and how it related to the sales of its financial products.

"We wanted a different way to stimulate sales people and move away from just running lecture-style courses with role-play," says Volvo Car Finance sales development manager Tony Grice.

Volvo commissioned Caspian to develop a Serious Game to help train its dispersed car sales force. The game developed in 12 weeks and named Knowledge Drive, came from a collaboration effort between Caspian Learning, a global leader in the use of simulations and games to solve learning issues, and Fimtrac, a face-to-face motor industry training company.

Knowledge Drive was produced using Caspian's authoring engine, Thinking Worlds. It is comprised of a number of modules, made up of various 3D environments where players are faced with real life scenarios which they need to work out to achieve their learning goals.

Fimtrac took pictures of actual showrooms so that Caspian could build a virtual environment unique to Volvo

The users enter a 3D environment and meet 3D figures along the way that impart information related to their learning goal.

For example, potential car buyers enter the virtual showroom and ask questions which the user must answer. They are then told some facts about the customer and what he/she is looking for. It's the kind of information that any good salesperson can then use to make some deal closing assumptions.

Next, the users pick up relevant information as they progress through the scenario and delete anything they do not need, ultimately building an appropriate presentation for the customer. There are deliberate law breaking scenarios that must also be identified and rectified throughout the game.

Each environment is designed by Caspian to look like a real Volvo show room and populated with virtual characters from the library of assets, which has over 150 3D environments and 1000 3D characters.

“At the lowest level, these virtual environments expose trainees to real life sales situations,” says Graeme Duncan, Caspian Learning Chief Operating Officer. “Users are then able to drill down to a particular subject area by completing various games in a safe environment, which enables to learn from any mistakes they may make without having a negative impact on the business.”

“A revision system is integrated into Knowledge Drive, which provides real-time mentoring and feedback to the trainee, which in turn allows to manage the learning process and measure the impact of the training,” says Duncan.

About 80% of Volvo's 700-strong customer-facing sales team have so far logged on to the game via their own PC and they study for on average 30 minutes at a time.

The Verdict

The Serious Game has proven to be far simpler and less time consuming then sending staff off-site for training.

Feedback from Volvo staff revealed that Knowledge Drive dealt with “boring” subjects or issues in more interesting ways than traditional training methods. Also, as their salespeople are able to carry out the training in short sharp hits, the intrusion into selling activities is minimal.

Employees can sit down for 20 minutes at a PC during a “quiet” time for a refresher, to continue a task that they are yet to complete, or concentrate on areas where they are weak.

Knowledge Drive is available at all dealerships in the Volvo network and is targeted at all levels of staff within these dealerships, from sales administration staff to sales managers and dealer principals.

It has also proven to be a cost effective training solution - its adaptability and flexibility means that as changes in legislation or product specification come about, the games can be easily updated to ensure relevance and accuracy at all times,” says Anne Woodward, Used Car Programme Manager, the driving force behind the initiative at Volvo. “We have already started to extend the use of this application – new elements and tasks are being added and there is scope to use the tool in other areas of the business too.”

About Caspian Learning

Caspian Learning has combined best practice in learning and memory, based on years of cognitive thinking research, with 3D computer gaming technologies. This has resulted in the development of their Thinking Worlds™ authoring engine. With a “robust” library of 3D environments and 3D characters, it is now feasible for HR departments with tight budgets to create games to suit their organization’s needs.

Furthermore, the flexibility of Thinking Worlds means that trainers can edit any aspect of a game, keeping it up-to-date and extending its life indefinitely. This has obvious benefits in terms of cost, but also means that the game addresses training needs on a granular level.

In Time

There will be a number of sessions led by Caspian Learning experts at the upcoming ETSA (European Training & Simulation Association) Seminar: "Using games technology and methodology to improve training & education - the opportunities and the issues", to be held on Wednesday 17th October 2007, at the DTI Conference Centre, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET:

• Introduction – Graeme Duncan, Chief Operating Officer, Caspian Learning (Seminar Chairman)


• Design to Engage Minds - Chris Brannigan, Founder of Caspian Learning & pedagogical advisor within Serious Games


• "Rapid Fire" Case Studies - Caspian Learning


• Closing Discussion - Graeme Duncan, COO Caspian Learning

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Serious Games For Primary And Early Years

Serious Games challenging us to play a better education

Via: Riverdeep Interactive Learning

Founded in Dublin in 1995, Riverdeep Interactive Learning has offices in Ireland, the UK and the US. Their Web-based and CD-ROM solutions can be found in more than 45,000 schools in over 20 countries worldwide. In April 2003, Riverdeep became a private entity.

Riverdeep in the UK

Riverdeep UK Limited is the operational and sales UK business based in Manchester. Riverdeep UK provides bespoke educational products developed specifically for The National Curriculum and UK schools, including training and technical support.

The Riverdeep Family

Destination Success from Riverdeep Interactive Learning is a series of comprehensive curriculum courseware modules that cover key elements of the national Numeracy and Literacy curriculum.

Destination Success is also fully referenced to the Maths and Language Scottish 5-14 curriculum, the Northern Ireland and Welsh curriculum.

Resources are available from Foundation Stage through to Key Stage 2 in Literacy and Foundation Stage to KS4 in Maths.

Destination Literacy

Foundation

This flexible and comprehensive literacy content introduces and reinforces key concepts based on the Early Years and Key Stage 1 Literacy curriculum.

This engaging and motivating content helps young children to learn phonics; phonemic awareness; vocabulary and develop reading comprehension skills.

This content also provides children with a wide range of authentic fiction and non-fiction texts. Topics based on age-related learning activities form a large bank of content providing teachers with flexible learning resources for class and individual use by young children.

Key Stage 1

Destination Maths

Available in individual courses from Foundation through to Key Stage 4, Destination Maths provides an essential ICT resource that is designed to underpin the delivery of the curriculum - either front-of-class or on a one-to-one basis.

Destination Maths: Foundation and Key Stage 1 introduces and supports the teaching of key mathematical concepts through a comprehensive on-line learning resource.

Foundation

Key Stage 1

Destination Maths: Key Stage 2/3 Transition. Linked to the National Numeracy Strategy learning objectives, the content is designed to provide support for pupils in transition between primary and secondary.

In Destination Maths: Key Stage 4 Algebra Plus, pupils continue their study of numbers and operations by exploring ratios, proportions, and irrational numbers and begin a study of algebra, geometry, statistics, and probability.

You can experience the online demos or request a free 30 day trial.

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Serious Games To Experience Surgery in High Definition

Via: Future Feeder

The da Vinci Surgical System, manufactured by Intuitive Surgical, has been successfully used for surgery with more precision, less pain, quicker recovery, and fewer complications.

The da Vinci Surgical System consists of an ergonomically designed surgeon’s console, a patient-side cart with four interactive robotic arms, the high-performance Vision System and proprietary EndoWrist Instruments.

The Vision System, with high-resolution 3-D endoscope and image processing equipment, provides the true-to-life 3-D images of the operative field. Operating images are enhanced, refined and optimized using image synchronizers, high-intensity illuminators and camera control units.

In robotic-assisted surgery, the da Vinci robot is an extension of the surgeon’s hands in a way not previously possible with minimally invasive surgery via laparoscopy. The robot takes a big step beyond traditional laparoscopy: it allows to operate more naturally, the way it is done in open surgeries, but still preserve a minimally invasive approach with small incisions.

As in laparoscopy, robotic surgery involves small incisions of one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch, into which sleeves are inserted as ports for placement of specialized instruments and a video camera.

After sleeve placement, the robot, much like a post with three arms, is wheeled over and its center arm docked to a port that holds the camera and the other arms docked to the instrument ports.

However, surgery with the da Vinci does not mean close proximity to the patient. Unlike with laparoscopy, the surgeon is seated across the room from the patient, with arms inserted into the nearby console, fingers on stirrup-like holders and eyes fixed on lenses for sharp magnified images of the surgical site. Focus is adjusted via foot pedals.

Another advantage with da Vinci is the elimination of tremor. Surgeons can scale, or ratio, their finger movement to that of the robotic instrument. A movement of inches at the console can be scaled down to centimeters in the patient.


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Serious Games Increasing Public Awareness About Energy Usage

Serious Games challenging us to play a better future

Via: Webware - Develop Sustainably With Electrocity

ElectroCity was developed to increase public awareness – particularly among students – about energy usage, its cost, and its effect on the environment. That is, the general terms and concepts of the industry and the dilemmas that go along with them.

The sponsor of the game, Genesis Energy, is an energy provider and retailer in New Zealand.

The goal is not to provide students with a sophisticated understanding of the controversies in the various energy debates. Rather, it's to spark an interest and lay an unbiased foundation for later learning. The sponsor of the game, Genesis Energy, is an energy provider and retailer in New Zealand.

Like a mini-version of SimCity, the Flash-based Web game ElectroCity lets you develop your own metropolis from the ground up.

ElectroCity is a fairly simple, turn-based strategy game. You get 150 turns to create your masterpiece, but the challenge is to allocate resources wisely as you build. One-hundred and fifty turns may seem like an eternity, but many of these will be skipped in the process of gathering cash and natural resources, so it's essential to build infrastructure early. A full game at average speed takes about 30 minutes. It's also easy to save any game in the middle, then restart later using a personalized city code the game assigns you.

Played on a 5x5 grid, ElectroCity starts you off with a small urban center, a population of 10,000, a 25 percent tax rate, and one wind farm that provides all the town's energy. Surrounding areas are randomly populated with forests, plains, mountains, rivers, or oceanfront property. Each area may provide resources that can only be discovered by prospecting.

Once you've discovered coal or gas, you can build plants and start selling energy on the open market. You can raise and lower taxes, and upgrade your wind, coal, and gas plants as you see fit.

Once you amass enough cash, you can start building luxury items such as sports stadiums, ski resorts, or beaches to attract a larger population. If you grow your population too quickly, however, you'll get crunched on your energy usage and end up paying through the nose on the open market.

If you make it to the end of the game, you'll receive a score based on your energy management, popularity, population, and environmental prowess.

After you've received your final score, you can submit your city to the Finished Cities page.

There's a resource area for teachers and some pretty impressive prizes being offered in two school competitions.

The game is designed to be played online - but something I found to be of interest is that there is an option to download a limited version of the game that runs on any computer and doesn't need Internet access, with two versions available, one for MacOSX and one for WindowsXP.


ElectroCity is not a win or lose game. There are lots of different ways to play and you can set your class specific objectives. For example, if you wish to try a green approach, a win might be considered any city with 50,000 people and an A rating in the environment category. Or you might focus on economics and get the kids to go for the most money.


ElectroCity is designed to be flexible, so you can use it as you wish. A whole module that deals with energy, the environment, tourism and growth could be centred around the game, mixing formal lessons with fun interactive game play. You could return to the game again and again over several weeks and compare how the kids played at the beginning with how they play at the end, putting their new knowledge into practical use and getting the kids to assess what they've learnt to help them make better decisions in the game.

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Serious Games Infuse Chemistry With Fun

Serious Games challenging us to play a better education

Anshul Samar

Via: Business and Games Blog and Elementeo - Injecting Fun Into Education

Business and Games Blog report "they only recently came across Elementeo, a project that combines chemistry and board games. Besides, the kid is priceless".

Mobilized by the latter, I've decided to further explore the subject.

For Anshul Samar, fun is thinking up an idea, creating a product based on it and selling it to the world.

Probably the youngest founder-CEO in the history of business, 13-year-old Samar is a seventh grader from Cupertino, California. He wants to “inject fun into education” by combining the elements of a fantasy wizard world with the textbook world, where fun and learning come together without clashing.

How did Samar get inspired to start the company? “Well, here I am, sitting in Silicon Valley where I constantly see all these adults going about and creating products. I didn't want the adults to have all the fun. :).”

Samar argues that textbooks are boring and kids would rather spend their time battling enemies, blowing things up with bombs, and yes, even giving their opponents lead poisoning.

So he created a fantasy role playing game that combines the rapturous teenage joys of competition and carnage with the exciting properties of the periodic table of chemical elements.

How the game works

You command an army of chemical elements, compounds and catalysts — represented within a 66-card deck.

The fire and brimstone card is for “Sulfur

Your opponent has his own deck with the same number of cards. Your goal is to battle your competitor and reduce his IQ down to zero.

Pit your oxygen card against your opponent’s iron card, for example, and you learn that you create rust. Score one for oxygen. Kind of like rock-paper-scissors, but with chemicals, dice and 66 impressively illustrated cards featuring monster-themed caricatures of chemicals.

Elementeo’s initial seed funding, which was used to design prototypes, came in the form of a $500 grant from the California Association for the Gifted.

His goal is to reach $1 million in revenues by the end of his first year on the job, which is by summer of 2008. He’s seeking funding to mass produce his idea and has been attending entrepreneurship technology conferences to gain some visibility. Impressive, how he’s put together a sharp team which includes his 11 year old sister as the VP of Sales.

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Serious Games Cool Enough For Home and Smart Enough For School

Neuromatrix challenging us to play astract concepts

Via: Morphonix - Neuromatrix Game and HealthData Management

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced the inaugural winners of its Games for Health Competition launched last fall.

Under the annual program, the Princeton, N.J.-based foundation awarded three prizes totaling $30,000 for development of computer and video games that promote improved health.

A $20,000 award for the open prototype/health game competition went to Sausalito, California-based Morphonix LLC, which develops educational video games for children.

Its Neuromatrix is a game designed to teach and keep adolescents ages 11-14 interested in learning about the brain. The game serves to show adolescents that the brain is not an abstract topic, and aims at inspiring more students to enter the field of neuroscience. Neuromatrix was funded by research grants from the National Institute of Health’s Small Business Innovation Program.

The game takes players through a series of short movies and games where they participate in a neurological exam very much like a neurologist would in a real life setting.

From the impressive video trailer, it seems a sort of 3D science-based adventure.

You play a secret agent infiltrating a top-secret neuroscience research facility.

Your mission: to track down and root out the Nanobots that have invaded the brains of the scientists there. If you fail, the Nanobots and the secret entity that spawned them will take over the Earth, reprogramming the human brain into docile submission.

You use detective work and a medically-based diagnostic process to isolate which parts of each scientist's brain the Nanobots have invaded.

Then you shrink down and enter the fantastical environments of the major structures of the brain. As you tackle each part, you learn about the scientific method, neurons, the motor cortex, the hippocampus and amygdala.

There are even extensive teacher's notes online, so adults can try and keep pace with the kids.

Morphonix develops video games which make the abstract concepts of brain science fun and comprehensible to children and teens.

Many software games spur kids to use their brains, but this is the first series of video games which also teaches children the science of their brains.

Morphonix games include Journey Into the Brain, an award winning game for children ages 7-11, the above-mentioned Neuromatrix, for 11-14 year-olds, and Every Body Has a Brain, recently funded, that will introduce children age 4-6 to the brain using music, motor, and story-based games.

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Fit Brains: Serious Games Bring Brain Fitness to Mainstream

Creating an online community for brain workouts

Via: Fit Brains - Guilt Free Fun!

Michael Cole, an experienced business executive who has been involved in the start-up of innovative consumer, media and technology companies in the US, Europe and Japan, in partnership with Dr. Paul Nussbaum, one of the top Neuropsychologists in the US, has launched a website called Fit Brains, which is combining science and entertainment in a very unique way.

Fit Brains aims to provide a web experience that is appealing to adults of all ages and elevates the concept and acceptance of brain fitness to the mainstream.

Created by Vivity Labs, Fit Brains is a website consisting of fun, engaging interactive games, personalized tools and community features.

Michael Cole - Founder and CEO of Vivity Labs, Inc., has become a leading expert in the brain fitness market in the last five years, when he first started building the brain fitness business.

Dr. Paul Nussbaum - Chief Scientific Officer, is a clinical neuropsychologist and national leader in Brain Health. He is quoted almost weekly in the national press (NY Times, USA Today, AARP, etc) as he is an expert on the aging brain. Dr. Nussbaum has published more than 50 peer reviewed articles and maintains a professorship at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also the recent winner of the 2007 American Society on Aging "Gloria Cavanaugh Award" for excellence in training and education in the field of aging.

The third partner, Adam Kolodziejczak - VP Technology, is an expert and executive producer from the “online casual game” space. He has been developing casual games that appeal to a large audience and have them playing again and again.

They share the philosophy that if you don’t make the games fun, no one will stick with it. If individuals don’t stick with it, what’s the point?

Fit Brains aspires to blend the best of both worlds: games that are scientifically based but extremely fun. In this sense, they shall be pushing the scientific parameters with the fun factor in a meta-game strategy.

Concentration Game

There are already two active games at Fit Brains website -- a concentration and a language game.

Language Game

Michael Cole anticipates that they will be building out 10 games in a relatively short period of time and then, scaling from there. The games will be tied to certain personalization tools in a social context.

Stay tuned - Fit Brains shall be adding a lot of exciting features in the weeks ahead.

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Serious Games For Immersing Yourself In Data

Serious Games as a three-screen immersive stereo projection

Via: VisionSpace - A visionary experience in virtual space

Architects taking clients on virtual tours of buildings they have designed, medical professionals viewing anatomic structures in 3D and museums bringing to life historic events and settings are some of the potential uses of new technology developed at at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ.

VisionSpace is a three-screen immersive stereo projection system for virtual reality applications that enables groups of people to view and intuitively interact with 3D virtual data in new ways. It is a resource for teaching and research, for academia, business and industry.

Essentially, this new technology allows you to walk into a room and immerse yourself in data that, until now, could only be seen two-dimensionally on a computer screen.

VisionSpace is available for hire as a theatre facility at the HIT Lab NZ or as portable systems that can be used anywhere in the country.

VisionSpace Theatre Facility

The VisionSpace theatre has three large projection screens capable of showing high resolution imagery. Movable frames allow different screen configuration layouts, the norm being a 120-degree field-of-view environment which creates a space about a dozen people can view at the same time.

Users wear light-weight polarised glasses to experience the 3D effect, and the system is complete with surround sound to provide a truly immersive environment.

The facility has been built with support from a Tertiary Education Commission Innovation and Development Fund grant worth more than half a million dollars.

VisionSpace Portable systems

VisionSpace is also available as a small portable visualisation systems that can be loaned to sites around New Zealand.

These portable systems use an active stereo single lens video projector (that operates at refresh rates between 100 -120 Hz) which makes setup very easy and quick. This special projector displays an interleaved stream of left and right images. Users wear LCD shutter glasses that are synchronized with the projector to block the appropriate images from the left and right eyes which creates the stereo effect. The result is flicker-free 3D imagery displayed at 50 - 60 Hz on standard portable projection screen that a small group of users can experience simultaneously. High end laptops or shuttle PCs are available with the systems, so everything that is needed will be provided.

For further information contact: visionspace@hitlabnz.org


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Serious Games To Address National Security Challenges

Forterra Systems creating a National Security Division

Via: Business Wire - Dr. Michael Macedonia Joins Forterra Systems to Lead New National Security Division

Forterra Systems, the market and technology leader in private virtual worlds (please find my prior post Forterra's Olive: An Attractive Platform for Serious Gaming ), announced last week the creation of a National Security Division that will be based on Orlando, FL.

Forterra’s National Security Division is a commitment on the part of the company to address the unique technology, business, and security challenges of the sector.

The new Division will be headed by Dr. Michael Macedonia, the former Director of the Disruptive Technology Office (DTO) and former Chief Technology Officer for the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI).

In his role as vice president and general manager of the company’s National Security Division, Macedonia will accelerate industry adoption of Forterra’s OLIVE™ (On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment) software platform.

The transformational technology of the OLIVE Platform allows government customers in the national security arena to rapidly generate realistic, collaborative, 3D Internet solutions that easily scale from single user applications to large-scale simulated environments supporting many thousands of concurrent users.

“We are thrilled to have Mike join Forterra in order to lead our National Security Division, located in the heart of Central Florida’s simulation industry and with the sole mission of focusing on our military, intelligence and homeland security customers,” said Dave Rolston, Forterra’s CEO. “Mike is a highly experienced defense technology executive who has demonstrated a keen ability to lead diverse teams of professionals to new levels of success in a variety of technical and fast-paced organizations. His breadth of experience will better serve our national security customers as they look to us for innovative virtual world solutions."

Macedonia led the DTO where he built a program management team and technology portfolio for the intelligence community that is having a major impact on science and U.S. national security. At PEO STRI, Macedonia was responsible for developing the technology strategy for the U.S. Army’s lead training and instrumentation acquisition organization.

As CTO for PEO STRI, he led the Army’s effort to develop the Institute for Creative Technologies, initiated the Full Spectrum Warrior X-Box project, and encouraged the Army’s adoption of advanced super-computing technologies for training and simulation.

“I joined Forterra because I believe the world is rapidly being transformed by 3D Internet technologies and that Forterra is the leader with a truly disruptive capability. We are in a time of unprecedented opportunities for the company and its partners in the defense, intelligence, and homeland security communities,” said Macedonia. “Having a separate division dedicated to National Security allows Forterra to remain nimble and ride the wave of commercial developments yet be able to address the unique long term business, accounting and security clearance requirements essential for success with the government.”

Virtual worlds built on Forterra’s OLIVE Platform allow these organizations to quickly construct realistic scenarios, modify or augment the environment, conduct training and mission-rehearsal exercises, and review outcomes. For defense partners, OLIVE’s distributed virtual world technology makes it an ideal platform for quickly transferring lessons learned between deployed and pre-deployed units in rapidly changing operational conditions and for developing joint, interagency and multinational teams. In the homeland security arena, virtual training applications built on Forterra’s OLIVE Platform provide a flexible and cost-effective extension to existing training methodologies, dramatically increasing the opportunities for first-responder training.

Macedonia is a 1979 graduate of the United States Military Academy and served as an infantry officer in a variety of command and staff positions in the United States and overseas assignments including Germany and the Middle East. Following his military service, Macedonia became the Vice-president of the Fraunhofer Center for Research in Computer Graphics, Inc. (CRCG) in Providence, Rhode Island. Macedonia has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and a M.S. in Telecommunications and is a contributing editor to IEEE Computer.

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Global Kids: Serious Games Reach Non-Profits

Serious Games challenging us to play a better future

Via: Global Kids Digital Media Initiative

GLOBAL KIDS AND PARTNERS TO LAUNCH NON-PROFIT FOCUS AT TOP CONVENTION ON VIRTUAL WORLDS

Global Kids and the MacArthur Foundation have partnered to announce a new nonprofit and philanthropic theme for the third annual Second Life Community Convention (SLCC), to be held August 24-26 in Chicago (please find my prior posting Upcomig Serious Games Events "Check-In" ).

The funder behind the effort is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which views the new SLCC work as one of the next steps in the Foundation's year-long exploration of the role of philanthropy in virtual worlds. The new focus for SLCC builds on Global Kids' path-breaking educational programming in that environment.

For the conference portion, a new event thread will weave between all four tracks: business, education, social and machinima. For each track, a panel will be developed that focuses on how non-profit organizations are utilizing virtual worlds to extend their mission and reach. The panels will feature:

* Education keynote Connie Yowell, Director of Education at the MacArthur Foundation, will address the importance of virtual worlds for informal learning and its nonprofits.

* Philanthropy funders, including foundation, corporate and government organizations who are supporting work in virtual worlds, such as the MacArthur Foundation and Learn and Serve America, will discuss the role of philanthropy in virtual worlds.

* A panel on Best Practices in Bringing Non-profits into Second Life including such organizations as the University of Southern California, UNICEF, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Idealist.org and TechSoup.

* A teen-led mini-machinima festival, in which teens from two non-profit programs will showcase their work using Second Life to make animated movies about social and global issues.

* An Educational Non-profit's History of the Teen Grid: Global Kids' Adventure in Best Practices.

Following SLCC, two papers will be developed by Global Kids. The first will analyze the education track and be titled The Virtual Worlds for Learning Roadmap, while the second will analyze the non-profit thread.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grant making institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition. MacArthur's $50 million digital media and learning initiative aims to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. See also MacArthur Announces $2 Million Digital Media and Learning Competition;

Background

Global Kids is a world leader in using virtual worlds for education. Over the past year and a half, with the generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Global Kids has received national recognition for its innovative use of virtual worlds for education about global issues and civic engagement.

In February 2006, Global Kids launched GK Island, becoming the first non-profit to build land within the Teen Second Life grid. Since then, Global Kids has used Teen Second Life to solicit essays on young people's relationship with digital media; conducted an intensive summer camp in which youth learned about and took action on critical global issues; organized a collaborative program with UNICEF to educate youth about an international agreement, A World Fit for Children; brought in guest speakers, such as Mia Farrow discussing the genocide in Darfur; and involved youth in ongoing leadership development programming. This work is detailed on the blog http://www.holymeatballs.org/

Global Kids work in Second Life builds upon its more than 15 years of experience in youth leadership development and international affairs education, as well as its role as a national leader in using serious online games for educational purposes.

"Global Kids' Second Life programs offer young people a world in which their characters can take part in myriad workshops and games that educate them about major world issues and events, from the International Criminal Court to global warming and child labor," says Carole Artigiani, Global Kids Executive Director. "Players learn how to communicate, collaborate, negotiate, and mobilize their peers for social change. We are excited to organize this component of the conference and bring greater attention to the potential that virtual worlds hold for the nonprofit community as a whole."

About Global Kids, Inc.

Founded in 1989, Global Kids' mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Through professional development initiatives, Global Kids provides educators with strategies for integrating experiential learning methods and international issues into urban classrooms. Over ninety percent of the high school seniors who participate in Global Kids' leadership program graduate from high school.

About Global Kids' Online Leadership Program (OLP)

Global Kids' Online Leadership Program, now in its sixth year, integrates the use of the Internet into GK's leadership development and international affairs programming. The OLP equips youth with the skills necessary to use the Internet as a tool for research and social change and develops online resources for educators and young people to promote civic engagement and global literacy. Currently, the OLP is accomplishing these goals through initiatives within two broad areas: youth-led online dialogues and the development of socially-conscious games. The OLP has built strong collaborative relationships with Microsoft, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and the game design company gameLab, among others.

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Brainloop: Serious Games For Mentally Visualized Interfaces

Serious Games as Brain Computer Interfaces

Via: Aksioma.org

Brainloop is an interactive performance platform that utilizes a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) system, which allows a subject to operate devices merely by imagining specific motor commands.

These mentally visualized commands may be seen as the rehearsal of a motor act without the overt motor output; a neural synapse occurs but the actual movement is blocked at the corticospinal level.

Motor imagery such as "move left hand", "move right hand" or "move feet" become non-muscular communication and control signals that convey messages and commands to the external world.

In Brainloop, the subject, Markus Rapp, is able - without physically moving - to investigate urban areas and rural landscapes as he globe-trots around virtual Google Earth.

Through motor imagery, he selects locations, camera angles and positions and records these image sequences in a virtual world. In the second half of the performance, he plays back the sequence and uses Brainloop to compose a custom soundtrack by selecting and manipulating audio recordings in real time, as sound designer Brane Zorman re-locates them (5.1 surround) into the physical space.

This work results from a multi-year collaboration between Slovenian media artists and Austrian scientists. Its author is the Slovenian media artist Davide Grassi. Responsible for the BCI application is Reinhold Scherer from the BCI-Lab of the TUG.

Brainloop has been awarded with the ARCO/BEEP Electronic Art Prize (category Off-ARCO) at ARCO 07, Madrid, Spain.

BCI - Brain–Computer Interfaces

The aim is to provide the brain with a new, non-muscular communication and control channel, a direct brain–computer interface for conveying messages and commands to the external world.

A variety of methods for monitoring brain activity might serve as a BCI.

The methods taken in consideration are the Electroencephalography (EEG) and related methods which are non-invasive, have relatively short time constants, can function in most environments, and require relatively simple and inexpensive equipment.

Find more at http://www.aksioma.org/brainloop/bci.html

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ARTag: Serious Games To Easily Create Your Own AR

Serious Games For Real-Time Video-Based AR

Via: National Research Council Canada, ARTag Net, and Digital Urban

In augmented reality (AR), users wear specialized glasses or look through a modified viewing screen to see the real world, as well as augmentations in the virtual world.

AR differs from virtual reality because users can interact with the physical world while still seeing the virtual augmentations. The most commonly used form of AR is the "Heads Up Display" in some aircraft that allows pilots to see the ground below them in addition to superimposed virtual targets.

A basic challenge in AR is to track a user's viewpoint in real-time, which is normally done using a video camera. The most successful method of tracking is to use a predefined 2D pattern, relative to which virtual objects are drawn.

The goal of the Real-Time Video-Based Augmented Reality project is to improve the tracking technology of such patterns.

Ultimately, researchers hope to track the camera path in real-time in an unstructured environment, which can be used in both augmented reality and model building applications.

The two pictures show the augmentation of virtual objects onto the planar scene. One shows a 2d picture being augmented, and the other shows a 3d cube being augmented. Both are augmented in real-time

This technology is available without cost as a non-commercial download at Download ARTag.

ARTag

ARTag is an "Augmented Reality" system where virtual objects, games, and animations appear to enter the real world.

3D graphics is added in real time to video, similar to "view matching" in Hollywood, except that with Augmented Reality it is happening online.

ARTag "Magic Lens" and "Magic Mirror" systems use arrays of the square ARTag markers added to objects or the environment allowing a computer vision algorithm to calculate the camera "pose" in real time, allowing the CG (computer graphics) virtual camera to be aligned. This gives the illusion of 3D animations or video games to appear to belong in the real world.

There are two ways to use ARTag AR; "Magic Lens" and "Magic Mirror".

ARTag "Magic Lens" Systems

With a "Magic Lens", a user holds a tablet PC, PDA, or camera cell phone (or any computer device with a dispay and camera) and looks "through" it to see the mixture of real and virtual reality.

See demo "Magic Lens" videos on YouTube

ARTag "Magic Mirror" Systems

ARTag can also be used in a "Magic Mirror" mode, in which a single video camera looks out from near a screen and the user sees his or her "reflection" in the screen, with virtual objects superimposed on the real-world image.

See demo "Magic Mirror" video on YouTube.

A Magic Lens system is mostly a private experience, every user needs their own hardware, whereas in a "Magic Mirror" system a single video camera looks out from near a large screen and users see their "reflection" with 3D content added.

For more information, please see the ARTag project page and the Tutorial - Quick and Easy Augmented Reality from

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Serious Games Delivering Retail Career Key Messages

Serious Games promoting career opportunities in retail

Via: PIXELearning and Skillsmart Retail

Skillsmart Retail is a genuinely enjoyable game. Although its target audience ranges between 14 to 19 year olds, I've seen some senior retailers and marketers having a great playful time as they go through the various quizzes and game levels.

PIXELearning were commissioned to create an online game specifically to help Skillsmart Retail to address the skills shortage in the UK retail sector and to help to overcome the perception amongst British teenagers that retail is a deadend career.

The game is freely available online and allows users to undertake a mini interview before working through four levels in different retail environments with an increasing degree of responsibility.

Various implicit and explicit game elements serve to reinforce the key messages that retail careers offer, which are delivered via a case study narrative (audio and text) and hidden messages that can be accessed by clicking on screen.

The goal of the game is for players to maximise sales in a retail environment. External ‘events’ will affect possible demand, such as seasonality, and are fed to the user as quick bulletins.

PIXELearning also added a public high score table and the ability to set up mini-leagues between friends.

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Serious Games For Rethinking Online Learning

Serious Games overcoming limitations of online learning environments

Via: University Of Minnesota Digital Media Center and The Croquet Consortium

Croquet is a powerful new open source software development environment for creating and deploying deeply collaborative multi-user online applications on multiple operating systems and devices.

It features a peer-based network architecture that supports communication, collaboration, resource sharing, and synchronous computation between multiple users on multiple devices.

"Editing a non-player character"

Croquet is also different from many other educational gaming projects in that it is an attempt to overcome the limitations of traditional online learning environments.

"One Croquet space embedded within another"

"Molecular visualization in a virtual learning space"

It enables learners not only to gather, discuss, and analyze information, but also to actively construct it. They can manipulate and annotate and even make 3D objects (admittedly primitive ones), and eventually will be able to attach behaviors to those objects.

"3D spreadsheet"

"Synchronized visualizations"

In its current form making worlds in Croquet requires considerable programming and graphic art skills, but as more people use the program they will develop a library of shared objects and worlds to which any user will have access.

In other words, the more people work with this open source software, the more user-friendly it will be.

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Serious Games For Diversity and Inclusion

Serious Games and PIXELearning challenging us to be "Diverse by Design"

Via: PIXELearning and Global Lead

PIXELearning, object of my very first posting on Serious Games, are in the process of developing a very extensive training simulation in partnership with Global Lead.

The project is being sponsored by a large US retail bank and a large US-based convenience food chain.

The simulation is designed to foster a wider awareness of diversity and inclusion issues and to enable staff at all levels to be able to apply this knowledge in their commercial environment to deliver clear business benefits.

View intro video (Flash, 12Mb)

Global Lead, "Diverse by Design", provides services in a broad range of human resource topics, Diversity being one of their focus areas.

PIXELearning are moving

PIXELearning will be packing it’s bags and making the short journey to the new Serious Games Institute (SGI), in early September.

The ‘SGI’ will host several companies working in the field of serious games.

This project aims to bring together the expertise of Coventry University, Warwick University and Henley FE College to support the diversification of the games industry into the Serious Games market.

The Serious Games Institute will act as a national and international flagship for the region, as a leader in the development of the emerging Serious Games sector, as well as supporting the development of a viable new business sector in the CSW HTC.

A number of key business partners from the games sector will be involved in its operation: they will facilitate access to the technology test bed for companies seeking diversification into Serious Games, offer business mentoring and be involved with specialist workshops and seminars.

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BW Special Report: The Power Of (Serious) Gaming

Serious Games are Big Business - but how big?

Via: Business Week Innovation and Design - The Power of Gaming

Highlights

The recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report estimates that the video game market will increase from $31.6 billion in 2006 to $48.9 billion in 2011 (please find my prior posting Serious Games: A Sizeable Market - Update) . Business Week exclusive series looks at just some of the innovations that are sparking this growth rate.

BW Special Report on the Power of Gaming and related items embed almost 10 articles, some of of which address the increasing contribution of Serious Games to the overall game market.

The article Getting Serious About Gaming challenges us to look to the fringe and see two promising areas for growth that aren't acknowledged by the PwC report: the broad category of serious games and the newer attempts to meld gaming with the social-networking features of Web 2.0.

According to Evan Wilson, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, the real growth in video games will come from these areas. "Traditional games have become too complex for all but the most hard-core players in the industry, and it's the stimulation of the non-hard-core audience that will drive meaningful industry growth," Wilson said.

In the article Video Games Entertain and Educate, David Perry predicts future efforts from the major gaming studios that will result in, “games that promote positive values, or that teach or inspire players".

But it's on the article The Name of the Game Is Work that I would like to focus on.

Companies are creating their own online video games to recruit, train, and communicate more effectively across divisions and continents.

Even more traditionally conservative industries such as insurance and finance are now giving immersive games a whirl. According to a 2007 survey by the eLearning Guild, which polled nearly 1,500 of its members, from large and small companies throughout the U.S., 38% of insurance companies are investigating using games for work. In finance, accounting, and banking, that figure was above 50%.

To be competitive globally "requires deep creativity and imagination, strategic and analytical thinking, decision-making, excellence in planning and execution, and adaptation to rapid change. These key skills are the skills people exercise when they play sophisticated digital games."

Here are some of the companies creating innovative online games for their employees.

CEO of the Future

McKinsey & Co.'s German headquarters has been using a game called CEO of the Future for the past several years. In the game, contestants try leading a company: Players who increase the value of the company by the largest margin win.

Freshman Orientation

Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development has used an online "university" for three years to help new hires acclimate. The university, called 3DU, resembles the popular virtual world Second Life: all new employees get an avatar and can sign on at any time to walk around, meet their colleagues, and ask questions about benefits such as health care.

Mission Possible

This past spring, the same pharmaceutical R&D company within J&J, launched a game called Mission Possible to let people new to the department better understand the drug development process and to help veteran regulation experts get up to speed on the latest trends in drug marketing. Employees had to develop a new drug to treat schizophrenia, and answer questions at various stages of the drug development process from characters such as Dan Discovery or Marvel Marketing. After answering questions correctly, they got their passports stamped and were able to move up through the game's levels.

Simplicity Showdown

Royal Philips Electronics has used a game with its employees called the Simplicity Showdown. The game was intended to help the North American division of the company better understand brand strategy and to improve communication between managers and far-flung staff. Teams traveled virtually around the world, to landmarks where Philips products were used, and were tested on Philips' strategy. The 4,000 Philips employees who played had to answer 250 questions over four weeks. The winning team got to hold its annual real life strategy meeting on the beach in the Bahamas

Innov8

This fall, IBM will start selling a 3D immersive business game to its consulting clients to help employees improve business processes. Players will go into a virtual business unit to tackle such tasks as redesigning a call center, opening a brokerage account, or processing an insurance claim.

Who Wants to Be a Sales Star?

Sears Retail Training has used a game that incorporates elements of Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to help its 10,000 sales associates improve customer experience in stores. In one part of the game, salespeople have to choose photographs and text to engage customers. If they ask the right questions and create an optimal customer experience, they sell their product. In another part of the game, they practice demonstrating the features of products such as tractors so they can do the same task more effectively in real world stores.

In these games, players can quickly change their management style if it doesn't work. "The lessons learned in these games become increasingly useful as companies become less command-and-control and more a series of distributed networks around the world."

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MacArthur Announces $2 Million Digital Media and Learning Competition

Serious Games shaping digital learning environments

Via: Digital Media and Learning Competition Official Site - Announcing the Competition: Press Release

CHICAGO, IL – The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced yesterday a public competition that will award $2 million in funding to emerging leaders, communicators, and innovators shaping the field of digital media and learning.

The competition is part of MacArthur’s $50 million Digital Media and Learning five-year initiative launched in 2006 to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life.

“An open competition is an excellent way to identify and hopefully inspire new ideas about learning in an increasingly digital world,” MacArthur Foundation President Jonathan Fanton said. “We do not yet know how much people are changing because of digital media, but we hope that this competition will help support the most innovative thinking about learning, the formation of ethical judgments, peer mentoring, creativity, and civic participation, all of which are increasingly conducted online.”

Awards will be given in two categories:

• Innovation Awards will support learning pioneers, entrepreneurs, and builders of new digital learning environments for formal and informal learning. These innovations might range from a teacher add-on for MySpace that allows for safe assigning of a class group discussion, to a platform co-developed by teachers and students to facilitate digital literacy and peer-mentoring between college students and high-school drop-outs earning their GED degrees, to a digital learning festival for the leaders of a worldwide youth environmental campaign.


• Knowledge Networking Awards will support communicators in connecting, mobilizing, circulating or translating new ideas around digital media and learning. For example, a team of teacher bloggers who already reach hundreds of thousands of readers may now seek to provide multimedia coverage and translation of MIT Professor Henry Jenkins’ recent white paper on media literacy.

The open competition will be administered by a network of educators and digital innovators called “HASTAC” (the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory). HASTAC was founded and is primarily operated at two university centers, the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University. HASTAC has a network reaching more than 80 institutions globally. The choice of HASTAC, one of a new breed of “virtual institutions,” reflects MacArthur’s goals in promoting next-generation learning.

“We are already teaching a generation of students who do not remember a time before they were online,” said Cathy N. Davidson, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University and co-founder of HASTAC. “Their social life and informal learning are interconnected. They don’t just consume media, they customize it. These students bring fascinating new skills to our classrooms, but they also bring an urgent need for critical thinking about the digital world they have inherited and are shaping.”

As part of their prize, awardees will receive special consultation support on everything from technology development to management training. Winners will be invited to showcase their work at a conference that will include venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, educators and policy makers seeking the best ideas about digital learning. Applications are due Oct. 15, 2007, and prizewinners will be announced in January. Detailed information on the competition is available online at http://www.dmlcompetition.net/.

“With the digital media and learning initiative, the MacArthur Foundation is playing a leading role in reshaping both institutional and informal learning practices,” said David Theo Goldberg, HASTAC co-founder and director of the University of California’s Humanities Research Institute. “Traditional learning practices are being supplemented and supplanted by new digital media, which both enable and extend their reach through virtual institutions like HASTAC. This is a natural partnership.”

This HASTAC competition is supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to the University of California, in collaboration with Duke University. The University of California Humanities Research Institute and Duke University's John Hope Franklin Center are the principle administering bodies for this grant on behalf of HASTAC.

About the MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grant making institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition.

About HASTAC
A consortium of humanists, artists, scientists, social scientists and engineers from universities and other civic institutions across the U.S. and internationally, HASTAC is committed to new forms of collaboration for thinking, teaching, and research across communities and disciplines fostered by creative uses of technology. More information is available at http://www.hastac.org/.

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Serious Games And Generation G: Rewiring The Way We Learn

A new generation of learners that is all about game

Via: Educause Connect and Edutechie.com - Generation G and the 21st Century

The proceeding of EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Spring 2007 Focus Session on Immersive Learning Environments: New Paths to Interaction and Engagement, includes the hand-out for Richard Van Eck's fantastic presentation "Generation G and the 21st Century.

In this presentation, Richard Van Eck, Associate Professor and Graduate Director of the Instructional Design & Technology program at the University of North Dakota, discusses the theory behind the effectiveness of games in teaching and learning and what this will mean for schools.

Excerpts

How Technology Has Changed Our Learners

Right at the beginning of the presentation he demonstrates how schools and institutions as a whole are out of touch with the way technology has changed learners.

Richard Van Eck defines technology as "what becomes available AFTER you were a teenager":

✓ radio and the telephone for many born in the 20s and 30s

✓ TV for those born in the 50-60’s

✓ Internet for many born in the 80-90’s.

But for those born in the 90s and beyond...

✓ NOTHING is technology yet them because they are comfortable with all of it!

This generation is absolutely saturated with media and stimuli from dozens of sources at once. Because Generation G loves games and gaming, it is easy to dismiss them as flighty, spoiled, unwilling to work… but the truth is they actually possess the 21st century skills.

Generation G grew up getting awards for 8th place (or just for showing up), with first grade graduation ceremonies, expecting the environment to adapt to them
and promotions after six weeks.

Gamers & 21st Century Skills

"Gamers have amassed thousands of hours of rapidly analyzing new situations, interacting with characters they don’t really know, and solving problems quickly and independently.”

Gamers are Team Players

When presented with the statement, ‘I find people more stimulating than anything else’, nongamers express the lowest average need for others’ companionship at work and those with frequent gaming experience express
this need most often.

Gamers Live in an N Dimensional World

The tools we are comfortable with--linear models, printed spreadsheets, single point estimates, and rules of thumb--simply can’t guide us through the complex, volatile and sometimes unknowable factors that now drive many decisions, or should.

Generation G already used to thinking in these ways--really living in dataspace. Cutting edge analytic tools that look a lot more like video games than office suites have already helped...Using this technology is a purely digital, interactive
experience. There IS no hard copy to fall back on...”

Impractical & dangerous to dismiss them

✓ 80 million Generation G
✓ Same number as boomers
✓ Will be 10 million more jobs than workers by 2010
✓ Industry & schools have no CHOICE but to find ways to channel Millennial
strengths and adapt the work environment

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Serious Games Providing Physical Response To Learners

Haptic interaction for immersive learning environments

Via: Envision Center for Data Perceptualization at Purdue University

Purdue's Envision Center for Data Perceptualization allows researchers and students to see—and feel—what couldn't be seen before.

"I've been in the cosmos and other solar systems—been able to walk through star fields," says Gary Bertoline.

"I've gone through the Parthenon when it was so new the marble floors were reflecting light. It's incredible the sense you get when you walk through there," he says.

"I've walked through molecules and large proteins," he says.

Bertoline may not have literally seen planets in other solar systems or seen Greek temples while the paint was still drying, but Bertoline has seen what couldn't be seen before. This is possible thanks to an arena of technology called visualization.

Gary R. Bertoline is a distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University , Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies, and Co-Director of the Envision Center for Data Perceptualization .

His research interests are in applying computer graphics, immersive interactive environments, and virtual reality to visualize, interact, and analyze engineering and scientific data and information.

Advances in computing platforms and instrumentation techniques have resulted in an exponential growth of data. Efficient interpretation of this data is fast emerging as a key-challenge in science, engineering, and business. The human-computer interface has emerged as a major information bottleneck: computer speeds increase, but human comprehension does not.

Haptics and Visualization Provide Intuitive Interface To Learners

In the real-world, humans have the natural ability to perceive several things effectively through a combination of multiple sensory modes. Humans have an innate capability to seamlessly communicate, perceive, and interact with others and the environment using these models.

Large scale immersive visualization systems provide good visual perception.

Going beyond the human visual systems, haptic interaction add another dimension to the human experience when dealing with complex problems and research output. Haptic devices are used to physically interact with the data through force feedback mechanisms.

Using Haptic Devices for Granular Material Interaction

Laptop connected to Phantom haptic device

Sequence of images showing sand manipulation

The integration of this technology with our understanding of human cognition is the framework Bertoline calls perceptualization.

These same technology can be applied to data visualization which is the conversion of large data sets of non-physical information into a visual through the use of computer graphics. Data visualization can increase the comprehension of huge amounts of data and allows for the perception of emergent properties that were not anticipated.

Learning Experiences of the Future

This research is engaged in the development of the cyberinfrastructure and learning materials necessary to systemically change teaching and learning.

Zecosystem is the framework for a learning ecosystem that is built on the fundamental premise that learning experiences of the future will be multi-sensory, engage multiple technologies and significant computational power invisibly and continuously.

Zecosystem is the complementary convergence framework of pedagogy, cyberinfrastructure , and social-behavioral sciences to create a student lifestyle oriented neural learning environment .

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Serious Gaming With Better Viewing Experiences

Serious Games challenging us to play anywhere

Via: Microvision - Better Viewing Experiences from Mobile Devices

Microvision is working with business partners to enable better viewing experiences for users of mobile devices. The small screens of today’s devices limits our ability to imagine, entertain, and share.

Pico Projector (PicoP) - Mobile Projection

Pico Projector Displays

With Microvision's PicoP display the images work on flat as well as curved surfaces. PicoP is an ultra miniature projection module capable of producing full color, high-resolution images but small enough and low power enough to be embedded directly into mobile devices such as cell phones, portable media players, digital cameras, portable computers and more.

Below are application scenarios for accessory and embedded projectors that use Microvision's PicoP display engine. These scenarios span environments, device types, and demographics, further illustrating the need to break through the display bottleneck.

Portable Play Display

Personal Projection

Conference Anywhere

Wearable Displays: Mobile Device Eyewear

Mobile device eyewear, currently in the initial development phase, would combine Microvision's ultraminiature PicoP display engine with special optics that are embedded into fashionable or protective eyeglasses.

The information being displayed in the eyewear optics would originate in the mobile device and arrive at the eyeglasses through a wired or wireless connection.

The mobile device eyewear viewing experience could be completely see through, providing the wearer with a visual information overlay, while not losing awareness of their surroundings. Or, the viewing experience could be occluded, offering the wearer an immersive, visual experience where the wearer purposefully escapes their immediate surroundings.

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Serious Games: A Sizeable Market Via SlideShare

After publishing my recent post "Serious Games: A Sizeable Market - Update" late June, I've received quite a few inquiries about the availability of any market report/number crunching for the segment.

This is why I've decided to consolidate the related content I've been gathering, for the last one year or so, and publish it in a concise, slide sharing format. Data sources are detailed on slides 21 and 22.

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Serious Games: You As The Boss Of A Global Business - Update

Serious Games challenging us to build a global business empire

Via: Tycoon Systems - IndustryPlayer Masters- Business Strategy Game

Following my previous post "Serious Games: You As The Boss Of A Global Business", dated February 2007, the latest, free trial version of the game is available for download at http://www.industryplayer.com/download.php.

IndustryPlayer is a complex and challenging online business simulation game that makes it fun and exciting to engage in corporate competition.

The goal of this game is to maximize your market share and wealth. IndustryPlayer uses actual industry data and allows its ca. 150,000 worldwide players to simulate real business conditions in a real-time, interactive environment.

Latest Versions History

Since my prior posting, a few improvements have been introduced such as taking into account the greenhouse gas emissions.

The new version 5.40 includes re-adjusted econometrics to increase the competitive dynamics in all industry sectors.

About The Game

The goal is to maximize the share price while investing a variable amount of seed capital in a corporation with an unlimited number of product lines. The simulation plays out dynamically, based on all participants decisions.

Price wars, fierce battles for market dominance, hostile takeovers, dynamic credit ratings, volatile market trends, crippling interest rates for the careless and predator Corporate Trusts are just some of the hazards in the jungle of business tycoonery, through which IndustryPlayer CEO's must steer their empires.

There are 10 levels with 120 turns each. Gameplay is infinite, with the option to go back and start again to improve upon the previous cycle's financial performance and record a higher score.

But it's not all about the bottom line. Corporate Social Responsibility is a serious cost factor when building a global business empire. Your CSR rating is ranked according to your regard for people and resources.

By joining other companies and pooling resources to reduce production costs, and strengthening market positions, corporate collaborators learn the value of networking and negotiation.

IndustryPlayer Masters is made for business students that want to attend an online MBA crash course. It’s skill training for virtual entrepreneurs and an addictive online game for serious strategy gamers.

About Tycoon Systems

Tycoon Systems develops business simulation technologies with a specific focus on educational business games for entrepreneurs and business students.

They believe games and game technology are poised to transform the way we educate and train students at all levels. Education and information, skill training, even political and religious beliefs can be communicated via video games. But these games and repurposed game technology, collectively called "serious games," have yet to be fully embraced by educators.

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Serious Games Also Building Virtual History Curriculum

Serious Games making inroads in the field of Educational Simulation

Via: Knowledge Matters Inc. and Gizmag - An Overview of KMI's Educational Simulations Portfolio

Not all that long ago, simulation software was only available to a select few for military decision-making, architectural analysis and flight simulation, where a mistake could costs a lot of lives or money or both.

Business simulation games such as Railroad Tycoon and Sim City were the first to reach the population at large, transfixing players with convincing virtual environments designed to entertain, but they were not geared to specific, measurable, teaching goals and it was only a matter of time before software developers set out to harness the appeal and complexity of computer games to teach and assess business skills.

KMI began developing computer-generated simulations (sims) for use as learning tools in 1997, after founder and CEO Peter Jordan, a software developer who previously worked with McGraw-Hill, the text and educational materials publisher, received a grant from the Federal Department of Education to further explore the feasibility of sims as educational models for classrooms across the nation.

Knowledge Matters introduced its first product, Virtual Business – Retailing in 1999, and the company now has two other software-based simulation Virtual Business (VB) programs, VB – Sports and VB – Management (VBM). My previous post addresses exactly this suite.

After eight years of success, the lessons learned in business simulation are also being applied to historical simulation.

Moving into history

Knowledge Matters released late 2006 a simulation on ancient Egypt for middle school students (grades 5 – 8), the first in its new line of educational simulations for social studies. The product is based on techniques honed with the three Virtual Business products used by half a million students in 3500 middle and high schools.

The multi-level , 5 – 7 day, Virtual History - Ancient Egypt module is intended as a capstone to a traditionally taught section on ancient Egypt.

Designers used depictions from 4000 year-old cave paintings to build realistic experiences of daily life along the Nile. Students assume the role of village leaders who assign work tasks, monitor signs from nature, construct housing, and provide food and protection for their ever-expanding population.

Virtual History - Ancient Egypt

The students’ decisions determine whether their village succeeds or its inhabitants die of starvation. Assessment tools include quizzes and tests administered throughout.

Knowledge Matters spent two years developing the program. Its creators worked with principals, teachers, special needs professionals, curriculum and technical coordinators in 15 individual classrooms observing 350 students interact with the software.

Virtual History – Ancient Egypt is now being followed by programs centered on early settlements in America, ancient Greece, and westward expansion.

Virtual History - Settling America

Even with a three-fold increase in use anticipated for the business and history sims, however, Eric Olsson, KM’s vice president, who joined the company shortly after Retailing entered the market, and a former teacher himself, explained that the company’s products are part of a still-fledgling cultural change in the educational sector. Still, he said it’s a movement that is gaining momentum and pointing schools toward more interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and non-traditional teaching tools.

Interdisciplinary Approach

Taught through a series of mini-tutorials within the sim (a student must pass a threequestion quiz before moving on), these historical facts touch on economic variables, technological advances, and available resources, among others, and lead to specific benchmarks that must be achieved.

Students must successfully farm and refine grain to make bread and consequently feed the village, for example, but must also avoid the destruction of crops and the loss of lives to the annual flood of the Nile. And in the final level of the sim, students can only successfully construct a pyramid after they have secured the necessary manpower, tools, and materials.

“Students can employ different strategies to achieve goals and address problems,” Olsson explained, noting that they can even change history with the right set of decisions.

“These programs are more about teaching concepts, and if a student’s decisions lead to an outcome that is different than what really happened, that’s fine – it’s then up to the teacher to underscore that their decisions made happen what could have happened, but didn’t.”

Leveling the Field

That notion of ‘what if’ teaching models is one that is pervasive in all of KM’s products, and is also one that has shown promise as a teaching tool for students who have difficulty with more traditional teaching methods.

“Sims have a very real leveling effect,” said Jordan, likening the work students put in to increase their convenience store’s profits or tame unruly fans at their arena to a game of golf. “It doesn’t matter how pretty you look getting the ball in the hole, as long as it goes in. It’s the same for these kids … it doesn’t matter how they increased their profits, it just matters that they did.

Overall though, the most notable phenomenon Jordan and Olsson have recognized within schools using their sims is the ‘flip factor.’

“Because the programs are interactive with students, kids aren’t passive listeners in the classrooms,” said Olsson. “They’re engaged in the program and will work for hours, including on their own time, to move forward in the program. In turn, that flips the teacher role – instead of teachers constantly trying to draw information from the students, the students are starting to draw knowledge out of the teacher.”

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Serious Games To Build A Virtual Business Curriculum

Serious Games challenging us to mimic real life management situations

Via: Knowledge Matters - Virtual Business Suite

Virtual Business is a suite of business and marketing simulations designed with the educator in mind. Topics covered include Marketing, Introduction to Business, Management, Supervision, Sports Marketing and Management, Retailing, and Entrepreneurship.

Currently used in 3000 schools in the United States and abroad, Knowledge Matters’ Virtual Business programs are designed to give students interactive learning experiences as virtual business owners and managers

Virtual Business - Management 2.0 (VBM)

This standards-based program adds a multiplayer capacity to the original version allowing teams to “steal” each other’s customers and employees while motivating cooperative thinking and team strategy.

To mimic real life management situations, VBM developers worked in conjunction with a major food distributor to embed variables in the simulation that test players’ abilities to score ever-higher profits running a distribution company.

Virtual Business - Retailing 2.0 (VBR)

VBR is a software-based simulation of a convenience store that motivates students to want to learn more about business and marketing, empowering players with control over pricing, promotion, merchandising, market research, and more.

Multiplayer Competitions. Students are able to set up their own store and compete against their classmates for customer share and profit. A teacher scoreboard shows the scores of individual students as they fight it out to see who will have the leading store in this virtual city.

Virtual Business - Sports

This software-based simulation of a football franchise lets students handle promotion, ticket pricing, stadium operations and staffing, sponsors and licensing deals, and more.

About Knowledge Matters, Inc.

Knowledge Matters is a developer and publisher of educational software for high school and middle school classrooms. The company was founded in 1997 by Peter Jordan, with a grant from the Department of Education, to create quality educational software that helps teachers teach.

Knowledge Matters seeks to change the traditional "drill and kill" educational system by creating learner centered, "what if", virtual environments. Knowledge Matters believe their graphically animated, interactive software will serve as the engine to drive this change, helping to create successful 21st century classrooms where knowledge does not pursue the student, but the student pursues knowledge.

As students make decisions for their characters and experience the consequences of those decisions they learn about the world and gain an increased appreciation of their own culture and diversity.

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Serious Games That Challenge Your Real Life Skills

Serious Games for empathy-building real world, real life simulation

Via: Educational Simulations - Real Lives 2007 Edition

Real Lives brand-new 2007 edition is a first-person simulation of what it is like to be born and live in over 190 different countries.

It is is a content rich and empathy-building real world, real life simulation that challenges your life skills as you make difficult, high-stakes choices that lead to your success, or failure.

You might be born anyone, anywhere on Earth. You might die as an infant, you might make it to old age. You might be able to marry the person of your dreams, and have a rewarding job, or you could be stuck in poverty. Be born, live an exciting life, and die. Then do it again. And again. Learn about the world as you live your Real Lives around the world, one life-altering decision at a time.

Both a fantastic opportunity and an incredible challenge, Real Lives 2007 makes the world come alive on a personal and global level, one life at a time.

New features for Real Lives 2007 include the ability to emigrate from one country to another (and experience the difficulties and dangers faced when emigrating), more realistic job and financial features, updated data, and other more subtle changes.

You can experience life as a:

Policeman in Nigeria

Peasant farmer in Bangladesh

Lawyer in the United States

Computer Operator in Poland

or any of several more...

Through statistically accurate events, Real Lives brings to life different cultures, political systems, economic opportunities, personal decisions, health issues, family issues, schooling, jobs, religions, geography, war, peace, etc.

Statistics is the main core of the game. How well you do in life, depends on your chances of going to school and landing a good job (of course not all countries have the same opportunities, especially educational).

As students make decisions for their characters and experience the consequences of those decisions they learn about the world and gain an increased appreciation of their own culture and diversity.

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Creative Technology Network Also Addressing Serious Games

Serious Games challenging us to play a better future

Via: Creative Technology Network

From broadcasting, games and animation to design, visualization and mobile media, the Creative Technology Network brings together individuals and organizations from across computing, communications and the creative industries.

With a focus on cross-sector networking and collaboration, the year-round programme of events, workshops and showcases seeks to establish an active community from across academia, industry and the arts, to share good practice, support innovation and enhance research, critical to the UK economy.

Creative Technology Network Launched in Bristol

On July 19, 2007, Michael B Johnson (Moving Pictures Group Lead at Pixar Animation Studios) launched the Creative Technology Network at the Watershed Media Centre, Bristol.

Michael B Johnson, the man behind some of the most groundbreaking techniques of Pixar Animation Studios, discussed how collaborating on research between creativity and innovation at Pixar has resulted in some of the world’s greatest animated feature films of the last decade.

The Creative Technology Network has been initiated by iShed, a new venture set up by Watershed to work in this area, and 3C Research, which supports joint research projects involving universities and commercial organisations.

The next Creative Technology Network event will be: Beyond the Console: Virtual worlds, interactive experiences and gaming in September 2007, Watershed, Bristol.

Showcasing a diverse array of Bristol based talent, this workshop will bring together experts and professionals from a mix of disciplines to explore innovation, content distribution and opportunities for collaboration in virtual worlds, mobile gaming, pervasive media and serious games.

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Serious Games Institute Opening September

Serious Games Institute and Coventry University's SL Island launch simultaneously

Via: Coventry University Future-Initiatives

Bringing together the latest computer games technology and changing approaches to learning and training, the Serious Games Institute will be opening in September 2007.

The Serious Games Institute (SGI) is based in the Technology Park close to the Futures Institute. Partially funded by Advantage West Midlands (AWM), this £3 million project includes facilities to support the development of Serious Games research and a cluster of companies based in the West Midlands.

The Serious Games Institute will launch with a smart building demonstration and tour led by David Wortley, SGI Director, on 13th September 2007, during the Serious Virtual Worlds Conference, the First European Conference on the Professional Applications of Virtual Worlds.

On the same day, and at the same event, Coventry University's Second Life Island will be launched.

The theme for this first Serious Virtual Worlds conference is ‘The Reality of the Virtual World' and takes a close look at how virtual worlds are now being used for serious professional purposes.

The anticipated two-day programme includes:

Day 1 - Introducing Virtual Worlds: presentations and conversations introducing virtual worlds and the 3D web from Cisco, Linden Labs, Trusim, Forterra, Giunti, Pixel Learning, Caspian, Ambient and Daden, closing with the launch of the Serious Games Institute’s ‘Second Life’ Island with a Cocktail Reception followed by the Conference Dinner.

Day 2 - Serious Virtual Worlds: Action & Potential: live virtual world presentations and conversations from Digital Earth, Reuters, Stamford Med School, Trusim, PA Consulting, IBM, Forterra, NPL, Logicom, and AVM.

The detailed programme can be found here.

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Serious Games For Visualizing Any Business Process

Serious Games customized to match the processes you manage

Via: Flexsim

Flexsim is a PC-based simulation software application used to model, simulate, and visualize any business process. Whether the process is manufacturing, material handling, logistics or administration, Flexsim will work because its modeling objects can be customized exactly to match the processes you manage.

Flexsim can help you determine plant capacity, balance manufacturing lines, manage bottlenecks, solve inventory and WIP problems, test new scheduling practices, optimize production rates, and justify capital expenditures.

Every model in Flexsim can be viewed in 3D virtual reality animation. Flexsim has a high degree of openness and flexibility, allowing it to be totally customized into a specific application program suitable for any industry.

About Flexsim

Flexsim was founded in 1993 by Bill Nordgren, Roger Hullinger, and Cliff King. Initially the company was named F&H Simulations, Inc. and sold, supported, and conducted training courses for Taylor II simulation software in North America.

In 1998, F&H Simulation B.V. in Holland developed the first generation 3D object oriented simulation engine called Taylor ED (Enterprise Dynamics). F&H Simulations, Inc. assisted in this development by creating robust objects for use in Taylor ED, and continued to sell, consult, and train in the new software.

In 2000, F&H Simulations B.V. was purchased by a Dutch consulting company. At this time F&H Simulations, Inc. became independent. Dr. Eamonn Lavery was brought on to oversee product architecture and begin development of a new, second generation, 3D object oriented simulation software called Flexsim.

F&H Simulations, Inc. changed its name to Flexsim Software Products Inc.

Flexsim simulation software was released in February 2003. It boasts a new state-of-the-art simulation engine, seamlessly integrated with C++. In addition to a new engine, Flexsim incorporates the latest OpenGL technology for unsurpassed 3D animation quality, which is fully integrated in the model building environment. Since it's release, Flexsim has become the standard by which discrete event simulation packages are judged.

Flexsim Software Products, Inc. is headquartered in Orem, Utah. Flexsim has offices in Canada, Mexico, India, Germany, and China. Flexsim has regional distributors around the globe that provide support, training, and consultation.

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SIMCORE: Serious Games For Airport Operations Simulation

Serious Games modeling numerous airport operations

Via: Airport Technology - SIMCORE - Airport Operations Simulation

SIMCORE's main aim is to provide logistical decision support to companies in the airport sector through the provision of operations simulation, scheduling, optimisation and planning software.

The majority of their references are in the following application areas: baggage handling, passenger flow, cargo handling and terminal operations.

Typical simulation results of air and landside operations will include definition and validation of stand and gate allocation strategies and evaluation of apron movement

Operational decision support software evaluates check-in counter allocation to improve customer service levels and minimise the number of counters needed

The 3D passenger flow animations mean that project managers can actually view potential problems rather than speculating from raw data on results sheets

Read More at http://www.airport-technology.com/contractors/consult/simcore/

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Serious Games Help TSA Screeners Identify Dangerous Items

Serious Games to train 40,000 officers who check luggage and cargo

Via: Serious Games and FCW.com News

The Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), published on the Federal Business Opportunities Website, a NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SINGLE SOURCE CONTRACT to Carnegie Mellon University to develop an inherently fun game that would help its screeners identify dangerous items through X-ray machines.

The Statement Of Work, provides a thorough description of the Checkpoint Screening Game, and encompasses a project designed to determine whether some advanced online gaming concepts can be adapted within an aviation security screening context.

The agency also hopes that video game training would help speed up and add a degree of fun to the training. Screeners process as many as 250 images in a half-hour work shift, a task that the agency described as requiring “a high degree of vigilance and accuracy.”

By design, this game will be extremely enjoyable and guarantee that players produce the correct and useful output,” TSA stated in its work statement.

Games with a purpose (GWAPs)

TSA defines GWAPs as video games that solve computational and operational problems.

According to the work statement, the initial Pilot game will be for internal TSA purposes only and will not be released to the public.

This work could further be used to enhance recruiting, and create a competitive venue to sharpen current TSO skills (who might even compete for regional or national honors against other TSO teams, airports, regions or nationals) where the players are paid in fun, team spirit and recognition.

But this is not the intention of the current proof of concept/pilot.

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Serious Games and Sharp Brains

Serious Games straining your brain the smart way

Via: SHARPBRAINS - Brain Exercise and Brain Fitness

Given the wealth of areas covered around cognitive and emotional training, and in order to make our life easier, SharpBrains is now offering a Monthly Digest of the Most Popular Blog Posts. It works like a monthly Brain Exercise Magazine, where the most popular posts of the month get listed.

Among July posts, there is a collection of recent announcements in the "brain games" or "brain training games" space.

Strain your brain the smart way

People of all ages are pursuing to keep their minds sharp and, hopefully, prevent or slow the possible onset of memory loss as they age.

That may explain the glut of cognitive games and puzzles packing store shelves and Web sites, whilst books feature a variety of "mind-benders to flex your mental muscles," including "The Everything Brain Strain Book" and "Keep Your Brain Fit."

Video game systems are getting into the brain game, too, by marketing to older adults.

"Brain Age" and "Big Brain Academy" have been popular games for Nintendo's handheld DS system. And Nintendo just released "Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree" for its new Wii system.

George Harrison, Nintendo's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications, has said that more than half of the company's marketing for Wii is aimed at adults. And the system has been presented at conventions for the aging "gray gamer" population.

Help or Hype?

"That old cliche, 'Use it or lose it,' definitely applies. You have to exercise your mind as much as you exercise your body," says neurologist Kenneth Sharlin, who works with psychologist William Myers in neurology and behavioral health at Doctors Hospital of Springfield.

Research shows that people with higher education tend to have some protective effect against Alzheimer's, he says. Doing cognitive activities can offer protection, too, according to the new study. Effects of Cognitive Training Interventions With Older Adults.

That's because the process of learning creates positive physical changes in your brain by increasing connections between nerve cells, Sharlin says.

Game Maker Nintendo Widening its Audience

Nintendo's strategy to attack a broader demographic has not only helped turn the company around, its success has helped spark industrywide changes in the way games are sold, and who plays them.

Shorter, less complex games, more user-friendly controllers like the Nintendo's motion-sensitive Wii, and online features have become the norm as the entire gaming industry pushes aggressively to attract customers outside the 16-to-25 year-old male demographic.

Females now make up about 30% of the people who buy Nintendo's Wii game console, said George Harrison. Typically, the percentage of females buying consoles is less than 10%.

Meanwhile, the company is spending heavily to market its games to more women and seniors, especially in Europe, where actress Nicole Kidman is pitching a new lineup of "brain-training" games aimed at seniors.

The Wii is proving to be a market force. It is outselling Sony Corp.'s (SNE) PlayStation 3 console by four to one and Microsoft's Xbox 360 console by two to one in the U.S., the world's largest videogame market, according to NPD Group Inc. In Japan, Wii sales have been even stronger, outselling the PS3 six to one last month and the XBox 360 by even more, according to the latest survey by market-research firm Enterbrain Inc.

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Serious Games Showcase & Challenge 2007 - Update

Serious Games challenging us to play a better future

Via: Second Annual I/ITSEC Serious Games Showcase & Challenge Official Website

Following my previous post Serious Games Showcase & Challenge 2007 dated January 08, 2007, here are the important dates for the challenge process:

Entry Deadline for Games Submissions

August 31, 2007

PC game entries (or compiled for PC execution) will be accepted from virtually any application areas including "mods", mobile, virtual worlds and original development and gaming content can be focused on any genre, such as business, education, government. Submit entries here.

Announcement of Finalists

September 30, 2007

Finalists will be notified via email of their status.

2007 I/ITSEC Conference - Maintaing the Edge...Transforming the Force.

November 26-29, 2007

Finalists will showcase at the 2007 I/ITSEC Conference and winners will be announced.

Orange County Convention Center, International Drive Orlando, Florida(Headquarters Hotel: The Peabody Orlando Hotel)

The Challenge

Entries will be considered a serious game if they use the gaming attributes to overcome a designated problem or deficiency, and provide appropriate feedback to the user about their efforts. Entered games must target users at the high school level, at a minimum.

Finalists in the Serious Game Showcase & Challenge will be selected by a panel of leaders in the gaming, industry and academic fields, and will be invited to showcase their serious game at I/ITSEC 2007, where over 16,000 attendees will view and vote on each of the finalists. Awards will be presented to the top finishers in each category.

The Challenge is open to a wide range of contestants, potential categories include student, individual / small business, and businesses larger than 500 employees.

Gaming content can be focused on any genre, such as business, education, government.

All entries will be judged by representatives in leading gaming, academic and industry companies in three primary areas: Solution to a Stated Problem; Technical Quality; and Playability/Usability.

About I/ITSEC

The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) promotes cooperation among the Armed Services, Industry, Academia and various Government agencies in pursuit of improved training and education programs, identification of common training issues and development of multiservice programs. Initiated in 1966 as the Naval Training Device Center/Industry Conference, the conference has evolved and expanded through increased participation by the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Industry. In 1979 it became known as the Interservice/Industry Training Equipment Conference.

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