FUTURE-MAKING SERIOUS GAMES

Following my previous post Serious Games Hit Oil & Gas Industry and a couple of recent consultations on Service Rig Training availability, I have now realized that all cross-references on my post have become obsolete. As of February 1, 2008 Terris-Hill Productions Ltd. has renamed the company Coole Immersive, Inc . and its flagship product, Simulynx , now to be called Coole Immersive Service Rig Training. Their vision with this change is to develop a leading edge, memorable brand that reflects the innovative immersive learning programs they provide. Coole Immersive Service Rig Training Coole Immersive specializes in customized, interactive, training programs for industry that immerse workers in real-to-life situations using video game technology. This innovative training enables workers to learn in a safe environment at an accelerated pace, increasing retention, confidence and competence. Coole Immersive’s Service Rig Training is its flagship immersive training produc

Sources: The Evil Number 27’s occasional bivouac - Serious (Games) Skills Shortages Educational Games Research - Survey: Students Want Educational Games In his Blog, Kevin Corti has recently made a reference to a good article on the BBC site about the UK game industries skills needs. One issue it covers is around the apparent overabundance of game degree courses and the disparity between the course programmes (and focus areas) and the actual day to day needs of employers in the game industry. I found this particularly challenging as I have early considered that the most probable bottleneck for Serious Games large scale adoption would be the institutional barriers, inherent to B2B oriented markets. Unlike B2C, organizations are slower moving when adopting new paradigms. The article has made me reconsider that skills shortage could eventually become a binding constraint, also slowing the pace of the Serious Games market expansion. Disparity Between Course Programs and the Ac

You are a journalist and photographer. A few months before the Beijing Olympic Games your best friend, Jun Shen, a human rights defender and journalist, calls for help. This adventure will take you to China where you will be confronted with human right violations. By investigating, taking pictures and writing your articles. you will work to solve the problems you encounter and eventually save your friend. Pictures For Truth is the first free game developed for and with Amnesty International, according to the game team. The project started in August 2007 and was completed in April 2008. Created by a group of professional game developers and volunteers from Quebec in collaboration with Amnesty International Canada, the aim of this project is to sensitize the player to human rights violation.

Via: Washington Post - Not the Usual Game Application By Mike Musgrove Sunday, June 22, 2008 Microsoft is encouraging use of XNA Game Studio with student developers via the Game Development track in its annual Imagine Cup technology competition , that is wrapping up in Paris next month. The challenge, presented to student programmers and game designers around the world, is to develop a game that demonstrates the challenges and benefits of working toward a greener, more sustainable world. The environment is one of those topics with an array of variables that play to the strengths of gaming software, which can be designed to show the consequences of a variety of actions. How do you balance the needs of a growing population against the need to preserve forests and wildlife? To what extent is it worth investing in more environmentally friendly, but more expensive, technology? The Imagine Cup competition is down to six finalists. In one of the finalists' games,

Via: Business & Games: The Blog - Innovative Virtual World For Future Engineers Guest post by Heather Johnson One of the most interesting startups that are slated to launch this year is Konstruction Zone, a "virtual playground" that is geared toward both children and their parents. The Konstruction Zone is a brand new destination where parents and children will be able to build, play and share their creations together. Designed to develop spatial and problem-solving skills for young people, Konstruction Zone is unlike any other youth-oriented virtual world. Case in point: one of the main goals of the site is to *gasp* encourage off-line, family playtime. Children are not known as "users" on the site, they are called "builders." In the Konstruction Zone world, builders will have access to online animated adventures, which present them with various challenges. For example, a dump truck needs to cross a stream, but the stream is too deep. Buil

Via: Softkinetic Press Room - Softkinetic Announces iisu Plug-in for Virtools and WRAL Business - Like Wii? You Haven't Seen Anything In Game Technology In 10 years, the gaming instruments we use today will look ridiculously old-fashioned. The Nintendo Wii is big because it lets you move things on your screen with gestures of your hand, using a motion-sensitive paddle. But that’s nothing compared with what’s coming: controlling the screen with nothing in your hand at all. V ery soon, you’ll be able to control an avatar or character on a screen with a mere gesture of your hands or body. A range of companies are working on this dream. Developer Softkinetic has recently announced that its body movement gesture recognition system iisu has officially been released, and is now available in Virtools' suite of 3D products. Last February, at the Game Developers Conference, Virtools and Softkinetic announced a partnership to deliver tools to create immersive and intuiti

  PRESS RELEASE CAN YOU PLAY SPORTS…IN SPACE? Red Knight Partners with Challenger Center, Former NFL Pro Ken Harvey and Richard Garriott with New Interactive Game for Students Alexandria, VA. and Richardson, TX - What happens when you block an opponent on Mars, leap for a reception on the Moon, or throw a tight spiral on the space station? Students will soon be able to test and predict the physics of these sports moves in space. Red Knight Learning Systems, based in Dallas, Texas and the Challenger Center for Space Science Education are teaming up to provide a fun interactive learning game to support Richard Garriott’s upcoming trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Garriott will be America’s first second-generation astronaut; his father, Owen Garriott, is a former NASA astronaut who flew on the Skylab in the 1970s. Richard is scheduled to fly to the ISS this October and during his 10-day trip he will conduct a number of educational activities, several o

(Graphic: Forterra Systems Inc) 3D Virtual Conference in Forterra’s OLIVE Software PRESS RELEASE FORTERRA SYSTEMS AND CLEVER ZEBRA PARTNER FOR vBUSINESS EXPO AND VIRTUAL WORLDS EVENTS SAN MATEO, Calif. and COPENHAGEN, Denmark--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Forterra Systems, the market and technology leader in enterprise-grade virtual worlds, announced today a sponsorship of the July 2008 vBusiness Expo produced by Clever Zebra, and a partnership to deliver future enterprise virtual world events. vBusiness Expo is the leading conference focused on enterprise use cases of Virtual worlds. The event is entirely hosted within a virtual world, and brings together thought leaders and innovators from across the physical globe to discuss how virtual world technologies are being used in business. The partnership reflects the transformation affecting the conference industry due to large organizations searching for new ways to collaborate, share information, train, and develop relations

UPCOMING: Visual Web Convention 9–10th July London The leading European event devoted to discussing the business opportunity and monetization model for Virtual Worlds, Serious Games, Social Networks, Casual Games, and Web 2.0 The Visual Web Convention is the only convention in the UK that is focused on delivering a ‘ready-to-go’ strategy roadmap for monetizing Web 2.0 for organizations planning now to harness the NextGen Web. The Visual Web Convention brings together 4 conferences under 1 roof, over 2 days: June 9th, 2008 09:00 to June 10th, 2008 17:00 RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London EMI and Microsoft are keynoting on 9th July, with Lord Puttnam keynoting on the morning of 10th July. In his role heading the Climate Change Bill, Lord Puttnam will address how Serious Games can meet the related educational challenges. They are joined by 42+ eminent speakers from the leading organizations shaping and monetizing the NextGen Web. The 4 separately bookable events are: · Mo

Race to Equality, will premiere on Thursday, June 26th, at 6:00 pm at the Sony Wonder Technology Lab in Manhattan. The public is welcome to attend the free screening, but seating is limited. NEWS RELEASE NYC High School Students Produce Important New Film, Race to Equality, Exposing Educational Racism in the U.S., China and Brazil New York, NY, June 18, 2008 - A diverse group of New York City public high school students, brought together by Global Kids, have produced an important new animated movie that exposes how racism relates to equal access to education. The film was created in Second Life, a three-dimensional "virtual world" that Global Kids uses to educate youth from around the world about global issues. Global Kids is the foremost nonprofit organization in New York City specifically dedicated to educating students in underserved communities about international and public policy issues. The film, Race to Equality , will premiere on Thursday, June 26th, at 6

Via: Education Futures – Global Leapfrog Education The Leapfrog Institutes aim to build positive futures for PreK-21 education and the communities that they serve. Sponsored by the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota and its partnering institutions, Leapfrog is a paradigmatic jump into best case uses of existing and edge technologies in hardware, software, and intellectual formats. Leapfrog institutions relentlessly disrupt themselves to compete successfully in the global knowledge and innovation economy. They work ahead of the competition in teaching, research, innovation, and service. They avoid playing catch-up. Leapfrog creates the future in the present based on what is found over the horizon. Leapfrog first acts to create proximal futures, and then solidly grounds the most promising futures within the present. Leapfrog principles may well become the conceptual framework for Educational Serious Games development, making use of advanced t

Via: Hotels Magazine – Guest Service Is Fun & Games And ESA - Video Games & the Workplace “As the generation that grew up with video games assumes leadership positions in the workplace, computer and video games are being increasingly used to conduct business. A growing number of major companies, from automobile manufacturers to beverage producers, employ video games to train employees and increase sales among their younger tech savvy customers. With the video game industry booming and its products gaining broader acceptance, the use of games in the work place is certain to expand in the years ahead.” Hilton Garden Inn, Marriott perfect conduct through Serious Games The Hilton Garden Inn has recently introduced the first interactive training game for the hospitality industry (please find also my prior posting Serious Games For Hospitality Training ). Ultimate Team Play , created by Virtual Heroes, Inc , places employees in a virtual hotel interfacing with customers fie

Six of these Surface tables are now installed at the iBar ultra-lounge located at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It enables bar customers to order drinks, watch YouTube videos, play touch-screen games and even flirt with each other Via: Microsoft Startup Zone – Accelerating the Success of Innovative Startups The Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program is designed to help high potential software startups around the globe get access, guidance and support to accelerate their success on the Microsoft platform. Selected participants receive customized engagement plans to support their software and market development efforts. Accelerator companies are selected to join the program based on their innovation, high growth potential, funding, platform decision and strategic importance to Microsoft. At this time, they are no longer accepting new applications as they have reached full capacity, but they are encouraging us to check back in September.  At the Latest Blogs