Sunday, October 15, 2006

Video Game News, Week of October 8 2006

Escapist issue #66

How to get lazy kids into the gym? Video games, of course.
ZDNet Eudcation 10/12/06
"Attempting to cash in on the teen obesity epidemic, one enterprising high school coach is using high tech to open the first interactive gym for teens."

Video Games: More than child's play for leaders
by Virginia Galt, Globe and Mail 10/13/06
"A growing number of companies are using game simulations as a management training tool"

Federal Judge Halts Law Banning Video Games
AP 10/16/06
"A federal judge in the Western District of Oklahoma has blocked a new state law that would prohibit the sale of violent video games to children."

’Second Life’ 3-D digital world grows
AP, 10/11/06
"Second Life" now has more than 800,000 denizens, of whom more than a hundred are earning a real-world, full-time living there... "

Games on Demand... at the library?

"Games on Demand is the software company behind the popular Yahoo Games! Last year, Pasco County Libraries began working to implement this product at each of their libraries. In January, Pasco began using this product, and it has been quite successful..."

http://tblc.org/services/eresource.shtml#games

How cool is THAT?! No theft, no damage, no loss rate, no physical collections to manage... WOW! I subscribe to Game Tap and Game Fly at home - would love to get it through MY library though!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Microsoft Educates Parents on 20-city Bus Tour

by Microsoft, 10/12/06, posted on Joystiq
"Beginning today, Microsoft, along with partners Best Buy and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, begins a 20-city bus tour to educate parents on understanding the ESRB ratings scheme and implementing the parental controls built into the Xbox 360 and accompanying Xbox Live service."

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Everywhere Now: Three Dialogues on Kids, Games, and Learning

From Monday, October 16-Friday, November 3, the MacArthur Foundation will be hosting a series of online discussions called, "Everywhere Now: Three Dialogues on Kids, Games, and Learning."

Dialogue 1: Power, Play, Participation-10/16-10/20

"This dialogue explores the forms of power players experience, reproduce, and generate through a range of gaming practices, from forms related to identity or community, to those enabled through activities like world-building, modding, and operating within a complex information network. . ."

Dialogue 2: Gaming Literacies-10/23-10/27

"This dialogue explores different domains of literacy emerging from what we might call a gaming attitude, an attitude tied directly to the creative qualities of play."

Dialogue 3: Pathways to Gaming-10/30-11/3

"This dialogue explores the different paths taken by young people, educators, and parents into (and out of) gaming, for there is certainly no single trajectory common to all players. If we are to try and grasp the impact and implications of games for a generation of kids who consider them a second skin, we need to better understand how players come to games in the first place, and the different pathways they take once games become a part of their lives. "

Learning With Games, Learning by Making Games

The October issue of the e-journal, ITALICS is dedicated to Learning with Games. The article titles include:

Innovations in Learning and Teaching Approaches using Game Technologies – Can “The Movies” teach how to make a movie?

A Crisis in Physics Education : Games to the Rescue!

Introducing Game Development into the Computing Curriculum – A Progressive Methodology

Providing the skills required for innovative mobile game development using industry/academic partnerships

Using A Virtual World For Transferable Skills in Gaming Education

Monday, October 09, 2006

Games and Culture

The October issue of Games and Culture is now available online--don't miss this special issue on World of Warcraft! Visit http://games.sagepub.com to read/view.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Video Game News, Week of October 8, 2006

October issue of Games and Culture. Special issue: World of Warcraft.
Article titles include:
1. Building an MMO With Mass Appeal: A Look at Gameplay in World of Warcraft
2. Does WoW Change Everything?: How a PvP Server, Multinational Player Base, and Surveillance Mod Scene Caused Me Pause
3. From Tree House to Barracks: The Social Life of Guilds in World of Warcraft
4. Storyline, Dance/Music, or PvP?: Game Movies and Community Players in World of Warcraft
5. Blood Scythes, Festivals, Quests, and Backstories: World Creation and Rhetorics of Myth in World of Warcraft
6. WoW is the New MUD: Social Gaming from Text to Video

Real Learning in a Virtual World
by Gregory Lamb, Christian Science Monitor 10/05/06
"Charles Nesson and his daughter, Rebecca, are teaching the first class at Harvard University using the Second Life website."

There
"An everyday hangout where you can have fun with your friends and meet new ones -- all in a lush 3D environment that's yours to build and explore!"

Video Games Not Just for the Young Anymore
by John Mellow Jr., TechNewsWorld 10/07/06
"Casual games tend to be ideal for busy people."

In England, Schools May Soon Teach Video Games
by Liz Lightfoot, the Daily Telegraph 10/06/06
"Video games are likely to become part of the English school curriculum after research funded by the Department for Education praised them as a powerful learning tool."

Video Games Focus of USA Network Series
Political Gateway 10/06/06
"A cable TV network will debut the seven-episode series, entitled "Boost Mobile Major League Gaming Pro Circuit," on Nov. 11 and it will revolve around the world of competitive video gaming and the lives of those who compete within it."

British Academy Video Games Awards
by Steven Williamson, Hexus.gaming 10/06/06
Soundtrack: Guitar Hero
Innovation: Brain Training: How Old is Your Brain?
The Movies for Simulation: Legos Star Wars II
Multiplayer: Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach

Video Games Becoming a Social Event
by Antone Gonsalves, TechWeb 10/05/06
"Knocking aside the long-held notion that video gamers are solitary creatures, a new study shows they spend hours playing socially every week."

Monday, October 02, 2006

Tabletop Reviews

A new feature at MBMPL is reviews of Tabletop games, while the site is still undergoing some upgrades, the reviews are now viewable, and will be expanded upon in the coming month. In the future I hope this becomes a valuable resource for all types of gaming, but I must begin somewhere. In the mean time enjoy.