Archive for February, 2007

Serious games and educational simulations are an unique product category with functional requirements that are different from platform and casual games, MMOGs, and drill–n-skill learning games. The gameplay itself is only the tip of the iceberg: hidden out of sight is an engine the player doesn’t see. As an emerging market, however, little has been written about the best engines for building serious games. This lack of transparency makes it difficult for publishers to choose development partners, and for developers to scope new projects. My article “Serious Game Engine Shootout: a comparative analysis of technology for serious game development” and panel discussion on March 6th at the Serious Games Summit is intended to help address this deficiency. For more on the topic visit my new Resources page.

This is an amazing illumination of the Web 2.0 space that’s worth downloading (8920kb) and spending some time with. One caveat: there are links out to many of the influences he mentions so exploring this could keep you busy for a while. Ed Yourdon, who created this mind-map, is a forty year software industry veteran and author of 27 computer-related books and over 550 technical articles. On his blog Ed writes, “It’s been a while since I’ve updated my Web 2.0 mind-map, and lots of things have been happening; I’ve presented a two-day seminar on Web 2.0 in Rome, attended the big Web 2.0 “Summit” conference in San Francisco, and download several more articles and blog postings.” You can download the latest version (Web2.0v032 - 3.07) here.

When Apple announced their iPhone would run the complete OSX operating system the first three words that came to mind were “perfect pocket computer.” Then Mark Cuban blogged this on Digital Media Wire:

“Gaming consoles are already serving as hosts for DVD, HD DVD and Blu Ray players, along with hard drive and USB support for video and pictures. Which leads to the question. Will gaming consoles replace PCs in the home, not just for gaming as they have done already, but also as the primary home device for all things graphical?

If the gaming consoles get real keyboards and better web browsers they will. Which is exactly what could make the future of home computing very, very interesting and upset the MicroSoft and Applecart :), and give a huge edge to Google and maybe Yahoo and even Sony.

Spreadsheets, Word Processors, Powerpoint, Email, Personal Database, Personal Finance ? They are all so limited in their resource utilization, a very strong case could be made that its smarter to do these things online from a gaming console or any inexpensive PC. The inherit benefits of distributed computing could outway some of the limits of not having the biggest box on the block. Things like less power consumption, lower software costs, full backups and much more.

It all comes down to platforms. Why can’t a small console, much like today’s gaming consoles handle local multimedia and gaming and have a browser , keyboard and broadband connection to do everything else online? If this happens, what happens to windows? MicroSoft? Apple?
Its hard to say, but the big winner could be Google. In looking at Google’s public technology discussions, it appears that a thin client, distributed computing future is exactly what they are expecting.” Story continues here…

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/6gmP4nk0EOE" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Thanks to the Digital Ethnography Department at the University of Kansas
(and my anonymous tipster).

At FETC in Orlando last week it was hard to turn around without meeting someone in my educational technology network or adding someone new so, as one friend remarked, the conference offered a very low cost-per-lead. But networking wasn’t the whole of it — there were the keynote and breakout sessions as well — and two stood out.

Alan November of November Learning spoke on “Preparing Students to Succeed in a Global Economy” and made several thought-provoking observations. He asserted that to be successful, “Every student needs the ability to learn on line as well as face to face,” while observing that the most popular out-of-school activities of today’s teens — blogging, IMing, watching web video, downloading music, and playing video games — are all banned in school. “What would happen if we infiltrated ‘their’ technology with ‘our’ content,” he wondered. Most poignantly, he observed “Today’s students are the first generation where most parents and teachers don’t know how to play the games their kids are playing.” Now that’s a gap that needs closing.

Karen Billings, Vice President of the SIIA Education Subcommittee chaired “Can Games and Simulations Reach and Teach the 21st Century Student?” that was notable not only for the excellent panel she assembled, but for the number of people attending. While most “breakout” sessions had no more than 30 or 40 participants, this session drew more than twice that number and filling nearly every seat available. Serious games may still be relatively rare in K-12 classrooms, but from the attendance and good questions at this session clearly interest among educators is growing.

As a follow-on to the article I’m writing for Serious Games Source that is due out at the end of the month, CMP has accepted my proposal for a Serious Game Engine Shootout at the Serious Game Summit next month in San Francisco.

My idea for the article and panel discussion grew out of the frustrations many have felt entering this market: serious games and simulations have technical, functional and business demands that differ from commercial entertainment titles, casual games and drill-n-skill learning games. However, as a nascent product category the development specialized platforms and engines are also in their infancy, making it difficult for potential sponsors, publishers and developers to choose the right tools, and further contributing to the slow growth of serious games as an accepted learning modality.

The session, which will try to lift some of the fog surrounding these issues, will be held on Tuesday morning March 6th at 10:30 and is structured as a panel discussion with representatives from both established and emerging companies — currently Breakaway, Muzzy Lane, Epic Games and Oregon State University are represented. It promises to be a lively and sometimes provocative discussion of the game engines that are available today, what’s in development and which ones are the most appropriate for different types of serious game projects. Hope to see you there!