Oct 27, 2009
NHS endorses Nintendo Wii Fit video game
The Daily Telegraph reports that the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus, which goes on sale this Friday, got the permission to use the NHS’s Change4Life logo in its advertising on television and in shops. From next year, it is possible that the logo will be used on the product itself, an unprecedented partnership between a video game and the Government.
Change4Life is a public health programme in the UK which began in January 2009, organised by the Department of Health. The campaign aims to encourage people in Britain to lead healthier lives, using the slogan "eat well, move more, live longer"
A spokesman for the Department of Health told the Telegraph: "Active video games, where kids need to jump up and down or dance about as part of the game, are a great way to get kids moving."
16:34 Posted in Serious games | Permalink | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Email this | Tags: serious games, positive technology, wii
Jun 29, 2009
Towards a Positive Technology of Gaming
In this very interesting keynote given at the recent Game Developers Conference, Jane McGonigal discusses the role of Positive Psychology in gaming. Another significant sign of how the world of ICT is embracing the perspective of Positive Technology...
Learning to Make Your Own Reality - IGDA Education Keynote 2009
15:03 Posted in Future interfaces, Serious games, Virtual worlds | Permalink | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Email this | Tags: positive psychology, gaming, positive technology
Jan 08, 2009
Science: special section on education and technology
The current issue of Science has a special section on the use of technology in education.
I found particularly interesting the article by Chris Dede about the potential offered by immersive interfaces for learning. According to Dede, the key benefit of immersive media is their ability to combine actional, symbolic, and perceptual factors, providing the participant with the impression that she or he is "inside" a digitally enhanced setting.
In another article included in this special issue, Merrilea Mayo reviews the most promising applications of videogames in science and technology education, and describes the challenges to be faced for the wider adoption of this approach.
11:14 Posted in Serious games | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: serious games, virtual reality, education
May 12, 2008
Foldit
Players of a new online game called Foldit will help design three-dimensional protein structures for HIV vaccines, and enzymes for repairing DNA in diseased tissues. David Baker, a leading protein scientist at the University of Washington, teamed up with computer scientists to create the game.
01:35 Posted in Serious games | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: serious gaming
Jan 05, 2008
$9 Bi: Microsoft's Estimate For The Serious Games Market
Via Future-making serious games
BusinessWeek has published an article this week where David Boker, senior director of the Business Development Group at Microsoft's Aces Studio, one of Microsoft's game studios where ESP was developed, says Microsoft conservatively estimates Serious Games market at $9 billion.
The Serious Games market is currently valued at about $150 million, according to Ben Sawyer, president of the Portland (Me.) consulting firm Digitalmill and co-director of the Serious Games Initiative. While not huge, that's nearly three times more than in 2005, according to Sawyer's estimates, and growth looks set to continue.
17:38 Posted in Serious games | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: serious games
Dec 08, 2007
The Glucoboy for Diakids
Re-blogged from Medgadget
Parents with diabetic kids know how difficult it often is to convince the young ones to take regular glucose readings. Now a Minnesota company called Guidance Interactive Healthcare managed to fuse a portable glucometer with a Nintendo Game Boy Advance videogame cartridge. The idea is that the hybrid cartridge is preloaded with a number of games, and kids have to submit themselves to regular readings in order to unlock games and get points that can then be used in the games to get to higher levels.
Currently only available in Australia, the device should prove a hit with the parents, while the kids might be wondering why they got a locked down game cartridge that feeds on human blood for Christmas.
18:16 Posted in Serious games | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: serious gaming
Oct 09, 2007
Serious Games approaches to challenging racism in the workplace
The Institute of Digital Learning at the University of Wales, Newport (UK) has been successfully applying serious games positive technologies as a mechanism of empowering workers with virtual experience and knowledge transfer that allows them to deal with situations relating to Equality & Diversity as they arise in a workplace settings.
For further information and to access the serious games and wider etraining as free resources please visit http://equal.newport.ac.uk
Matt Chilcott and Nick Savage
Institute of Digital Learning, University of Wales, Newport
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Apr 22, 2007
Esther: Enhanced Security Through Human Error Reduction
From Future-Making Serious Games
Cognitive Informatics investigates usability and training effectiveness of a game-based training application in the domain of cyber-security education. They conducted a usability evaluation and described cognitive principles that may be used as part of a systematic process to design more effective serious games as resources in education and training.
22:53 Posted in Serious games | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: serious games
Apr 05, 2007
A buddhist game to help teach ethics
Bangkok, Thailand -- Concerned about a news report of a boy attacking his mother because she refused to give him money to play online games, a senior officer at the Religious Affairs Department decided to create a game himself.
Ethics Game", created by Pakorn Tancharoen, director of the Moral and Ethical Development Office works by using a principled game to overcome decadent games..... He spent his after-work time at online-game arcades to observe what kinds of games attract children.
"Most of them were about killing," he said.
He then devised a game plot that includes four main characters: Dharmmahapanyo, an old respected monk; Charn, an orphaned boy who is mischievous but clever; Nu Na, a girl who is clever and kind-hearted; and Paloe, a big half-Chinese boy who was born into a rich family and likes to tease others, especially animals.
Pakorn said he had initially asked children to participate in designing physical images of the four characters because he wanted them to win kids' hearts.
The three kids have to follow the monk on a pilgrimage. There are many barriers they have to face during the journey. Only intelligence, goodness and morals help get them past the barriers.
Killing might be the aim in most popular games, but in "Ethics Game", hurting even an animal means you lose points.
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Feb 25, 2007
£7 Million Serious Games Institute In Coventry
Via Future-Making Serious Games
The Serious Games Institute will be based at Coventry University Technology Park and built on the West Midlands’ excellence in computer games to diversify into non-entertainment uses such as simulation, education and training.
The centre is currently under construction and will be linked into satellite centres at Coventry University and the University of Warwick.
The Serious Games Institute will be fully operational by the autumn of 2007 but it will be holding a series of events to raise awareness between now and the opening date, including a special serious games workshop on Tuesday March 20 at the Technocentre Creativity Lab.
12:52 Posted in Serious games | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: serious games