The Fierce Game of Buskashi is now all the rage again in post-Taliban Afghanistan, according to a story today on CNN. I guess these folks have a lot of pent-up recreational needs, and I’m guessing that there isn’t an Afghan version of the ASPCA.

The course is over, but I just found a cool page that lets you create a card game just using JavaScript. Hmmmm…by changing the graphics and code a bit, you could make this into an educational game. A royal flush with U.S. presidents? A straight with planets? Something with the periodic table? If only we [...]

I know it’s late (in both hour and semester terms), but I think this is worthwhile: I would love to see more of this type of thing – blurring the line between games and business, not just in the training/education field: Look & Feel.

Interactive fiction in z-code for the palm z-code is a machine code that can run on many platform with an interpreter. It’s meant to be played on a z-machine – or so says the z-files and there are lots of games out there written for it. Incidentally z stands for Zork. And interactive fiction falls [...]

Audio Gaming How do visually impaired people take advantage of games? Well, now there’s audio gaming. I found a site that lists some games for the blind and the visually impaired written by blind and visually impaired designers. They come with their own speech synthesizer that allows Windows users with any emulator to play. You [...]

Mix of media Peter Gabriel has a couple of Myst like games – Xplora and Eve. These games include some stunning visuals with his music, video clips, and information from various artists. He joins a distinguished group of artists who are looking to other avenues for creative expression. Another such band is The Residents who [...]

I went to the IGDA web site and noticed a link on GDC scholarship. The IGDA’s Education Committee will award 25 scholarships to send qualified students to the 2002 Game Developers Conference. The GDC is where game development professionals from around the world gather to share ideas and build the skills that the industry needs. [...]

The term “blogging” was recently given air time on the NPR show “Fresh Air.”The local linguist on the show does a segment on new vocabulary born out of new media, most specifically Cyberspace. It was interesting to hear the term blog and a very lengthy description of what it means to blog on National Public [...]

How well do PC games translate into console games? Consoles have hardware dedicated to a particular set of graphics and control tasks, but don’t have all the number of inputs (such as a keyboard) for special features. Check out the review of Half Life at the IGN web site. With enough design effort, it looks [...]

For those interested in turning the clock back a bit, check out The Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. Who says learning about other times and cultures has to involve the latest technology?

Further pursuing my interest in education regarding the military, I ran across this article in the National Review regarding America’s knowledge of fighting wars. Rebuffs the notion that American society no longer has the “right stuff” for fighting wars, being too wedded to technology and commerce. He brings to light a secret resource of copious [...]

Wondering about the connection between Grand Theft Auto III and the kid who ran off to join the Taliban? See Michael Medved’s piece. With a rather striking anecdote, Medved describes how parents of today are forfeting their responsibility to raise kids. I could see how some would consider the logic specious, but he still makes [...]

Closed Captioned Games Yes, closed captioning like you have on TV. One such game is Activision’s Zork Grand Inquisitor. You’re able to turn the captioning on and off, and apparently it’s a faithful account of the dialogue (unlike closed captioning on television, but that’s another story). The reviewer does point out one lame thing, it [...]

One more article. Actually, it’s a three part article. More reading for those that are interested in working in the games industry. I took this class because I thought I might want to design games. Now, I’m still unsure. But I do know that if I went into this industry I would definitely want to [...]

Animation Express For those webmonkey fans out there, have you ventured into animation express? They’ve got some very impressive animation (flash, shockwave, quicktime) and interactive animations (shockwave). It’s amazing the hours these people must spend making these animations even with the help of flash and shockwave. Animation Express

For those Lightspan fans out there, here’s a little article from KidScreen magazine. It talks about how Lightspan partnered with Sony to bring educational video games to the classroom. As discussed in class, most of the games target the K-8 market. They can also be played on Sony’s playstation so kids can play at home [...]

INFOCOM While graphics are all well and good, don’t you miss those text based games that challenged your imagination to create a rich environment that captivated you? I remember playing games like Zork, Enchanter, The Lurking Horror for hours. I can still see the characters created and the scenary I made. They’re so vivid I [...]

I found a very interesting article that reports on a research study done in Japan claiming that heavy video game use by kids may slow brain development. Of course, the video games industry disputes the study. And of course, the study was no where near conclusive and more studies need to be done, but I [...]

Mystery House Mystery house was the first computer game with graphics – 1987. To think, that was 14 years ago. Anyone every play it – it was great! Very crude graphics, but that there were any at all was such a novelty and it was made for Apple. Remember those great old computers before Macs? [...]

My brother recommended this site to me. http://www.gamesdomain.com/ It’s another on-line games magazine that seems pretty comprehensive. There’s a lot of information about the console wars, so if you are still undecided about what to buy this Christmas, check out the articles. It also has cheats and tips for those addicts that get stuck in [...]

Another site I ran across while doing webquest research. (Note to future semesters: take the couple of minutes at the time you find the site so you don’t have to play catch up like I’m doing now). We talked a little bit about the different jobs in the game design industry. http://www.gamejobs.com/ offers a search [...]

When doing research for our webquest, I ran across this site that took me down memory lane. http://www.atari-history.com/mainmenu/mainmenu.html I loved playing Atari when I was young, and I never really moved on to the Nintendo generation. This site made me long for space invaders and adventure. But I guess today’s are bigger and better, and [...]

These games are off of the same site, but are a little different. http://www.teach-nology.com/arcade/ Again, most are not that great, but there is a good one for learning the parts of speech aimed at elementary kids, and a math flash card game for elementary/middle school kids. Not my area, so I wish there was more [...]

I found some cute games at: http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/games/. Most of them aren’t very educationally sound, but you should try out the Lemonade Stand game. I think it would be great for elementary and middle school math. I played and actually made money, but for kids they have to figure out how much inventory and supplies to [...]

I ran across this site recently while looking for Jr. High level learning games. http://www.bcit.tec.nj.us/KidCareer/default.htm It’s kind of cheesy, but it attempts to give kids a way to think about career paths at an early age. Try it out, it’s kind of cute. You have to slay a dragon, but first you have to go [...]

It’s not just me. Over Thanksgiving, my brother introduced me to today’s world of video games. Hello, my name is Christie and I’m a Resident Evil 2 addict. But, as long as I stay away from a PS console, I will be able to overcome it. He’ll just have to hide it over Christmas. However, [...]

Naked Sims? If you are a Mac user, you can downlaod a patch from http://www.macworld.com/2001/01/buzz/simcity.html and your sims will wear nothing but a smile. It also removes the blur that occurs over the Sims’ privates when the shower..

Asperger’s syndrome – have you heard of it? Apparently it is a mild form of autism, and it is becoming more and moe prevalent, especially among children in Silicon Valley. In short, the hypothesis is that parents with highly technical abilities carry the gene, and maybe passing it on to the kids. The description of [...]

Somehow I started receiving Wired magazine, and never really looked at it. At first glance, it seems to be all about glossy ads, and it almost has a comic book flavor to the design. I ventured into a few issues to see what I could find for blogging fodder, and I was pleased. Almost every [...]

Greg, thanks for the Blog about MyGradebook.com. I’ve been looking for something like this to hit the streets. I don’t think it will be too far in the future when the schools will provide this service for their teachers…I hope. When my kid is of school age, I hope his teacher(s) use the Internet so [...]

The November issue of Wired has an interesting article about wireless services, in which they talk about an original game being played with cell phones in Europe. BotFighters has over 5,000 Europeans running around trying to “kill” other players. They locate each other through their cell phones. If the player happens across a certain location, [...]

Here is another pattern for you – GameGamble. I was considering gift exchanges at this time of year. I think the concept of being able to “steal” others unwrapped gifts is pretty common, and makes it a lot of fun. However, at the one I attended recently, the presents weren’t unwrapped till the end. “Stealing” [...]

You have got to check it out. In reference to Dan’s recent Blog, the link he provided at MiniClip.com is great! Of course, I laughed. But, I think the educational point is the user interaction. The graphics are pretty good, but I think it is the user control (ala Dewey) that kept me on the [...]

At the puppy park last week I was chatting with some other dog parents, and we were discussing spending holidays with parents. Seems I’m not the only one who travels a great distance to see their family and then comes home feeling a bit empty. My sister and I try to find out more about [...]

In tracking down the story about Microsoft removing the WTC from their Flight Simulator games, I ran across this interesting follow-up to the blog I wrote about the first of the video-game generation being better Navy pilots than their predecessors. There’s a story on the MS Flight Sim page about how the Navy will soon [...]

Finally found another article on video game censorship that I had run across before. The interesting thing about it is how the industry is exercising what it calls “self censorship” in light of Sept. 11. One example is that Microsoft is removing the WTC from all its flight simulator programs. There are even patches to [...]

Just when you think you’ve seen everything. The newest module for Electronic Arts’ “The Sims” is called “Hot Date.” I saw this in a store and it got me thinking; might it entice those whose social skills are a bit weak to retreat further into the world of virtual romance, living vicariously through their creations? [...]

There’s an interesting article here on video game censorship. There’s a reference to legislation proposed by Pennsylvania Senator Jack Wagner that would “make it more difficult for minors to obtain access to graphically violent video games.” Maybe our webquest play wasn’t so far off?

“It doesn’t matter to us who wins the war [among the console makers],” said Robert A. Kotick, chairman and chief executive of Activision (news/quote), a games publisher. “We just get the benefit of the spoils,” he said, adding, “it’s a great time to be in the video game business.” Interesting postscript update to my musings [...]

IGDA update! They’ve contacted me and indicated an interest in coming to campus Wednesday, January 16- the week before classes start. Assuming that this is okay with the school (its slightly different from their original request and I’ll have to check with facilities to make sure its still a go) I will almost certainly be [...]

Yes, Bernie, I suppose I have tended to make contributions concerning the financial side of the industry. I have not spent a lot of time in this program thinking about the proverbial bottom line but, as I want our ideas to be viable and manifest, I’ve thought it’d be useful to sensitize myself (and others) [...]

It seems that the new wave of the web are these Flash mini-games. Unfortunately, it seems that most of them are for entertainment only, but it seems that if we could harness this medium for good some great things can come from it. Here are a couple that I have come across recently… JoeCartoon,com MiniClip.com [...]

Media 1st | V-SPAN | Zydacon These companies offer on-line training services and technical support. The companies tout quality instructional design with breakthroughs in video and audio solutions. Maybe someday these or similar companies will offer educational games and/or simulations as a part of their training. I think if any of us find employment with [...]

Alas, Blogger is back up and running! I thought everyone from ED TEC overpowered the server. Anyway, MyGradeBook.com seems like a neat resource for teachers who are interested in posting class information on-line. The server is secure, seems pretty ease to use, and is accessible from home, school or anywhere with an Internet connection. It [...]

Here is a game that uses standard telecomm functions to make the game extremely interactive. It is called Majestic and the tag line is “It plays you.” The real time feature means that you may be anywhere, doing anything, and you may recieve a voice mail calling you to come play the game. Just in [...]

Wired magazine reports on Batman: Vengeance a new PS2 release from UbiSoft. Story line and animation were the main focus in developing the game. More than 60 animators took two years to craft over 500 3-D animated moves. Batman’s cape even has its own AI, allowing it to move independently of Batman. As we’ve noticed, [...]

The first do-it-yourself board game is here, or at least that is how TDC Games is billing Make Your Own Opoly. The game comes with software so that you can print out quality graphics and type.This could be adapted for almost every discipline – could be a great tool for middle and high school teachers. [...]

TURN OFF the TV should probably make reference to turning off computers as well. All of their products are billed as “family games and activities” and there aren’t any traces of CD-ROMs or internet downloads. As we were discussing in class Monday, some families are using digital games so that they can participate in an [...]

During week six of our ET 670 course we spent a half hour or so discussing different theories of intrinsic motivation. We observed or played different games, one of which is called “Age of Empires”. Anyway, I thought the game was pretty neat, although I personally did not play or observe it. I recently noticed [...]

Interesting information on Facial Studio, Elsa! In the Rouse book, Chris Crawford talks about the importance of facial expressions. The following is an excerpt from that interview (see p. 285) – “The two things that we [human beings] are very good at are facial recognition and linguistic comprehension. Accordingly, those are the two things that [...]