Group items tagged

Abstract: "The authors give an overview of existing incorporations of biological systems for behavior generation within digital systems. The authors investigate digital systems that have artistic and/or entertainment goals, including computer games. The overview concludes with a reflection on the overall state of this hybrid approach."

Excitement is building on the campus of LIU Post, as the university prepares to host PlayExpo, a juried show of games and other interactive digital entertainment, on Sunday, April 15, 2012.

"Never mind that they're now among the most lucrative forms of entertainment in America, video games are juvenile, silly, and intellectually lazy. At least that's what Jonathan Blow thinks. But the game industry's harshest critic is also its most cerebral developer, a maverick bent on changing the way we think about games and storytelling. With his next release, The Witness, Blow may cement his legacy-or end his career. In a multibillion-dollar industry addicted to laser guns and carnivorous aliens, can true art finally flourish?"

SOUTH FREEPORT, Maine - Ben Sawyer helped train the next generation of university leaders, worked to school Cisco employees in binary math and is hoping to help at-risk youths avoid the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. For him, it's all a game - a serious game. Sawyer is the co-founder of Digitalmill Inc., a game design consulting firm that is focused on the "serious games" space."

"This study applied the concept of closed chain exercise to WaterBall, which combines rehabilitation exercises with a digital game. By using WaterBall, the elderly can enjoy the benefits of both entertainment and rehabilitation. In addition, WaterBall provides multi-touch control, is easy to use, and have the potential to improve physical activity in older adults The elderly can play the game intuitively. WaterBall Exergaming was used by 52 residents of an elderly community, and they reported that WaterBall offers exercise and fitness, enhances the efficiency of exercises, and provides entertainment and interaction."

Abstract: Video games are no longer a means of simple entertainment that serve as a form of escapism. They are perceived not simply as free time distractions, but as logic of engagement and platforms of creative thinking. Furthermore, online video games have taken the idea of interaction to a level no any other media has ever achieved. Online video games known as virtual world or MMO (massively multiplayer online) are a mega interaction platform that attract millions of players across the globe. They are the ultimate goal that all architects have ever dreamed of, i.e. to create an interactive space that satis es the needs of users. This thesis research will tend to examine a variety of video games from 3 perspectives: space, structure and interactivity, with a view to understanding and exploring the behaviour of players in video games, as known as, virtual stages. In recognizing and articulating such behaviour, followed by exploring the relationship between architects, users and spaces, the interpretation of architectural languages can then be translated into physical spatial form. This research then questions the possibilities of promoting the gaming industry in South Africa. In the current digital era, the IT (information and technology) industry is a main stream profession that helps with the growth of a country as a whole. The role of the gaming industry therefore cannot be ignored in this instance. The gaming industry is a rapid growing profession that comprises a lot of speci c professionals. SA does not offer nor focus on the video game eld and as a result, we are experiencing a shortage of professionals in this eld. This thesis proposes a facility to facilitate current and future game industry related professionals, on the same time, providing a playful environment that integrates the building and local context, allowing deeper engagement for those who haven t been exposed to the real meaning behind video games.

"SmartGlass, a software-based application that extends Xbox 360 experiences onto smartphones and tablets, does shine best when paired with television or movie entertainment. That's where programmers have fleshed out the most whiz-bang features at this time, but game designers have clever plans for this tech, too."

Data from studies by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and Magid Advisors has implications for the game industry

Abstract: "When developing serious games the most complex task is the alignment of instructional teaching methods and the game itself. To address this issue, we propose a shared language modeling approach for educational instructors and game developers. The language is based on so called serious game bricks, composites and rules. Combining these pedagogical and story elements allows the domain experts to create serious game patterns. The use of those patterns supports the development of serious games that are both entertaining and present specific educational objectives"

abstract: "This paper examines video game sales by platform in the North American market from a period spanning 2006 through 2011. As the home video game industry has rapidly matured and become established as a forefront facet of interactive entertainment in the home, we seek to determine what aspects of the video game market seem to most impact sales. This question is particularly poignant as the maturation of the video game industry has witnessed efforts at both vertical integration and horizontal expansion on the part of the top game publishers and developers in hopes of solidly grounding the industry. This study employs a Kruskal-Wallis test to compare eight different gaming platforms. The results indicate Nintendo's Wii and DS are the top selling game platforms, Xbox 360 is in a second tier, multiple Sony PlayStation platforms are in the third tier, personal computer games are in tier four, and the retired sixth generation Nintendo GameCube is the lowest sales tier."

From the introduction "The method described in this review is based on the Machinations tool, written based on the book by Dormans (2012) and the accompanying paper, also by Dormans (20 11). After having researched the necessary elements to create this tool and created the first iterations (Dormans, 2008; 2009), Dormans created Machinations as a response to the call of Doug Church (Dormans, 2012, 21) for "formal abstract design tools" whi ch Church (1999) posted on Gamasutra, a game developer website. Machinations is a framework that uses automated, interactive diagrams to simulate and test the gameplay of a game before development, to see if there are any serious flaws in the design and if the game would have plausible (and more importantly, entertaining) progression and emergence. The diagrams represent the flow of resources in a game during, and the feedback structures that exist in, the gameplay, which can be interacted with during the d iagram's runtime."

From the abstract: "New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Healt h (NYCAMH) has a need for a web-based educational game to educate families on farm saf ety. This project demonstrates a proposed game design that combines the elements of gaming th at enhance learning with the feedback received from NYCAMH. Feedback was solicited th rough a series of prototypes delivered to NYCAMH through an agile software development process. The proposed design follows a constructivist approach to place the learner in a context based on reality. The aspects of the game design that engage and motivate students by blend ing entertainment with learning are discussed."

"In any sufficiently sized government, it's going to be pretty easy to cherry-pick examples of programs that seem wasteful or unnecessary. So it's not too surprising that Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is able to do just that each year with his headline-grabbing "Waste Book," listing 100 examples of extraneous spending in the US government. ... But when the Waste Book deals with federal grants for a number of video game-related projects, it seems to write them off without considering the important scientific and artistic goals the projects achieve. While Coburn appears to believe it's self-evident that anything related to games couldn't possibly be worthy of federal funding, talking to the people behind these projects shows taxpayer dollars are going to much more than mindless entertainment."

"In the world of video games and entertainment any kind of publicity is often seen as a boon. But it was publicity that ultimately prevented New York-based game developer Navid Khonsari from returning to his homeland. Late one night last year, the Iranian-born game developer received an unexpected call from an uncle who had just returned from Iran."

Abstract- "What keeps a player in the game? What makes a game fun? In this paper, we present the results of our studies which may help answer these questions. We will discuss aspects of replayability and the possible existence of ecological effects within our data. Towards a game design methodology, we apply our results by proposing a mapping between core and casual levels in games and replayability aspects. We believe these results can aid software developers produce entertaining games with a long lasting appeal."

Argues that stereotypes of gamers as young and male and women avoiding technology careers are not accurate, and encourages girls and women to seek out careers in gaming industry

"Alan Price had a successful career in the video game industry as chief technology officer for EA Games in Canada. But a desire to create games that would do more than simply entertain, combined with a transformation in his industry that has seen video games shift from consoles to smartphones and social networks, prompted Price join the burgeoning digital health sector where he's creating wellness apps for kids."

Abstract: "In this work we investigate whether the innate visual recognition and learning capabilities of untrained humans can be used in conducting reliable microscopic analysis of biomedical samples toward diagnosis. For this purpose, we designed entertaining digital games that are interfaced with artificial learning and processing back-ends to demonstrate that in the case of binary medical diagnostics decisions (e.g., infected vs. uninfected), with the use of crowd-sourced games it is possible to approach the accuracy of medical experts in making such diagnoses. Specifically, using non-expert gamers we report diagnosis of malaria infected red blood cells with an accuracy that is within 1.25% of the diagnostics decisions made by a trained medical professional."

Abstract: "Serious games have proven to be a useful instrument to engage learners and increase motivation. Nevertheless, a broadly accepted, practical instructional design approach to serious games does not exist. In this paper, we introduce the use of an instructional design model that has not been applied to serious games yet, and has some advantages compared to other design approaches. We present the case of mechanics mechatronics education to illustrate the close match with timing and role of knowledge and information that the instructional design model prescribes and how this has been translated to a rigidly structured game design. The structured approach answers the learning needs of applicable knowledge within the target group. It combines advantages of simulations with strengths of entertainment games to foster learner's motivation in the best possible way. A prototype of the game will be evaluated along a well-respected evaluation method within an advanced test setting including test and control group."