Becker Video Game Design

"As marketers invest more and more money into in-game brand placements, little research has tested the effects of videogame customization and controller type in relation to advertising effects, even though these factors have demonstrated importance in other areas of gaming research. Results from an experiment show that game customization significantly increases recall of an integral brand placement-one that is central to actual game play-but not of peripheral brands, which simply appear within the game. Regardless of brand type, players using a traditional controller exhibit significantly greater recall than those who use a newer, more naturally mapping controller. An interaction effect indicates that the influence of controller type disappears when customization is allowed; this effect is not specific to either type of brand. These results are interpreted through models of processing fluency and the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing. The article concludes with marketing implications regarding technological videogame advances."

" Apple's chief executive Tim Cook reportedly visited the Bellevue, Washington headquarters of Valve Corporation earlier today, inciting questions about new potential for collaboration between the two companies."

"Show the world your word sleuthing skills!" "HTML5 real time word game"

"Roll20 is an online tabletop gaming platform with a focus on storytelling as opposed to game mechanics. This is NOT a video game, but instead a virtual "table" to gather around with friends in order to play any number of role playing games."

"A BUDDING games designer is set to launch his first major title at The Gadget Show Live at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre this week."

"The Kamloops-Thompson school district is taking its video-game design curriculum to the next level. What started as a summer-camp program in 2007 and grew into a limited course offering last year is set to assume full-course status - meaning area high school students will have the opportunity to spend an entire semester studying nothing but video-game design."

"Three years ago, PAX East came to Beantown. It landed at the Hynes Convention Center and was seen by many as the acknowledgement that Boston was a worthy adversary against the perceived dominance of the West Coast gaming giants. They had EA and Microsoft, we had Harmonix and Rockstar New England."

The Learning Games Network, a non-profit spin-off of the MIT Education Arcade that bridges the gap between research and practice in game-based education, today announced a $1.99 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand Xenos, its flagship integrated social learning environment gaming platform, for Hispanic adults learning English (ESL) in libraries and workplaces. The goal of the Play Games-Learn English Project is to provide self-directed ESL instructional resources to adults in informal learning and vocational training settings. Pilot sites include the Boston and San Francisco Public Libraries and BJ's Wholesale Clubs."

More commentary on the Smithsonian exhibition

using digital games to promote learning and literacy in the elementary classroom in Australia

"Leading Website for Video Game Industry Professionals Breaks 4 Million Pageviews for the First Time in March, as Monthly Unique Visitors Reach an All-Time High"

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.

NASA Announces Student Winners in Space Game Design Challenge BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Three school student teams in the fifth through eighth grades have been selected as the winners of NASA's second annual Spaced Out Sports challenge. The students designed science-based games that will be played by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Reflection on game design and teamwork process

Aspects of game design that contribute to players' romantic feelings for characters

"how game environments can be designed to support many kinds of sociability"

"Game design and development programs often include a final project or capstone course as a means of assessing the cumulative theory, processes and techniques learned by students through the program or department's curriculum. While these courses are prevalent in programs around the world, there has yet to be a study of how, why, and to what end these courses are designed and run. We review the literature on capstone courses, discuss the findings of a long-form survey administered in early 2011, and propose a set of framing questions for the design and implementation of capstone courses. Survey findings include common goals of capstone courses, make-up of faculty teaching these courses, the support obtained and desired for the courses, the technologies used to create capstone projects, the methods of project management used in the courses and the expectations of faculty teaching the courses. These results can serve as a baseline for faculty and administrators looking to develop or improve their game design and development curricula."

Value of computer game design and serious games courses for all computer students