Becker Video Game Design

Compares transmitting information to students by three different instructional methods including video games

Evaluation involving three NASA-based multiplayer game partnerships

"In this study we build and analyze corpora of internet message board discussions and use this analysis to build a model that attempts to predict videogame sales figures. Weekly corpora are built by downloading and processing text consisting of the discussions of a large community focused on the topic of videogames. This text is then analyzed to determine which videogame titles generate the most discussion within the community for each week. We use support vector regression to create a model that is able to make predictions about future sales figures"

Consideration of two types of gamer communities and proposals for design

Economist overview of mass growth of video game sales and usage

Convesation with Tim Loew and Ken Surdan of Turbine, focusing on education and jobs in Mass. game industry

A thesis evaluating cloud gaming attributes and surveying consumer attitudes toward cloud gaming features

Student game showcasing project "first jointly planned effort between USC's School of Cinematic Arts' interactive media division and its Viterbi School of Engineering's department of computer science. The two schools have offered an advanced games class together since 2007."

Partnership between Becker video game design students and Worcester Youth Center to design a game for whynotstop.org

"using physiological signals to study psychological phenomena" in game playing

"The continuous quest for ever increasing fidelity in 3D virtual worlds is running parallel to the emergence and adoption of low-cost technologies to implement such environments. In education and training, complex simulations can now be implemented on standard desktop technologies. However, such tools lack the means to represent multisensory data beyond audio-visual feedback. This paper reports on a study that involved the design, development and implementation of a 3D learning environment for underground mine evacuation. The requirements of the environment are discussed in terms of the sensory information that needs to be conveyed and techniques are described to achieve this using multiple modes of representation, appropriate levels of abstraction and synesthesia to make up for the lack of tactile and olfactory sensory cues. The study found that audio-visual cues that used such techniques were effective in communicating complex sensory information for novice miners."

Ongoing study funded by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development involving some 300 minority youths ages 9 t0 14 based on research that skills learned in video game play will translate into real life personal health management

Supplement to Fall 2011 Occupational Outlook Handbook describes careers related to video game development, salary averages, types of companies

Considering game studies in the context of "performance studies", gamers and games as "co-creators"