Kevin Corti, PIXELearning’s Managing Director and resident
‘serious games’ evangelist is scheduled to participate
in a number of events in the coming months.
1. The Matchetts Group’s ‘Tomorrow’s
World of Training’, London, 22nd June.
Hurry – early bird offer ends in May.
2. The ‘International Serious Games Event’, Birmingham,
5th-6th June (see www.seriousgames.org.uk)
3. ‘Apply Serious Games 2006’, London, 25th-26th
May (see www.applyseriousgames.co.uk)
4. JISC’s ‘Get
Ahead of the Game’, 24th May 2006, Islington
City Learning Centre
In addition, Kevin has been asked to represent the Federation
of European High-tech SMEs at the Austrian Presidency Conference
on European Technology Platforms. This event
runs from 4th to 5th May 2006 in Vienna. Kevin will be setting
out why SMEs see technology platform type European initiatives
as important whilst also outlining his views on where platforms
should go in the future.
Resources
New book!
‘Developing Serious Games’ (2005), Brian Bergeron.
“With the impressive growth the games industry has
enjoyed for the past decade, game developers, educators, and
marketing firms are excitedly envisioning serious games applications
for computer game technologies. These applications- serious
games- represent opportunities for game developers to apply
their talents to areas outside of the entertainment industry.
Developing Serious Games is a practical handbook that details
what's involved in developing these serious games.
It explores the emergence of serious games as a viable niche
in the multi-billion dollar gaming industry, and it covers
the various types of serious games, including military, academic,
medical, and training & development. From there it continues
with a discussion of the enabling technology trends, emerging
standards, and the tools that promise to reinforce the current
trajectory of development and user demand for serious games.
The second half of the book emphasizes the economic realities
of the serious games industry, including and evaluation of
the market, the economic potential of the space, and the customer
base. The book culminates with a serious game design document
that illustrates the important differences between entertainment
games and serious games.
It also provides a look to the future of serious gaming from
a developer's perspective. The book is written for students,
established game developers, and professionals in related
fields, such as modelling and simulation or instructional
design, who are skilled in training with traditional approaches
and tools. It is also applicable to programmers, graphic artists,
and management contemplating or involved in the development
of serious games.”
Papers
Mark Prensky, “Complexity Matters!”
A great article by GBL ‘guru’ Mark Prensky which
investigates the differences between ‘mini-games’,
what adults understand computer games to be (i.e. trivial)
and the reality (complex games) and why this matters for education
and vocational learning.
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-Complexity_Matters.pdf
Richard Van Eck, “Digital Games-based Learning (DGBL)”
After years of research and proselytizing, the proponents
of digital game-based learning (DGBL) have been caught unaware.
Like the person who is still yelling after the sudden cessation
of loud music at a party, DGBL proponents have been shouting
to be heard above the prejudice against games. But now, unexpectedly,
we have everyone's attention. The combined weight of three
factors has resulted in widespread public interest in games
as learning tools.
