Jeepers Veepers

Both impressive and a little eerie, Veeperization is a new "emotive interface" technology. You start with any 2-D image of yourself, load it into the program, and then drag and drop "data points" onto key movement areas of facial expression, like the corners of the eyes, mouth and eyebrows. The 2-D image is mapped onto a 3-D head and then something magical happens: The static image gets a breath of life. Instant animation!

The implications for e-learning and gaming are widespread, and Veepers are only one-tenth the cost-per-minute of professional video and take only 2 percent the file size of streaming video. Could this be the new alternative to streaming video?

Read the article

and Bingo was his name-o!

I borrowed a book from The Child's Primary School library (that's where I work) called Curious Customs: the Stories Behind 296 Popular American Rituals. One of our iconic and curious customs is BINGO! The book states BINGO is a lottery: you buy a card (ticket) with the anticipation of winning some dough from the nun calling the numbers.

A quick search online shows the BINGO community is large and in charge! No only can you play online BINGO for dough, you also can buy Santa BINGO markers, BINGO-themed apparel, and ergonomic BINGO seats!

More fun Flash Games!!!

Like Darleen, I LOVE Flash games. I suck at playing them, but I love looking at them and dreamin... one day I'll be able to design like that... GlobZ is full of amazing, yet simple design. I'm learning a lot of navigational possibilities through the game design: GlobZ uses a lot of keyboard maneuvering, while I tend to think of only using the mouse.

FYI: Viral pursuit is super fun!

I am Addicted to Orisinal Games

Okay, the Orisinal site is the coolest! My friend sent this to me a while back and I had long since forgotten it in my endless menu of favorites. All of the games on this site were created with Flash. My favorite game is Bubble Bees. The idea is so simple: you have to catch bees in bubbles. I'm getting better each time I play, but I'm certainly not on the high score list. Many of the games have great background music to help you get in the game mode. You will most certainly want to check these games out because they're just plain fun. :)

So, what is a game?

Here’s an interesting (and timely) site by Greg Costikyan, a game developer, about what components are included in a good computer game. He talks about decision-making, goals, opposition, managing resources, game tokens, and information. There’s a lot of interesting information here. More still to ponder on issues like role-playing, socializing, simulation and narrative tension. Check it out…and, there’s a link at the bottom that leads to other game design articles. Oh, and, the title is cool: I have no words & I must design

Teaching History With Videogames

TechTV very rarely has an educational slant in there reporting. Yet, in this spot TechTV features some of the work of Ed and Stephanie Vinces, teachers and co-owners of Pacifica Computer Pros in Pacifica, California. Ed and Stephanie Vinces use videogames, e.g. Medieval Times, in their classrooms to teach history. Makes me almost want to be a kid again.

The World's Most Popular Board Game

Did you know that the Monopoly game in its original incarnation was designed, in part, to "teach the virtues of the Single-Tax Movement"? The company that now distributes the game (perhaps not surprisingly) rejected it in its original form. But the game did find a niche at economics departments at places such as Princeton University. Today NPR's Morning Edition program aired an in-depth story about the history of the game. Read (or listen) to the report.

Teach Language with Games

Edutainment: How To Teach Language With Fun and Games is a teaching manual chock-full of fast-paced, high-energy learning games for ESL and EFL instructors. The site offers a sample of free games which seem wonderful, and the publishers claim they save the best ones for those who buy the book! My favorite game involves listening to, reading, writing, and singing the lyrics to popular songs by the Beatles, the Monkees, and Diana Ross.

Cerebral Challenge

Cartoon Network has a companion website and in it are some fun games that revolve around different animated characters. I particularly liked Cerebral Challenge as it tests your memory skills. Remember that frustrating memory game you played as a child? As you click onto different crates, different cartoon characters pop out and you have to remember where the "twin" or "matching character" is. It is particularly motivating because it provides all of those neat sound effects, immediate feedback, and it celebrates with a song when you finally find all of them. It also lets you know if you're lame with short-term memory skills. Heh heh...

Memory Games

Exploratorium, the online museum of science, art, and human perception, is currently hosting a Memory Exhibition , in which patrons can play four games designed to improve memory skills. The game instructions are succinct, feedback is provided, and a brief explanation of the principle behind each game is given, along with ideas for real-life application. The games can be played multiple times for improved performance. Bookmark this site or you might forget it!

Did you know...

Did you know that the average population of the world's 100 largest cities was 200,000 in 1800 and over 5 million in 1990? If not, you might want to visit the United Nations Publications' CyberSchoolBus Cities of Today, Cities of Tomorrow interdisciplinary curriculum. The curriculum, designed for grades 5-7 and 8-11, was developed after the "City Summit" in 1996 to illustrate the history, potential, and problems of urbanization around the globe. Although the units are primarily text-based, there are also many activities and some interactive quizzes. At completion of the 6 week program, students should have the knowledge and skills to create their own ideal city. There are also many other offerings in the CyberSchoolBus including units on Peace, Human Rights, and Cleaner Oceans.

Gamequarium

"The site that swims with learning fun", Gamequarium is a site offering free game resources for teachers of grades pre-K to 6+. Free games in the areas of Language Arts, Math, and Music, are just a few of the examples available for download. Links to other sites for teachers are available. Examples of games created by students (using Quia.com) are also provided. It seems like a good resource for teachers who would like to use games in their teaching, or even to interest their students in game design.

Change on the Run

Changeontherun.com is a website offering e-games designed for corporate learning environments. Product delivery, manufacturing, and distribution are some areas that have associated e-games available through this company. One game is specifically designed for CEOs. Their description of this game is provided below:

"Change on the Run: The CEO e-Game has been built for all those who need to understand how shareholder wealth is created in the turbulent, intensely competitive e-world we are moving into. We believe "learning by doing" through the game experience significantly enhances the assimilation of complex concepts and skills. The game is designed for: Top leaders who want to build understanding in their organizations of the issues facing the business as it transitions to the new economy. Extended Leadership Teams who need to get past their technical or functional backgrounds and to widen their general understanding of their business so they can collaborate fully in driving strategy. Advisors inside or outside a firm, who must help leaders understand the modern world and the dynamics of creating wealth. Lenders and all those who must develop a feel for how businesses actually create shareholder wealth ­ and the risks involved. Students and faculty running the gamut of business practices in course-study, the game will supercharge the learning experience through the simulation of executive decision making."

This website illustrates e-game opportunities that many of us may not have considered when contemplating careers as e-game designers.

Boids of a Feather Flock Together

While searching for modeling information for my e-game I came across the “boids” homepage. Boids creator Craig Reynolds discovered that they spontaneously display perfect flocking behavior when programmed with three simple rules:

Separation: Don't get too close to any object, including other boids;
Alignment: Try to match the speed and direction of nearby boids;
Cohesion: Head for the perceived center of mass of the boids in your immediate neighborhood.

In short, each boid acts entirely on its own; there are no overarching instructions for the entire population. Even when they begin in random positions all over the computer landscape, the boids inevitably arrange themselves into flocks, even after flying around an obstacle.

The page is a great source for information and links relating to computer modeling and behavioral animation.

Learn more

Games Plus

Fe Kids is a website designed exclusively for kids. One of the most interesting parts of Fe Kids is Game Plus, the games section. Games Plus has eight different games and kids can play them online. The games are fun and easy to play. Kids will really love it!

Exact Change, Please...

Fun Island is an educational games site I came upon recently. There's a game on that site called Exact Change which would be a challenging and stimulating game for kids who are just learning about counting and using money. Although the graphics and audio are sort of cheesy, this game is still presented well.

Solving Medical Mysteries

The Reconstructors is a web game developed by Rice University with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. As a Reconstructor, you take on the role of scientist, historian, geographer, and detective.Your mission is to rediscover lost medicinal knowledge. As you collect clues to solve the mystery, you travel to different regions of the world. You get to interact with different aspects of the world -- chemistry, pharmacology, neuroscience, medicine, public policy, history, and more. The game is intended for students of all ages.

The Electric Maze

Are you interested in team or organizational learning? If so, you'll want to read this short (3-page) article that describes an intriguing practice learning field (action learning) in which participants explore the principles of effective teamwork. The author, Richard Kimball, PhD, also discusses the theory and intent behind the exercise. In a nutshell, the Electric Maze is a 7 x 10 foot maze on a checkerboard carpet that a team must work their entire group through according to an interesting set of rules. The exercise includes beeps for landing on an incorrect square; changes in the route when the team has taken too long; and grunts, hand signals, and clapping for communication. No talking allowed. Very interesting... definitely a boredom buster.

Second Life

Here's an example of RPG's for normal people, or at least that's what its developers hope for.

"Explore a 3D online world lived in and built by its participants - a new medium for creative self-expression, social
interaction, and fun, where you can be or do almost anything. You can fly. You can discover. You can create a masterpiece-or an empire. If you can imagine it, you can do it here. You choose your own goals. What do you want to do? Amass a vast fortune? Explore an ever-changing landscape? Meet new and exciting people? Create art? Throw wild parties? Become a world-famous clothing designer or architect? Whatever your goals, whatever you choose to do, your Second Life starts now."

They're accepting beta testers now and the subscription service will be rolled out next year. (Who's got time enough for one life, let alone a second?).

Remember those school lunches?

Yum! Well, good nutrition is still a big problem for kids. Lunchbuddy is a site for kids focused on fun activities about school lunches and teaching them how to make healthy food choices. There’s a great table comparison of “Past school lunches” and what it’s like now. For instance: (in the past) “Mystery’ foods were served. (in the present) “…high standards of quality. Gone are the days of “potted meats” and canned succotash.” If the lunches are so good now, why does my son still complain about them? Hmmm...

Pendulums, Springs and Roller Coasters

MyPhysicsLab - Physics Simulations
"Click on one of the physics simulations below... you'll see them animating in real time, and be able to interact with them by dragging objects or changing parameters like gravity."

Very good use of interactivity to get across some pretty complex concepts!

Interactive Review Exercises for Soldiers

LuxorMedia has an online demonstration of their Virtual Mission Preparation interactive exercises for military personnel. The exercises are intended as a review of courseware and cover everything from conduct as a prisoner of way to Bosnian ethnic groups. There are a variety of interesting games, including dragging keys to unlock doors, a version of the old shell game, more traditional fill-ins and ordering items, and, of course, an action packed firing range game. (Yes, I was mortified when I shot a squirrel by mistake.) The use of audio in the games is quite engaging. There is a narrator that provides instructions and a commander (complete with gruffy voice) that informs you that you're either "on target" or you need to "re-engage." Some great examples here... enjoy!

3D thesarus

Visual ThesarusThis is a cool site that turns your heavy Websters Thesarus from a useful tool into a great door stop . Type in a word and you get a whole word map of similiar words and their own branches. The best part is that its animated and turns language into architecture

Sims

Rich. Great minds think alike. Who's in for a virtual party?

Sims Online Here are some excerpts... "black leather pants", "blew $2,000... on an espresso machine... and a pool", " 24/7 party", "DJs and go-go dancers", and "pizzas". I must play this game. Virtually party on.

"

THE SIMS ONLINE ... COMING SOON!

On Sunday, National Public Radio's On the Media had a story about a computer game know to over a million players as The Sims. Touted as the #1 PC game, The Sims is a simulation game about a world that sounds very close to our own. An objective of the game is to acquire material goods, though I'm not sure this is a end goal is (?). There are many interesting things about this game (e.g., it appeals to females as well as males and it's widespread popularity). It's going to be interesting to see how this game and others based on this game evolve in the future, especially as the creators of The Sims get ready to release their online version (coming in the very near future).

For Girls

THE GAMES CAMP FOR GIRLS

G.A.M.E.S. stands for Girls' Adventures in Math, Engineering, and Science. The camp is held during the summer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for gifted and interested sixth to eighth grade girls. The camp provides an opportunity to explore math, science, and engineering through the use of projects and games. There is now one full section devoted to girls and computers. Take a look at the supportive and innovative approaches to support girls interested in math and science at The Games Camp.


Participants in the 2002 camp

Teaching Complex Systems

AERA Symposium on Complex Causality and Conceptual Change is a web site set up to encourage dialog as followup to two years worth of sessions at AERA, the flagship conference for educational researchers. Lots of good background info here, especially for the groups using StarLogo.

Research-Based Games

Research-Based Games Enhance Children's Learning
This 1998 article published in the "American Psychological Association Monitor" presents educational computer games that used research on what makes children motivated. They have focused their studies on school-age girls and their math skills. They discussed a game that leads children on a scavenger hunt through San Francisco landmarks, during which they solve math problems. I learned that competitive elements in a game seem to motivate boys more highly than girls. The article also seems, however, to be an advertisement for the educational software games at Sparkle Productions.

IGDA meeting

Thursday, November 21st is the next IGDA meeting. It starts at 6:30. They offer free pizza and soda. The atmosphere is casual. Most people are in jeans and t-shirts. I think it's one of the coolest industry meetings.

http://www.igda.org/Chapters/sandiego/sd_nov_mtg.htm

Spatial Temporal Animation Reasoning

The trion model of higher brain function (Gordon Shaw, UC Irvine, M.I.N.D. Institute) sheds insight into how the brain reasons spatial-temporally. Spatial-temporal reasoning involves the ability to maintain a mental image and perform a temporal sequence of spatial operations on that image. This ability is crucial in such activities as music, chess and mathematics.

A computer game named STAR (Spatial Temporal Animation Reasoning) developed by Shaw heavily exploits the brain’s built-in spatial-temporal operations. The game trains elementary school children on sophisticated math and science concepts that have traditionally been difficult to learn, such as fractions and proportions. Having already been shown to improve standardized math scores, STAR has great potential to change how elementary school math is taught.

learn more

Rock Paper Scissors

Ever wonder if your hobby makes you an oddity? Stamp collectors, swirly straw collectors, professional curlers (the sport--think Winter Olympics), etc. have nothing to ever feel nerdy about... EVER!Welcome to the World RPS Scoiety, the place where professional, and novice, Rock Paper Scissors players unite, discuss strategies, and register for the World Championships. Seriously.

What will Canada think of next?

Toddlers and television

I knew I was one step ahead of all of my friends with young children when I plopped my newborn son in his bouncy seat right in front of Barney and Dragon Tales and ordered him to stay there and watch. Because the cover story of last week's Newsweek magazine was "Why TV is Good for Kids" . I've always been an advocate of quality television, and in fact I think my child has learned better behavior from educational television than from me-- not to mention problem solving, Spanish, the alphabet, and even reading skills (I always keep the closed caption on). The subtitle of the article is "Guilt Free TV"-- but I've never felt guilty! The article discusses the research involved in creating an educational show for toddlers including why certain shows keep a child's attention and how educational components of a program are tallied. The follow-up article blasts television for kids. You can decide for yourself. I think that as long as it's not being used like heroin, quality educational television is for certain a beneficial component to a well-rounded toddler's schedule of activities.

Nudity in Console Games!

AKA Acclaim game developer has introduced a new game titled "BMX XXX." What's the catch? Topless women on bikes. Digital Game Developer recently interviewed the game developer regarding their decision to include the controversial content. The game also includes violence and sex. How is this for motivation?

Learning Games for Your Kids

For all you parents out there who want to give your kids a head start on learning and mastering their reading, writing, and 'rithmetic skills, Executive Parent offers a number of award winning games available for purchase. These games include multiple subjects for multiple age levels up to eighth grade.

American Army Recruits with Games

The news this past weekend was spotlighting this new game America's Army designed by the army and available for download for young people to play in the hopes of initiating new recruits. The media was concerned about the violence in the 3-D game but the Army argues that there is no real violence and that the game is a good indicator of army life and expectations. See for yourself.....

Yavsoft

Yavsoft.com offers "non-violent educational games for the entire family." The site offers free trial versions of what are touted as "addictive computer games with a friendly interface and attractive graphics." Games listed on the home page for the site range from an animated jigsaw puzzle game to a humorous pirate game. The focus seems to be to create games that appeal to fantasy and challenge (Malone and Lepper, anyone?). Although I didn't download any, I thought I'd include it here as a resource for e-game designing. Complete versions of the games can also be purchased through the site, but I want to point out that I'm not affiliated with Yavsoft.com in any way. :-)

Coming Soon to the Mac: EverQuest

According to Macworld UK, the world's largest multiplayer game will be arriving for Macs next February. This is good news for those of us who use Windows as seldom as possible.

"With OS X and Apple's desktop systems there will be an incredible gaming environment that will take full advantage of EverQuest's huge and seamless 3D world."

The SOE executive discussed Apple's work in making Mac OS X a good gaming platform: "It seems Apple is making great strides in making OS X an easy platform to work with for gaming, and that's very key in our continued interest. If Macintosh is going to compete with the very mature set of tools for gaming development on the Windows/Intel side, it has to start with the OS and Apple."

EverQuest has attracted a huge international audience (375,000 active players on PC). It has also attracted major media support: USA Today calls it the "next generation computer role playing game." The US Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awarded it the title of 2001's best massive multiplayer/persistent world game.

The Puzzle Solvers at Cryptic Manor

How good are you in solving puzzles? The Puzzle Solvers at Cryptic Manor was developed by the National Security Agency to share the fun and excitement of solving challenging problems. Explore the rooms of the Cryptic Manor to find hidden links to puzzles that involve codes. Codey the owl, will be your guide in this exploration. The site contains both interactive puzzles and ones to print out and work with paper and pencil. The puzzles are challenging and you'll need both time and brainpower to work out the solutions.

Dr. Clue Scouts San Diego

One of the participants in a session I attended at NASAGA was Dr. Clue, otherwise known as David Blum. He's created a company that designs Team Building Treasure Hunts

"Ok, admit it. Ever since you were a kid, you've always loved treasure hunts. And now, as "an adult," you're charged with hunting up a fresh, new, business-focused team building activity for your corporate group. Your quest, at last, is over! Treasure hunt master Dr. Clue is the national leader for customized, team building treasure hunts. Always convenient to your office or meeting, our off-site hunt events take place in America's most exciting neighborhoods, museums and theme parks."

That sounds like great fun to me. While down for NASAGA, he was looking around San Diego for some good locations for a new treasure hunt. Someone suggested Seaport Village but I hope saner minds prevail. Downtown or Balboa Park would be a lot more content-crunchy.

Maybe next year I'll offer treasure hunt design as an optional alternative to the board game project.

A Contest!

Now that you're all expert game designers, here's some news you can use: About Board Games and Abstract Games magazine are sponsoring the 3rd Annual Game Design Competition, this year with the theme of Simultaneous Movement. The goal is simple: design a great two-player game with simultaneous movement using pieces most people are likely to have around the house.

Doesn't that sound like something you could do? Deadline is 12/31/02.

When Intrinsic Motivation Goes Bad

Wired News reports on the British and Dutch enthusiasts being tried for espionage in Greece in Plane Spotters: Hobbyist or Spy? Their crime? They were caught copying down the tailfin numbers of jets at a Greek airport. Were they going to pass their info on to Turks or terrorists? No... it's just a hobby like birdwatching in which the goal is to see as many individual planes as you can. The hobby is deeply popular in parts of Europe. It would be interesting to analyze this from the perspective of the ARCS model or Lepper & Malone's categories of fun. What's the appeal behind this obsession?

See the Plane Spotting Home Page and Obsession - PLANESPOTTING for more info about the hobby.

And stay the hell out of Greece.

Learning to Vote

The biggest story during this year's mid-term elections may have been the record low voter turnout. The group with the lowest of the low, tends to be those most recently eligible to vote. NPR's Morning Edition program ran a story on election day about high school students learning about voting and citizenship. The issue for most of these students seemed to be that they didn't find it relevant. Americans don't vote for many reasons, but maybe a little instructional intervention when people are young might help form more positive attitudes towards voting. If the lessons incorporated some game activities -- perhaps role-playing games might work well here -- students might be more motivated to vote.

Listen to the report

Froguts

As Al mentioned, some students don't enjoy dissecting a frog. Fortunately now students can dissect a virtual frog. Froguts is a virtual online frog dissection tutorial. It is a great tutorial and is available online for free!

Construction Zone

My Iowa mom, of all people, sent me a cool link to sodaconstructor, an online modeling site that enables you to create wireframe-type models that move. You can build your own or modify models that others have created. I added some big feet to one of the models and watched them flop around the screen. You can turn off or reverse gravity and see the effect on the model.

I think this type of quick modeling has many applications for teaching physics, math, and other sciences.

Cutting Class

Students who detest the funky smell of formaldehyde and are a bit squimish about dissecting a frog may opt to dissect a virtual one instead.

In a recent article out of The Southern Illinoisan, biology teacher, Renee Goodson of Frankfort high school said, "Dissection Works CD-ROM which features simulations of worms, frogs, fish, and pigs for dissection; is not only more cost-effective, but is also much quicker to set up. The computer dissection is more self-paced, and there's no mess, no stink."

Teach English with Fun and Games

This is a website that might be of interest to those of you who teach or know of someone that teaches ESL. They have games, songs and other activities targeted towards kids.

eslgames.com says, "You can easily use each game and technique in your classroom because you get simple instructions and examples to show you exactly how to use fun and games to make extraordinary progress with your students. "

Virtual Learning Indeed

According to eSchool News online, ..."at St. Bonaventure Parish Parochial School, technology literacy education is integrated throughout the entire curriculum at every grade level. Instead of learning computer basics and software skills, however, every student in the school will increase his or her technology literacy by helping to design and build a virtual reality game."

Personally, I'm a little skeptical about the educational merit of this. At this point in the technology curve, I wonder how much learning bang there is for all the bucks this involves, and how scaleable it is.

This is your brain... This is your brain on games... maybe

Controversy please! Japan says our brains will turn to mush if we play too much, but some Yanks disagree. This article debates the finding of a Japanese study on game use in children.

Nomia for Windows...

There is no such animal. After attempting to download my new addiction (Nomia), I realized that it's only for Macs. Desperate to get my fix, I searched for almost 2 hours before finding something almost as compelling... Wordzap. Wordzap is kinda like Boggle... you make words out of 8 letters that are given to you. Try to make 7 words (at least 3 letters) before the computer makes one of your words and starts zapping (deleting) your words. Talk about flow... this game is better than... (use your imagination here!). Click here to find out more and download the game to your PC. Wordzap

Online Games for Children, ages 3-6

BABY-PLACE.comThis website might be of interest for those with babies and children in the family. It offers a few games for 3-6 year old children. For example, there is a game that introduces children ages 3-4 to the use of the mouse. They have to "catch" a moving square by clicking on it with the mouse. What a relatively simple idea to get children acquainted with the computer at an early age! Other games include: color matching (3+), adding and subtracting games.

Debunking Stereotypes

Here’s an interesting read... a two-year, ethnographic study suggests that women play games online for a variety of reasons; and not just to socialize and chat. Strong motivators for women are the opportunity to forge an identity in a virtual world, the competitive nature of the game, and exploration (Not unlike motivators for men, in fact). The details are going to be published in a paper called "Multiple Pleasures: Women and Online Gaming", examining the motivations behind female participation in online computer games.
Read Debunking Stereotypes, Women Flock to Computer Games

Synaptic Soup

This website is really meant for those individuals interested in developing video games. Synaptic Soup is the name of a company in the UK that develops games and technology. They work to bring video games to the mass market while providing middleware to game developers. The website lists a variety of games currently being developed.

Puzzles.com

Remeber those puzzle toys in cereal boxes? Puzzles.com takes those along with illusions, tricks, brain teasers, and the like, and brings them into the realm of the Internet. You can spend hours trying to solve them, I sure did. Have fun!

Figure This!

Check out Figure This!

Here are math challenges for middle school families. The challenges cover many of the skills reguired of middle school math students.There are currently 80 listed. It also provide parents with support and resources for working with their sons and daughters around the issues of homework.

PrimaryGames.com

PrimaryGames.com is a site that provides free educational games for elementary school students. The categories for these games are Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and Science. There is other game content on the site as well that is not tied to classroom learning explicitly, but are fun and appropriate for elementary school students.

Making Faces, 21st Century Version

When I was a kid, Mr. Potatohead was one of my favorite toys. There was something hilarious about putting together my own combinations of noses, eyes and lips. Now there's the Evil Clown Generator, a Flash page that does away with the need to visit the produce section. Surely this might inspire a less sinister version with some educational merit? Or would that take the fun out of it?

Games & Puzzles - Jefferson Lab

Jefferson Lab is managed and operated by Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). While the main page has links and articles about high level thinking in physics, they do provide a games page with content that is suitable for middle school and high school students. These games focus on math and science but there is one on reading comprehension.

Check out Apples to Apples . It is a party game created by Out of the Box Publishing, a company known for innovative games that can be learned in seconds, played in less than an hour, and that feature dynamic player interactions. In Apples to Apples, the judge for the round plays a green apple (adjective) card. Players must respond immediately by throwing down a red apple (noun) card that is best described by the green apple card. The Apples to Apples context has proved quite flexible; Out of the Box offers a “core” game, 2 expansion sets, and a junior version. This month, Apples to Apples and Out of the Box received high accolades from Bernie DeKoven of deepfun.com:

“It turns out that that very iffiness is what makes the game such a delight to play. There are no right answers. It's up to the imagination of the players, the judgment of the judge, and whatever subtle pressures one puts on the other…And then there's the BERNIE that goes to Out-of-the-Box itself. Every game I've looked at from them so far has that well-designed, carefully considered, made-for-easy-fun feeling.

QBInternational

QBInternational offers customized solutions to businesses that desire high-result, low-cost eLearning tools for complex technical products. They claim their games and simulations are more fun, more efficient, and less expensive than traditional eLearning tools. QBInternational has developed Framegames, shells of learning games that can be quickly modified to fit any content area. Framegames are based on the work the company’s chairman, Dr. Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan. Framegames allow learners to receive new ideas, apply these ideas to a task, and receive feedback on their performance. This process is repeated until expert fluency is achieved, changing the challenge level of the games as needed to prevent boredom or frustration.

Visit QBInternational’s Playground to play samples of Framegames, that include game types such as Categorize, Choices, Chunks, Infoquest, Matrix, and Simulation.

Game On

Today more and more teachers use project-based learning as a method for teaching their students advance problem solving skills and prepare them for the new technological era. Project-based learning enables students to use technology in innovative ways. Barbican Education has developed a series of six units, for a classroom project across the curriculum, inspired by computer games. The units help teachers create the concept of a new game with their students. The six units provide information on thinking about games, developing the story, creating game characters, designing environments, composing the sound and putting together the final game concept. Can you and your class take on the challenge of creating the concept of a new game? Check Game On.

Educatoys

www.educatoys.com - A really great site for purchasing educational games for a variety of subject areas (math, science, geography, nature, etc.). The site gives a nice description of each game and it's objectives. The site also offers resources for parents and educators, especially intersting is the information for homeshoolers which gives information and resources for people who are teaching their children privately. There are not a ton of games available (only two or three per subject), but they all seem worthwhile and well designed.

E-JIST link

www.usq.edu.au/electpub/e-jist/

E-JIST: Educational Journal of Instructional Science and Technology

www.usq.edu.au/electpub/e-jist/
I just came across this web site. It's really great for accessing information and research on Teaching and Technology. There are a couple good articles on gaming. Check out Volume 3, Number 2 for articles like "Does Learning Occur Through Gaming" and "Case Study: Development of a Corporate Learning Game". There are also a number of useful sources listed on the site for further information related to instructional technology.