Technology Information: 05/04/10

Serious Games Links from Eliane Alhadeff

Serious Games Links from Eliane Alhadeff

Serious Games Links from Eliane Alhadeff

Posted: 03 May 2010 01:58 PM PDT

Eliane Alhadeff blogs about serious games and recently posted a number of links that I'm happy to share!  The first set of links are to presentations from the recent GAMETECH 2010 conference held in Orlando, Florida. I've also included links to Eliane's blogs as well as to an article about games, simulations, and learning that was recently published in the Charlotte Observer.


SERIOUS GAMMES: FROM WHY TO HOW (pdf)
Ben Sawyer, Digital Mill
Serious Storytelling:  Top Research Findings in Game-Based Storytelling (pdf)
Rudy McDaniel, Ph.D.,  Dept. of Media, University of Central Florida
Army Game Studio: Serious Games Development (pdf)
Marsha Berry,  GameTech 3/29/2010
GAMETECH 2010:  Part I (pdf)    PART II: Chaotic System (pdf)
Will Wright (Creator of The Sims, SimCity, and Spore)
GAMETECH 2010 Website (Links  to all presentations)

RELATED
-STTC

Eliane Alhadeff's Blogs:
SERIOUS GAMES MARKET 
FUTURE MAKING SERIOUS GAMES BLOG




Quote:  "Future-World Thinking & Modeling - Credo: If you want to change the future, play it first!" 
By the way, a recent article in the Charlotte Observer discusses the topic of the use of games and 3D simulations in education: Learning with fun and games:  In todays classrooms and businesses, an avatar isn't just a movie; it is a ticket to success. (Sabine Vollmer, 5/2/10) 
FROM THE OBSERVER ARTICLE:
"WHAT IS 3D LEARNING? 



3-D learning happens by immersing yourself in a computer game or virtual world, using an avatar - like a digital sock puppet - that you control. You have an out-of-body experience in a digital classroom, learning by interacting and doing, where mistakes don't cause any damage in the real world. 


What's key to 3-D learning is computer technology that's fast and powerful enough to run the game or virtual world. In that respect, 3-D learning is an offspring of semiconductors' doubling in speed and power every 18 months (known as Moore's law)."

Second Life and more 
"These are some virtual worlds visited for learning:

Second Life, where avatars attend conferences, own property, shop, vacation, work and build. www.secondlife.com
ReactionGrid, a newer competitor of Second Life. www.reactiongrid.com
World of Warcraft, a huge, multiplayer online game where avatars fight monsters and complete quests. www.worldofwarcaft.com
DimensionM, a multiplayer video game for K-12 students that hones math skills. www.dimensionu.com/math
Innov8, a simulation game that teaches business process management. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/innov8/index.html
Sims, a strategic game that simulates activities of virtual people in a suburban household. www.thesims.ea.com"






http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com

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Some WINE with your Starcraft 2?

Some WINE with your Starcraft 2?

Some WINE with your Starcraft 2?

Posted: 03 May 2010 08:18 PM PDT

It finally happened. I have a Starcraft2 closed beta key! What feels like decades ago now I had applied for a Starcraft2 beta key on Battle.net and had all but given up hope after many months of waiting when a friend was kind enough to give me one of his invite passes. I entered the key into my account and was thoroughly excited when I saw the beta appear in my downloads. I was clicking through the website as quick as I could so I could get the game downloading, when reality came crashing down on top of me as I hit the downloads page and was asked to choose between a Windows and an OSX client.

What is a Linux user to do? With the recent release of Ubuntu 10.04 I had removed Windows 7 from my hardrive as it had not been booted into in over a month and was simply taking up storage space. My first thought was to simply reinstall Windows 7, giving it just enough space to boot and install Starcraft. Then I thought about the fact that I almost never reboot my system and that having to restart just to play Starcraft would be a real kill joy (and a time waster).

I run all of my source engine games on Linux via CXGames however upon looking at their entry for Starcraft II I had little faith that it would work under Crossover. Not quite ready to give up hope yet I headed over to the WINE AppDB entry for SC2, lo-and-behold it had a gold rating! Browsing through the page you will find a wonderful HOWTO for recompiling WINE from git with a custom patch for SC2. Always one to jump in with both feet first I promptly uninstalled my current WINE version from my system and began downloading/compiling a patch version of 1.1.43 Twenty minutes later (I have a fairly good processor) I had the patched version of WINE built and installed. I then proceeded to download the beta client and get it installing under WINE (I also followed the directions here that contains some extra tweaks for running the beta under WINE, it also installs SC2 to it's own WINE prefix).

I have been happily playing Starcraft 2 under Ubuntu 10.04 for the last three days now. All I have to say is that it is a true testament to how much progress the WINE project has made in recent years when it can be counted upon to run a new title that hasn't even been fully released yet! Performance under WINE is not perfect, but on lower settings it is more than playable (which is what really counts). There seems to be a processor bottle neck on higher detail settings (also present in L4D2 under WINE actually) that hinders performance.
~Jeff Hoogland

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Raymond.CC Blog - Unknown Devices vs Unknown Device Identifier – Finding Devices and Drivers

Raymond.CC Blog - Unknown Devices vs Unknown Device Identifier – Finding Devices and Drivers

Unknown Devices vs Unknown Device Identifier – Finding Devices and Drivers

Posted: 03 May 2010 07:45 PM PDT


Under every operating system out there, including Linux and Macintosh, we must install drivers to make sure our hardware works as expected. While it would be nice to live in a driverless world, much like Google Chrome’s OS is planned to be for their printers, I’m afraid it’s not an option for the mass majority [...]

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