Mindstorms NXT Reviewed on Ars Technica

Boy, this sounds like fun:



Lego Mindstorms NXT

Great little movie clips on some of the pages -- but no death ray attachment. Rats.

Everyone an XBox Developer

Incredibly welcome news:

Play your own Xbox game (via CNet)

Reminds me of the way Sony used to accelerate interest and game development with Yaroze -- what ever happened to that program? Why isn't there a Yaroze for the PSP? Maybe this will push Sony to look back and remember when they used to do fun and innovative work.

Also -- the new Lego NXT is due out very very soon. It's like waiting for Xmas morning!

Also, from Ode magazine, and interesting article in their September issue -- "The Future of Homework". Unfortunately, the web site thinks the latest issue is July right now. I'll link the article when (if?) it gets posted.

UPDATE (8/22/06): It got posted:

http://www.odemagazine.com/article.php?aID=4345

Also, there's an interesting "Forum" conversation in September's Harper's Magazine -- no link.

Mac Google SketchUp Free Download

You know, I just re-read the title for this article and I'm not convinced that it's English.

Anyway, Google has finally released a Mac version of Google SketchUp:

MacCentral article
Download page

It's downloading now! Oooo. Exciting.

Google SkethUp Is Free

No Mac version yet -- but "soon"!

Google SketchUp

More importantly, there's a community site to share SketchUp models called Google 3D Warehouse:

Google 3D Warehouse

SketchUp Has Been Googled

You might recall my enthusiasm for combining Google Earth and SketchUp:


SketchUp and Google Earth!

And now we find out: Google was equally as enthsiastic. The difference is, of course, I am not in a position to actually buy a software company:

"WHAT'S NEW?
Well, about the biggest thing ever: we’ve been Googled. That’s right, Google Inc. has acquired @Last Software… so you might have just spit your coffee all over your keyboard, or you’re rolling your eyes thinking this is another one of my April Fool’s jokes. Believe me, we’re still having a hard time believing it ourselves, but it’s real — we are now Google!"

SketchUpdate 03.14.06
A new home for @Last Software

Spore - Like TimePhiz for Science

OMG! Got this link from today's Rocketboom video blog. This game takes ideas from evolutionary biology and makes them into a totally compelling game. It's mind-blowingly cool:

Spore Web Site at EA Games

It's part Sim-Ant, part Civilization, part Legos, part interactive cartoon. It works on so many scales it's just amazing: from celluar to planetary -- and you really go from microscopic viewing to telescopic viewing.

On Google Video they have six videos which explain and illustrate the thing completely: "Will Wright talking at the 2005 Game Developer's Conference about 'Spore', which looks like it could possibly be the best video game ever."


Spore Gameplay Video

Was so engaging I had to download the Google Video to my PSP. Now how fun is that? There's a little interview with Wright in Wired -- love ths quote: "I don't want players to feel like Luke Skywalker. I want them to feel like George Lucas."

Wright Hopes to Spore Another Hit

Here's a better article from GameSpot about Will Wright's game design theories and his introduction of Spore at the 2005 Game Developers Conference in SF (evidently where the Google video comes from):

Will Wright Presents Spore... and a New Way to Think About Games

But this parady article of him is much better:

Building Games With the Wright Stuff

Multiverse MMO "Kit"

Boy -- people have been waiting for this one for a while now, but it looks like a company named Multiverse is going to soon offer an MMO development environment. I can see MMOs iterating the way "multi-media" titles did in the early 90s. Remember all those Director titles, and mTropolis? They eventually got killed by dedicated 3D platforms and game machines, but before they did, they were *everywhere* -- there was a Director title for *everything*. What if there was an MMO for every story franchise out there? What would the internet feel like? How would you build communities around a franchise? Could be way cool:

Massively multiplayer on-line games on the cheap

MULTIVERSE web site
Kothuria: The World's Edge

Ed Tech Life Has Moved

Mark Wagner moved his blog:

Educational Technology and Life

His blog connects in lots of ways: gaming, gadgets, education. A few good recent posts on "risk taking" as well as "fear" -- a couple of topics that certainly hit home for me:

Risk Taking and Educational Technology
What Teachers are Afraid Of

Top of mind since we recently had to block facebook and myspace URLs at my school. Some naughty naughty posts from some of our students. Very disappointing, but it's hard to argue with the other administrators when fac-brats, in particular, were trashed in the posts.

Anyway, Mark's blog is always a good read.

Also from the PSP rumor blogs, there are tons of reports (or maybe tons of links to a single report?) that Sony will release a PSP with 8GB of NAND flash memory, built-in:

Sony to adopt NAND flash in PSP

Also, Memory Stick Duo Pro prices are still falling (I got a 1GB stick for less than $70 a few weeks back; guess I coulda waited!):

2GB Memory Stick Pro Duo for $85 at Amazon

2GB sticks had been going for about $180. But this is coincident with reports that black-market Memory Sticks are also flooding the market:

$49.99 Memory Stick PRO Duo 1GB? Better Be Careful

Stuff is Going On!

First, a bunch of freshmen boys at the school are playing around with Unity and are having a total blast. Right now they have a game where you can drive a car of an island in the sky -- not great game-play, but they love doing it. It also involves an enemy car and a dragon and fireballs. All from the minds of freshmen boys, of course.

Next, the "top dog" at OTEE (who publishes Unity) has stepped up and said they would love to help seed a pilot project. So maybe we can buy (cheap?) a few copies of the software. It runs on Mac OS X -- so if you wanna try, drop me a note.

Last, I heard from Chris (Gail's husband) about maybe making some architectural models in SketchUp. It appears you can transfer them to Unity via a .3ds format. I think the thing will be to just take a simple model he already has and see if we can jam it into Unity and run around in it!

Chris may also have a lead on some beta testers. So stuff is happening!

Unity 3D Engine

Found another great tool -- this one looks like a true production tool (but not for PSP).


Unity

If I can get the School to agree to a pilot, this might be worth pursuing -- see if they'll give us some seed copies cheap or something. Could also use this to model something and block it out with the other "Adventure Maker" tool. Downloadable demo on the web site.

Video Game Revolution

Big thanks to reader saten for the tip on this PBS series:


The Video Game Revolution

Slightly unfortunate name given Nintendo's upcoming gaming deck (codenamed "Revolution"). Looks like it'll air in about two weekends on WGBH-HD (what is that, cable?) -- but not broadcast in the Boston area. Maybe I'll get the DVD. Others: LMK what you think of the show! Is it worth checking out?

SketchUp and Google Earth!

Holy schnikees!

A big blast of amazing tools announced at MacWorld San Francisco this week. Intel Macs and iPod radio -- but I found out about this on the MAKE Expo blog:

The Acropolis as a SketchUp 3D model laid on and into Google Earth

MAKE's "Best of Macworld SF 2006"
Google Earth for Mac OS X
SketchUp Google Earth Plugin

3D worlds! Yay!

Media and Consumption

David's feedback got me thinking about consumption and production. It's actually a big part of my game idea.

First, I guess I didn't make it clear, but I really think that as the nature of the medium changes, the nature of consumption changes. In fact, more and more of our media consumption is going to get more and more "active" (or at least less passive). Blogs, podcasts, reality shows, etc, all offer the opportunity for feedback and participation. Watch TV and vote on your cellphone. Send and e-mail and have it read on the podcast. The lines between the stage and the audience are gone.

I recall going to Moses Brown School in RI some years ago and listening to Douglas Rushkoff talk about this as it applies to video games. He talked about the importance of encouraging kids (and teachers!) to cross the same line -- to "look behind the curtain":

Think of it from a video game player's perspective. It's as if the first renaissance gave the gamer access to the cheat codes, so she can move about as she wants. The next renaissance gave her access to the programming language of the game, so that she can create her own levels and then share them with other gamers. It's like moving from player, to cheater (or meta-game player), to programmer. -- [full text here]

Second, I want to be platform agnostic, but I chose the PSP as the target platform just to give us the hardest target; the biggest challenge with respect to teacher acceptance. However, I also agree that as more classwork is done with technology, there is going to have to be some kind of 1-to-1, student-to-device relationship. But why does it have to be a traditional computer? Wouldn't it be more cost effective to have many more of a consumption platform that costs $200, and therefore require fewer of a production platform that costs $2000? And keep in mind that this consumption platform will allow feedback, interaction, and, in the case of the PSP, cooperative work (play?). Going forward, by breaking down the psychic barriers to iPods, cellphones, and PSPs, teachers will be free to leverage devices that the kids already have in their backpacks for all kinds of learning experiences.

At Rivers, we already have a less than 2-to-1 student to computer ratio. The thing that kind of skews the cost-math for me, is that we retire our computers in three to five years. If I can reduce the cost of that turn-over, all the better. So, with regard to equality, I was hoping that the PSP would be a more positive force than you (David) suggest.

Finally, let me say that I did not intend this game to "make learning fun". When learning is actually happening, it already is fun -- I could not possibly add anything to it. But I did intend to add some "value" to the "video-game fun", a meme that simply does not exist as far as I can see. Kids are out there buying these devices, playing these games -- let's consider the generic gaming experience: blowing stuff up, shooting demons, winning money. Kids learn they need to be a second-class wizard, with combat clusters, to beat the swap troll at Texas Hold 'em, collect the reward, and score with the newly liberated sex-bot. Sounds like a fun game to me, but I'd love it if there was a point to it all.

I certainly agree that we cannot cast the personal computer aside, but I do want to re-cast it as far as the classroom goes -- because it is often too complicated to be a productive ally for teachers in that setting. Scenario: assuming that a computer is configured, with the latest patches and all the necessary plugins, in order to participate in a Flash-based web project, each student must:

retrieve the computer from storage
boot the computer
login to the network
find and launch the browser
type the appropriate URL
wait for the Flash file to load
learn

Man, that's like five to ten minutes wasted just getting to the learning. With a PSP or other consumption-oriented device, you turn it on, load the game, and go. It might take less than a minute.

We recently finished a round of training with the teachers on a new e-mail system. During our planning for the training, my Network Manager sent me an ambitious proposal for the class, showing-off fancy new capabilities and features. I asked him stick to the basics and make sure to do that well, and I predicted that it would take fifteen minutes just to get them all configured and logged-in. Guess who was right? That's right, the smug jerk with the PSP.

As information and knowledge are commoditized, creativity and imagination will become the only differentiators. I believe that the future of education lies in finding a way to accelerate the creative process by making it a communal process. Cooperative gaming provides a terrific model for that kind of learning. The technology already exists, and the kids are already playing.

David -- thanks for the feedback. Consider the rant "enjoyed". :c)

More on Serious Games

I asked David about Serious Games since he works for the UN; his response below. I did *not* notice the sponsors for Serious Games was America's Army -- LOL!!

Do you know about this Serious Games dealie?

No, but I'm going to check through the posted materials. Could be interesting - especially the corporate solutions. Free market says the guys who can pay 6-figures for a system will get the coolest stuff. I think the trick is seeing how to import the colllaboration environment and ease of use (execs and especially middle management are often techno-handicapped like teachers). Did you notice who the founding sponsor was (AA).

I checked out the game environment you sent around. Simple but cool. We might be getting some extra computers in the office, in which case I may be snagging one to play around with Adventure Maker.

Quick thought on the aside in your latest post. I worry about promoting consumption devices as an educational medium for a couple of reasons. First is the cost of universal access. If the idea is just to create fun but educational content then it's no big deal, in that the kids with PSP's and iPod Video's will be your consumer audience. But if the intention is to integrate the technology into the formal educational realm (i.e. classroom), you need to ensure universal access. That means buying one for every kid (or at least having classroom sets - though this limits their availability and thus hinders more complete integration with lesson plans), which costs money many schools don't have. This feeds the larger have/have not situation which increasingly imperils notions of equality and opportunity in America. I'm not so radical as to suggest forced redistribution, but I think technology developers (as this is probably where the disparity is most marked) need to be especially sensitive to this.

One other thing I worry about is the efficacy of developing for consumption platforms. Inherently these are all passive mediums (except for the PSP, see below) offering homogenous content, and so except in so far as they may help kids absorb their text book - making "math fun" or "bringing history to life" - they are redundant. But, they also have the effect of further undermining literacy and pushing it towards obsolescence. As far as the PSP (and this assumes no one develops a keyboard for it - in which case it just becomes a low end computer whose small screen destroys more young eyes) while it does offer some level of interaction, it is particularly limited in an interpersonal setting and precludes innovative thinking.

So, do they offer something: certainly. But I think it is wrong to cast aside the computer (and other innovative production devices) as complicated overkill. Moreover, having just spent the last decade investing in computers and acclimating teachers to their encroachment on the textbook, I don't know that school districts are going to be receptive to introducing a new expensive appliance that they will spend another decade fighting teachers to grudgingly accept (especially since in 10 years there will be another "must have" technology).

Enjoy the rant.

David

The Gaming Blogoshpere

I've been pounding the video game blogosphere for educational topics and found some interesting stuff. First, there is this blog called Kotaku that has a section for education and gaming:

Kotaku - Gaming/Education

It really provides an great list articles and links to provide some perspective of what the gaming insdutry itself is doing about education. An article by Jason Ocampo, provides a good summary (from GameSpot):

Fraction Fever Forever!

More importantly, I've been getting myself up to speed on some academic work being done on game, game theory, pedagogy, and application. The latest theory or investigatory thread is called"Ludology" -- which (as far as I can tell) has nothing to do with Luddites:

Ludology - Videogame Theory
Wikipedia - Ludology

There is also a big conference called the Serious Games Initiative which, I believe, intends to put some "importance" back into the game industry by creating application that work "on the other side" of games like SOCOM or American Army -- but for NGO's and such. It would be interesting to know if they are building a simulation type thing. I found this terrific essay by Adam Singer in the archives:

Games for Change Annual Conference

Some blogs that might be good to keep an eye on:

pasta and vinegar
Mr. MacKenty
Educational Technology and Life
banapana
Games! Games! Games!
The Ludologist
Education/Technology - Tim Lauer

Just as an aside to this, I think a lot of educators are stuck on the personal computer as a consumption device. But most kids (and people!) that I know really don't use the computer for consumption. They consume media with TVs, car radios, iPods, and (maybe) now PSPs. As a production device, the personal computer is practically unparallelled, you can write articles, send e-mails, even make movies -- but as a consumption device it's just a compromise. It's so complicated to setup (both hardware- and software-wise), maintain, and use just to watch a show or listen to a talk. I remember a teacher who was trying to show a DVD on a projector in class from her computer, having all sorts of trouble getting the computer to sync with the projector, then getting the DVD image to show on the big screen, etc-etc. I pointed to the DVD player hooked up to the projector and walked out of the room.

Finally, for yucks, here's a game article from The Onion with the headline "New Video Game Designed To Have No Influence On Kids' Behavior":


New Video Game

Adventure Maker Software

Found some great prototyping software, unfortunately, it's Windows only just now:


Adventure Maker

I'll have to see what we can do with this. I've added a link to it at the left "Links" column. I did download the two available games on the web site, and they look and run well, tho, no audio.

Also, Ron sent this link from a Slashdot article on the PSP Homebrew community:

PSP Tutorials

Thanks Ron!

Positive Gaming Experiences

My nephew David writes to let me know about an article in the Washington Post:

"My Son and I, Game to Learn", by Sebastian Mallaby

The article centers around the game:


"Age of Empires III"

Again, not a game that could ever be useful in a classroom setting (because of the time it takes to setup and play), but a game that does challenge kids to think, strategize, and be creative thinkers. It's all very beautifully rendered and there is even an interesting (if superficial) layer of history in there. Unfortunately, the game does include wars, conquering, and other hallmarks of the kind of aggressive competition that does not make for a positive "school-like" experience. Countries are treated like comic-book characters with varying super-powers:

Civilization Descriptors

The Mr. Mallaby reminds me of some parents I've dealt with who believe in promoting poker for teenagers. Sure, kids may learn certain math skills, or complex game strategies; but they also learn aggressive, addictive behaviors -- some of the students at the school where I work owed hundreds of dollars to other kids. At some point it became destructive to the community and, as school administrators, we simply had to ban it.

For example, Mr. Mallaby writes,"'America's Army,' a game with some 6 million players, includes an opportunity to learn how to be a medic." A medic. Right. Here's the picture of the "Combat Medic" in action, applying some serious medicine:


AA Squad Roles

AA also gives kids the opportunity to learn how to be a grenadier, a rifleman, a marksman, etc. I guess you'll find out soon enough why you need a medic.

NSA and CIA for Kids

Boy, now I know it's gonna be hard to keep these posts from reducing to rants against the game industry, but wow. Check out the web sites for kids (kids!) that the NSA and CIA have put together:

CryptoKids™
CIA Home for Kids

Cartoons about spying and surveillance. Nice. You gotta wonder how much money was spent putting the CryptoKids thing together. Why is the NSA designing games for kids? Also, be sure to click the links on the CIA site, one of the links says "K-5th Grade Homepage". See? Kindergarten is not too early to learn about our spooks.

I have also spoken about how games are used to promote war -- see how games are used to attract and, essentially, train kids for warfare, check out these:


Rise of a Soldier


SOCOM II - US Navy Seals

Note that these games aren't just designed to simulate the experience of soldiers or seamen -- they are designed in cooperation with, and branded by, those branches of the US military. I suppose a game called "Extreme Pacifist: Let's Get Peaceful!™" wouldn't sell, eh?

I am only left, then, to wonder: where are the games that teach the values of cooperation and learning? Even if they existed, would they ever find shelf space at Wal*Mart? Will web sites like CryptoKids help promote a free exchange of ideas? Can such a market ever be balanced? Again, not arguing that these games shouldn't be published, but hoping that alternatives are out there somewhere.

Show and Notes Posted

Hey You Guys -- For your viewing pleasure, and (again) to make the sharing even easier, I've posted the QuickTime movie of the Slide Show, as well as a PDF of my sketch notes from the launch meeting.


Click to load the movie; then click the images to advance the slides. The movie files is about 12MB, so wait for it!

Click here to download the Sketch notes as a PDF file (435KB).

Right-button click and save the target (Mac users, ctrl-click and download linked file).

And, as promised, let me add my own little manifesto here ...

I do not want to surrender mass media to the folks who dream up games like Grand Theft Auto or Quake. Understand, I don't think these titles are evil; I'm not calling for a ban or government controls. They are simply diversions. They add nothing to the forward movement of our society. But if parents and teachers think the way past these diversions is to ignore them, they should note: Doom (or Final Fantasy or Tomb Raider) is not only a game franchise, it's: a series of paperbacks, a feature film, a soundtrack, in comic books, on t-shirts, and on and on. In fact, I believe that when the pervasiveness of these mass-media properties grows to this scale, they affect and form the way kids absorb stimuli. If that's the case, perhaps the best way to get useful and meaningful information to this audience is through the technology that formed them.

Working the "negative" has had almost no affect on the game industry. ESRB rating, threatened legal action, outspoken politician (and their spouses!) have done nothing to change the content. Here's an exercise for you: click this link to go to Amazon's "Kid Safe Zone" in the PS2 Games aisle. Scan the titles: DDR, Sponge Bob, sports, poker, and racing games. Are there any titles with actual educational content? No. And these are the games rated "E for everyone".

BTW, if you click out a few pages, somehow, GTA III actually shows up in the "Kid-Safe Zone". It's rated "M for mature".

So I want to offer an alternative. In the same manner that Sesame Street took concepts, pacing, and structure from commercial television, there needs to be some PBS-ification for video games and the mass-media properties that surround it. I propose we can make this happen at the grassroots.

Thanks for Participating!

Oh my goodness, I'm tired. To those who made it, thank you all for coming down to listen to my slightly-connected ranting. I hope it was fun and stimulating. I am so appreciative -- who else has friends who would spend a Sunday afternoon listening to some half-baked scheme to bridge the divide between technology and teachers. Thank you so much!

To those who could not make it, I'll send your packages out later next week. There are two handouts and a memory key with soft-copies of the handouts and some other stuff that you can share.



Obviously, from the discussion, there are at least three big threads to follow:

- How does this make money; or at least how does it make a business?
- We need to flesh-out the story-line and the game logic.
- In the meantime what can we build that's illustrative of the idea?

My first response, of course, is to share the idea with anyone else who might be able to add to or help answer the above. If you have thoughts on the story-line or game-logic, add them here to the comments and we can all work that out. And think franchise -- if the first thing we can make is a comic book or a an online "trailer", that's cool.

The last item is the most interesting to me, cause if we can get some grant money and build a small "appetizer" web site, that would be the best, I think, first step. I also think if we can just make this a bit more substantial, and fill in some holes, I could very easily make a proposal to Rivers or the Tech Directors' Group of the AISNE or some other interested party (Houghton? WGBH?) to see if there is interest is building some of the historical sets.

I added a link The Sims web site at EA Games. Any other links, LMK and I'll add em.

Thanks again. More news soon.