Developer to assist charity for Facebook likes, profile pictures

4 Sep

A video game developer is promoting an upcoming product by making a donation to charity based on the number of people who officially “like” the game on Facebook.

Hudson will donate 10 cents to Child’s Play Charity for every person who “likes” Lost In Shadow on Facebook and will up the donation to one dollar for anyone who changes his or her Facebook profile picture to one depicting a shadow.

Morgan Haro, marketing specialist at Hudson, said the event, called “Shadows To Light,” reflects the theme of the game, which revolves around the shadow of a boy climbing a mystical tower.

“The journey is all about overcoming hardships and the barriers that prevent you from reaching your goal,” Harrow said. “Child’s Play is a charity that sees hundreds of thousands of young children in a similar journey, only grounded in reality.”

Haro said her personal goal is to get 10,000 “likes” by the event’s September 7 deadline.

“At the very least, this would enable us to donate $1,000 to Child’s Play,” Haro said. “However that’s not factoring in how many of those 10,000 would have changed their profile picture to a shadow. Hopefully, we’ll see a good amount of those.”

Hudson will count the “likes” and profile pictures on September 7 to determine the amount of its donation. Lost In Shadow comes out in North America January 4, 2011.

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Italian-American group wants stereotypes cut from Mafia II

20 Aug

Mafia II tells the story of a Sicilian gangster's rise in the 1940s and '50s.

UNICO National, “the largest Italian service organization in the USA”, voiced its disapproval of Take-Two Interactive’s upcoming video game Mafia II, which places players in the role of a Sicilian gangster as he rises through the ranks of an Italian crime syndicate in the 1940s and ’50s.

Andre’ DiMino, UNICO National president, said Mafia II perpetuates the stereotype of all Italians and Italian-Americans as being connected to organized crime, a stereotype he said is based on a small percentage of truth when compared to the prevalence of other ethnic groups involved in organized crime.

“The promos and story lines go into great detail about the characters coming here from Sicily and joining with other Italians in bloody, murderous crimes and nefarious activities as their only pursuits,” DiMino said. “Although the negative stereotyping is being disclaimed by Take Two, and its misguided devotees, as a ‘period piece’ or somehow, laughably, an ‘historical account’, that belies the fact that in that period, and with historical reference, the infinitesimally small percentage of Italian Americans in organized crime were second to more powerful and murderous criminals from other ethnic groups.”

DiMino said the stereotype has been blown out of proportion by society despite the percentages.

“In all cases, it is the small percentage of Italians involved in crime during this period that are ubiquitous in the media and entertainment industry,” DiMino said. “This, as is evident, has welded that negative perception into the collective consciousness.”

To accurately portray the efforts of Italians and Italian-Americans, DiMino said the media and entertainment industry should focus on the areas in which larger percentages of the ethnic group participated.

“If there is truly to be historical perspective, where are the stories about the extremely high relative percentage of Italian Americans who fought for this country in World War II and those that have contributed so much to this world and this country?” DiMino asked. “You just don’t see or hear about that at all.”

DiMino wrote a letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick expressing his disapproval of Mafia II‘s stereotypes and requested the game’s release be delayed so the offensive material could be removed. Zelnick responded publicly with a press release.

Continue reading →

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University tests concussions with Wii Fit (Washington Post)

19 Aug

An athlete measures his balance with Wii Fit.

The Washington Post’s Steve Yanda reported on the way some colleges are using Nintendo’s Wii Fit game and balance board to determine the status of athletes recovering from concussions by using the game’s balance exercises as a reference point for progress.

“The athletes love it because what we’ve done is we’ve incorporated this fun game that they’re playing at home into their rehab system,” said Tamerah Hunt, director of research at the Ohio State Sports Concussion Program. “But they’re also enjoying it at a time when they’re injured or at a time when their spirits are down, and they have to come into the athletic training room every day and they have to get all this treatment . . . and it’s kind of a reaction of, ‘Oh, this is fun.’ “

Read the full article in The Washington Post.

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University creating video game to teach drug dosage in nursing

18 Aug

Most of the development team working on the game, from left: Arne Thomas Nilsen, (Programmer and Media Analyst), Petter Mordt (Executive Programmer), Siril Grude (Pedagogical Designer and Media Analyst), Atle Lokken (Head of Department, NettOp), and Karsten Tillerli (Production Manager, web based nursing project)

NettOp, the web-based study unit of the University of Stavanger in Norway, is developing a video game to assist nursing students in learning to prepare proper drug dosages for patients.

According to university officials, nursing students must master proper drug dosage to pass an exam before receiving certification, but the subject often proves difficult for a significant portion of students. A single miscalculation results in failure.

“At the University of Stavanger, the students have three goes at handing in an exam paper without mistakes. The last few years the percentage of fails has been between 36 and 39 both for the first and second attempt.”

Atle Løkken, director of NettOp, said he believes the problem stems from most nursing students joining the program without being prepared for the complex calculations required within the profession.

“We don’t have much scientific verification, but we believe a major reason is that the students that want to be a nurse primarily are interested in and expect the human and social aspect of the profession and are not prepared for the math and science that indeed also come with it.”

Løkken said renowned American psychologist Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory, the idea that there are a variety of intelligences that don’t necessarily trump one another, may account for why some nursing students struggle with the math of drug dosages.

“In Gardner’s theory, we may expect the nursing students to be predominantly more ‘visually’ and ‘socially intelligent’ than ‘mathematically,’” Løkken said. “This does not mean that ‘visually’ and ‘socially intelligent’ people can’t solve mathematical problems, it simply means that ‘socially intelligent’ individuals approach mathematical problems differently from how math is normally taught in academia by ‘mathematically intelligent’ instructors.”

Gardner also inspired Løkken and his team to use a video game to assist nursing students who struggle with the math.

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Computer and game degrees up 20% this school year (ESA)

17 Aug

Three-hundred American colleges, universities, and trade and art schools are offering computer or video game-related degrees this school year, representing a nearly 20 percent increase from last year according to a press release from the Entertainment Software Association.

Rich Taylor, senior vice president for communications and industry affairs at the ESA, said the increase is a sign of the expanding role video games play in society.

“While computer and video games have been a source of entertainment for decades, our society is increasingly recognizing the broader uses of games and their positive impact. Whether it is in healthcare, education, business or government, schools across the country see the value of games and are training their students to meet the demand.”

For a full list of the schools offering computer and video game-related degrees, read the full press release on the ESA’s website.

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Fox addresses controversial video game featuring Taliban

16 Aug

Fox & Friends’ Clayton Morris interviews Gold Star Mother Karen Meredith about her reaction to Electronic Arts’ upcoming Medal of Honor, which takes place in modern day Afghanistan and allows players to assume the role of Taliban soldiers.

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‘Scott Pilgrim’ reviews biased against gaming culture (NPR)

14 Aug

Michael Cera 'levels up' as Scott Pilgrim in one of the film's many game references.

NPR’s Linda Holmes reported on the way several movie reviewers criticized the target audience of “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” in their negative critiques of the film.

After referring to the first part of the movie as a “dork-pandering assault,” The Boston Phoenix reviewer goes on to say that Michael Cera’s performance is “irritating” in part because of “the non-stop Pavlovian laugh track provided by the audience at the screening I attended.” (As far as I know, that’s a first: “You made the audience laugh, you irritating actor in a comedy, and that’s what’s wrong with you.”)

The review in the St. Petersburg Times begins, “First of all, I’m not a video gamer. I have discovered more appealing ways to not have a life.”

The New York Observer sniffs that the film is “clearly directed at an audience with generational ADD.”

Here’s one from Philadelphia Weekly: “Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World is Fan Service: The Movie, an insular, punishingly alienating experience preaching only to the faithful, devoted hearts of arrested 12-year-old boys. It’s singularly fixated on video games and shallow visions of women as one-dimensional objects to be either obtained or discarded and offers no possible point of entry to anybody over the age of 30.”

Read the full article to see how Holmes combats these assertions as a fan of the film despite not fitting into any of the above reviewers’ categories.

Also read Dennis Scimeca’s take on the reviews as well as their greater implications in his article on Bitmob.

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Game violence documentary made available for free on Hulu

11 Aug

Viewers can now watch Moral Kombat, a 2007 documentary concerning the history and impact of video game violence, for free on Hulu.

The documentary features a variety of panelists (including game designers, scientists, college professors, politicians, children experts, military personnel, etc.) speaking for and against video games.

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