Speaking to us at the Develop conference last month, Square Enix Group worldwide technology director Julien Merceron told us that principal among the improvements we can expect to see from games made for the current generation of consoles are developments in global illumination, a form of realtime lighting.
Chris Bateman of ihobo kicks the tyres of games-as-service. It’s a multi-faceted issue and one of the interesting implications Bateman highlights is the effect on the next console cycle. “Consoles need retail to make their product work,” he writes. But service games don’t need retail.
The formula for the perfect game may be an area of hot discussion, but most would argue that games that are easy to get into and difficult to put down goes along the right lines. Players' early experience of a game is critical: this is the period in which they're making up their minds whether to devote more time, and often money, to the rest of it.
So how do we make games with a polished early experience? Let's take some lessons from a game which I think does it incredibly well, PopCap's Plants Vs Zombies.
The finalists for this year's Games Media Awards have been revealed ahead of October's ceremony in London.
Organisers have whittled down the list of finalists from thousands of nominations, with 17 magazines, 20 websites, podcasts and blogs, and 26 writers up for an award, with the winners to be chosen by a panel of industry figures.
The ceremony is set for 26 October at Vinopolis near London's South Bank, and will be hosted by standup comedian and actor Greg Davies.
With Rage on its final path to its release in October, we took the opportunity to ask id creative director Tim Willits about the prospects for its trailblazing new engine, id Tech 5, which already stretches the current generation, and what form the next generation of gaming hardware might take.
With Rage on its final path to its release in October, we took the opportunity to ask id creative director Tim Willits about the prospects for its trailblazing new engine, id Tech 5, which already stretches the current generation, and what form the next generation of gaming hardware might take.
There has been much discussion over the past few years about the nature of learning spaces and how these should be designed in order to effect the best conditions for learning. This was something that I reflected on during and after my visit to P.1/2 at Port Ellen PS having seen a traditional rectangular classroom [...]
There has been much discussion over the past few years about the nature of learning spaces and how these should be designed in order to effect the best conditions for learning. This was something that I reflected on during and after my visit to P.1/2 at Port Ellen PS having seen a traditional rectangular classroom [...]
There has been much discussion over the past few years about the nature of learning spaces and how these should be designed in order to effect the best conditions for learning. This was something that I reflected on during and after my visit to P.1/2 at Port Ellen PS having seen a traditional rectangular classroom being transformed in to a magical place where adventure and learning happened.
Working with parents the class teacher at Port Ellen PS designed and made a number of areas that matched those in the The Land of Me. Each area had many references to the characters and themes running through the chapters in the software but also to a range of other contexts for learning and development. What was clearly evident though in my visit was the way in which the children had completely immersed themselves in the learning space that was their traditionally shaped classroom – and in so doing they had lost themselves in learning.
Dancing with otters at the riverside
I spoke with one young pupil about the area that had been set up as the riverbank. I was introduced to Dodo the Scottish Otter who I was told liked to dance. Dodo had a number of dance moves that the children had been
learning and putting together in sequences and they had been making their own too. I also saw that the children had been learning all about creatures that might live in or near the riverside and that they had been outside adventuring and learning about creatures that lived on their island. I will go in to further detail about curricular activity and CfE references in a later post but at this stage the gleeful look on this learners face in this accompanying video says a lot about how learning can be positively influenced by such a motivating and exciting learning space in which one can learn!
Reading in the cave
Classrooms sometimes have very comfortable spaces that are designated for reading. Spaces where children can relax on comfortable cushions or a nice carpet and take time to read. The take on this reading space during this project was structured around Granny Olive’s cave. This is the storytelling place in The Land of Me and it is a
calm and peaceful place where stories are brought to life by a very old giant tortoise. This video shows a young learner being interrupted by me when he was quietly reading The Stick Man. Listen to what he says and then watch how he engages with his book as I move away with the camera. Yet again, we see a thoughtful learning space situated in a meaningful context that appears to be having a positive impact on encouraging good learning; in this case independently-chosen reading time.
Classrooms, particularly those in Primary schools, are often transformed to mirror or ‘become’ the context in which learning is situated at particular times. When they are done well they can impact in a positive fashion on teaching and learning. As we can see from the work at Port Ellen PS the effort can be very worthwhile indeed.
Cloud gaming service OnLive will launch in the UK on September 22, the company has confirmed.
The service, which offers over 100 games playable on HDTV, PC, Mac, iPad and Android tablets, launched in the US last June. While full access to games requires a monthly subscription, membership is free, with users able to instantly play demos of or rent the games available. New releases will be available at the same time as they hit store shelves.
The team at the Consolarium first saw The Land of Me when it was being presented at a game based learning conference in London. We were quite enchanted by the resource and felt that it could be something that, if used appropriately, could work well to support and enhance learning with younger children. We managed [...]
The team at the Consolarium first saw The Land of Me when it was being presented at a game based learning conference in London. We were quite enchanted by the resource and felt that it could be something that, if used appropriately, could work well to support and enhance learning with younger children. We managed [...]