I have an unusual job. At parties, introductions might go something like this:
Anon: “Hi, what do you do?”
Me: “I work in videogames.”
Anon: “You get paid to play games all day?”
Me: “Not really, I only get paid to watch people play games.”
Anon: “Sounds great. I’d like a job like that.”
What would it take to make a Formula 1 game photorealistic? Ten years ago, you could have started just about anywhere. Likely answers would include, but weren’t limited to: high-resolution textures, better surface simulation, motion blur, depth of field, bloom, virtual lens defects, realtime reflections, and the dynamic modelling of light and shadow. Nowadays, you only have to look at F1 2010 to know that we’re close, the gap coming down to the last of those factors. And tech demos like Epic's Samaritan for its Unreal Engine (pictured above), only prove it.
Since the days of dodgy PAL releases, porting has had a bad name. And that was when there were just a handful of major platforms that developers had to support. Today, from iOS to Android, DS to PSP, PC to PS3, there are many more divergent platforms than ever before, featuring different control interfaces, screens, hardware capabilities and a lot more. With many games appearing on every single one, has porting become now one of the most important jobs in games? We speak to PopCap senior game designer David Bishop about how he helps ensure its games appear everywhere.
In the early days of the Consolarium a big part of our work in promoting the practice of game based learning involved addressing many of the concerns that teachers had about using such resources and contexts in their schools. Informed reference, we hope, was made to the many folk devils and moral panics associated with games back then but one major concern that was invariably thrown up by schools was – what might parents say about children ‘playing computer games’ in school when they should be learning?! Our experience over the past 5 years of promoting this work has been that parents have been more than pleasantly surprised at how GBL contexts have worked for their child/children. This ‘evidence’ in the parents eyes of good learning experiences may also be complemented by the changing nature of how computer games are now placed in family life. When we first started out the games console was still seen as something that kids did in the shadowy solitude of their bedrooms but haven’t things changed now? How many families do you know that have a console in a main living area and who will use this as part of family play? How many dads out there are red hot at FIFA11, how many mums have a Wii Fit or Zumba game as part of their keep-fit regime and how many grannies have Scrabble on their DS? Times have changed have they not? Are computer games still the folk devil of a few years ago?
At the recent Mario Kart open afternoon at Bargarran PS I saw just how far the practice of game based learning has come in relation to how it is being perceived by children’s parents and guardians. At this event I witnessed a classroom packed with mums and dads, grannies and grandads all buzzing with excitement about what the children had been learning. Some of them were also more than keen to have a go at the game and get their name on the parents’ leaderboard!
I took the chance to chat with some mums and dads at the event to try to get their honest views of the use of a games console in classrooms and what impact the experience of the Mario Kart topic was having on their children.
Have a listen to my chat with Mrs Mavers who has a son is in P.2
The first parent that I interviewed was Mrs Mavers, a mum who was very keen to get the No.1 slot on the Mario Kart Parents’ leaderboard.
As you will have heard Mrs Mavers is of the opinion that this experience has been great for her son. Here are some of the points Mrs Mavers raised:
Have a listen to my chat with Mr & Mrs Brown who has son is in P.2
I took the opportunity to chat with the parents of a P.2 boy who were keen to let me know just how good an idea they felt the Mario Kart topic was and how it had had such a positive experience on their son. Have a listen:
As you will have heard Mr & Mrs Brown are also of the opinion that this experience has been great for their son. Here are some of the points Mr & Mrs Brown raised:
In my discussions with the class teachers it was clear that they see links between the school and the home as very important. They set out in the initial stages to ensure that good channels of communication were set-up and maintained and that the opportunity to celebrate and share the children’s learning with their parents was built in to the programme. All of this, coupled with the focused way that the Mario Kart resource has been used has again shown just how good teachers can use good resources to effect good teaching and learning. It’s great to see the parents supporting such practice.
As we go live with two major relaunches, this site and our magazine, we thought this might be the perfect time to look back through Edge's history and pick out the landmark game reviews we've published.
You will have noticed a few changes around here today. We've completely redesigned our online presence, bringing in a host of new features and functions.
At the centre of this new design is you, our readership. We know that you're a diverse bunch, from dedicated gamers and aspiring game-makers to seasoned development specialists and industry leaders. Everyone wants different things from Edge, so the site is all about serving you exactly what you're interested in.
Activision’s long-rumoured intent to monetise the multiplayer component of its Call Of Duty series has finally become a reality: Call Of Duty Elite is to debut alongside Modern Warfare 3 this November.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Call Of Duty Elite will give members access to extra content including multiplayer maps. Other features planned include stat-tracking tools and social elements inspired by Facebook.
Premium service Call Of Duty Elite to launch alongside Modern Warfare 3.
Activision’s long-rumoured intent to monetise the multiplayer component of its Call Of Duty series has finally become a reality: Call Of Duty Elite is to debut alongside Modern Warfare 3 this November.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Call Of Duty Elite will give members access to extra content including multiplayer maps. Other features planned include stat-tracking tools and social elements inspired by Facebook.
Sony has confirmed that all aspects of its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, including the PlayStation Store, will return this week.
The firm restored some elements of the service on May 15, but its online store and other elements involving customer financial information remained offline while Sony beefed up security. That process has now completed, and Sony’s online services will be back up and running this week worldwide, except for in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.
PSN and Qriocity to be fully restored worldwide, except in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.
Sony has confirmed that all aspects of its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, including the PlayStation Store, will return this week.
You can access all of our features on a career in the game industry by visiting our Get Into Games topic page.
Learning to design
How the National Film and Television School intends to bring its reputation for excellence to game education.
Tomorrow, we’re re-launching this website.
We’ve spent the past few months completely redesigning our online presence, making it better to read and to navigate; better at covering the length and breadth of videogames and the game industry; better at serving you the news and insight in which you’re interested; better at serving a community of people who are passionate about games.
Parental involvement in the life and learning of a school can be an incredibly valuable asset. This is particularly true when parent/carers are active agents in understanding and supporting what is going in their child’s classroom. As we heard in the first of this series of posts the teachers involved had kept parents fully informed in relation to the rationale of the Mario Kart project. To further cement this relationship both classes planned a Mario Kart afternoon to share the learning that had been happening with their Mario Kart topic. Here is a short clip of parents coming in to the classroom. Also look out for the examples of the children sharing their learning with adults. They are so keen to show off what they have been doing. As you watch the clip do you get a sense that there is a real buzz about learning here? as the children excitedly share what they have been doing? A great thing to see in a classroom.
There was so much learning linked with this topic for the parent s to have a look a through. Literacy was something that was addressed quite heavily through this topic and one task that had the children creating their own Driving Licences was very eye-catching and had proved to be very popular with the children. (Unable to share due to children’s details included on their mock licences). Another popular writing activity involved the children coming with a basic character bible for a new Mario Kart character. Have a look at some of their work:
Have a closer look at some of them:
New Mario Kart Character: Holly Zoom Zoom
New Mario Kart Character: Queen Niamh
New Mario Kart Character: Queen Lola
New Mario Kart Character: Transform
I’m sure that the parents who came along to the Mario Kart Open Afternoon were very impressed with the range and quality of work that had been going on. The wall displays around the classroom drew many admiring glances and inquisitive comments from the mums, dads, grannies & granddads.