As well as dong a lot of work at the Consolarium on Games Based Learning and Games Design we also research and investigate other technologies that we think will have a real impact in the classroom. In the last 12 months this has included 3D printing, mobile Apps, social software, multi-point and tablet technology.
One of the technologies that we see real potential in at the moment is GPS and Geocaching. We will be publishing a whole heap of resources and ideas to help support schools with this sometime before the summer.
As part of the recent Games to Learn Conference we ran a Geocaching workshop to help introduce practitioners into what GPS and Geocaching is and how it might have real education value. The weather was spectacular for the workshop and 30 educators had a great time treasure hunting around Dundee.
Have a look at the picture below:
Can you see the joy and excitement on their faces? This is impact of finding your first Geocache – pure excitement! The video below explains what Geocaching is:
During the workshop at Game to Learn participants had an opportunity to find some cashes from geocaching.com. These were mainly magnetic cashes and hidden around the city. We also hid some of our very own Consolarium Cashes and cryptic questions for people use their GPS to find and answer.
Using a GPS with pre-loaded co-ordinates our Consolarium adventures had to complete the following tasks:
1) Uncover a micro magnetic cache in the middle of the city (who would have know it was there!) -
2) Collect a sticker from inside a false rock in the graveyard -
3) Explore the history of Dundee by taking a crayon rubbing of the historic plaque (also works well with trees, statues and grave stones!) -
4) Find out about Roman Numerals and the height of the water at the HMS Discovery -
5) Take a digital picture of an engraving on the roof of a landmark that you would never normally see unless you stood in exactly the right place and looked up – 
6) Record and answer in audio using their mobile phone or talking tin -
As well as the above the groups has to work as a team, persevere and look after each other while they were alone in the city! They all did very well!
@OnTheSuperFly recorded the journey of his group really well as a series of Flickr Images and an associated blog post. Most of the above photos are his as well.
When he got home Andrew McLaughlin re-created the excitement as a Go-Animate Animation! GoAnimate4Schools.com: Geocaching #gametolearn by Andrew McLaughlin
In summary, at the Consolarium we think geocaching and educaching had huge potential in schools to help support learning and we will be writing more about this very soon!
Pleased by market research firm’s plan to report digital sales monthly, rather than quarterly, in future.
EA has welcomed the NPD Group’s announcement that it is to report on digital sales figures more regularly.
Speaking to Industry Gamers, EA’s Tiffany Steckler said: “NPD does a good job reporting sales of physical media and we're glad they are taking action to fill the gaps related [to] digital revenue.
Follows Ubisoft’s lead by replacing paper manuals with in-game guides.
Publisher EA has confirmed that games released on the EA Sports label will no longer ship with printed manuals.
Instead, instructions will be accessible through the games themselves, EA told Kotaku, in an effort to support more environmentally friendly production of games.
Fight Night Champion was the first game to ship with no manual. We’ve asked if EA intends to roll this out across all its publishing labels and will update if we hear back.
We speak to series producer Katsuhiro Harada about turning Tag into a franchise after 12 years away.
“White hat” hacker finds security hole, informs developer who patches exploit inside two hours.
A hacker helped Trion Worlds, developer of the recently released MMOG Rift, fix a security exploit that put thousands of accounts at risk.
Rift has been the subject of numerous cases of account theft since its release at the beginning of this month. ManWitDaPlan, who describes himself as a “white hat”, or ethical hacker, was one of the victims and so set about identifying the exploit.
Days after securing $42 million investment, Angry Birds developer eyeing Nasdaq IPO within “the next few years”.
Angry Birds developer Rovio is preparing for an initial public offering on the US stock market, according to reports.
Mikael Hed, CEO, told Bloomberg the Finnish firm was hoping to issue a Nasdaq IPO within “the next few years.”
BioWare RPG goes straight in at number one in its first week on sale.
Dragon Age II is the new Nordic all-formats number one.
BioWare’s sequel is the week’s only new entry, knocking last week’s chart-topper, Pokémon White, down into third behind Call Of Duty: Black Ops.
Staff at Santa Monica office at work on “something that matches the North American market well.”
Japanese publisher Level-5 is developing games at its US office.
In an interview with Nikkei Trendy, translated by Andriasang, CEO Akihiro Hino revealed that Level-5’s Santa Monica office, opened last June, was not set up merely to publish the firm’s Japanese games in the States: it is at work on games of its own.
Hacker logs in to PS3, loads and controls Killzone 3 using Xbox 360 motion sensor.
A hacker has taken homebrew Kinect development to its logical conclusion: using the Xbox 360 motion sensor to control a PlayStation 3.
PSGroove reports that the hacker, Shantanu Goel, has hacked Kinect to function as a PS3 controller, releasing the below video which shows him logging into his PS3 profile, launching Killzone 3 and controlling it using hand movements.
Straight in at the top after just days on sale; Dragon Age II drops back, Black Ops nowhere to be seen.
THQ's Homefront is the new UK all-formats number one.
The Kaos Studios-developed shooter, which tells of a band of US resistance fighters seeing off an occupying Korean force, is the week’s highest new entry, knocking last week’s number one, Dragon Age II, back into second spot.
Donate up to €20 to the British Red Cross through PlayStation Network.
Sony has launched a fundraising drive for the Tohoku earthquake relief effort, enabling users to donate through its online service, PlayStation Network.
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, SCEE president Andrew House points users towards the Japan Tsunami Appeal banner on the PSN front page, from where they can donate €2, €5, €10 or €20.
Natural disasters, iPad 2's launch and PS3s in schools - the key stories from a week in the game industry.
At least five components manufactured in Japan, prompting fears of worldwide stock shortage.
The planned UK launch of Apple’s iPad 2 next Friday could be delayed due to manufacturing complications arising from last week’s Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Three-part series on Abertay University contest in which 15 teams develop from concept to prototype in 10 weeks.
Channel 4 is to screen a three-part documentary series about the University of Abertay’s Dare To Be Digital competition.
The documentary, Crunchtime, has been produced by independent studio Headlight Pictures. It chronicles the latest Dare To Be Digital, in which 15 teams from all over the world developed games from concept to prototype in just 10 weeks.
“We have 10 times as much horsepower as an Xbox 360 or PS3...yet games don’t look ten times as good.”
Hardware firm AMD has said that cumbersome APIs like Direct X are holding back PC games from their true potential.
The manufacturer’s GPU worldwide developer relations manager Richard Huddy believes that Microsoft’s DirectX, introduced to help ensure games run on a wide variety of hardware, is hindering developers as much as it helps them.
Upgrades server capacity and patches numerous problems with PS3 multiplayer; PC, 360 updates on the way.
THQ has released a patch addressing connectivity problems with the multiplayer component of its new shooter Homefront.
A patch was released yesterday evening for the PlayStation 3 version of the game, which tells the story of a band of US resistance fighters striking back against an occupying Korean force. Xbox 360 and PC patches are also in the works, but PS3 users have experienced the most problems.
Format: Flash
Developer: Droqen
N?na, Ha?e F?aith is wonderful, atmospheric, inventive and yet strangely traditional. It’s clever and frightening by turns, it’s as tightly-wound as a pocket watch, and it was built from scratch in under a week as part of the Game Prototype Challenge.
Manipulating images using hand gestures saves up to an hour per procedure, surgeon says.
Surgeons at a Toronto hospital are using Microsoft’s Xbox 360 motion sensor Kinect to save time calling up images during operations.
The Winnipeg Free Press reports that surgeons at Sunnybrook Hospital are using open-source Kinect drivers for PC to allow them to manipulate images of medical scans – something which normally involves a meticulous cleanup operation to ensure sterility around the patient, taking around 20 minutes each time.
Format: 360, PC, PS3
Release: April 18 (US), April 22 (EU)
Publisher: EA / Valve
Developer: Valve Software
Screenshot gallery
Firm wants to work with independent developers but not part-timers, says Reggie.
Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has said that the firm is not interested in doing business with hobbyist, or “garage” developers.
Speaking to Gamasutra, Fils-Aime reiterated previous comments, echoed by Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, that the recent surge in popularity of “disposable” smartphone software has not affected Nintendo’s strategy.
Thom Dinsdale considers the expectations that genre instills in players.
Genre is a remarkably useful concept. It helps us immeasurably with the task of classifying and organising swells of stuff into groups and clusters. It introduces and reinforces conventional ways of thinking that are mutually understood for everyone concerned: people who make games; the people who play them; and the people, the publishers and marketers who mediate between the two.
Thom Dinsdale considers the expectations that genre instills in players.
Genre is a remarkably useful concept. It helps us immeasurably with the task of classifying and organising swells of stuff into groups and clusters. It introduces and reinforces conventional ways of thinking that are mutually understood for everyone concerned: people who make games; the people who play them; and the people, the publishers and marketers who mediate between the two.
Justifies Halo: Reach’s £49.99 price, saying service offers “24/7 convenience and selection.”
Microsoft has moved to defend the pricing structure of Games on Demand, emphasising the “convenience and selection” offered by its Xbox 360 download service.
“Minecraft is a complete work of genius...the best thing I’ve played in the last ten years.”
Peter Molyneux says that Markus “Notch” Persson’s indie smash Minecraft is the best thing he’s played in the last ten years.
Speaking to IGN after accepting his BAFTA fellowship at a London ceremony on Wednesday night, Molyneux was full of praise for Persson’s game, which has been downloaded more than 1.4 million times despite still being in beta.
NES beat-em-up / RPG returning later this year with original team handling development.
A sequel to much-loved 1989 NES game River City Ransom is in development.
River City Ransom 2 is under development by Japanese studio Miracle Kidz, and will be released for consoles this year and as a PC online game in 2012, according to Andriasang.