New version of Unreal Development Kit available tomorrow for free.
Epic Games is releasing an updated version of its Unreal Development Kit with support for Apple devices tomorrow.
Mega Man creator hands new business card to Japanese analyst.
Since leaving Capcom to set up on his own, little has been known about Keiji Inafune’s activities. Now, at least, his new studio has a name.
Andriasang reports that a tweet by a Japanese analyst claims Inafune handed him a business card bearing the name Comcept. The author notes in the comments that Japanese speakers often mix up the letters m and n, so it could equally be called Concept.
Braid, Machinarium and friends available now for as much – or as little – as you want.
As we reported last week, the first Humble Indie Bundle was such a success that Wolfire Games’ John Graham was putting together another one.
Sony announces immediate availability for PS Plus subscribers. With big hard drives.
European Playstation Plus subscribers have been granted access to the Beta version of upcoming PS3 MMOG DC Universe Online. The beta is available to download now from PSN.
James Thorpe, PlayStation Network Product Manager, made the announcement in a post on the PlayStation Blog.
Can NCsoft's bold plan of reinvention point to a third way for the MMOG?
More than 15 games available through in-app purchasing; free daily demos too.
Hudson has confirmed that it is bringing versions of games from its 8-bit console the PC Engine to iOS devices.
PopCap adds second game on the social networking site; hopes to emulate Bejeweled Blitz’s success.
Casual gaming king PopCap has announced that Zuma Blitz, the Facebook incarnation of Zuma, is now live on Facebook.
Parent company alleges trademark infringement in Kinect brawler Fighters Uncaged.
Ubisoft is being sued by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) over alleged trademark infringements.
Developer announces price rise, removes guarantee of future updates, promises narrative, stable API.
PC indie smash Minecraft will reach Beta status next Monday, December 20, creator Marcus Persson has confirmed.
Sony confirms deal with Universal Music; begins bringing two stores’ content into line.
Sony has announced that content on the US and EU versions of SingStore, through which SingStar players purchase new tracks, will be unified, with both stores getting the same updates in the future.
Last week we had the great honour of representing Scottish Education at the WISE Conference in Qatar. WISE is an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, under the aegis of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.
“WISE is based on the practical awareness that the challenges in education are no longer bound by countries’ political boundaries and, therefore, its mandate is international. WISE recognises that the challenges facing the world community have never been greater – that we need innovative solutions not achieved by traditional approaches alone. WISE asserts that the desire to innovate is, in fact, an innate human need to shape and improve our environment.”
At one of the seminars I attended I had the pleasure of listening to Marc Prensky talk about his developing thoughts about ‘Teaching Digital Natives,’ (the title of his new book). I have always found Marc Prensky a good reference point particularly back in the early 2000s when I was in the early stages of exploring the theoretical aspects of games based learning. During this period Prensky’s Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants thesis had just come out and to me it seemed to capture a moment in time where people in education were really beginning to become aware of the mismatches between that of pupil experiences and expectations of tech at home and at school. I found that this concept gave some meaning to my own experiences and to that of very many of my colleagues working in education.
Over the years Prensky’s thesis began to be questioned. People wanted evidence to back his ideas up and I 
think it is fair to say that it became more and more apparent that although young learners were more at ease with technology than many of their teachers it was not necessarily the case that they were as ‘able’ with this technology than was possibly being assumed. In my experience one of the main issues about the lack of digital skills of these so called Digital Natives aspect was their lack of ability to access, analyse and synthesise information they found on the web rather than simply copying and pasting it in to a Word document to be then handed in as their own work.
As I listened to Marc Prensky at WISE2010 I tweeted a few comments that were taken from his very short talk. These touched on some of the issues that have been associated with his work and ideas. I was particularly interested on his emphasis on what he described as ‘passion based teaching’. This was described as finding out what each child is passionate about and focusing on some way in on that. The practical application of this approach in a classroom of almost 30 learners was something I wanted to explore further with Marc and some of my tweets touched on this aspect of his talk. Later that evening Marc and I had a chat about perceptions of his talk and the danger of Twitter reducing the message in such a way that one might be misquoted or the message be ‘reduced’. Marc kindly accepted my offer of a quick interview where he could answer some of the questions that many of my colleagues like to explore when his ideas come up in discussion. The questions we discussed included:
You can hear the interview with Marc Prensky here:
Part 1:
A transcript of this discussion: Consolarium meets Marc Prensky part1
Part 2:
A transcript of this discussion: Consolarium meets Marc Prensky2
Many thanks to Marc Prensky for agreeing to be interviewed. Any comments about what he has said or about your take on the Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants debate are most welcome.
Over 270k downloads sees Epic Games’ iOS debut break Cut The Rope’s record.
Infinity Blade, Epic Games’ Unreal-powered iOS debut, has become the fastest-grossing app on the App Store.
Apple Game Center statistics show that the game has 271,424 recent players. At $5.99 a copy that means the game has grossed $1.625 million in just four days on sale.
Tweet reveals more Androids being activated than iPhones; makes Android second-biggest smartphone OS.
Search giant Google claims that 300,000 mobile devices running its Android operating system are being activated every day.
The news was revealed by Google’s VP of engineering Andy Rubin, in a tweet last week.
Survey shows vast majority of students, parents and teachers believe ICT is the best path to a career in videogames.
A survey has found that students, parents and teachers alike are ignorant of the importance of subjects such as Maths, Physics and Art to careers in videogames and visual effects.
A laughing stock when he mortgaged his house in 2005, Jacobs now loaded and developing new virtual world.
Back in 2005, Jon Jacobs was universally derided when he mortgaged his house and spent $100,000 of real money on some virtual property. Now the only one laughing is Jacobs himself, after he sold his Planet Calypso properties in Mindark’s Entropia Universe for $635,000, according to GamePolitics.
Claims World of Warcraft expansion sold more than 3.3 million in 24 hours.
Activision Blizzard has today claimed that Cataclysm, the third expansion for its staggeringly popular MMOG World of Warcraft, has become the fastest-selling PC game ever.
UK broadcasters follow BBC’s iPlayer, bringing on-demand content to PS3 this week.
UK PlayStation 3 owners will be able to watch the likes of Coronation Street and Hollyoaks on their consoles later this week, with commercial broadcasters ITV and Channel 4 set to bring their on-demand services to Sony’s console, according to The Guardian.
Facebook gaming giant Zynga's latest reaches milestone in record time.
Zynga’s new Facebook game CityVille has reached a staggering six million users just eight days after launch, according to TechCrunch.
Activision shooter still on top; decent debut for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Call of Duty: Black Ops retains its top slot in the UK chart for the week ending December 11.
PC expansion World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the highest new entry in the top 10, making its debut at number three.
Retro Studios’ Wii platformer Donkey Kong Country Returns moves up to number eight after only reaching 13th spot in its week of release.
Format: iOS
Release: Out now
Publisher: Epic Games
Developer: Chair Entertainment
Final instalment in Bioware’s sci-fi trilogy set for 2011 release.
Bioware confirmed at Saturday’s Spike VGA awards that the hotly anticipated Mass Effect 3 will be out in 2011.
While the original Mass Effect was exclusive to the Xbox 360, with its sequel still awaiting release on PlayStation 3 – it will finally hit European shelves on January 21, 2011 – EA has confirmed that the final part of Bioware’s sci-fi trilogy will release simultaneously on 360, PS3 and PC, according to IGN.
Bethesda confirms Oblivion's followup for a November 2011 release; will run on a shiny new engine.
As we reported earlier, Saturday’s Spike Video Game Awards saw a raft of new videogame announcements. Arguably the most exciting of all was Bethesda’s confirmation that a new Elder Scrolls is on the way.
New Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, SSX, Prototype; del Toro horror game confirmed; some awards too.
It may have been an award show by name, but Saturday night’s Spike Video Game Awards was as ever more notable hosting a bout of new game announcements.
Becomes the latest UK retailer to offer trade-ins, covers postage costs itself.
Amazon has become the latest UK retailer to allow customers to ditch their unwanted games after announcing the launch of their trade-in programme today. The firm has been running a similar operation in the US since March 2009.
As Firemint prepares to release its new A$2 million budget iOS game, we ask what it takes to have the premium touch.