As you will have seen from the date of my last post I have been a bit busy of late. Or lazy as may be the case! Never quite finding the time to get online what I have been thinking or finding out about in my work and play time. However, my experience at the Education 2020 Unconference in Islay last week was soooo good that I just had to share my thoughts about it.
I first had the pleasure of meeting Ian Stuart from Islay High School a couple of years back when he presented at HHL07 (he also won a Wii in the prize draw). I learned all about how they had been looking to integrate ICT into the life of the school by virtue of the umpc and One Note amongst other things. So after hearing all about this it wasn't too long before I had managed to make my way to Islay to visit Ian and the school, a visit that left me truly impressed with the school's set-up, vision and ethos.
So after this initial visit it was with great pleasure that I received the opportunity of visiting Islay again last week to attend the Education 2020 Unconference. This unconference was a focal point for a group of educators from all aspects of the Scottish (and further afield) Educational landscape who use a range of online technologies to collaborate with professional colleagues in order to develop their own professional practice but also to contribute to their peers development. It must be said that I am less than prolific contributior to this community but to be part of it is something that I greatly value and feel confidence in. I can honestly say that I am a better profesional person for being a part of this community.
The chats we had were excellent, the high jinx and singing in the pub on Friday night just superb but the thing that impressed me the most about my time on Islay was my experience with the young people from Islay High School who presented to the conference delegates on ther Friday morning and then interviewed us on the Friday evening. Here we saw a group of articulate, confident, self-aware and mature individuals who presented a quite analytical yet wholly positive view of how the the opportunities afforded to them by the school had increased their self-confidence and enhanced their levels of attainment in whatever path they chose to take. The interviewers in the evening were also delightfully impressive and more than willing to ask for clarification if they did not understand one of my obscure mutlisyllabic references on innovation or if they felt they need to ask a probing supplementary question. What a credit you were to your school and if this is the kind of student that Islay High School turns out then I hope to send my girls there one day.
There were also interesting contributions to the conference that seemed out of kilter with the general consensus of opinion of the delegates but is it not the case that this debate is one that still needs to be argued? I'm sure that the tipping point is on its way and that the idea that interaction with online technologies offers so much more than just 'staring at a computer screen' will become stronger and will eventually become the norm. Education 2020 and the learners of Islay High School have given me even greater confidence in what I am doing in order to help contribute to the continued evolution of young learners' experiences in school. I am delighted to be in a position to do so.
Thanks to all at Islay High School (and the various distelleries) for a great time on your beautiful island.
Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy has entered the used videogames market.
“This week, several of our Dallas and Austin stores will test a kiosk-based model that allows customers to insert their used games into a kiosk that will scan it for functionality, and immediately issue a voucher that is instantly redeemable for a Best Buy gift card,” said the company’s chief marketing officer, Barry Judge.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves picked up three gongs in the E3 2009 Game Critics Awards, including the Best Of Show honour.
The PS3 exclusive title was also voted Best Console Game and Best Action/Adventure Game.
The only other title to receive multiple awards was Scribblenauts for DS, which was named Best Original Game and Best Handheld Game.
Castle Crashers has “become the fastest growing XBLA game in history,” according to independent developer The Behemoth.
Released in August 2008, the side-scrolling beat ’em up was last year’s bestselling Xbox Live Arcade title, and it has now hit one million players, according to the game’s leaderboards.
The Sims 3 has topped boxed PC software sales for the second week running in the US.
While market research firm the NPD Group has announced that it will no longer freely distribute weekly PC game sales data to the media, its latest rankings for the wider PC software market show The Sims 3 as the only game to crack the top ten during the week ended June 13.
Duke Nukem developer Apogee Software has alleged that 2K Games was working on a new Duke Nukem game titled Duke Begins.
In a counterclaim to a suit filed against it last month, Apogee - the legal name of 3D Realms – claims that Take-Two and its 2K Games publishing label halted work on Duke Begins, which was in development at a third party studio, in a bid to force Apogee to sell the Duke Nukem franchise rights for less than their true value.
Publisher THQ has signed the lease for a large Austin, Texas-based studio to house Vigil Games.
The developer, which was acquired by the publisher in 2006, is currently working on Darksiders, a PS3 and Xbox 360 action title scheduled for release in January 2010, and a MMO game based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe that is “expected to be released in a few years.”
A US study conducted on behalf of the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) has found that new point of sale disc activation technology could increase annual sales by $6 billion.
‘Benefit denial’ is the concept of denying shoplifters the ability to use stolen goods by shipping them to stores in a disabled state and only activating them at the point of sale.
Take-Two has announced that it will release a PSP version of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
The Rockstar Leeds developed game will be available at retail on UMD and as a download from the PlayStation Network in North America and Europe this autumn.
"Rockstar Leeds has shown incredible talent in creating games that raise the bar in terms of depth and innovation on portables, and with Chinatown Wars we have a rich, fast-paced, and incredibly addictive entry into the series," said Rockstar founder Sam Houser.
Format: WiiWare
Release: Out now
Publisher: Over The Top Games
Developer: In-house
Activision Blizzard’s Prototype has taken the top spot on the UK all formats chart in its second week of release, driven by sales of the Xbox 360 version.
The action title rose one position to displace The Sims 3, which had held the number one spot for the previous two weeks.
Wii Fit jumped back into the top three, while Ghostbusters: The Videogame entered at number four. The PS3 version of the Sony published title generated 98 percent of weekly sales, while the PS2 edition accounted for the remainder.
EA Sports boss Peter Moore has challenged US president Barack Obama, who said recently that kids should be spending more time outside exercising instead of playing games, to try EA Sports Active.
Speaking on health care reform last week at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, Obama said: "It means going for a run or hitting the gym, and raising our children to step away from the videogames and spend more time playing outside."
Sony Computer Entertainment has further outlined the PS3 motion control sensing technology it first unveiled at E3.
The PlayStation Eye-powered tech has been designed to work "with any games across all genres from casual to core" and will arrive in spring 2010 with a "range of first-party and third-party content," according to SCE documents obtained by Kotaku.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has clarified comments he made last week suggesting that the platform holder was to release a new Xbox console in 2010.
In a speech at The Executive’s Club of Chicago, Ballmer reportedly said that a new Xbox console would feature technology that is “really close” to an actuality and an in-built motion sensing camera.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has warned that the publisher “might have to stop supporting Sony” platforms.
The US army has closed the Emeryville, California-based studio responsible for America’s Army.
A number of developers were let go this week following the release of PC military sim America’s Army 3, according to a ShackNews report.
Future development of the free-to-play series, which is used as a recruitment tool, has been shifted to the army’s Redstone Arsenal post in Alabama.
Activision has announced that the second map pack for Call Of Duty: World At War was downloaded over one million times in the space of three days.
Featuring four new maps, the Treyarch developed DLC launched last Thursday via Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store for 800 MS Points/£7.99.
Format: Flash
Developer: The Monkey Odyssey Project
www.gamepoetry.com/blog/4k-flash-4kpillars/
Nintendo platforms continued to dominate handheld and home console sales in Japan during the week ended June 14.
Total sales fell from 111, 558 units to 109,148. Wii and Xbox 360 recorded weekly sales increases, while all other platforms saw marginal declines, according to data from Media Create.
DSi – 36,872
PSP – 26,904
Wii – 18,442
PS3 – 10,009
Xbox 360 – 8,015
DS Lite – 5,408
PS2 – 3,498
Format: 360
Release: Out now
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Developer: Stainless Games
Format: PC
Release: 1999
Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
Developer: Verant Interactive
It was a wedding that first blew them away. They watched characters exchange rings and vows, in a world they had made and it was nothing they could have predicted. “There was a GM, me and Brad McQuaid, and we saw a wedding in the game,” remembers John Smedley, the original producer of EverQuest. “It was awesome.”
