Toy Spy Robots: A Practical Way to Teach Programming

Seymour Papert taught us years ago the most effective way to teach computer programming to children was to make it fun, and MIT’s Logo programming language remains popular (and free). Since then, other languages designed to teach programming concepts have been developed, including Scratch, Game Maker, and Alice. (I wrote an article on educational programming languages for TechEdge that is online here.)

From a commercial standpoint, especially with languages like Logo, the urge to combine programming with real world robotics has been highly successful, most notably with the Lego Mindstorms line of products. Now, a new company has developed a toy spy robot that will encourage the creation and posting of programs by its fans.

The Spy Video TRAKR from Wild Planet Entertainment will blend online and offline fun for budding robotics enthusiasts. Offline, the target market of eight-year-old and older boys can guide the remote controlled vehicle into other rooms and use its wireless camera for surveillance. Taking a tip from Webkinz, which ties an online product with toys in the real world, the Spy Video TRAKR will offer strong inducements to play on their site. Here’s a quote from a recent news article:

Wild Planet says the Trakr goes a step further than other Web-tied toys. It sends children online to create application and then brings them back to the toy, instead of just leaving them playing related games online.

The marketing pitch for this seems brilliant. The toy will function as a spy robot right out of the box, but for the kid who wants more, plenty of customization is offered, whether it’s an app downloaded from the site or one he makes on his own. Here’s part of the press release:

Though the Spy Video TRAKR can be used without ever being hooked up to a computer, tech-minded kids will be quick to connect their toy and start the customization process. Beginners can access an online application modulator that will allow them to modify existing apps as they familiarize themselves with writing code. All the tools they need to write their own unique programs will be available online, for free.

The toy will be available in October, in time for Christmas, and should retail for about $120. I wish the best for Wild Planet, and I hope their new product is highly successful. Also, hopefully, it will encourage many new future programmers to pursue careers in the STEM fields.

References:
Zimmerman, A. (February 10, 2010). I spy a market for kids. The Wall Street Journal, D1.

Educational Game Developers Can Track Steam Reports for Latest Trends

Steam is sort of like iTunes for video games. Once players buy a game, they can download and play it on any computer. Consequently, it is a major force in PC gaming.

A nice feature of serving gamers online is Steam’s ability to garner data from each player’s PC. Since most indy games and many educational games are introduced on the PC platform, statistics on the platform are welcome.

Head over to Steam’s Game Stats section for details on various top game achievements and content server data. Most interesting of all is the Steam Hardware Survey. Here we find such interesting nuggets as the majority of PC gamers in December 2009 were Windows XP 32 bit users, running at least 2 gigs of RAM on a motherboard with an Intel chip 2.3 gigs Mhz or higher in speed. More users had graphics cards made by Nvidia than ATI, and RealTek led the installed audio devices base. Other info on hard drive size, broadband speed, and available processing and graphics RAM might provide game makers valuable insight into typical user specs when developing products.

What Can We Learn from The Settlers of Catan?

I’ve been catching up with my paper copy of the April issue of Wired, and came across a great article by Andrew Curry on what is widely considered the world’s greatest board game: Die Siedler von Catan, or in English, The Settlers of Catan.

The story Curry weaves is fascinating. Germany is the world’s epicenter for boardgames, selling hundreds of thousands every year and drawing fierce competition for the annual Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), the Pulitzer Prize of German boardgaming.

Master gamesmith Klaus Teuber spent four years perfecting Settlers, running beta versions past his family and tweaking the competitive elements. Released at the Essen Game Convention in 1995, it was an instant hit, and has gone on to sell over 15 million copies in 30 languages.

Derk Solko of Boardgamegeek.com and Jesper Juul both have nice quotes. Pete Fenlon of Mayfair Games, the company distributing English versions of Settlers, helps to fill in details regarding its popularity:

“When a lot of us saw it, we thought this was the definition of a great game … In every turn you’re engaged, and even better, you’re engaged in other people’s turns. There are lots of little victories—as opposed to defeats—and perpetual hope. Settlers is one of those perfect storms.”

A hint at the educational potential of the game could be found in a comment by Russ Roberts, an economist over at George Mason, who indicated Settlers was perfect for teaching the free market system to his children. Settling the game’s island requires the administration and trading of resources. Different resources become scarce or plentiful and require skills to manage and barter.

The next frontier the game has to conquer is the American marketplace, where traditional titles hold sway. Herr Tauber indicates the plan is to introduce video game versions for the Xbox and PC. The hope is this will provide the boardgame version of The Settlers of Catan a stronger foothold in the American marketplace (nearly a quarter million copies have sold in North America since last January).

German boardgames in general are showing impressive gains in popularity over here. Jay Tummelson of Rio Grande Games estimated his company sold a half million licensed copies of German games for American markets last year. Meanwhile, Herr Tauber has launched PlayCatan.com to introduce the game to audiences online.

References:
Curry, A. (2009, April). Monopoly killer: Perfect German board game redefines genre. Wired, 17(4). 60-72.

SIGGRAPH Announces Game Competition

SIGGRAPH 09 will have an on the spot videogame competition. Here are the relevant bits from their press release:

SIGGRAPH announces the launch of GameJam!, a new international videogame competition to be held at SIGGRAPH 2009, the 36th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques.

Teams of three people will compete for 24-consecutive hours to create, design, and implement their best effort at a comprehensive videogame in the allotted timeframe. Each team must contain at least one Programmer, Artist, and Sound Designer. Individuals and teams are welcome to apply. Contestants will be provided with a pre-designated theme as well as the necessary tools and software to complete the challenge. All work must take place on site within the 24-hour period.

Videogames will be judged by a panel of industry experts with prizes awarded in several categories including Best Game Play, Best Sound Design, Best Appearance, Best of Show, Crowd Favorite and Epic Failure. GameJam! will be produced in conjunction with The Sandbox, an area at SIGGRAPH 2009 focused specifically on the gaming industry.

SIGGRAPH 2009 will bring an anticipated 20,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to New Orleans, Louisiana, USA for the industry’s most respected technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web from Monday, 3 August through Friday, 7 August 2009 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. SIGGRAPH 2009 includes a three-day exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and interactive marketplace from 4-6 August 2009. More than 200 international exhibiting companies are expected. More details are available at www.siggraph.org/s2009.

Study: Action Adventure Games Best for Online Education

In one of the more interesting studies to cross the transom lately, researchers indicated action adventure games are best for educational purposes thanks to their flexibility. A number of subjects can be presented in the genre, and a wide variety of educational activities can occur. The story lines in these games present multiple opportunities for teachable moments. Here is the abstract:

The use of educational games in learning environments is an increasingly relevant trend. The motivational and immersive traits of game-based learning have been deeply studied in the literature, but the systematic design and implementation of educational games remain an elusive topic. In this study some relevant requirements for the design of educational games in online education are analyzed, and a general game design method that includes adaptation and assessment features is proposed. Finally, a particular implementation of that design is described in light of its applicability to other implementations and environments.

The study was led by Pablo Moreno-Ger, over at U. Complutense de Madrid in Spain. Alas, the article is behind a pay-per-view firewall. ACM Portal has the abstract and references here. A nice write-up can be found at ScienceDaily here. Another paper by the Moreno-Ger team was published last month entitled Model Checking for Adventure Games.

References:
Moreno-Ger, P., Burgos, D., Martínez-Ortiz, I., Sierra, J. L., & Fernández-Manjón, B. (2008, September). Educational game design for online education. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(6). 2530-2540.

Update: Dr. Moreno-Ger pointed out in the comments the paper’s final draft is online at their university here.

Two New Video Games for Studying the SAT

Jim McDermott over at the Technology Omnivore notes the two largest test prep companies, Princeton Review and Kaplan, are turning to videogames to help students study for the SAT. eSchoolNews reports that Kaplan has teamed up with Aspyr Media to produce futureU for the PC. The game costs $40 and prepares students for all elements of the SAT. A version for the DS will be ported over later this year. The Princeton Review has partnered with Ubisoft to develop My SAT Coach for the DS, available later this month.

Introducing Grockit, the SAT Study MMORPG

Jason Kincaid over on TechCrunch recently wrote about Grockit, a startup developing a MMORPG designed to help students study for high stakes tests like the SAT and GMAT. Grockit was a winner in the recent TechCrunch 50, a fact reportedly adding a huge boost to visitors over at grockit.com. Those of a certain age, or at least well versed in classic science fiction lit, will recognize the name as deriving from Robert Heinlein’s term for fully understanding something.

Kincaid says students can work together to tackle questions, and the Grockit team responded to TC50 judge Robert Scoble’s questions about ease of play and time commitments with assurances that students could get in, study together, and get out easily. Teamwork in MMORPGs is one of its most powerful lures, and the idea of repurposing it for studying high stakes exams is an intriguing one. So far, Kincaid says Grockit has garnered about $10 million in seed funding.

The Rise of Photo-Realistic Animation

The bar keeps bumping up higher for quality animations in a videogame. Word came out this week that Afrika, a new safari photo hunt game for the PlayStation 3, would provide ultra-realistic shots of wildlife on the savannah and make good use of the PS3’s graphics capabilities. The game required a mere 25 developers, compared to the 100 or so that many big titles take, and Sony’s sales expectations are modest. Still, the possibilities revolving around photo-realism add to the expectations for future games: serious, educational, and traditional entertainment titles alike.

On the anthromorphological side of things, check out this video, She’s Not Real, from The Times Online in the UK. If you weren’t told ahead of time, it’s possible you wouldn’t know you were watching an animated human … at least at first. Toward the end of the minute long footage, the programmers give a taste of what they can do with an animated person, in a game for instance.

R4 Revolution Majicon May Provide Homebrew Educational Games Solution for the DS

Here’s an intriguing story about the R4 Revolution, nicknamed the Majicon in Japan. The device provides an interface for micro SD cards to be read by the Nintendo DS. Consequently, they provide an avenue for piracy since game cartridges could be copied and shared without paying. In light of that, Nintendo has sued manufacturers, and retailers in Japan have become reticent about current inventories.

However, from an altruistic, educational gaming viewpoint, such devices may make it easier for aspiring programmers to share their creations with others. Previous efforts to create educational cartridges outside of traditional game companies were possible but rather difficult, requiring emulators and the purchase of dedicated hardware and cartridges if one wished to actually play the games on the devices.

With the R4, no fancy hardware is necessary. Programmers can save their code on micro SD cards and easily distribute and play the games. That would be a revolution indeed.

CFP: Submissions Sought for Book on Serious Game Design

Dr. Janis Cannon-Bowers and Dr. Clint Bowers over at UCF are putting together a new chapter book on educational videogames, and sent out a call on the Serious Games listserv:

CALL FOR CHAPTERS
Proposals Submission Deadline: 9/5/2008
Full Chapters Due: 2/28/2009

Serious Game Design and Development:
Technologies for Training and Learning
A book edited by Dr. Janis Cannon-Bowers & Dr. Clint Bowers
University of Central Florida

Purpose and Goals of the Book
The use of gaming approaches for more serious purposes is not a new phenomenon. Teachers have used board games, memory games, and others in classrooms for decades. However, the advent of video gaming technologies created a host of opportunities for people to use the immersive, interactive, environments provided by such technology to deliver pedagogical content in a simulated environment that is thought to engender deeper learning in a more entertaining environment.

The use of video games for serious purposes was largely fostered by the US military, which saw the low-fidelity simulation abilities of these platforms as a low-cost way to deliver training. Buoyed by successes in this market, developers have expanded their activities to a whole range of serious applications, including K-12 education, advertising, and social change, to name a few. The increasing use of these games has now drawn the interest of various disciplines within the scientific community, who seek to understand the nature of effective games and to provide guidance for how best to harness the power of gaming technology to successfully accomplish the more serious goal.

At this point, several serious games have been fielded, with varying levels of success. Many of these games have not been formally evaluated, while others have been, but the results have not been published. Conversely, scientists are beginning to report results about effective game elements, but there is not a clear conduit to get these results to the developers who could most use them.

Our goal, therefore, is to create a volume that seeks to “bridge the gap” between development and science. Specifically, we will approach leaders in the game development community to share their successes and the area where they could benefit from scientific guidance. Similarly, we will invite prominent scientists to describe their current findings and to provide their input on the future of the field.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
Serious Games in K-12 Education
Serious Games in Postsecondary Education
Serious Games in Business and Industry
Serious Games in Training
Serious Games and Health
Serious Games as Social Tools
Research in Serious Games
Serious Games in the Military
Serious Games and Communication

Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before September 5, 2008, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by November 30, 2008 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by February 28, 2009. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference) and “Medical Information Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit http://www.igi-global.com/.

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) or by mail to:

Dr. Clint Bowers
Department of Psychology
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL 32801

sgbook at me.com