Microsoft Offers DreamSpark Suite Free to Students; Includes XNA

Microsoft has jumped on the “free” bandwagon in the last few years. I remember when Dungeon Siege was opened to modders after the runaway success of Neverwinter Nights. Internet Explorer was eventually made free, as were several other products.

Now, PC World reports Microsoft is giving away tools for teaching programming to high schools and colleges. The DreamSpark program is to be unveiled today at Stanford, and will be available to 35 million students worldwide. I was not the least surprised at seeing XNA in the offering:

Software available to students through DreamSpark includes Microsoft’s development environment, Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, and its Web and graphic design toolset, the Expression Studio. Microsoft also is making available XNA Game Studio 2.0, SQL Server Developer Edition, Windows Server Standard Edition and other software and resources through the program.

Students who learn in the programs will probably more willing to continue coding in those programs after they join the workforce. This is a shot across the bow of Linux and other freely available open source products out there students might otherwise have been willing to turn to in order to get their feet wet programming.

According to Microsoft’s MSDN developer site, students will be able to download the complete suite. This is exciting news, and I know several tech directors in Texas will be looking forward to introducing the products in their tech ed programs.

STEM Possibilities Through Programming the Nintendo DS

Josh Fishburn, a grad student over at U. Denver, graduate RA at the NSF, and adjunct at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, notes on his blog a YouTube video of a French team controlling a robot through a homebrewed software mod for the Nintendo DS.

I agree with Josh that the possibilities of programming in a “closed” system are intriguing. It reminds me of listening to Elliot Soloway over at GoKnow, in a lecture he gave at UNT, regarding the travails GoKnow had when setting out to create a truly educational game for the Nintendo GameBoy. At the time, Nintendo was not at all interested in educational games, perhaps fearing a negative backlash toward the GAMEboy brand if too many titles promoted educational objectives. My how times have changed, with the BrainAge series and other educational titles for the DS out there. Of course, Nintendo’s main handheld product is not referred to as a GAMEboy anymore, either; it’s now simply known as the DS.  

There have always been ways of programming your own game cartridges, though such efforts have largely been the purview of uber-geek programmers willing to poke around in grey market areas. Perhaps, as Josh’s video shows, closed system programming may become more prevalent. Certainly Microsoft has seen the light with their XNA programming initiative for the Xbox.

If Nintendo or another company offered a simple way to program or modify game cartridges, millions of young boys and girls the world over might well take a stronger interest in computer programming. I suspect math and engineering initiatives would get a major boost from such an initiative.

‘Telly Guidelines’: A Roundup of Studies and Worries about Screen Time from Across the Pond

Here’s a nice article from British mum and columnist Janice Turner, who details the current state of official consternation regarding videogames, and parental juggling of duties in light of going against the grain of political correctness. She details a host of studies (mostly negative) regarding videogames and their impact on society from a British perspective.

 [I]n our multiplatform, interactive digital domain it’s not enough to pull the plug out after Newsround. “Screen time” is the new playground buzzword. What irony that having wasted weeks acquiring the world’s last Wii, and credit card bills still bulging from new PCs and plasma TVs, we spend the rest of the year fighting to stop our children using them.

ChildWise, a British charity and apparently somewhat akin to an American think tank, found the average British child spends 5 and a third hours per day at screen time. This has led to parental efforts at control, according to Ms. Turner, along with accompanying angst:

It is no small challenge being the in-house Ofcom, diligently monitoring screen minutes: adding a half hour of MSN to Doctor Who and 20 minutes on SuperMario Galaxy. Does squinting at music videos on your iPod nano’s teeny screen count? What about Tetris on your mobile? Is a podcast cause for concern?

Indeed. Where should the lines be drawn? Perhaps the government should regulate access to media. After all, there are several studies indicating harm with overuse:

Yet what exactly are we worried about here? Of course, the “toxic childhood” Jeremiahs are always plucking random figures from the air: Aric Sigman, of the British Psychological Society, declared that the Government should prescribe telly guidelines – two hours for seven to twelve-year-olds – just as it issues, say, a recommended sodium intake. Last year the University of California gave warning that between two to four hours of TV watching risks high blood pressure. Other reports claim that more than four hours a day leads to obesity, attention deficit disorders, linguistic problems and even back pain. They may as well add, like parents did in the Seventies, that sitting too close to the box gives you square eyes.

However, Ms. Turner has already decided where she will draw the line for her kiddos. She refuses to purchase for them any gaming console. They are “crack cocaine for the brain,” taking over all amusement time:

Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators’ brains. And they play them – beepety-beep – on journeys, over family meals, any minute in which they find themselves unamused.

Nice article. Couldn’t disagree with her more, though, about that last point. Videogames are only one of many entertainment and learning options available. In my own household, we have access to consoles, MMOs, handhelds, cellphones, and books (lots of books). I can assure Ms. Turner that videogames are only one option in a world of entertainment, and when given access to them, kids don’t always devote all their free time to games. Nonetheless, Ms. Turner has an excellent article filled with British wit and a concerned mother’s P.O.V.

References:
Turner, J. (2008, January 19). Xbox is crack for kids. The Times. [Online]. Available:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/

janice_turner/article3211999.ece

Xbox Goes to College to Help Football Players Learn Their Moves

I knew Microsoft endeavored to tap into the modding potential of the Xbox. Now comes an AP story about a company called XOS Technologies selling modified Xbox football games to Division I universities. The returning national champions Louisiana Statue University Tiger’s football team uses the game, as do the University of Tennessee Volunteers (for our friends over in Louisiana, I have to say for the championship game tonight, “Geaux Tigers.”) The game is called PlayAction Simulator, and has apparently played a role in leading the Tigers to another successful season this year.

XOS Technologies programs in all the team’s offensive plays, then all the defensive plays of their opposition. Quarterbacks and other offensive players can play the game to help learn their plays, and see how mistakes can lead to turnovers and other mishaps.

The game looks and plays just like the popular Madden NFL and NCAA football games, though all the goofy stuff such as player celebrations, cheering crowds, mascots and bands have been removed.

If LSU wins tonight, the Xbox and XOS Technologies can certainly claim part of the credit.

Update:
A victory for the Xbox: LSU beat Ohio State 38-24.

Using the Wiimote as a Cheap Smart Board

Uber-blogger Will Richards notes that Johnny Chung Lee has devised a nifty hack to take an ordinary Wiimote and turn it into a Smart Board replication device, all for about a hundred bucks.

Although the links to Lee’s pages over at Carnegie Mellon were not working last I looked, the YouTube video where he shows how to do the trick is still up and working on Richards’ site. Some of Richards’ commenters discuss other ways to leverage inexpensive laser technology this way.

In the video, Lee connects the Wiimote to the computer that is being projected, then uses a laser pen to create an instant interactive white board. Besides walls, he demonstrates on a table and a common LCD screen.

Richards attests that educators watching the video get very excited about the possibilities for creating cheap interactive whiteboards on the fly. We’ve seen this appropriation of common videogame hardware for ulterior purposes before, mainly with the military using Xbox controllers to guide robots. These days, gaming hardware is off the shelf compatible with regular computers and software, using standards like USB, and can be repurposed for other things. It will be nice to see more educational uses in the future.

Tempest in a Wii-cup: Britain’s Abysmal Reading Scores Blamed on Videogames

Expanding a bit on one of Elgan’s media bits, England has indeed dropped from third in the world in primary reading to 15th over the last half decade in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, which comes out every year. The Sun lists the rankings:

1 – Russia

2 – Hong Kong

3 – Singapore

4 – Luxembourg

5 – Italy

6 – Hungary

7 – Sweden

8 – Germany

9 – Netherlands

10 – Belgium

11 – Bulgaria

12 – Denmark

13 – Latvia

14 – USA

15 – England

16 – Austria

17 – Lithuania

18 – Chinese Taipei

19 – New Zealand

20 – Slovak Republic

Said Sun Editor David Wooding: “We finished behind former Iron Curtain states such as Russia, Latvia and Bulgaria …”

Britain also finished behind the United States, by one point (no gloating, y’all). Here in the states such rankings are met with a collective yawn. That is, if folks even hear about it. If not for the web, most of us Yanks wouldn’t read as much of the British press. But in Britain, the news was met with horror by politicians and punditry. School Secretary Ed Balls announced a £5 million program to give books to nurseries and libraries, along with government-sponsored encouragement toward parental involvement in reading time.

It was Balls’ and other politicians’ statements concerning videogames as culprits that caused the most chuckles. But plenty of blame and embarrassment have been spread around. A Cambridge study showed little sign of improvement in the nation’s schools despite millions in extra spending, lending doubt that the £5 million on book distribution would do much good. The Torries fussed at Labour for blaming parents. The National Union of Teachers said there is too much teaching to the test, and not enough emphasis on reading for pleasure.

So there it is. If videogames indeed are the culprit in falling scores for British tots (despite copious reading often so necessary in advanced games), perhaps the government should spend that £5 million in purchasing Wii, Playstation, and Xbox consoles. Then they could send them to other countries where gaming is not as prevalent, in hopes of causing their scores to decline next year. So, even the playing field British pols. Instead of buying more books for British kids, buy more videogames for kids in countries ahead of yours. That should work.

References:
Wooding, D. (2007, November 29). Video games ruining reading. The Sun. [Online.] Retrieved Dec. 1 from: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article521951.ece

Update:
Kotaku notes a nice piece in The Guardian, “Is Our Children Reading,” by Steven Poole, who makes the case that many advanced games like The Legend of Zelda, Phantom Hourglass, require the equivalent of reading a paperback novel.

News headlines don’t tell you, for example, about the wonderfully batty series of games for the Nintendo DS starring Phoenix Wright. These games, in which you play the part of a defence lawyer in a series of increasingly surreal criminal trials, take place almost entirely through conversations that you have to remember and then sift for contradictions, before triumphantly shouting “objection!” in a crowded courtroom. At a rough estimate, one Phoenix Wright game contains at least as much text as your average children’s novel.

Meanwhile, another game for the DS, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, not only has innumerable scripted conversations and written signs to read, but makes you write as well – scribbling notes on your maps (via a touchscreen and stylus) so you can solve the puzzles and navigate through increasingly tortuous temples. A child playing this game is probably more passionate about reading its prose for clues and taking detailed notes, than he is about doing his homework. But that’s not the game’s fault.

Got Troubles? Blame Videogames

I noticed the apparent up tick in media attention to videogame violence recently. Then I ran across Mike Elgan’s piece in Computerworld, where he breaks down recent news items from around the world. Some I’d heard of, and there were a few he mentioned that I hadn’t. The big research item I was aware of, and hope to blog on soon after I’m finished reading it. Here is Elgan’s list:

- The December supplemental issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health devoted to youth violence and electronic media (more on this from me later).

- New Zealand’s National Manager of Police Youth Services stating he felt rising youth violence is tied to videogame consoles (Elgan notes the statement was made after brief exposure to his son’s Xbox, not a formal study).

- The German Society for Scientific Person-Centered Psychotherapy recommended a ban on violent videogames.

- Reading skills in England have dropped, with videogames receiving the lion’s share of blame (this one is stretching it, BTW, based on the copious literacy moments inherent in most all advanced MMORPGs and VIEs).

- Videogames were also blamed for England’s poor showing in soccer this year. It seems British kiddoes are too busy playing with joysticks instead of going outdoors and playing with balls. Videogames = bad. Soccer games = good.

- Elgan then notes a couple news reports blaming games for obesity, broken bones & rickets in children.

- He also points out the study in Pediatrics from German researchers showing sleep disruption in boys playing a videogame before bedtime.

Elgan brings up several counterpoints to the “blame videogames first” crowd. With recent immigration trends of young families moving to England, some 40% of primary kids “over there” don’t speak English at home. This might have a higher effect on reading scores than the Playstation, Wii, or Xbox. The media highlighted the Finnish teen shooter’s love of videogames while ignoring his many other interests which may have certainly contributed to a killer mindset. Focusing on the effects videogames have on teen boys misses the point anyway since videogames continue to grow in popularity across both genders and all age groups.

Here are some additional arguments Elgan adds:

One “solution” you don’t hear very often is: Maybe we should do nothing. Maybe it’s a problem that doesn’t need to be solved … Every generation of adults blames some cultural influence or another on ruining young people. Those darned horseless carriages cause youthful indiscretions! …

Second, games may have an overall positive effect on the lives of some kids. In bad neighborhoods, they may provide an alternative to gangs and real violence, or access to cultural information not otherwise available. …

And finally … There is plenty of evidence — ignored by critics — that games are becoming more intellectually stimulating. Many kids who used to play Grand Theft Auto are now enjoying Assassin’s Creed or, say, BioShock. These newer games still have violence, but also literary, historical and cultural value, at least in comparison with GTA.

Elgan sums up with a call for more research:

One thing is certain: We need more and better research. So many questions remain unanswered. Do games really cause violence? If so, do some games cause more violence than others? Is the unrealistic or nongraphic violence in, say, Halo 3 less harmful than the blood-splattering violence in Call of Duty 4? Is the “honorable” violence in Call of Duty 4 less harmful than the “criminal” violence in Grand Theft Auto? Are games damaging to some personality types, but harmless to others? Are the effects of gaming long term?

Good questions. Be sure and check out Elgan’s excellent blog, The Raw Feed which focuses on videogames and other technologies.

References:
Elgan, M. (2007, November 30). Do video games make kids violent, stupid and sick? Computerworld. [Online.] Available: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?
command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9050278&pageNumber=1

Academic Achievement Through Game Development

I’m on THE Journal’s mailing list, and I noticed a new article today on videogame development for educational purposes. I decided to check it out later and perhaps post about it. Imagine my curiosity when I saw hits coming into this blog from the very same article. It turns out authors Richard Ferdig and Jeff Boyer over at U. Florida listed this blog as a resource in the article.

Dr. Ferdig published a paper of mine in a special edition of the Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia on educational videogames, which he edited. I’m honored that the authors included this blog in their article for THE Journal.

The article, entitled, “Getting Started with Videogame Development,” continues a series the duo started last week. Previously they wrote an article addressing the question of academic achievement through developing videogames. That article, entitled “Can Game Development Impact Academic Achievement?” offers an introduction to theory underlying the notion of using videogame development as a learning tool, and examines some of the research behind the idea.

It’s important to make a distinction between playing a game, which is what most people think of when discussing educational gaming, versus leading students in designing and developing videogames. Developing a videogame is a whole other apple cart, requiring programming skills, logical thinking, and a big dollop of creativity. Fortunately, a variety of tools are available that allow an easy entry point to game development. Like so many other things, while the entry points may be easy, students must still work to produce quality products, and here is where good teaching can flesh out useful pedagogical chunks.

Today’s article continues the series, and the authors point out a variety of tools available that allow teachers to take videogame pedagogy into the classroom. These include such things as Scratch from MIT, Gamemaker from YoYo Games, and RPG Maker XP. They also note that Microsoft has released the XNA Developer Center, offering tools to individuals for creating games that play on the Xbox.

The authors conclude by throwing out a ton of highly useful links for teachers interested in game development as a pedagogical tool. Journals, sites, and software suggestions round out the list of resources. THE Journal has always been one of the highest read and highest quality practitioner periodicals out there, and this article adds to a long history of useful columns.

References
Ferdig, R. E., & Boyer, J. (2007, November 1). Getting started with videogame development. T.H.E. Journal. [Online]. Available: http://www.thejournal.com/articles/21510

Ferdig, R. E., & Boyer, J. (2007, October 25). Can game development impact academic achievement? T.H.E. Journal. [Online]. Available: http://www.thejournal.com/articles/21483

Mind Control to Replace Joysticks?

Here’s an intriguing article about new gaming technology that will use brainwave power to control onscreen action. Gene Koprowski at Fox News writes of helmets with scalp nodes that users can wear while playing the Xbox or PlayStation. Alpha, Theta, and Beta brainwaves are detected by the nodes, and used to control action onscreen. A key quote:

“The technology is similar to the electroencephalogram that neurologists and other doctors use to measure brain activity,” said Domenic Greco, a doctor of clinical psychology and the founder of SmartBrain Games, a developer in San Marcos, Calif. “It’s a neuro-feedback system which sends a signal of brain activity to a specially designed game controller.”

Several other companies are involved, as well. The technology has been around since the 1990s, but recent developments have been able to reduce production costs to consumer levels. First appropriated by the medical field, the technology now seems poised to find its way to the consumer gaming market.

One promising application for educational gaming and other computerized interventions: the sensors can purportedly detect boredom, excitement, and stress levels. Conceivably, games can be written that will speed things up when the sensors detect the user is bored, or slow things down if it detects the user is stressed. This may be a boon to educational software that can adjust itself automatically to the pace and level of difficulty required by individual users at any given moment.

If this technology reaches its promises, we’ll have to redefine “mental prowess.” Perhaps “mind control” will need to be rethought as well. Certainly, those with motor control difficulties or other impairments may find this assistive technology highly useful.

References
Koprowski, G. J. (2007, October 5). ‘Brain interfaces’ let players control video games with thoughts, not thumbs. Fox News. [Online]. Available: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299456,00.html

Halo 3 and OLPC

Two articles are of interest today. One, from the New York Times, reports on the slam dunk that Halo 3 is for Microsoft. Over a million people have already pre-ordered a copy of Halo 3 at one of three price levels: $60, $70, or the $130 version complete with game helmet. Author Seth Schiesel sums up the money involved this way:

The Halo series, set in a future when humanity is battling a hostile alien race, has sold more than 14.8 million copies since its debut in 2001, making it one of the most successful game franchises. The last major game in the series, Halo 2, set a record in 2004 for first-day sales of any entertainment product, generating more than $125 million in the United States in its first 24 hours.

Halo 3 is expected to rake in around $150 million on its first day, a sum surpassing comparable products in other media such as books and movies.

The other big article deals with videogames only in passing, but it also focuses on the polar opposite of big game development, and big money. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal ran a give and take between the One Laptop Per Child organization’s Walter Bender and the co-founder of eMachines, Stephen Dukker. Mr. Dukker also leads a start-up company called NComputing that offers software for inexpensive computer labs. Although few details are revealed in the dialogue, it appears NComputing can offer software for virtual workstations running in the neighborhood of $11/terminal. Mr. Dukker says, “The NComputing solution essentially taps the unused power of a regular desktop PC and enables seven students to use it simultaneously.”

The OLPC has caught my interest here before due to the fact some of the software programs in the distributed prototypes are game-oriented, thus maximizing learning potential. No indication is given if NComputing also offers gaming software in its product. Interestingly, Mr. Dukker brings up several of the oft-heard criticisms of the OLPC project (the money could be better spent elsewhere; it’s not really a $100 laptop; the countries involved have to order huge bulk quantities, etc.), giving the dialogue a tone of debate at times.

It’s an interesting exchange because wherever low cost computing goes, so too will the need for affordable pedagogical software (aka, instructional videogames). OLPC and NComputing are both worth watching from this perspective. I’ll be intrigued to read the research on new software developed for developing world platforms. And I’ll also be interested if any educational efforts come out of Halo 3. Certainly Halo 3 won’t be played on the OLPC product anytime soon (nor was this ever intended). But, perhaps the new game’s capabilities can be put to good use in a future educational product someday.

References:
Schiesel, S. (2007, September 24). Gamers, on your marks: Halo 3 arrives. The New York Times. [Online.] Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/arts/24halo.html?ref=business

Will low-cost laptops help kids in developing countries? (2007, September 5). The Wall Street Journal. [Online.] Available: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118892795619917030.html