I am now embarking on a research journey to adapt Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo to a digital game under the steady guiding hand of The Education Arcade's Creative Director, Scot Osterweil. When Scot and I first discussed possible topics for a directed research project that I would undertake over the course of this academic year, I immediately thought of this idea, which had been floating around in my head for the past year. Monte Cristo is an incredibly rich and fascinating story full of adventure, mystery, and revenge. It has been my favorite novel since childhood, which adds a very personal dimension, and it is also one of Dumas’ longest and most complex works.

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Interesting read.

http://insight.eun.org/shared/data/pdf/final_literature_review_(gis).pdf

Ted

Prior to coming to MIT to study with the Comparative Media Studies program and to be a research assistant with the Education Arcade, I worked with the Games, Learning, and Society program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My research was driven by my interest in how the athletes at the University of Wisconsin were using commercial games to enhance their training. I wanted to point out some reasons why sport video games have many qualities that make them ideally suited for learners.

As I'm sure you're all aware by now - I'm half way between home and abroad, trying to get work done as I attempt to move everything I own to an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean - which is proving to be a task more difficult than I had previously assumed.

In any case, my Youtube channel is now up and running, although there's not a heck of a lot in there just yet. Some of the content from Wrath of the Lich King would be better served in a narrated slideshow, so, once I get that amassed, that is where I will be delivering my comments on WOTLK.

Both of the WOTLK videos have been uploaded to www.matthewwhite.ca, so be sure to hop over there and sign up.

Check out the channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/WhiteMatthew and make sure to subscribe!

Cheers.

Working on games like Labyrinth and Caduceus has forced me to think a great deal about what constitutes a compelling game world. Both of these worlds are wildly fantastic in their respective ways. The former is an underground cavern where monsters from another dimension run a pet food factory for nefarious purposes. The latter is a Victorian, “Age of Sail” fantasy where locomotives and dirigibles are powered by magic. In each case, the world is vivid enough to constitute its own character. And as with any character we create, it behooves us as designers to respect the coherence and internal consistency of our worlds.

My name is Bonnie Bracey Sutton. I have been teaching using games in all of my entire teaching career. During the No Child Left Behind Initiative, those of us who used games, innovation, constructivism , and imagination were summarily dismissed in education and blocked out of most conversations, conferences and collaborations except in SuperComputing which looks at the ideas of serious games. Sensing a new permission, I am entering this arcade as a new beginning , and a new learning initiative to share with teachers like me who share a passion for the use of games in the classroom, and games as a passport to those who may believe they don't like technology.

This year, I am piloting a paperless classroom. Indeed, in just three days of school I have saved over a ream of paper. One of the things I also want to do is to have students create simulations using game development software.

The Education Arcade and Boston-based Fablevision are collaborating on Caduceus, an online puzzle-adventure game for tweens. Caduceus exposes young players (ages 8 to 12) to the concepts of altruism and compassion, while also testing their skills of logic, reason and creativity.

So where are the games? This is a project about building educational games right? Well, the archived site GTT has a few juicy morsels I'd like to play with, but there are no links to any of the games on that or this newer site (with the exception of Revolution). Are these projects just so much vaporware, like the rest of the software world? There should be a big "download here" button for each game or else a "projected release: June 2008" and a "contact us" on every game page. The games can't teach if no-one can play them. I can't even seem to find out who is working on each game so I might contact them specifically or a general contact for the site.