Educational Gaming Commons - Press Start

One of the more interesting presentations from GLS was done on Inform - a text based interactive fiction builder.  A very easy to use tool with almost no barriers to entry, Inform represents a cool opportunity to bring gaming to more writing or humanities focusssed subjects in a way traditional games can't match.

For a longer recap of the session and the possibibilites, feel free to check out my blog post on the session, or just hit up the source, at inform-fiction.org.

After months of anticipation, the time has finally come for the Stub to sally forth to Madison Wisconsin, for the GLS (Games, Learning, Society) Conference.  The conference lineup is a virtual who's who of the educational gaming community, and I'm tremendously excited for what I expect will be an overwhelmingly thought provoking few days.  Next year, I'm hoping we'll be speaking on behalf of the EGC, but this year, I'm just looking to take it all in and share some ideas with some great people. 

I'm not sure if I'll be blogging at the conference yet (it may take a few days to digest), but rest assured that Thursday and Friday I'll keep the Twitter stream filled with juicy nuggets of goodness. 

Stay tuned, and please forward all requests for cheese heads to my assistant. 

Orginally posted at chrisstubbs.com

A recent study by the Strategy Analytics consulting firm predicts that by the year 2018, there will be 1 billion people who have registered for at least one virtual world (22% of broadband users).  And you thought virtual worlds were a big deal now...

There has been a lot of buzz sourround the PS3 game Afrika, currently under development.  A similar idea to the Wii's Endless Ocean, Afrika appears to be an open world exploritory game, in which you take the role of a photo journalist, taking pictures of (and in the process archiving and learning about) the wildlife in Africa.  The trailers (linked below) look extremely impressive. 

As I mentioned in my far more long winded personal blog post on the subject, this game might be the reason I buy a PS3. 

Check out the game trailers at joystiq or on youtube.   Both are well worth the a look.

Join us for National Gaming in Libraries Day!
Friday, April 18, 2008, 1-5 p.m.
In the Library Student Lounge - Pattee Library, central, lower level

We'll have the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3, as well as some of the most popular games around. So stop by for some good games and good times and help us celebrate National Gaming in Libraries Day. We look forward to seeing you there!

If you have any questions, contact Andrew Calvin, arc143@psu.edu or 814-863-7083. Sponsored by the University Libraries and Penn State's Educational Gaming Commons.