Watch G4LI Talk: Will Wright – February 17, 2010
Published February 17th, 2010
Category News
By Juan Barrientos
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Watch Will Wright’s Talk at the Games for Learning Institute
G4LI to present at GDC: March 10
Published February 3rd, 2010
Category
By Jan L Plass
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G4LI co-directors Ken Perlin and Jan L. Plass will together with former MSR senior manager John Nordlinger give a 6o-min presentation on the institute’s research, entitled The Games for Learning Institute: Research on Design Patterns for Effective Educational Games. This presentation is part of the Game Developers Conference Serious Games Summit, held from March 9-10 in the San Francisco Moscone center.
March 10, 10-11am, Room 133, North Hall, Moscone Center
Will Wright on Colbert Report
Published January 24th, 2010
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By Juan Barrientos
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The Colbert Report
Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Will Wright
Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor
Economy
NYU-TV will broadcast Will Wright “LIVE” on February 17, 2010
Published January 22nd, 2010
Category News
By Juan Barrientos
Tags Will Wright,
NYU-TV will broadcast Will Wright “LIVE” from the Games for Learning Institute at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City on February 17, 2010 at 6:00pm.
Visionary game designer and simulation extraordinaire Will Wright will be discussing “Why Games are (Good) for Learning” on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 6:00pm – 7:00pm in the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. This event, co-hosted by Microsoft Research, The NYU Game Center, and Games for Change, is open to the public. Complimentary tickets are available by RSVP at: tickets@g4li.org (limit 2 per person). The event will be carried LIVE in a webcast produced by NYU-TV.
“Will Wright was given a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2001. In 2002, he became the fifth person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. Until 2006, he was the only person to have been honored this way by both of these industry organizations. In 2007 the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awarded him a fellowship, the first given to a game designer.
He has been called one of the most important people in gaming, technology, and entertainment by publications such as Entertainment Weekly, Time, PC Gamer, Discover and GameSpy. Wright was also awarded the PC Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2005.”
Wikipedia.org
“A technical virtuoso with boundless imagination, Will Wright has created a style of computer gaming unlike any that came before, emphasizing learning more than losing, invention more than sport. With his hit game SimCity, he spurred players to make predictions, take risks, and sometimes fail miserably, as they built their own virtual urban worlds. With his follow-up hit, The Sims, he encouraged the same creativity toward building a household, all the while preserving the addictive fun of ordinary video games. His most recent game, Spore, evolves an entire universe from a single-celled creature.
Wright’s genius is for presenting vital abstract principles — like evolution, differences of scale, and environmental dynamics — through a highly personalized, humorous kind of play. Users invest themselves passionately in characters they create (with Wright’s mind-boggling CG tools), and then watch them encounter fundamentals of life and nature. If it all sounds suspiciously educational, well, it just might be. Wright has created not just an irresistible form of entertainment, but an ingenious, original pedagogy.
In 2009, he left publisher Electronic Arts to form his own think tank for the future of games, toys and entertainment, the Stupid Fun Club.”
TED.com
The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at NYU:
The Skirball Center is the premier venue for the presentation of cultural and performing arts events for NYU and lower Manhattan. The programs of the Skirball Center reflect NYU’s mission as an international center of scholarship, defined by excellence and innovation and shaped by an intellectually rich and diverse environment. Since 2003, the 860-seat Center has provided a unique venue for enhancing a sense of community while continuing the Greenwich Village traditions of creativity and artistic discovery with a broad range of compelling performance events at affordable ticket prices. Led by Executive Producer Jay Oliva (President Emeritus, NYU) and Director Michael Harrington, a natural and vital aspect of the Center’s mission is to build young adult audiences for the future of live performance. www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu
Game Design Expo
Published December 18th, 2009
Category News, Press, Found
By Lizzie
Tags
Thanks to all who attended the Game Design Expo last night, particularly those game developers who participated in the challenge! The event was a success by all accounts! The judges were impressed with the developers’ ability to build a learning game for the Xbox 360 or Microsoft Zune platform using a specific design pattern. The grand prize went to Super Transformation, by Alec Jacobson, Murphy Stein and Yongming Hong, a platform style 2D game, in which the user drives a character through levels by laying down geometric transformation portals. The 2nd place winner was Prime Beef by Eric Rosenzweig. The object of this game is to defeat all alien cows on the screen by selecting a factor that divides the number or polynomial on the cow and shooting it. The 3rd place winner was EcoSim, by Melissa DiFranco, Kai Johnson, Younyil Kim, an ecosystem simulation game in which the player creates and maintains an ecosystem with dynamic interacting elements through a series of game missions. The 4th place winner was The Recipe Ruler by Rachit Parikh, Edgardo Molina, Keith Grigoletto. Recipe Ruler is an interactive game that teaches mathematical concepts, with an emphasis on proportions and conversions. By adjusting the original recipe, players build math skills and successfully meet demands for varying quantities of different goods such as cookies.
Congratulations to the winners! Thank you all for celebrating these initiatives in learning game development with us.
Video footage of the event will be available via vimeo in the near future. Stay tuned!
Game a Day
Published December 4th, 2009
Category News
By Charles Hendee
Tags game'a'day,
As the semester draws to a close, and as folks start to submit games for the game design challenge, we are suspending our featured game of the day until Monday, December 7 for the semester. I will instead be posting selected entries for the game design challenge, so every one has a chance to see them.
Toddle-pip.
Game of the day for Wednesday 2 December– Magnets
Published December 2nd, 2009
Category
By Charles Hendee
Tags game'a'day, gamesClass2009, mini-games, xna,
The featured game of the day for today is magnets by Rachit Parikh.
It is collaboratice game that requires two player to try to move an object in concert, using (can you guess?) magnets. It is hard to do alone, so get a friend to help out.
Game of the Day for Tuesday 1 December- Factory
Published December 1st, 2009
Category News
By Charles Hendee
Tags game'a'day, Games, gamesClass2009, mini-games, xna,
The featured game of the day for Tuesday 1 December 2009 is Factory by Kai S. Johnson.
It’s another two player game. I played it by myself for a good hour…repeating the same tasks over and over and over again without tiring. Man, I should have worked in a factory like my parents. It is clearly what I am cut out for. Is it so for you as well?
Game of the Day for Monday 30 November—Prime Beef v1.1
Published November 30th, 2009
Category
By Charles Hendee
Tags game'a'day, xna,
The featured game of the day for Monday 30 November 2009 is Prime Beef v1.1.
The game play has been modified from the original to add some more interesting interactions and movements.
Game of the Day for Wednesday 25 Nov. 2009— PingPong
Published November 25th, 2009
Category
By Charles Hendee
Tags game'a'day, Games, gamesClass2009, mini-games, xna,
The featured game of the day for Wednesday 25 Nov. 2009 is PingPong by Karan Anand.
It is not really educational at all, but it is rather fun. I rather likes it anyway. It does not require two players, but two makes it much more fun!!
PRESS RELEASE 11/25 – Games for Learning Institute’s Game Developers Expo Draws Field’s Top Minds-Dec. 17 at NYU
Published November 25th, 2009
Category Press
By Juan Barrientos
Tags Development, Game Expo, Media, Press, Press Release,
The Games for Learning Institute (G4LI), a joint research endeavor of Microsoft Research, New York University, and other universities, will host “The Game Developers Expo” on Thursday, December 17, 5-7 p.m. at NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (53 Washington Square South/between Thompson and Sullivan Streets). Subways: A, B, C, D, E, F, V (West 4th Street). The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 212.998.3342 or visit the website.
The Expo will include presentations by leading researchers, designers, developers, educators, and representatives from Pragmatic Solutions, Inc. In addition, G4LI will announce the winners of its Game Design Challenge, in which contestants build mini-games for learning on Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio 3.1 platform. The contest’s four winners will receive a total of $2,000 in cash prizes and detailed critiques of their designs from G4LI researchers.
Reporters wishing to attend must RSVP to James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, at 212.998.6808 or james.devitt@nyu.edu.






