Serious Games Source reports on a recent “exergames” project conducted at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
Students were grouped into teams of five and tasked with designing games to encourage physical movement and exercise. Teams then had to come up with their own, original game concept and accompanying website for peer review. In all 16 game concepts were produced and included titles such as JumpShock! to a multiplayer toast-throwing simulator Toast.

More on the game concepts, and associated discussion, is available on the project website at Lecture 2130.

Links
Serious Games Source Article
http://www.seriousgamessource.com/item.php?story=24111
Lecture 2130 @ RMIT http://gameslecture.blogspot.com/

Last weekend in Sydney, X|Media|Lab hosted a Serious Games conference and workshop. The event was attended by international speakers including Noah Falstein and Ian Bogost. Due to other commitments, I was in Melbourne and unable to attend. However, journalist Jason Hill covered the event in his ScreenPlay Blog (which even includes an interview with yours truly).

As an aside, while in Melbourne, I did manage to catch the Dali Exhibition, entitled Liquid Desire, at the National Gallery of Victoria. The volume of work exhibited was astonishing, and included paintings, sculptures, animation, sketches, film, jewelery and holograms. What struck me the most was the vivid, luminescent properties of his paintings. It was as if the painting themselves were a light source; it was absolutely amazing. The other thing that struck me was the intense detail of this work which was immensely intricate. A definite must see.

Links
Serious Games article@ Screenplay:
http://blogs.theage.com.au/digital-life/screenplay/2009/06/15/seriousgames.html
X|Media|Lab: http://www.xmedialab.com
Dali: Liquid Desire: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/dali/

Now that I’ve recovered from a delightful sojourn to the Gold Coast, I thought I’d share with you some interesting articles on games and simulations for learning. Fast Thinking magazine included some interesting views by luminaries in the area of simulations, including Elyssebeth Leigh. It’s definitely worth a read.

Links
http://www.fastthinking.com.au/webdata/resources/article/FT014_Make_it_real.pdf

Screen Australia in concert with ABC TV are supporting a Serious Games Initiative and are looking for interested people to hook up to propose and develop a serious game. As someone with extensive interest and knowledge in the area, alongside practical experience in the game and entertainment industries, I’m looking for similarly interested and experienced individuals to partner up with. Feel free to contact me via the Contact page of my blog.

So come and join me… and lets develop a serious game together

You can find more about the initiative at http://www.abc.net.au/tv/seriousgames/default.html.

Jason Hill, journalist for Screen Play, published an article yesterday on the benefits of games as a valuable learning tools. The article was the result of a discussion paper written by authorities on children’s media, Patricia and Don Edgar, and was the precursor to a book on the subject.

In the article they outline how evidence is mounting about games being recognized as effective and valuable learning tools. The research is focused on digital/electronic games rather than other forms of games (e.g. physical social games, board games) or free play. The authors outline a list of skills and benefits from games including comprehension, decision making, multitasking, collaboration, leadership and communication, and explain how games can be valuable in both formal learning contexts such as school and informal learning contexts such as the home.

Links
Jason Hill’s Article http://www.smh.com.au/news/digital-life/games/articles/games-are-valuable-learning-tools/2009/04/08/1238869978049.html
Discussion Report http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/earlyyears/Edgar_Paper_20081223.pdf