Last night’s class was pretty amazing. As mentioned previously, it was another field trip, this time to hear James Paul Gee, author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. In addition to my students, Eric Zimmerman was there (of course), and Raina Lee as well, who I guess skipped out of class to attend. Plus MK decided to check it out, which was super awesome.
Despite my best efforts, none of my friends seem at all interested in checking out the more academic side of video games, which is a real shame since its so genuinely cool and extremely enlightening. I suppose they think that you have to be some hardcore gamer to get into such stuff, and that’s totally untrue. If anything, I think it’s far more interesting and beneficial for those who have a moderate interest in games, and can really help those who are into storytelling mediums, such as comics and movies, which is basically 99% of all my friends (hence why I go after cartoonists, animators, and filmmakers more aggressively than folks already interested in gaming for my class). I have no doubt that it would help them in whatever they do, despite the dissimilarities. Oh well, their loss.
So MK’s presence, and how she approached the subject matter with an open mind, actually meant a lot to me. And thankfully, she wasn’t bored out of her mind, but, like everyone else, was pretty captivated by what James had to say (at least I think she was).
Gee covered a lot of ground, with most of it centering on how video games can be used as a learning device because they do such a superb job of teaching ideas and notions, and employs a far more efficient methodology than traditional learning institutions. He explained people’s strong reaction to games, which is due to their ability to enable experiences and emotions not possible in real life or in other forms of entertainment. And he wasn’t just talking about the ability to fly or blow things up, but by giving folks what they crave: patterns and identity. He also touched upon the structure of video games, specifically the narrative form, both the one laid out by the game’s designer and the one that the player creates by their actions. One game that he used as an example throughout his talk was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, a clear favorite of his that he described with total certainty as one of the greatest video games of all time, and I really appreciated his description of playing that title as “producing and living inside a symphony”. The relationship between the player and the character was also explored, and how it not only allows the player to escape but to integrate, how rules are followed and sets of values are adopted, and why (or why not in some instances).
James argued that games succeed when they are pleasurable, and that all games teach, its the core motivation of playing. So therefore learning can be made pleasurable. Unfortunately, the ways schools “teach” subjects renders the whole learning process totally ineffective. Why do kids so easily comprehend complex notions and problems in the context of a game, and welcome challenges, but the same never occurs in a classroom environment. Because school is boring. Well maybe that’s a problem? That being boring isn’t an inherent trait that should be tolerated, but should rightfully be challenged. And as James put it best: “Good games are fair and builds trust… and schools often feel unfair.”
It was a completely engrossing and fascinating two hours, and I cannot recommend the book enough to anyone, regardless of one’s interest in video games.
I got the chance to speak with Jim after the lecture, and he was just as warm and enjoyable as he was “on”. I also need to add that the man knows his shit. He’s a bona-fide gamer, no doubt about that.
Plus I got the chance to speak with Katie Salen, the person behind the event. She’s also the new moderator of the IGDA/SIGGRAPH panel that I’ll be speaking at in May, as well as the person behind the 24 Hour Game Design Jam, so I figured I may as well introduce myself to her. Unfortunately she mentioned a change that was made to the event which will prevent me from being directly involved. Long story short, it might be a student only affair, but she thinks I can be an advisor of sorts to the SVA team. Needless to say, this is pretty disappointing, and not just because I found out today that the cash prize up for grabs is $30,000. Oh well… it certainly eliminates some logistical problems if I were to cover it for Gamasutra…
________________________________________________________________________________
In other news in the gaming real quick…
- Coming soon in Japan, the DS is getting some long awaited new colors.
Almost everyone can agree that the white and pink ones look hot. Funny how they sorta look like…
- Also in Japan, it’s been revealed that Nintendogs (or Puppy Times here in the states… both names rock in my book) will have three different versions…
Each will feature its own set of puppies. And to collect them all, you’ll have to trade with other players, a la Pokemon. Well this is Nintendo afterall…
- Here’s a neat little commercial for Pac Pix (from Japan of course).
- And check out the video on this page for the Atari Retro Classics collection. Normally, I don’t like classics getting tampered with, but this looks pretty neat to me.
- One final DS tidbit: here’s a site that let’s you create new GBA cases so they match with the DS ones on a shelf. Neat. Here’s a pic from someone who has some from the GAF…
If you were crazy enough to be totally pissed at Sega for stopping the use of plastic cases for Genesis games and going to cardboard in late ’94, then this kind of stuff is right up your alley.
- So word has it that Wanda and the Colossus will get a name change in Europe, one which will probably apply in America as well. Now it’s going to be called… Nico, which was the original codename for the game (when it was still just a sequel to Ico… or “New Ico”). Hey, that’s understandable. Afterall, when American find out that the lead character is actually a guy and not a girl, the confusion is liable to cause a riot at EBs and Gamestops across the land (though that’s assuming folks will actually pay attention to the game when its released).
- Earlier this week, IGN ran a really awesome interview with Mizuguchi. regarding Lumines.
The good news is that the game features a host of tweaks and improvements, but most importantly, the original music has not been fucked with (and I was pretty close to buying the import version just in case). Once again, the topic of someone playing the game and crying was brought up.
- As for that “other” Mizuguchi puzzler, in the recent issue of Famitsu, Meteos scored a 38 out of 40. That’s pretty fucking impressive since Famitsu, unlike almost every other gaming publication out there today, doesn’t hand out perfect 10′s and 100s like crazy.
Oh the days when getting a 10 was a true event (like when Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar got one).
- Also, it was recently announced that Mizuguchi’s Q Entertainment, along with Game Republic (headed by fromer Capcom director Yoshiki Okamoto… he was the guy behind Street Fighter 2 and even Resident Evil to an extent) will be producing exclusive games for the next Xbox (I guess “Xbox 360″ is not official yet).
Last week it was announced that Mistwalker, the studio headed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, will be making two games for the system as well, which means that already there’s more Japanese games on the system than the first Xbox (or at least it feels that way). At least it nice to see Microsoft finally have their Japanese act together. Maybe.
Well that pretty much confirms me getting the system. Please dear God let the system be backwards compatible. I already have some games and don’t want to buy the system just for Dead Or Alive and a handful of Sega titles.
- Speaking of, the former producer for Panzer Dragoon, who just did Phantom Dust, now has a blog on 1UP. Only one entry thus far, but it’s already an interesting read.
- Finally, here’s a really neat little game that’s totally French. I absolutely love how the game just starts.
