Minecraft & the shared, creative safety of gaming, social media Reporters and reviewers write about Minecraft as if it’s just like any other videogame. Even this highly readable piece about its creator (Markus Persson, aka “Notch”) and its parent company (Mojang) by Harry McCracken in Time magazine doesn’t cover what makes it different from other games specifically for its kid (and parent) players. But he does bring out this extraordinary differentiating factor: “No less lofty an authority than the United Nations sees Minecraft as a tool to improve human life. Screenshot of kid-created builds on the Massively @ Jokaydia server in Australia (the young players and parents are all over the world, though). Distributed and shared safety As for what might interest Minecraft players’ families is not only how it’s different from other videogames but what it shares with all social media: distributed, collective, and/or shared safety (pick one adjective, but they all work). Creating safety together Safety can also be a creative effort in game worlds.
Free Online Game Creator By kylemawer This free downloadable game creator let’s you make your very own flash games. If you’ve ever fancied turning your hand to making a simple flash game or perhaps you’re looking for a summer course project to run with learners then Stencyl could be just the program for you. It’s free, online, simple to download and use and it’s available for either a PC or a Mac. The program comes with a few examples to try out and customize. They are pictured here on the left. After a quick look I settled on the RPG (role playing game) option. the vocabulary looked a bit richer and there’s potential to exploit a narrative within the game.It also looked quite easy to understand and explain just by looking at the opening shot (see below)Learners could be away from computers and draw, design and discuss the game. Your question may be ‘how do I take this and use it on a summer course?’ Video Game Design and Creation Summer Camp
Nintendo faces 'path to irrelevance', says Atari founder 6 September 2013Last updated at 19:18 ET By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News Atari founder Nolan Bushnell says Nintendo could be on a "path to irrelevance" Nintendo, whose latest console has sold poorly, could be on a "path to irrelevance", the founder of legendary games company Atari has said. In an interview with the BBC, Nolan Bushnell said the Japanese firm was left in a "very difficult position". Games analysts have drawn parallels between Atari's doomed Jaguar console in 1993 and the struggling Wii U. Mr Bushnell said Atari had been "abused by corporate charlatans" after a "glorious beginning". The 70-year-old had been speaking at Campus Party, an event held at London's O2 Arena in which thousands of developers, staying in tents, worked together on various collaborative technology projects. Founding father Mr Bushnell, who gave a keynote speech at the event, now runs an educational software company called Brainrush. 'Motion sickness' Atari was behind ground-breaking early video games
10 Best Augmented Reality Apps Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. Augmented reality has many applications, and many areas can benefit from the usage of AR technology. It was initially used for military, industrial, and medical applications, but was soon applied to commercial and entertainment areas as well. The mobile Augmented Reality (AR) world consists largely of two different types of experiences: Geolocation and Vision based augmented reality. Geolocation based augmented reality uses GPS, compass and other sensors in your mobile phone to provide a display of various geolocated point of interest. Junaio Junaio is one of the best mobile augmented reality browser. It is the first mobile Augmented Reality platform, which can avoid accuracy limitations of GPS and allows usage indoors by integrating LLA-markers. Android | iPhone | iPad Google Goggles
6 Platforms to Create Augmented Reality When most people first try augmented reality(AR) in education, they start with applications that have the AR content already built into the app. Apps like AR Flashcards, PBS Kids CyberChase Shape Quest, and Crayola Color Alive have this, and are a great way to get your feet wet. As educators, we know the power of creation. Hopefully one of the following 6 platforms will help you and your students dive in to creating your own augmented reality! The first creation platform is from our friends at DAQRI! * DAQRI 4D Studio is currently being updated and is* unavailable to new users. tuned for more exciting information later this year! Screenshots from 4D Studio Next is the augmented reality platform from Aurasma. *Metaio was acquired by Apple and is no longer available* Junaio Developer powered byMetaio Creatoris an online platform thatallows you to create AR content to view using the Junaio mobile application. I. II. Layar Creator is an easy to use free online platform.