Caspian Newsletter -December 2008
Introduction
We would like to wish everyone a very happy festive season! To celebrate, below is a link to our first 3D web game ‘Christmas Carnage’ (the first of its kind online) and demos of a selection of new serious games. Enjoy!
2008 has been an eventful year for the serious games and immersive learning simulations industry with more sectors, like defence and business, investing in and experimenting with games for training and learning. Boundaries for adopting immersive learning simulations have started to be broken down by technology that now allows games to be deployed over Internet.
Also in this edition:
• Whitepaper: Games in the military by Donald Clark
• Reports and analysis
• News and Blogs.
Whitepaper
Serious Games in Defence Education
Caspian Learning has developed an extensive report for the Defence College of Management and Technology on the potential use of Immersive Learning Simulations (ILS) and the role of serious games for training and education.
Blogger and industry analyst Donald Clark has summarised the report and believes that it will lead to more informed decision-making when it comes to learning through immersive learning simulations.
To view the whitepaper in full go here.
Reports and Industry Analysis
Get Your Kids Learning This Christmas
Top Five Ways to Play Games This Festive Season!
The nature of gaming is changing from gun fest games aimed at young men to more family orientated games involving brain training, fitness and even making a family rock band. Today, people are able to play games in different ways and through more mediums.
Traditional console games now host a number of applications to enhance the gaming experience and that are especially engaging for children:
• Online games mean you can play other gamers all around the globe
• Casual gaming on social networks like Facebook now allow social game play and games can be shared and spread rapidly
• Gaming on mobile phones like the iPhone and Google’s Android include touch and tilt technology for enhanced game play
• Brain training games can help minds stay active and combat learning issues.
Read the review in full here.
Online Educa 2008 and Predictions for 2009 Learning
At this year’s Online Educa, Caspian polled a number of industry leaders about their predictions for the serious games industry and immersive learning for 2009. The video responses revealed that in this economic climate, there would be more opportunities in defence and the public sector and there was a growing need for rapid development tools.
View the video predictions here.
IT Security is no Game
IT security is a concern for business owners, entrepreneurs and small businesses that often need to grapple with protecting their data and unfamiliar terms and technologies.
PIEXLearning has developed two immersive simulations that help small companies in Europe to understand IT security by giving tasks that assist in identifying risks they may face. The games, called ‘Accelerate Security’, were developed for HP’s Micro-Enterprise Accelerator Institute.
You can play the game here.
Crime Doesn’t Pay - Caspian Awarded Contract for the Defence College of Policing and Guarding
Caspian Learning recently won a contract to develop a 3D simulation to assist in training for the Defence College of Policing and Guarding. The simulation will help police trainees learn about entry, search and seizure procedures.
Learn more about the project here.
Caspian Launches 3D Santa Game for Facebook Using Adobe’s Shockwave Player
In September’s newsletter we announced Caspian Learning’s relationship with Adobe to make games more accessible to the masses via the web. Since then, Caspian has launched ‘Christmas Carnage’ on Facebook. This is the first 3D casual game to be deployed over a social network and is played through Adobe Shockwave.
In the game, Santa’s sleigh crashes in a snow covered town and presents are snatched by mischievous elves. The player takes the role of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, armed with a hammer, and is tasked to retrieve the presents and ‘whack’ elves into order.
Try your luck at the game on Facebook here.
See a demo of the game here.
Caspian Wins E-learning Age Award for Rome in Danger Game
Caspian Learning was awarded the E-Learning Age award the ‘Best Learning Game, Simulation or Virtual Environment 2008’ for its ‘Rome in Danger’ game. The game was designed to educate children about history by immersing them in a 3D Roman world.
View more detail about the game here.
Learn more about the 2008 E-learning Age awards here.
News and Blogs
Gen Y and Web 2.0 Technologies - Is It The Future?
Industry blogger Clive Shepherd summarises the latest survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development that investigates how employers are responding to generation Y employees and Web 2.0 technologies.
Key findings reveal that 46% of respondents felt that the attributes of gen Y employees were significantly different from previous generations yet most organisations said they’d read up on web 2.0 and wait to see how these technologies would evolve.
However, can organisations really afford to wait and see how web 2.0 technologies develop within business? In today’s economic environment, employees need to be engaged and catered for to ensure they’re as productive as possible.
Read full blog post here.
U.S. Army Invests $50m in Training Games
A recent military newspaper has reported that the US Army is investing $50 million to develop a games unit which will allow trainers to develop game simulations to train soldiers more effectively.
This move by the US Army reflects a growing recognition of immersive learning simulations in the sector. In the UK, while we’re beginning to see adoption in some areas of defence, there are some clear boundaries to wider adoption, as outlined in our recent report. The more projects like this that are carried out will help demonstrate the benefits and pave the way for wider adoption.
Read the article in full here.
3D Virtual Worlds to Reach 33 Million Users by 2013
A recent report by Park Associates predicted that the number of people using PC-based 3D virtual worlds would reach 33 million in the US alone by 2013. The report called ‘Virtual Worlds: The internet of Avatars’ investigates reasons for growth including increased uptake by companies for training as well as changing consumer trends in virtual worlds. It also offers some forecasts for continued market growth.
We would expect this trend to be mirrored in the UK too. It will be driven by the rise of casual and online gaming which is making it easier for consumer and corporate users to develop and play games.
Review the full blog post here.
Measuring Engagement in Gaming
San Francisco company, EmSense, has been experimenting with brain monitoring technology to measure engagement as well as emotional and cognitive responses towards modern gaming content. This is a useful way to measure responses to new and innovative game play, and identify trends across next-generation game titles.
Access the full research report here.
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