Kotaku: Serious Gaming

Tunisia, Egypt and Libya Look to Computer Games To Help Stabilize The Region

Brian Crecente — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:20:00 EST

Think of it as a very specialized version of SimCity; one that replaces UFOs, monster attacks and city-flattening meteors with political unrest and economic upheaval; and replaces charming tiny animated people with real-time charts and in-person advisers. More »

A Secret To Fighting Parkinson's Disease? Play A Video Game

Brian Crecente — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Video games might be the key to fighting off some of the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, according to research results released this week. More »

Increasingly Cool Russian President Suggests Warcraft Ripoff To Teach Russian History

Brian Crecente — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:20:00 EDT

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First Russian President Dimitri Medvedev joined Twitter. Next he visited Twitter and Apple HQs. Now he's suggesting that someone make a World of Warcraft knock-off to teach about his country's history. More »

Learn Physics The Angry Birds Way

Brian Crecente — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:20:00 EDT

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I'm a bit of a physics hobbyist. That doesn't mean that I understand or can even converse in the language of motion, but I love reading about it. More »

"Grace's Diary" Educates About, Explores Teen Dating Violence

Brian Crecente — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:00:00 EDT

Grace's Diary has players work their way through an interactive story, working to discover what happened to Grace and, perhaps, learning the danger signs of Teen Dating Violence. More »

Playing Political Games

Ian Bogost — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EDT

In a large theater at the 2010 Game Developers Conference, ten thousand game makers gathered for the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice awards ceremonies, where the best indie and mainstream games of the year are celebrated by and for their creators. In between the two, an unusual video was shown. Aneesh Chopra, the United States's first Chief Technology Officer, made an unusual address to the game development community. More »

Libraries Got Game

Brian Crecente — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EDT

There are, perhaps, few more disconsonant scenes than of the austere silence of the library and the boisterous play of video games, but a growing movement is starting to put the two under one roof. More »

Will Wright Talks Educational Gaming, Funny Money

Brian Crecente — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EDT

The Chronicle of Higher Education sat down recently with Will Wright to talk to him about the value of educational games. Not only did they get some great money quotes, they got some great money business cards! More »

Librarians Explain: Why Video Games At the Library

Brian Crecente — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST

Why exactly should libraries carry video games? Or music or movies for that matter? Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of free gaming, but I can't help but question the increasing multimedia nature of libraries. More »

Wii Fit Helps Paralyzed Girl Walk Again

Brian Crecente — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST

A 10-year-old girl left paralyzed by a virus four years ago is learning to walk again thanks to her doctors and a copy of Wii Fit, Ireland's Herald.ie writes. More »

Urine The Video Game: Clicking And Dragging To A Healthy Tinkle

Brian Crecente — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:20:00 EST

From the makers of Gas Attack, a pinball machine that teaches about flatulence, comes Urine the video game. More »

Play Pinball, Learn About Farts

Brian Crecente — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST

I've seen plenty of edumacational games and I'm always delighted to explore how they surreptitiously teach people as they play a game. But this is the first time I've played a edu-pinbal game. More »

Math Blaster Brings Edutainment to this Generation... Finally

Brian Crecente — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Classic edutainment franchise Math Blaster is making its way to the DS this fall thanks to a publishing deal with Majesco Entertainment. More »

Dozen Research Teams Get Games For Health Grants

Brian Crecente — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:00:00 EDT

More than $2 million in grants is being handed out to teams researching how video games can improve players' health. More »

Game Design Contest for Teen Dating Violence Prevention

Brian Crecente — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:19:06 EST

My brother just launched a Flash game design contest that I'll be one of the judges for. The object of the Life Love Game Design Challenge is for people to create a Flash game about teen dating violence prevention and to do so without violent content or a violent theme. More »

Barbarians At the Game

Brian Crecente — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:00:56 EDT

Nick Yee had an unenviable task last week. More »

Smiley Face Game Makes Smiley Face Gamers

Brian Crecente — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:00:54 EDT

Reuters has an interesting story up about MindHabits Trainer, a game developed by researchers at McGill University in Montreal which is meant to cut down on your stress, increase your confidence and make you a happier person. More »

Msoft Announces Global Warming Game Contest

Brian Crecente — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:00:14 EDT

It is heartening to see that the concept of corporate responsibility can, at time, ooze over into the gaming industry. More »

Developers Protest Slamdance Game Festival

Brian Crecente — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:32:52 EST

It appears the news we broke last week of Slamdance removing the Columbine game from their lists of finalists and why has created quite the shitstorm, for lack of a better word. More »

Liberal Groups Call for Left Behind Boycott

Brian Crecente — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 17:09:50 EST

The BBC has an interesting story up on the furor surrounding the release of Christian video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces. An alliance of liberal groups is trying to get Wal-Mart, among other retailers, to stop selling the game. More »

NYT on Agenda Gaming

Brian Crecente — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 12:35:51 EDT

I admit it, I have a bit of a man-crush on Clive Thompson. But who wouldn't? He gets to write about video games for the likes of Wired Magazine and the Grey Lady and also churns out thoughtful introspective gaming pieces on his personal blog. He's like the Lester Bangs of video gaming. More »

CDC Denies Anti-Gaming CDC Ads

Brian Crecente — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 14:32:39 EDT

Back in February, Watercooler Games reported on the Centers for Disease Control's anti-ad campaign titled "Give Your Thumbs a Rest, Play for Real." More »

Left Behind: The First Mainstream PC Agenda Game?

Brian Crecente — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:29:07 EDT

I just finished up a story for the Rocky about upcoming computer game Left Behind: Eternal Forces and how it fits into the whole Agenda Gaming movement. More »

Columbine Creator Unmasked

Brian Crecente — Wed, 24 May 2006 11:30:09 EDT

A week after writing about Super Columbine Massacre RPG in the Rocky Mountain News, the game's creator was unmasked by a friend of one of the Columbine survivors. More »

Columbine Survivor Talks About Columbine RPG

Brian Crecente — Sat, 06 May 2006 14:00:13 EDT

By: Brian Crecente More »

Four Chess Records Broken Simultaneously by Genius Hottie

Brian Crecente — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 14:21:29 EDT

Super genius, chess grandmaster and all-around hottie Susan Polgar broke a number of records (and hearts) this week when she played more than 1,100 chess games in more than 17 hours in Florida. More »