Serious games
by Volker Weber
I was attending the GameDays 2006 conference. It tries to build a bridge between science and gaming. There were lots of interesting sessions today, and since I am not an expert in this area, I had a tons of questions.
Marko Hein (Nintendo Germany) was one of the speakers I enjoyed most. His session was entertaining as ever. And after thinking about this for a while, I believe that Nintendo is about to change many things we take for granted with computer games. If you look at their upcoming Wii offering you will see that they are moving to a design that resembles Apple's consumer gear. They are building a revolutionary controller that is going to provide new interesting ways to interact with computer games (Watch the trailer).
At last year's conference Marko previewed a game, that was going to be a huge success: Nintendogs. Today he talked about a game, that I find even more exciting. It is already available in the US as Brain Age, but it will only be released in Germany a week from now as Gehirn Jogging. This game is addressing a completely new audience. You have to see it to believe how good it is. Or you can just trust me and get one. And while we are talking about the Nintendo DS, the new DS Lite is so much nicer than the old one.
I asked Marko to send me one, and if he does follow up, I will let you know of my first hand experience.
Comments
Whats also really cool is, is "SPORE" - upcoming game from the fabulous game designer Will Wright - this game wll probably revolutionize the gaming in the future. It is also a lot of scientific background involed.
if you have the time, see Will Wirights video of his session on E3 but be warned, it last over an hour, and i was so thrilled, i could not switch it off and had to see it till the end, regardles of what else i had to do :-)
Interesting. Since my kids have PSP's and an XBox, I 'liberated' the DS that had been gathering dust. I really like it - it boots fast, the games are good, and the use of the dual screen is amazing. They are supposed to enhance the wireless capabilities this year, so that is also a big plus. I have been hearing that I have to get Brain Age, and your post has given me the motivation to do just that (okay, it IS expensive to read your blog). :-)
We've had a copy of Brain Age for a couple of weeks (see link). It's terrific fun for us all. My older son, (age 9) got got his DS in January. DS games like Nintendogs and Animal Crossing go beyond the usual gamers stuff. His classmates have DSs as well and the sort of interactions that these games provide via wireless is very clever. For example, with Nintendogs, you can put the DS in "bark mode" so that if someone else with a DS running Nintendogs comes near, it wakes up and your dogs can play. May sound silly but the pre-teens (boys and girls) love it.
Geez, this Wii trailer is FUN!!! And I always thought I am going to get myself a Playstation3 to replace my PS One... If they re-release "Enter the Matrix" for the Wii, consider it bought. =)
(yes, this blog is expensive)
No, Marco, send it to ME! :-)
That's right, Hanno, why does always Volker get the nice toys? After all we're the guys who have to read what he writes. =)
@Philipp - It was all covered here. LOL!
Hanno & Philipp, I am only doing this so you don't have to. ;-)
We really appreciate your sacrifice. =)
