Computer Games - Blog Posts
Love and peace on planet earth is playing space pinball on your dell dimension 4500 pc in 2009.
Schools: environmental education and computer games in learning
Why is school important for teaching kids about climate change and how can our game help with that?
Everything children learn at school allows them to, one day, choose the future they want to live in. Schools also teach children how to put themselves to the test. The child strives to achieve a goal and is rewarded based on what has been done. In this way they understand that no goal is achieved without their commitment. Additionally, it is at school that the child lays the foundations to define the adult he/she will one day become.
The importance of environmental education
Children and young people have a growing awareness of the threat that climate change represents for our world and for their future, as demonstrated in recent months by the youth movement for the climate born thanks to Greta Thunberg. These children, if properly educated and prepared, can play a really important role in the fight against the environmental crisis as they would be able to influence the decisions of their parents. According to the study Children can foster climate change concern among their parents, published by a group of sociologists and ecologists from North Carolina state university in the journal Nature Climate Change.
This new study reveals that educating children about the dangers of climate change raises their parents' concerns about the environmental emergency. According to the researchers, environmental education in schools, especially about the climate, is essential to raise awareness among young people and, consequently, their parents. "There is a large body of work showing that children can influence parental behavior and positions on environmental and social issues - said one of the authors of the study, Danielle Lawson - but this is the first experimental study showing that climate education for children increases parents' concern about climate change ”. The fact that children are able to influence adults can be explained by the banal adage that children are the voice of truth. The perception of climate change in the very young would be particularly credible since, unlike adults, they are less susceptible to the influence of the common worldview or political context. Thanks to the candor of their vision, children would be able to inspire adults and increase their concern about the ongoing climate crisis, triggering an intergenerational learning process.
To carry out the experimental study, the researchers worked with 238 students, aged between 10 and 14, and 292 parents. All of these people were initially tested to measure their levels of concern about climate change. After that some of these kids (166) took a course on climate change, while the rest did not. The study found an increase in environmental concerns in both groups, but "much more pronounced in the families of the children who took the course," said Danielle Lawson.
The advantages of computer games in learning
Climate change is one of the huge global problems young children will have to tackle in their near future . They will have to be creative thinkers in a globalized world having to work together with other people from different countries, cultures and realities. Computer games can help them with this (As Shaffer writes in his book about How Computer Games Help Children Learn). They can help young children learn to think like scientists, engineers, urban planners, journalists, lawyers, and other innovative professionals, giving them the tools they need to survive in a changing world. Studies show that playing video games encourages critical thinking, improves motor skills and enhances key social skills like leadership and team building. They're also effective tools for teaching educational skills like algebra, biology and coding, as gaming helps to deepen learning and understanding. In the science classroom for example where our game would fit in perfectly, computer games can present unique opportunities for teachers and students, as they involve activities of observation, interpretation, simulation, inference, prediction, hypothesis, classification, and communication (Lowe, 1988). Computer games can make the scientific inquiry process more engaging for kids by providing a rich and interactive environment that challenges them to solve a complex problem in a meaningful context and enables them to gather information and evidence from multiple sources using authentic tools (An, 2015). Computer games give students the special opportunity to learn by doing and help them develop transferable knowledge and skills by allowing them to practice newly learned skills in a variety of situations.
Games I Played in 2010...
After a brief look through this page, I decided to do my own mini review of the games I played that were released this year... 'cause I can...
Dark Void (Xbox 360)
I must admit that I was somewhat skeptical of this game when I first bought it (I got it second hand on a whim) but after a bit of play, I really enjoyed it. Something about this game screams low production values - some of the controls are somewhat clunky and the graphics aren't exactly up to scratch, however the flying mechanics are this game's saving grace, making the whole affair seem intuitive and fluid without being overly complicated.
Mass Effect II (Xbox 360)
I got ME2 with my '360 and it seems to be one of the games I keep coming back to. I'm a huge sci-fi nerd and this game just has everything I want. The graphics look smooth and realistic and the game play manages to be fast paced whilst staying laid back and enjoyable with a very engaging story.
Star Trek Online (PC)
As I said before, I'm a sci-fi nerd, primarily star trek but I've never before been able to really enjoy a star trek themed video game, their lack of production values has tended to destroy any immersion that I might have felt. While the ground segments of this game felt unwieldy and awkward, the space segments more than made up for this short-coming and kept me immersed and lost in the endless nerdgasm that this game rightfully induces.
Sims III (PC)
While not actually released in 2010, the awkwardly titled 'high end loft stuff' expansion was released in february. While the Sims III certainly brought a lot of extra features from the Sims II, it did regress in quite a few key areas. For a start the whole game feels heavy and sluggish when compared to the ballerina that was the Sims II - the loading screens grate on the nerves and it just doesn't feel as fluid as its predecessor. Admittedly a lot of the missed features will probably be crowbarred in via expansion pack, however until that happens and the game loses a few pounds in the process, I'll stick with the sims 2.
Formula 1 2010 (Xbox 360)
Being an avid formula 1 fan and a recent 360 convert, I couldn't resist buying this game, for once I actually paid full price on the day of release - so eager was I to get my hands on this game. And for once I found very little to be disappointed about. The graphics looked fantastic, nearing a level of photo realism that certainly impressed. The weather effects too are amazing with dynamic weather meaning that no two races will be the same. I wasn't impressed with the rule enforcement mid race, meaning that certain accidents that are infact the fault of the AI cars are treated as though they were deliberately instigated by the player. All in all though I have enjoyed this game, though there is perhaps a touch too much of a role-play aspect, this is a small price to pay for a fantastic F1 sim.
Smackdown vs Raw 2011 (Xbox 360)
Sadly I used to be a fan of this series but unfortunately it stopped being quite so fan after 2003 when it stopped being about gameplay and fun and turned into yet another way for the WWE to make money following the madden principle of keeping the core game exactly the same as it was the previous year, introducing a few peripheral components like some slightly different match types and then updating the roster to match the current year's crop. It was the stagnation of innovation in this series that made me stop buying them in 2008... unfortunately such is the draw of this series that it caught up with me this year when I bought '10 and then '11 - the only real reason I play these games now is in order to make my own characters and then match them up against each other... yeah... not really that good a reason to buy a game series, is it? I'll try and give smackdown vs raw 2012 a miss.
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (Xbox 360)
I must admit I have barely played this game as I was bought it for Christmas and haven't had much time to devote to it however I have watched my Girlfriend's sister play it quite a bit and the animation and attention to detail is fantastic, even aside from playing through the main story, the free-roaming sandbox aspect of renaissance Rome and the ability to dive from a roof top solely to end a guard's pixellated existence in a stylish and amusing fashion just never gets old.
Minecraft Beta (PC)
this song says it all, there are few words to describe the sandboxy awesomeness of this game, I doubt it will ever get old.
Scarily enough, that is all thus far, I still have a ton of games that I've bought and not played... I guess that'll have to be next year now :P
Are humans the new supercomputer?
The saying of philosopher René Descartes of what makes humans unique is beginning to sound hollow. ‘I think – therefore soon I am obsolete’ seems more appropriate. When a computer routinely beats us at chess and we can barely navigate without the help of a GPS, have we outlived our place in the world? Not quite. Welcome to the front line of research in cognitive skills, quantum computers and gaming.
Today there is an on-going battle between man and machine. While genuine machine consciousness is still years into the future, we are beginning to see computers make choices that previously demanded a human’s input. Recently, the world held its breath as Google’s algorithm AlphaGo beat a professional player in the game Go—an achievement demonstrating the explosive speed of development in machine capabilities.
But we are not beaten yet - human skills are still superior in some areas. This is one of the conclusions of a recent study by Danish physicist Jacob Sherson, published in the prestigious science journal Nature.
”It may sound dramatic, but we are currently in a race with technology—and steadily being overtaken in many areas. Features that used to be uniquely human are fully captured by contemporary algorithms. Our results are here to demonstrate that there is still a difference between the abilities of a man and a machine,” explains Jacob Sherson.
At the interface between quantum physics and computer games, Sherson and his research group at Aarhus University have identified one of the abilities that still makes us unique compared to a computer’s enormous processing power: our skill in approaching problems heuristically and solving them intuitively. The discovery was made at the AU Ideas Centre CODER, where an interdisciplinary team of researchers work to transfer some human traits to the way computer algorithms work.
Quantum physics holds the promise of immense technological advances in areas ranging from computing to high-precision measurements. However, the problems that need to be solved to get there are so complex that even the most powerful supercomputers struggle with them. This is where the core idea behind CODER—combining the processing power of computers with human ingenuity—becomes clear.
Our common intuition Like Columbus in QuantumLand, the CODER research group mapped out how the human brain is able to make decisions based on intuition and accumulated experience. This is done using the online game “Quantum Moves”. Over 10,000 people have played the game that allows everyone contribute to basic research in quantum physics.
"The map we created gives us insight into the strategies formed by the human brain. We behave intuitively when we need to solve an unknown problem, whereas for a computer this is incomprehensible. A computer churns through enormous amounts of information, but we can choose not to do this by basing our decision on experience or intuition. It is these intuitive insights that we discovered by analysing the Quantum Moves player solutions,” explains Jacob Sherson.
The laws of quantum physics dictate an upper speed limit for data manipulation, which in turn sets the ultimate limit to the processing power of quantum computers—the Quantum Speed Limit. Until now a computer algorithm has been used to identify this limit. It turns out that with human input researchers can find much better solutions than the algorithm.
"The players solve a very complex problem by creating simple strategies. Where a computer goes through all available options, players automatically search for a solution that intuitively feels right. Through our analysis we found that there are common features in the players’ solutions, providing a glimpse into the shared intuition of humanity. If we can teach computers to recognise these good solutions, calculations will be much faster. In a sense we are downloading our common intuition to the computer” says Jacob Sherson.
And it works. The group has shown that we can break the Quantum Speed Limit by combining the cerebral cortex and computer chips. This is the new powerful tool in the development of quantum computers and other quantum technologies.
We are the new supercomputer
Science is often perceived as something distant and exclusive, conducted behind closed doors. To enter you have to go through years of education, and preferably have a doctorate or two. Now a completely different reality is materialising.
In recent years, a new phenomenon has appeared—citizen science breaks down the walls of the laboratory and invites in everyone who wants to contribute. The team at Aarhus University uses games to engage people in voluntary science research. Every week people around the world spend 3 billion hours playing games. Games are entering almost all areas of our daily life and have the potential to become an invaluable resource for science.
“Who needs a supercomputer if we can access even a small fraction of this computing power? By turning science into games, anyone can do research in quantum physics. We have shown that games break down the barriers between quantum physicists and people of all backgrounds, providing phenomenal insights into state-of-the-art research. Our project combines the best of both worlds and helps challenge established paradigms in computational research,” explains Jacob Sherson.
The difference between the machine and us, figuratively speaking, is that we intuitively reach for the needle in a haystack without knowing exactly where it is. We ‘guess’ based on experience and thereby skip a whole series of bad options. For Quantum Moves, intuitive human actions have been shown to be compatible with the best computer solutions. In the future it will be exciting to explore many other problems with the aid of human intuition.
"We are at the borderline of what we as humans can understand when faced with the problems of quantum physics. With the problem underlying Quantum Moves we give the computer every chance to beat us. Yet, over and over again we see that players are more efficient than machines at solving the problem. While Hollywood blockbusters on artificial intelligence are starting to seem increasingly realistic, our results demonstrate that the comparison between man and machine still sometimes favours us. We are very far from computers with human-type cognition,” says Jacob Sherson and continues:
“Our work is first and foremost a big step towards the understanding of quantum physical challenges. We do not know if this can be transferred to other challenging problems, but it is definitely something that we will work hard to resolve in the coming years.”
BUILD MORE PYLONS - STARCRAFT - BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT