"Gee argues that Ninja Gaiden, when taken as a piece of instruction is artfully constructed to produce learning, learning that is not just of any sort, but in this case, teaches the player to play like a ninja (as opposed to, say, like Rambo)."
-Kurt Squire
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
school, video games, narrative, and Wii!
my advisor here at school writes 500 words a day to stay in "shape," and I made the goal to do the same for a while, so I thought today at least I'd write about school and what I'm up to at UW.
First of all, one of the coolest things I've done here so far is play Nintendo Wii in one of my classes this semester. It is really fun, and if I ever buy a new console, this is what I'll get. With all the hubub of Playstation 3 just coming out, Nintendo Wii has been a suprise hit that I think is hard to find in stores still because people keep buying them up. Why it's cool: the players use wireless "wand" like controls with wriststraps that communicate the players' motion. So sports games are popular with it - I played bowling, tennis, and baseball and had a lot of fun.
My opponent and I were standing up and active while playing, so chalk one up for nintendo being smart in making a console that encourages physical activity. The games are "simplified" (in baseball you don't field the ball, you just pitch or hit), but still a lot of fun. The other cool thing is that despite the graphics being relatively simple, you can design your own players to look suprisingly similar to yourself or people you know. And in bowling, all of the created characters lounge and interact in the background during a game, and it's just kind of fun to see. Celebrities were also characters, like Spock, and the fish captain guy from Return of the Jedi. So I'm pumped about it, and will probably buy the Wii 2 by the time I can afford to get one.
Video games are the focus I'm taking on for my dissertation, though I'm still working on finding my exact focus. Here's my thinking: I'm coming from a film background and an instructional design background, and now am in an educational program researching video games heavily. I'm interested in all three areas (or four areas, I guess), and after brainstorming figured out that I'm really interested in the "story" and how stories can be used to teach.
Right now I'm looking into the question of how the design of narrative structures in video games might impact how people learn from them. It's really broad, and I'm talking with other grad students and professors to whittle it down to a good research question, but i'm still having trouble. Story, or narrative is the commonality between film, instruction, and video games that interests me, but I'm trying to find that "so what?" answer.
Some of my questions: Would tweaking the narrative structure (or narrative architechture, as Henry Jenkins would say), of a game affect the things people learn? Are there narrative design practices that could inform good instructional design? Or does good narrative design in a game pretty much just enhance engagement of the player? It seems to me that scaffolding (supporting the learner, and then gradually taking away that support as they become autonomous) is a technique used in both video games and instructional design. Good scaffolding (think helping a child learn how to ride a bike) is a delicate thing, I think; a learner needs to feel in control of something (increasingly) to be happy while learning. So maybe I could look into scaffolding techniques used in both practices and compare.
The education world and federal government are really interested in video games and simulations right now, so it's an exciting time to be looking at education and video games. In one of my classes we're using video game design software that is being built right now in our department. Any ideas for a video game I should make this semester? Maybe I'll stick to my roots and make my own Street Fighter game.
Also, my prof. Kurt Squire assigned us to play through 2 or 3 games this semester. Sweet! By a twist of fate my brother in law James let me borrow his Playstation 2, and tons of games. So right now I'm playing "Kingdom Hearts," a 2002 hybrid of action and rpg (role playing game). I've never been big into rpg's, like Zelda, but I'm liking the genre more as I play this. The premise is that four characters from the "Final Fantasy" world are involved in a story with Disney worlds and characters. I've just started, and am a final fantasy guy trying to get off of an island. I'm getting into it.
If you've read this far, thanks for spending the time!! And if you can find a way, play a Wii!!
First of all, one of the coolest things I've done here so far is play Nintendo Wii in one of my classes this semester. It is really fun, and if I ever buy a new console, this is what I'll get. With all the hubub of Playstation 3 just coming out, Nintendo Wii has been a suprise hit that I think is hard to find in stores still because people keep buying them up. Why it's cool: the players use wireless "wand" like controls with wriststraps that communicate the players' motion. So sports games are popular with it - I played bowling, tennis, and baseball and had a lot of fun.
My opponent and I were standing up and active while playing, so chalk one up for nintendo being smart in making a console that encourages physical activity. The games are "simplified" (in baseball you don't field the ball, you just pitch or hit), but still a lot of fun. The other cool thing is that despite the graphics being relatively simple, you can design your own players to look suprisingly similar to yourself or people you know. And in bowling, all of the created characters lounge and interact in the background during a game, and it's just kind of fun to see. Celebrities were also characters, like Spock, and the fish captain guy from Return of the Jedi. So I'm pumped about it, and will probably buy the Wii 2 by the time I can afford to get one.
Video games are the focus I'm taking on for my dissertation, though I'm still working on finding my exact focus. Here's my thinking: I'm coming from a film background and an instructional design background, and now am in an educational program researching video games heavily. I'm interested in all three areas (or four areas, I guess), and after brainstorming figured out that I'm really interested in the "story" and how stories can be used to teach.
Right now I'm looking into the question of how the design of narrative structures in video games might impact how people learn from them. It's really broad, and I'm talking with other grad students and professors to whittle it down to a good research question, but i'm still having trouble. Story, or narrative is the commonality between film, instruction, and video games that interests me, but I'm trying to find that "so what?" answer.
Some of my questions: Would tweaking the narrative structure (or narrative architechture, as Henry Jenkins would say), of a game affect the things people learn? Are there narrative design practices that could inform good instructional design? Or does good narrative design in a game pretty much just enhance engagement of the player? It seems to me that scaffolding (supporting the learner, and then gradually taking away that support as they become autonomous) is a technique used in both video games and instructional design. Good scaffolding (think helping a child learn how to ride a bike) is a delicate thing, I think; a learner needs to feel in control of something (increasingly) to be happy while learning. So maybe I could look into scaffolding techniques used in both practices and compare.
The education world and federal government are really interested in video games and simulations right now, so it's an exciting time to be looking at education and video games. In one of my classes we're using video game design software that is being built right now in our department. Any ideas for a video game I should make this semester? Maybe I'll stick to my roots and make my own Street Fighter game.
Also, my prof. Kurt Squire assigned us to play through 2 or 3 games this semester. Sweet! By a twist of fate my brother in law James let me borrow his Playstation 2, and tons of games. So right now I'm playing "Kingdom Hearts," a 2002 hybrid of action and rpg (role playing game). I've never been big into rpg's, like Zelda, but I'm liking the genre more as I play this. The premise is that four characters from the "Final Fantasy" world are involved in a story with Disney worlds and characters. I've just started, and am a final fantasy guy trying to get off of an island. I'm getting into it.
If you've read this far, thanks for spending the time!! And if you can find a way, play a Wii!!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
watched 'Der Ostwind'
I loved it. It looked great, and I liked the story. I thought the desaturated look, animation, and narration made for a subtle expressionistic feel. The animation was at least equal to hollywood's 'Flyboys,' I thought. While I'm obviously biased, I'm pretty sure I'd really like this short even if I didn't know the creators.
I'm looking forward to asking Rob how they integrated some of those live action scenes with animation. Green screens? Did they use soundstages? At the LDS MPS? Cool stuff.
I'm looking forward to asking Rob how they integrated some of those live action scenes with animation. Green screens? Did they use soundstages? At the LDS MPS? Cool stuff.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Sundance '07
So the Sundance Film Festival is underway, and there's one film I'm really pulling for. Rob Au is the visual effects supervisor for Der Ostwind, an entry in the Short Film competition. I also knew Ostwind's director Kohl Glass, a little, and he is a smart, talented filmmaker. Rob is brother-in-law to my (and Ian's) BYU roommate Rob Rogers, and Rob Au was even in the Intro. to Film class I TA'd at BYU. So I take most of the credit for this success. Good luck Rob!! If I was living in Salt Lake I'd get up to Park City and pass out buttons and stickers for you in a heartbeat.
Sundance Shorts (including Der Ostwind) and Docs are available to watch online here.
Also interesting is that "Napoleon Dynamite" director (and BYU alum) Jared Hess is on the jury for the Short film competition. There's two other members on the jury, so even if he wanted to play favorites, it probably wouldn't matter. In any case it's good to see BYU-ites continuing to represent at Sundance!
Sundance Shorts (including Der Ostwind) and Docs are available to watch online here.
Also interesting is that "Napoleon Dynamite" director (and BYU alum) Jared Hess is on the jury for the Short film competition. There's two other members on the jury, so even if he wanted to play favorites, it probably wouldn't matter. In any case it's good to see BYU-ites continuing to represent at Sundance!
Monday, January 15, 2007
Make news come to you
If readers of this blog are, like me, checking blogs and news sites daily, you may, like me, get tired of the time it takes to open and close browser windows - often to find that no new posts have been made. Time is easily wasted.
A popular solution are rss aggregators/readers (rss stands for real simple syndication). Does anyone else use these? I use bloglines, and find it pretty useful (click here to see other rss readers) Some may find it more trouble than it's worth (bloglines is a little tricky to figure out), but I - in trying to keep up with about a dozen sites - find worth in being able to just look once at a list to see if any new post or news is available.
Here's a screenshot of my rss list:
Also, Amber got me into the dashboard feature on macs, and I use a bloglines widget on that. Technology can save time!:)
A popular solution are rss aggregators/readers (rss stands for real simple syndication). Does anyone else use these? I use bloglines, and find it pretty useful (click here to see other rss readers) Some may find it more trouble than it's worth (bloglines is a little tricky to figure out), but I - in trying to keep up with about a dozen sites - find worth in being able to just look once at a list to see if any new post or news is available.
Here's a screenshot of my rss list:
Also, Amber got me into the dashboard feature on macs, and I use a bloglines widget on that. Technology can save time!:)
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
vacation pictures
It's been a busy holiday break with a lot of great things happening. Here are some of my favorite pictures of us in California.
the baby blessing at Katie's family's church
notice mary fitting right in
the favorit baby lucas (left) and baby ben (right) picture
check out mike's pinstripe tux
sam and mary at the reception
the sisters
juddy's catchWednesday, January 3, 2007
"Captain EO" Clip
On Judd's (aka The Rumbler) blog he brought up "Captain EO," the 3-D Michael Jackson short movie. The ensuing discussion got me curious about the movie's availability, and it isn't for sale. I found a clip, and (since Judd's YouTube link was deleted) I thought I'd embed this clip (it may run smoother if you let it completely load before playing). Judd is right - I can see the Star Trek - Borg influence. Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas have come up with such original stuff. That's great that FFC wrote and directed, and that Lucas wrote the story.
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