This is extremely nerdy, but I’d be a liar if I didn’t want to get some friends together and play this simulator.

From the website:

What is Artemis?

Artemis is a multiplayer, multi-computer networked game for Windows computers.

Artemis simulates a spaceship bridge by networking several computers together. One computer runs the simulation and the "main screen", while the others serve as workstations for the normal jobs a bridge officer might do, like Helm, Communication, Engineering, and Weapon Control.

Artemis is a social game where several players are together in one room ("bridge") , and while they all work together, one player plays the Captain, a person who sits in the middle, doesn’t have a workstation, and tells everyone what to do.

Artemis is a software game for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

My favorite bit from the FAQs:

Q: Why can’t my crew play over the internet, using some voice chat software?

A: I always wanted the players to be in one room together, just like a spaceship bridge. I want the captain to be able to push the helmsman aside and shout "Full power, DAMN you!!!" BUT, as a veteran game developer, I recognize that players play my game the way THEY like, not the way I like. V1.1 optimized the network code, and a server option that lets you adjust the network update speed, so Artemis plays across the internet just fine.

Artemis | Spaceship Bridge Simulator

via @pomorales

I fully support this.

Thanks for the link, Tom!

It didn’t take long for somebody to actually implement Randall Munroe’s vision.

via XKCD

via GudMagazine via BoingBoing

Erik Rothoff is a genius—a mad genius. Through programming magic, he created a JavaScript app that turns any webpage into a game of asteroids. What are you waiting for? Click here to grab the bookmarklet!

via Erkie.github.com via BoingBoing

Quest to Learn has the right idea, in my opinion. We’re inundated with technology everyday. Why not adapt that to create a fun learning environment for kids? Stepping back a bit, what really stands out to me is how this school uses practical application in its teaching methods. That reminds me of my time at Cal Poly SLO, where the motto is “Learn by doing.” All the lab-time is where the real learning is done.

I also love their “grading” system. Instead of getting the traditional letter grades of A through F, you “level-up” (“pre-novice,” “novice,” “apprentice,” “senior” and “master.”). Considering those titles are more applicable to real-life jobs and skills, I feel that this reinforces hard work and effort. Would you rather be presented with a letter grade at every milestone, or would you rather earn “experience points” that lead to the next level of mastership? Think of the difference in impact of being handed an “F” and being told to redo an assignment vs. earning a subset of points that eventually lead to the next level?

I really think this school is on to something and I hope to see more innovation like this.

via Quest to Learn via BoingBoing

Yes. It’s playable.

Happy 30th Birthday, Pac-Man (not to be confused with Pac-Man)! Even at 30, you still manage to frustrate the hell out of me.

via @jeremydizon

This labor of love, by explodingRabbit, is a wonderful homage to 8-bit gaming. You pick your favorite 8-bit hero and run them through the first level of the original Super Mario Bros. Special abilities/attacks still apply.

via Newgrounds via BoingBoing

An open source collectible card game that uses Pokemon-like game mechanics to teach kids about real animals? Very yes! This is a wonderful idea!

From BoingBoing:

Phylo (or if you rather use the preferred term of endearment, Phylomon) is an an online initiative aimed at creating a Pokemon card type resource but with real creatures on display in full “artistic” wonder, and all via a non-commercial-open-access-open-source-because-basically-this-is-good-for-you-your-children-and-your-planet sort of way. This means that it thrives on contributions from folks who are artists, folks who are scientists, folks who like games, folks in the business of educating children, as well as folks of other expertise as various situations arise. Essentially, every step of game development, from imagery to the rulebook(s), is an exercise in crowd sourcing.

On the site, you can even check out the phylo project’s origin story. Here, you’ll learn that it was essentially inspired by Andrew Balmford, a conservational biologist who in 2002 published a curious paper in Science that showed that children as young as 8 were able to identify and characterize up to 120 different Pokemon characters. Yet, by the time they entered secondary school, they still couldn’t identify half of the UK’s 100 most common plants and animals. In the paper, Andrew was understandably troubled by this, and simply asked “Why is this?” and “Is there anything we can learn from this?”

In any event, the project has just started off with 12 cards, so that people can get a sense of what the site is all about, but there are plans to roll out new cards at a rate of at least one per weekday starting next week. Anyway, do go check it out, tell others about it, or better yet, get involved. Currently, the two biggest requests is to have more artists submitting their work (drawing and/or photographs), and for gamers to have a crack at a prototype rule set, or to even come up with alternate rules.

Interestingly, there are some who currently estimate there being roughly 1.9 million different species that have been classified by humans. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a biodiversity card game with the potential to have that many cards?

via BoingBoing via PHYLO: THE TRADING CARD GAME

The cynics out there might chuckle at the title of this post, but there’s truth behind it.  Don’t take my word for it: (via Powered by the Tubes)

A TED talk I found truly amazing.

The speaker Jane McGonigal is a game designer who recently spoke on TED. Her big idea is that the average person is going to spend about the same time playing video games by the age of 21 as they will spend in every hour of school from 5th grade to high school graduation. That means that people are spending a second education’s worth of time getting good at something. Harnessing that something could be the key to saving the world.

She goes on to lists games that she has piloted to achieve this goal and all in all it is a very inspiring talk. Everyone knows making things a game works to make them a lot less tedious and bearable. Many of us are also driven by a competitive nature. If that could be channeled into doing good for the world or even your local area that would be awesome.

My parents were anti-gaming, so I had to sneak my gaming time at friends’ houses. My wife is anti-gaming, so I have to get my gaming time in during off hours. Despite the different vectors of negative connotation for gaming in my life, I still strongly believe that gaming teaches and reinforces useful and applicable skills in real life including problem-solving (think Zelda), group collaboration (think about taking a boss down in World of Warcraft), project management (that boss in World of Warcraft might take upwards of 30+ people to work together), hand-eye coordination (there’s a correlation that surgeons who gamed more had fewer errors) and hard work (sometimes you need to grind levels to make a character more powerful, think Final Fantasy).

As Jane McGonigal mentioned in her talk, gaming avatars can represent the most ideal person we can possibly be. I think that putting hours into practicing that will benefit the entire world.

Thanks for the link Brian!

via Powered by the Tubes via Kotaku via TED: Ideas worth spreading