Products May 2004

We all know that video games had to be good for hand-eye coordination, and taught our kids useful problem solving skills such as how to kidnap professors and shoot their way out of captivity, steal cars, etc. etc. But they can also provide positive psychological and mental stimulus, helping us to develop a sense of identity, grasp meaning, follow rules and commands, pick role models, and how we look at the world.

A good attempt to reconcile the positive aspects of gaming with traditional classroom activities, it has some weak points, namely the fact that it chooses to ignore the negative points associated with the kind of person who would choose to attack their enemies brutally with a baseball bat (Manhunt) rather than dance to the beat of "I wanna dance with somebody" (Pop Idol).

Games 411
by Anne Boyd
Publisher: LA 411; 2nd edition (May 2004)
ISBN: 1931625247

This remains the ultimate information guide for the games industry, with over 3000 listings including publishers, software and hardware companies, studios and distributors.

Besides the extended game industry rolodex, there is also a timetable of events in the video game industry calendar, a glossary of high technology terms, and details about academic classes, training, and listings of professional organizations.

Of course, much of the subsidiary information is US specific - such as those items relating to academic and training courses - but that doesn't detract from the general usefulness of the industry's leading who's who guide.

Game Creation
Adventure Game Studio (AGS)
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/

"Adventure Game Studio (AGS for short) allows you to create your own point-and-click adventure games, similar to the early 90's Sierra and Lucasarts adventures. It consists of an easy-to-use development environment, and run-time engine." (from the AGS web site)

For those of you who don't remember the Sierra title "Leisure Suit Larry", or Lucasarts 'Day of the Tentacle', they were animated graphical adventure games, with a simple to use point and click interface. The characters wandered around the screen following scripted events, and could interact with various items located against the backdrop.

AGS is a simple to use, visual programming tool. Creating simple games can be achieved very fast, but to get the most out of the product, the user will have to be prepared to learn a reasonably complete scripting language.

Products may be sold, but the license conditions are reasonably strict in this regard.

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