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Thursday, June 15, 2006

Alternate-reality school?

Might make sense, since – as ABC News reports - 96% of boys and 78% of girls play videogames on a regular basis (that's from a Journal of Adolescence study). CNET write Stefanie Olsen looks at whether virtual world games are the future of the classroom. She lead with how "this summer, as many as a million virtual kids could catch an infectious virus known as Whypox, causing them to break out in red welts and spout 'Achoo' whenever chatting with friends." Only virtually, though. She's talking about a game, sort of, a multiuser virtual environoment (MUVE) called Whyville, which has a population of about 1.6 million 8-to-12-year-olds. MUVEs are "a genre of software games created to inspire children to learn about math and science, among other subjects." In other gaming news:

* Sexual role-playing game. ABC News reports that the new "Naughty America: The Game" is "poised to go where few games gone before: the bedroom." It's a multiplayer online game that combines " one-on-one chat functions, player profiles and multiplayer dating games with options to interact both online as well as in the real world." Its makers say they're working on age verification for the online version (doesn't sound like they've got it set up yet).
* OK law challenged. As with at least a half-dozen other states' laws, the Entertainment Software Association immediately challenged a just-signed Oklahoma law that prohibits stores from selling M-rated games to minors and requiring them to check IDs as with alcohol and tobacco sales, the OK University Daily reported.
* Gamemakers clueless? CNET ran a report on gender issues from the Sex in Videogames conference.
* Ad growth expected. The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story on how huge product-placement advertising is going to be in videogames: huge.

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