Article Ideas [from kg2]

[Tami]

Ideas for articles and copies of press releases I don't want to lose (better if I put them here than save them in My Docs...somewhere....lol. Feel free to add your own.


Game Security Training And Support


WASHINGTON, October 3, 2006 - IT GlobalSecure, Inc., provider of advanced game security products and engineering services, today announced the availability of a one-day game security training program for game companies. This course covers all aspects of game security including anti-piracy, conventional IT security, and has sections on topics such as cheating, griefing, tournaments, and gold farming that can be tailored to meet game developer and publisher’s specific requirements.

"Game security affects all computer games," according to Cheryl Campbell, President of IT GlobalSecure, “Casual games, MMOs, multi-player and even single-player games are affected and their security can make or break the game financially.”

Game security incidents have grown from occasional problems to routine, and embarrassing, news for game companies big and small. While in 2004 there was only one public game security incident every month, by 2005, the number had grown to one every two weeks and in 2006 there has been more than one game security incident every week with uncounted dollars of revenue lost.

“Developers and publishers that plan for security can avoid most problems”, states Steven Davis, CEO of IT GlobalSecure, "The objective of our Game Security course is to help game companies help themselves. Game security encompasses the entire game team – from executives and game designers to marketers and programmers."

IT GlobalSecure provides complete game security consulting services to companies worldwide. It also operates the leading game security blog: http://www.playnoevil.com/ and delivers the SecurePlay anti-cheating software package. IT GlobalSecure’s one-day game security curriculum reflects its experience working with its game industry service clients, developing custom game security solutions, and over 20 years of extensive IT security engineering and training experience.

IT GlobalSecure’s team has over 40 staff-years of experience designing and deploying advanced secure information systems. IT GlobalSecure holds US and worldwide patents for SecurePlay fair play protocols and additional patents pending. SecurePlay simplifies multiplayer game programming and protects network games against cheating.

Web: http://www.secureplay.com for SecurePlay game engine and game development software.
Course Info: http://www.secureplay.com/support/game- ... course.htm

Contact: D. Altman
+1.202.724.5936

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Study: 50 Million+ "Senior" Video Game Fans Can't Be Wrong; Older Game Players Derive Mental Workouts, Stress Relief and Pain Distraction from Playing

Largest-Ever Survey Yields Surprising Data: 47% are Age 50+, and Nearly 20% Are Age 60+; Older Consumers Play for Different Reasons

SEATTLE, Washington – October 4, 2006 — Of the estimated 150 million consumers who play family-friendly, non-violent puzzle, word and simple action games on the computer regularly, almost half of them are age 50 or older, according to a new survey from “casual” games leader PopCap Games®. Among players of casual games who are age 50 or older, 74% cited cognitive workouts (mental exercise), 86% noted stress relief, and 62% chose memory strengthening, as benefits they’d experienced from playing such games. Further, fully 32% of respondents 50 or older said the games distract them from chronic pain/fatigue, and nearly one in ten subjects said they derive actual pain relief from playing. In addition to playing the games primarily for mental and physical benefits rather than pure entertainment, older game players had distinctly different views and habits relating to when, how much and which kinds of casual games they play. Of the nearly 2,200 consumers who took the survey, 1,040 were 50 or older, amounting to 47% of the overall respondents; fully 19% of survey respondents were age 60 or older.

Segmentation Analysis: Older vs. Younger Casual Games Players

Players age 50 or older enjoy casual games considerably more frequently and for longer periods than their younger counterparts; 65% of players age 50 and up say they play the games on a daily basis, compared to less than half of younger players. 31% of older gamers say they play for 10 or more hours per week, compared to 25% of younger players. In response to the question “when do you play casual games?” older players chose “in the morning, before the day begins” 23% of the time, while younger players selected that choice just 16% of the time. The most popular answer to that question, among both older (49%) and younger (52%) players, was “weekday evenings.”

Motives For Playing: While the percentage of older players who noted “stress relief” as a reason for playing casual games was slightly lower than that of survey respondents overall (86% vs. 89%), older players chose several other reasons more often than their younger counterparts. “Distraction from chronic pain/fatigue” (32% vs. 23%), “memory strengthening” (62% vs. 55%) and “cognitive exercise” (74% vs. 73%) were among the benefits cited more frequently by older players. Further, when asked to choose the single most important reason for playing, those age 50 or older chose “entertainment” even less frequently than younger players (16% vs. 21%); top responses to that question from among the subjects age 50 and up were “stress relief/relaxation” (39%) and “mental workout” (21%). In general, 86% of older survey respondents said that they felt playing casual games offered them physical and/or mental health benefits, compared to 74% of under-50 respondents.

“I am in my fifties and I use casual word and puzzle games on the computer as well as recommending them to my patients,” said Dr. Carl Arinoldo, a Stony Brook NY-based psychologist of 25 years and an author and expert on stress management. “I find that these types of games are wonderful as a stress management tool, while at the same time providing excellent cognitive exercise.” Dr. Arinoldo surmised that older players’ motives for playing were influenced by a growing awareness of the importance of “mental calisthenics” for maintaining a healthy mind. “While they may not choose ‘entertainment’ as the primary reason for playing, it seems reasonable to assume that older players of these games are likely to recognize the benefits of cognitive exercise more readily than younger consumers,” he said. “When you’re 65 or 70 and you play a game of Bookworm or Bejeweled, you’re more likely to identify improvements in your mental acuity that might go unnoticed by younger people.”

Leisure Time Priorities: When asked to identify “important” leisure time activities from among nearly two dozen common activities listed, overall survey respondents picked “playing casual computer games” (75%) more than any other choice, including “reading a book, newspaper or magazine” (73%), “spending time with friends or family” (70%), “watching TV or movies” (69%) or “listening to music or the radio” (57%). While those top two responses were also chosen most often by older survey respondents (with 77% and 75% respectively), other leisure time priorities varied significantly between 50+ and under-50 players. The third, fourth and fifth choices of older players were “watching TV or movies” (68%), “spending time with friends or family” (65%), and “listening to music or the radio” (49%). Among under-50 consumers the three most popular choices were “spending time with friends or family” (74%), “playing casual computer games” (73%) and both “watching TV or movies” and “reading a book, newspaper or magazine” (tied with 71% each). On a related question, 16% of survey respondents age 50 or older chose “playing casual computer games” as their most important leisure-time activities, compared with 10% of younger respondents.

Game Preferences

Finally, the types of casual games enjoyed by each age group were significantly different.

Only 18% of subjects 50 or older selected simple action games as one of their genre preferences, compared to 50% of respondents under the age of 50. Likewise, 17% of under-50 survey respondents signified simple simulations like Railroad Tycoon as a genre they enjoyed, while only 4% of those 50 and older chose that category. On the other hand, 57% of older players listed card games as a game genre they like to play, compared to 46% of those under age 50. Puzzle (87%), Arcade (69%) and Word games (58%) were the top three genre choices among survey respondents under the age of 50, while the top three choices among those age 50 and over were Puzzle (84%), Word (66%) and Card games (57%).


Survey Methodology

This international research was conducted by Information Solutions Group (www.infosolutionsgroup.com) on behalf of PopCap Games. The overall results are based upon online surveys completed by 2,191 randomly selected respondents, including 1,040 people age 50 or older. The survey occurred between the dates of August 11th and August 21st 2006. In theory, in 19 cases out of 20, the results will differ by no more than 1.9 percentage points, and +/- 2.9 for a sample of 1,040 consumers age 50 or older from what would have been obtained by seeking out and polling all PopCap.com visitors age 18 and over. Smaller subgroups reflect larger margins of sampling error. In addition to sampling error, there may exist other sources of error. For example, variations in the order of questions or wording within the questionnaire may contribute to different results.

About PopCap®

PopCap Games (www.popcap.com) is the leading multi-platform provider of “casual games” – easy-to-play yet utterly entertaining and addictive brain food enjoyed by players young and old, male and female. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000, and has approximately 100 employees in its Seattle, San Francisco and Dublin offices. PopCap’s games have been downloaded more than 200 million times by consumers world-wide, and its flagship title Bejeweled® has sold more than 10 million units across all platforms. PopCap games are available for Web, PC, Mac, mobile phones, PalmOS and Windows Mobile PDAs, Xbox Live Arcade, iPods, in-flight on leading airlines, as scratch-off lottery tickets, and more. PopCap is the only casual games developer with leading market share across all major channels, including web portals, mobile phones, Xbox, retail, and PDA.

# # #

PR Contact:
Garth Chouteau
garth@popcap.com
415-602-8147

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Computer and video games - a new tool for learning in the 21st Century
UK computer and video games industry explores education with report into the use of games in learning; Lord Puttnam supports call for debate about games assisting learning

Wednesday 4th October 2006, 8.00am/… ELSPA (the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association), in association with the Department for Education and Skills’ personalised content team, today launched a new report which examines the role computer and video games can play in education.

‘Unlimited Learning: The role of computer and video games in the learning landscape’ explores the benefits of using games as a teaching tool, and aims to provide a resource for teachers and educationalists, games developers and publishers. It has created a number of exclusive case studies of the benefits of games when used in learning.

A college in Nottinghamshire, for example, has seen achievement in key skills increase dramatically to a 94% success rate, compared to the national benchmark of just 22%, through incorporating commercial game ‘Neverwinter Nights’ into its teaching plan. Many other teaching institutions across the UK report video games ability to motivate and engage, particularly with younger learners.

Launching the report, Lord Puttnam of Queensgate CBE said: ”Increasingly video games are being recognised as a powerful tool for learning. Yes of course they are entertaining and a lot of fun, but they’ve also the ability to inspire and motivate. They hold out the tantalising prospect of personalised, responsive and thoroughly enjoyable learning experiences, irrespective of age, or our ability. They can promote ideas, they can stimulate conversation, challenge thinking and, critically for the future of our highly skills-dependent economy, they can encourage problem solving.

“Now what we are talking about here is computer games not just as games, but as a whole new learning form or platform of learning and one that has quite literally, unlimited learning potential. Just imagine the opportunities created as a result of bringing all that potential into the classroom.”

Professor Stephen Heppell, director of Heppell.net and e-learning expert commented: “I first started researching all this a very long time ago. What we saw was intellectual engagement, absolutely, without exception. What we also saw was a hunger to engage in the process. People didn’t just play, they engaged and reflected.”

“The curious thing is that we’re seeing people playing games and challenging themselves with their computers right across the age range, literally womb to tomb as the current phrase has it,“ he continued. “What excites me is that on the back of all that play and engagement we’re getting learning too.”

Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA commented: “Games are created to be entertaining, engaging and stimulating. They can be educational in the right context, whether for young people developing creative writing in a classroom or hospital staff learning how best to deal with MRSA, and if educationalists believe they can engage people in learning in a positive and constructive way, then we think this can only be positive.”

The benefits from using computer and video games are not just limited to the classroom, but span a learners’ lifetime.

'Unlimited learning’ launches today from ELSPA, in association with the DfES' personalised content team who, until recently, formed part of the
Technology Group.

For a copy of the publication, or for more information, assets or interviews, please contact:

Emma Cowie
Barrington Harvey
e: emma@bhpr.co.uk
t: +44(0)1462 456780

An electronic version of the report is available here
http://www.elspa.com/assets/files/u/unl ... nt_344.pdf

About ELSPA
ELSPA (The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) was founded in 1989 to establish a specific and collective identity for the computer and video games industry. Membership includes almost all companies concerned with the publishing and distribution of interactive leisure software in the UK.

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Research Concludes Commercial Computer Games Can Support Learning in Schools

UK, 2 October 2006 – Commercial computer games have the potential to support learning in schools and teachers do not need to be games experts to use them effectively for teaching. These are some of the findings of a one-year research project Teaching with Games conducted in the UK by education innovator Futurelab and supported by Electronic Arts, the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company, that investigated how commercial computer games can be used in the classroom. A report from the study, which is released today, highlights that using games in lessons is motivating and engaging, and teachers believe that they improve students’ computer skills, strategic thinking and problem solving. The study further identifies areas that require consideration before deciding to use commercial games as part of school curriculum.

Teaching with Games also suggests that there are specific features of game play that could encourage student engagement, such as the opportunity to have autonomous control over a responsive environment, and the ability to use games familiar from home in which they can demonstrate expertise. In addition, findings from an Ipsos MORI survey into teachers’ attitudes to using mainstream computer games in the classroom, published in January 2006 as part of the Teaching with Games study, revealed that 59% of teachers want to use computer games for educational purposes and 53% say they would do so because they are an interactive way of motivating and engaging students.

Trialling the use of three off-the-shelf computer games in four schools revealed that games can be a very versatile medium for teaching and learning. The games were successfully used in both competency-based and traditional content-based curricula.

Teachers’ experience, teaching style, familiarity with the curriculum and the culture of the school, rather than gaming expertise, were identified as having the most impact on the successful integration of games into classroom learning. Furthermore, the study revealed that games used in the classroom environment do not have to be fully representative of reality to be useful in a lesson.

Teaching with Games also draws attention to a number of technical obstacles to the ultimate integration of games into daily lessons. Feedback from teachers highlights the need for new approaches to licensing and copy protection to allow easy installation and the running of games on school networks. The study further identified that technical support and flexibility around timetabling as well as more freedom to disaggregate the game for specific use in class could prove beneficial.

Claire Gemmell, a teacher at St John's School & Community College in Marlborough, commented: “I can definitely see the potential of using games in the classroom. It proved to be a great tool for motivating students and engaging their interest. I would like to use games for teaching in the future if the technical problems could be addressed.”

“We have long recognised the potential of interactive computer games to stimulate the learning process”, said Gerhard Florin, Executive Vice President and General Manager, International Publishing, EA. “The Teaching with Games study in collaboration with Futurelab has shown that commercial computer games have the potential to support education, which has raised the bar for ongoing collaboration between the industry and education sectors. We look forward to continued initiatives to help pave the way for meaningful integration of computer games into school curriculum.”

Teaching with Games was established in August 2005 to explore the practical issues surrounding the use of interactive, off-the-shelf computer games in schools and the changes needed to enable games to better support learning. The project was supported by three of the world’s leading interactive entertainment software companies: Electronic Arts; Microsoft; and Take-Two Interactive Software, as well as the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE). The project consisted of two Ipsos MORI surveys of students’ and teachers’ attitudes to the use of games, as well as case studies of 12 teachers in four secondary schools using The Sims 2 (EA), Knights of Honour (distributed by EA) and RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3 (Atari) in formal classroom time.

For further information and to view or download the project’s final report, which includes findings, case studies, the Ipsos MORI surveys and observations on the use of games in the classroom, go to www.futurelab.org.uk/teachingwithgames.

Issued: Ends Ref: f026.doc

For further information
Futurelab: Lacia Ashman, tel: 0117 915 8222, lacia.ashman@futurelab.org.uk;
PR: Sarah Scott, Livewire Public Relations, tel: 020 8339 7440, sarah.scott@livewirepr.com;
EA: Tiffany Steckler, tel: +41 22 316 1322, tsteckler@europe.ea.com.

About Futurelab
Futurelab is passionate about transforming the way people learn. Tapping into the huge potential offered by digital and other technologies, it is developing innovative learning resources and practices that support new approaches to education for the 21st century. Working in partnership with industry, policy and practice, Futurelab:
• incubates new ideas, taking them from the lab to the classroom
• offers hard evidence and practical advice to support the design and use of innovative learning tools
• communicates the latest thinking and practice in educational ICT
• provides the space for experimentation and the exchange of ideas between the creative, technology and education sectors.

A not-for-profit organisation, Futurelab is committed to sharing the lessons learnt from our work in order to inform positive change to educational policy and practice. For further information, go to www.futurelab.org.uk. Registered charity 1113051

About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2006, EA posted revenue of $2.95 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

Electronic Arts, EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, POGO and The Sims are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
About the Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division
Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division was created in September 2005 to support the company’s software-based services vision and drive innovation in the digital entertainment space. The Entertainment and Devices Division is composed of four main businesses: the Interactive Entertainment Business, which includes both the Xbox and Games for Windows businesses; the Entertainment Business, which focuses on Microsoft’s digital entertainment efforts in music, TV and video and includes the MSTV and the Windows XP Media Center Edition products; the Consumer Productivity Experiences Business, which includes the mice and keyboards business, the Macintosh Business Unit, and consumer productivity applications including Encarta, Money and Digital Image Suite; and the Mobile and Embedded Business, which drives the Windows Mobile-based devices business and focuses on the embedded market for Windows CE, Windows XP Embedded and the Automotive Business Unit.

About Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an integrated global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games and accessories for the PC, PlayStation® game console, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Xbox® and Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube™, Nintendo DS™ and Game Boy® Advance. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned labels Rockstar Games, 2K and 2K Sports, and Global Star Software; and distributes products in North America through its Jack of All Games subsidiary. Take-Two also manufactures and markets video game accessories in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region through its Joytech subsidiary. The Company maintains sales and marketing offices in Cincinnati, New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Munich, Madrid, Milan, Sydney, Breda (Netherlands), Auckland, Shanghai and Tokyo. Take-Two's common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at www.take2games.com.

About ISFE
ISFE (the Interactive Software Federation of Europe) was established in 1998 to represent the interests of the interactive software sector vis-à-vis the EU and international institutions. Initially founded by the national interactive software trade associations in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, ISFE was enlarged in January 2002 to include any company representing the industry, based in the 25 Member States plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Most major publishers of the interactive software industry have now joined ISFE (see full list on www.isfe-eu.org).

About Infogrames Entertainment and Atari:
Infogrames Entertainment (IESA), the parent company of the Atari Group, is listed on the Paris Euronext stock exchange (ISIN code: FR-0000052573) and has two principal subsidiaries: Atari Europe, a privately-held company, and Atari, Inc., a United States corporation listed on NASDAQ (ATAR). The Atari Group is a major international producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for all market segments and in all existing game formats (Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony) and on CD-ROM for PC. Its games are sold in more than 60 countries.
The Atari Group’s extensive catalogue of popular games is based on original franchises (Driver, Alone in the Dark, V-Rally, Test Drive, RollerCoaster Tycoon, etc.) and international licenses (Matrix, Dragon Ball Z, Dungeons & Dragons, etc.). For more information: http://www.atari.com.

PlayStation and PSP are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. GAME BOY ADVANCE, NINTENDO GAMECUBE AND NINTENDO DS ARE TRADEMARKS OF NINTENDO.

This editorial was on the gamesindustry.biz daily newsletter; while it is only Rob Fahey's opinion, I think it's the most truthful editorial I've seen yet in regards to the videogame violence debate.

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One common factor to every major conflict in human history is that they have always featured a flagrant abuse of science, with the latest advancements in our understanding of the world being turned not to improving the lives of those around us, but to gaining an upper hand in battle. You can undoubtedly think of many examples of this offhand; but what's interesting to note is that the tendency of people to abuse science to fit their own ends is something that exists in conflicts on a far smaller scale than wars or battles.

This week, for example, the ESA fired its latest shot across the bows of the anti-videogames lobby in the United States, with the release of a document listing a host of studies into the effects of videogames and violent media on young people, all of which concluded that the games did no harm and may even have beneficial effects. It's a stark contrast to the constant claims of people like anti-videogames campaigner Jack Thompson, who will tell you at the slightest provocation that there is a proven link between videogame violence and real-life violence.

Regardless of whether the ESA has presented its arguments more logically than Thompson, or whether it's our gut feeling that games and violence cannot be linked as directly as the anti-games lobby might like, the fact remains that this is a flagrant abuse of science. On both sides, it is an attempt to slap the label of "science" onto what is essentially a political dispute - a trend which has been notable in many such disputes in recent years, but remains nonetheless distasteful.

Lobby groups happily cherry-pick research which supports their position and ignore research which disagrees with them, or worse yet, will commission research from unscrupulous commercial companies that will tailor their results to say pretty much whatever their employers want them to say. This isn't how science works; science, as many people working in the games industry know full well, is a slow and methodical process of research, theorising and peer review, which aims to establish facts rather than simply agreeing with whatever is politically expedient.

A casual glance through the wealth of research which has been conducted on the matter of violent media and childhood aggression or other such personality traits reveals one thing with stark clarity - we don't know enough. The research conflicts in many areas, and no consensus emerges. While this means that there is no provable or direct link between violent games and violent behaviour, it would be utterly foolish to pretend that it follows that no such link exists.

The debate over violent games will rage on for some time, but ultimately, the industry desperately needs to refocus its arguments on the rights of parents to choose the media their children consume and on efforts to educate and inform parents about the content of games they are buying. Starting to argue this case on the grounds of science is a foolish and distasteful move for both parties to the debate, as the ground here is not so much shaky as simply non-existent. The research is non-conclusive and incomplete, the facts are totally unknown, and to make a suggestion otherwise is to cynically attempt to capitalise on the sad ignorance of many people about what "science" is really about.