EUROPEAN UNION FORMALLY BACKS VIDEO GAMES FOR CHILDREN
Video games help teach children important life skills like strategic thinking, teamwork, cooperation and creativity according to a report commissioned by the European Union (EU) last month. Toine Manders, a member of the European parliament from The Netherlands, drafted the report for the legislative body's Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection.
"We heard evidence from experts on computer games and psychologists from France, the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands," said Manders, "And they told us that video games have a positive contribution to make to the education of minors."
Indeed, many of the latest and most popular video games on the market incorporate these skills into game play. Games with design elements, such as Sony Computer Entertainment's LittleBigPlanet and Electronic Arts' Spore, thrive on their players' creative capabilities. In multiplayer online games such as Eidos Interactive's Age of Conan, players must rely on cooperation and teamwork in order to succeed. And games such as 2K Games' Civilization Revolution require players to think strategically to advance to new levels.
As a result, the EU announced that video games could contribute to formal education, and even suggested that schools in Europe consider incorporating video games into curricula.
In the United States, the National Education Association arrived at a similar conclusion, pointing to Electronic Arts' SimCity as one effective way to use video games in the classroom. The industry now looks to other U.S. public and private sector organizations to follow this strong leadership and likewise declare its support for video games as a valuable resource for parents and their children.
VIDEO GAMES & MUSIC: A DIFFERENT TYPE OF GAME SCORE
Video games have transformed video games into a viable platform for a variety of musicians.
For artists such as Aerosmith, Boston and KISS, video games offer an opportunity to replace lost revenue from declining CD sales.
These iconic bands have joined several others in either licensing or updating old tracks for popular new music-based games such as Rock Band. "Far more of this audience will hear our music via this game than if we had strenuously attempted to talk them into buying all of our CDs," Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton recently told The Associated Press.
Recent Neilsen SoundScan statistics support the bands' enthusiastic cooperation. Sales of Aerosmith's "Same Old Song and Dance" increased 136 percent the week after Guitar Hero III was released and reached 400 percent the week after Christmas.
Similarly, newer bands such as Gym Class Heroes and All American Rejects helped pioneer the practice of using video games to introduce their music to a broader audience. Both artists took advantage of Electronic Arts' call for popular new music for its Madden NFL series, and have since been joined by the likes of Busta Rhymes and Linkin Park.
Classical composers have just as much of a foothold in this burgeoning market as the rock and pop artists. When designing Playstation 3 video game Heavenly Sword, developer Ninja Theory had the option to sync the game's storyline with easily accessible stock music. The game's creators, however, hired award-winning composer Nitin Sawhney to produce a soundtrack – preferably, they said, with help from the orchestras in London and Prague. This option continues to attract some of the most prominent film composers, including Danny Elfman, Howard Shore and Hans Zimmer.
While the relationship between the video game and music industries is relatively new, the potential benefits for both parties could usher in a new era of entertainment convergence and reciprocal growth.
ESA FOUNDATION DOUBLES NUMBER OF VIDEO GAME SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS
Women and minority students who aspire to careers in computer and video game development will have access to a record 30 scholarships this year through the ESA Foundation Scholarship Program, the industry's charitable arm revealed this month.
In each of the past two years, the ESA Foundation made available $3,000 scholarships to 15 full-time students at accredited four-year colleges and universities. For the 2009-10 academic year, however, the Foundation will double the number of available awards to 30 and also extend the program for the first time to high school students.
"A growing number of students know that computer and video games are the premier entertainment medium for expressing their impressive creativity and innovative thinking," said Michael Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and game publishers. "We are excited to provide these scholarships to help future game industry employees make the dreams that they have for themselves and our industry a reality."
The ESA Foundation started the third-year program as a way to assist women and minority students who plan to continue their education in fields supporting video game development, including graphic design, computer science, animation or programming, digital entertainment or software engineering. Qualifying students may apply online for one $3,000 scholarship until May 15, 2009.
Scholarship Management Services again will administer the ESA Foundation Scholarship Program. For more information, and to complete an application, please visit: http://www.theesa.com/foundation/scholarship.asp. |
