ESA FOUNDATION SELECTS SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
The ESA Foundation recently selected 30 student video game developers across the nation to receive $90,000 in scholarships for the 2009-2010 academic year. Fifteen of the awardees are graduating high school students and 15 are current college students.
The students will use the funds to continue their education in fields supporting video game development. Their areas of study include graphic design, computer science, animation, programming, digital entertainment and software engineering.
Annually, the ESA Foundation offers scholarships to full-time students studying at accredited four-year colleges and universities. More than 200 U.S. colleges, universities and trade schools now offer computer and video game design courses or degrees. This vast range of educational options comes at an ideal time for students, academia and the entertainment software industry with the increasing need for a diverse pool of developers.
Students interested in the 2010-2011 scholarship program, may complete an application beginning in January 2010 at https://www.scholarshipamerica.org/esaf.
PARENTS ON TOP OF THEIR "GAME" IN PROTECTING THEIR KIDS
As the summer winds down, the household focus changes from fun to education and parents look for tools and resources to help them ensure a smooth transition for their youngsters. To help parents, the entertainment software industry established numerous resources and policies and created a wide variety of partnerships aimed at keeping family technology decisions, including those involving interactive entertainment software, in the hands of parents and caregivers.
The entertainment software industry adopted a ratings system which is widely used by parents, supported by retailers, and recommended by policy makers. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) provides parents with the information they need to choose appropriate games for their families. The ESRB recommends age appropriateness and indicates elements in a game that contributed to its rating. In addition, the organization now offers rating summaries that provide parents with a look into the rationale of why a game received a particular rating. ESRB resources are available on game packaging, online at www.esrb.org and on a mobile Web site m.esrb.org.
The ESA Foundation is also an avid supporter of Web Wise Kids, a non-profit organization which empowers young people to make wise choices online through easy-to-use, school-approved Internet safety education programs. In fact, the association recently launched new Web Wise Kids programs in New Mexico with Attorney General Gary King and in Washington state with Attorney General Rob McKenna and Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn.
The Web Wise Kids program includes a series of three customized video games – Missing, Mirror Image, and Air Dogs – as well as an online program for parents called Wired With Wisdom, all of which use interactive simulations based on real-life criminal cases to teach students and their families how to be safe and responsible online. To date, Web Wise Kids programs are accessible to more than five million children and thousands of parents nationwide in conjunction with school systems, law enforcement, teachers, and community-based organizations.
The companies that develop consoles are also taking steps to help caregivers ensure that the games played by children are parent-approved. Parental controls are built into all the major game hardware devices, including Sony's PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3, the Nintendo Wii and DSi and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Additional technologies also exist to help parents monitor when and for how long their children play computer and video games.
These programs and tools, championed by the entertainment software industry, intend to bring parents closer to their children and to provide them with the support they need to be proactive voices in their children's lives. When the focus turns from summer fun to fall schoolwork, the industry stands behind parents and their efforts to maintain a responsible balance.
PLAY WITH A FRIEND… WHEREVER THEY ARE!
Not long ago, tennis players would only be able to volley a shot to an opponent about 80 feet away, the length of a tennis court. Now, thanks to video game technology, players are able to stand hundreds or thousands of miles apart and still play tennis in real time. The popularity of network game play has revolutionized the way friends can interact over long distances.
When Microsoft launched Xbox Live in 2002, the online service supported only five exclusive games, including Infogrames' Unreal Championship and Microsoft Games Studio's NFL Fever 2003. Within a year, however, the company made available worldwide more than 50 titles that offered interconnected game play for broadband connections.
Today, the practice of playing video games with friends long-distance is exploding in popularity, thanks to new features developed in games and the advent of high-speed internet access. Five hundred million Electronic Arts sports games have been played online since the service became available in June 2008. Xbox Live, the service that Microsoft pioneered in 2002, has more than 17 million members. Sony's PlayStation Network, meanwhile, maintains more than 20 million registered user accounts.
A 2008 study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project showed that 76 percent of teens play games with other people, including online. The ESA's 2009 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry found that 23 percent of frequent gamers even pay to play games online with friends and 43 percent of online gamers are female. ESA's research also revealed that people play all types of games, from puzzles to sports to strategy, online with others.
The scope of the games and level of online interaction varies widely. Games of the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) genre, such as Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest and Electronic Arts' Warhammer Online, revolve around constant connectivity and intricate societies created online. However, MMORPGs are not the only genre using online play. Thanks to the online connectivity in handheld devices, consoles and desktop computers, a large number of games have online elements. Xbox Live brings the game show to a whole new level with 1 vs. 100, a fully interactive quiz show game in which participants from all over the world can compete online to answer trivia questions. Sony Computer Entertainment's LittleBigPlanet allows users to explore levels created by other players through online play.
Each of the three major consoles have made distance gaming capability a priority, with Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection, Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network serving to connect friends around the globe. Nintendo Wii's Check Mii Out channel affords users all over the world the opportunity to share personalized digital avatars, or "Mii's" and enter them into a variety of themed competitions in which other players and rank evaluate the most popular avatars.
And the level and range of online interaction is expected to continue increasing. Over the next few years, social networking applications like Twitter and Facebook will continue to fuse with gaming consoles to connect more friends than ever. In addition, more games are creating elaborate multiplayer functionality as the centerpiece of game play. As video games continue to grow in the cultural landscape, it seems obvious that more friends will be able to grow closer by playing video games far apart. |
