Quoting directly from the Gamasutra article:

Officially revealed is a April 17 release date for Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (known as Brain Training in Japan), which presents players with a series of short mental brain-training challenges that incorporate word memorization, counting and reading. The Western versions of the series have also added sudoku number puzzles, which have become extremely popular features in newspapers around the country, and especially in Europe.

In addition, second title Big Brain Academy will launch on May 30, and offers players 15 fun activities that test their brain powers in areas like logic, memory, math and analysis. Up to eight people can play with a single game card, and each activity takes less than a minute to complete.

You can find the entire article here.

2. Questions/Opportunities
A) I’d like to know the best way to make an interactive experience within this serious topic, yet without resorting to something like a first person shooter or RTS game.
B) How can I use interactivity (in a virtual world situation, using a game engine with a keyboard/mouse or a controller) to allow people to see a Holocaust related story in a whole new and meaningful way.
C) How can I make something that’s sensitive to the subject matter, yet still communicates everything that needs to be said about the experience.

3. Method/Process to explore questions:
A) Find and read articles about similar projects or ideas for such projects.
B) Discuss with like-minded people at GDC.
C) Ask historians and experts in the field of Holocaust studies about what they would most like communicated in an entertainment/artistic piece.
D) Constantly ask people like Jess about how I’m doing with being sensitive to the subject.

4. Subjects that address my concerns:
A) Using the right story to express a particular view or portray an experience.
B) Interactive storytelling.
C) Media sensitivity.
D) Holocaust studies (methodology, prior works, etc)
E) WWII veteran who liberated a camp or experienced being at one.
F) Holocaust survivor’s story.
G) Possible subject: Seeing humanity in a completely inhumane situation.

5. Genre/Audience
I suppose this experience would be closest to a graphical adventure game (similar to a Sierra On-Line or Lucasarts game). The audience would be the same exact audience that would or has watched Schindler’s List.

6. Term that sums up project:
Interactive holocaust experience.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) is my most favorite object. Why? Well, it represents a time in the history of game development in which some of the most original content had been created.

When it first arrived on the scene in the United States in 1991, it was considered by many to be exactly like its 8 bit predecessor, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), but with better graphics. Such critics were silenced over its 5 year lifespan as one amazing game after another was released.

SNES represented an interesting phenomenon that has not been repeated in the roughly 30 years that video games have existed. On one hand, SNES had a deeper color palette, the ability to display more pixels on the screen (allowing for much high detail in sprites), the ability to take a bitmap and place it onto a plain that can be scaled and rotated, and Sony SPC-700 sound processing hardware, and other amazing features too numerous to mention. However, the fact remained that it was a 2D tile-based console game system.

What was amazing about this system was that people didn’t really think about how to make the best Super Nintendo game. They thought about how to force the Super Nintendo to run the game they had in mind. People challenged themselves to design and implement games that weren’t just graphical enhancements over the previous generation. They created games that redefined what we thought video games could be. They were focused more upon the experience offered by the game, as opposed to simple game features and taking advantage of hardware for the sake of a visceral thrill.

Basically, SNES was and still is the representation of what games can still be. We have only to think more about the experience and not focus so heavily on hardware technology and a built-in audience.

Item 2: Games. Lots of them.

On one hand, I do feel that this “object” is a bit of a cop-out. On the other hand, I strongly believe it’s the absolute truth about what inspires me to do be a game developer and a designer of interactive entertainment/media.

It is completely impossible for me to point out the absolute best interactive entertainment/electronic game/video game experience I have ever had the pleasure of encountering. There are so many different games that I’ve enjoyed, each with its individual reason for my liking of it.

I suppose I could attribute my enjoyment of games and wanting to make them with my desire as a child to actually be a character in a movie or novel. I used to always play with my friends and my sister make-believe games in which we pretended we were actually in the story of a movie, book, or game. I find it rather scary that I look back to those days as a reference as to how games and related interactive entertainment should be.

Sierra On-Line graphical adventure games approached this level of interactive storytelling/story experience. In a game such as King’s Quest, Space Quest, Black Cauldron, Leisure Suit Larry, etc you take on the role of a particular character. For instance, in Leisure Suit Larry you fill the shoes of a loser who tries his darndest to become a playboy. You go about fulfilling various tasks in the way that you feel Larry would do them. You try to pick up on women (with often hilariously disastrous results) and attempt to fulfill his immature sexual fantasies.

Japanese role playing games (RPGs) have a different way of telling a story. You usually (but not always) take on the role of a party of characters. They use the old method of gameplay borrowed from Dungeons and Dragons in a way to tell what is often an “epic” tale of a person or group of people overcoming daunting odds to bring peace to their world. There have been other RPGs that have done more than simply retell the same “epic” over and over. Most notably is a game called Xenogears that chronicles the rise of a religion, its purpose to subvert the populace.

These are merely a sampling of the games that I have found influenced me to be a game designer. I hope my list of games that have been my inspiration will continue to grow. It’s been a bit weak over the last 10 or so years.

Item 3: Unfinished Game Design Documents

Okay, so why would I show this as my greatest achievement? It highlights the fact that I don’t really have a project that’s been my greatest achievement. My greatest achievement has yet to be realized. In fact, even if I realize it, I probably won’t recognize it as all that great. I suppose that’s just how I am.

Anyhow, despite the documents being extremely short, they exemplify what I want to do in the game industry in the immediate future. They’re games that could work in today’s market. The only problem is, they need completion. I need to flesh out their details and make it perfectly obvious what it is I want to accomplish for each project to the reader(s) of said documents.

The only real complete thing I’ve done that I’m proud of is my Eagle Scout Rank. That took a couple of years to finish. Granted, my parents played a big role in helping me to accomplish this feat. However, I was determined to do better than my Dad in Boy Scouts, who had only achieved the Life Scout rank. To me it is proof positive that I can complete things, if only I put my mind to it.

Anyhow, he also said he's going to make Wikipedia available on CD and DVD for countries that have computers, but no internet access. You can read the article here.

So, how would a game of Frag the Asshole work? You start off with a minimum of 4 teams (with a minimum of 1 person per team). The goal of Frag the Asshole is to capture a flag from somewhere in the middle of a map (could be placed randomly, or it could be placed in a specific spot) and take it to his/her own base. When the flag is carried to that person's base, his/her team scores a point.

Frag the Asshole is a 4 round game and the team with the most points after 4 rounds is the winner. A round consists of 5 minutes in which teams try to capture the flag the most amount of times (thus scoring the most amount of points). However, between rounds there are cards that are randomly dealt by the server to each team. Each card denotes base locations and weapons. Some cards have more favorable locations for bases (closer to the flag). Some cards have more favorable weapons. It's important to note that in order for a team to obtain a base location or particular weapon (to be spawned at their base) it must get a pair of that particular card. For instance, if the team wanted a shotgun, it will need a total of 2 shotgun cards. Another thing to note is that if a team doesn't get any matches of cards, the team is randomly assigned a less favorable location and weapon(s).

Another thing to note is that the first round commences without any cards dealt. All teams have equal weapon types (all fairly low-powered) and have bases that are of equal distance from the flag. However, once a round is completed, all 4 teams are ranked based on the amount of points each one earned. If the flag was not captured, or if 2+ teams didn't capture the flag, their ranking will be determined based on the amount of frags (nice FPS term for number of kills) that team accumulated during the round.

The rankings are exactly the same as the Asshole cardgame. Team with the highest rank is the President. Second highest is Vice President. Third-highest is Bumblefuck. And last is the Asshole. In between rounds (namely, after the second and third rounds of play) the President is able to trade two cards with the Asshole and the Vice President can trade one card with the Bumblefuck.

Once all 4 rounds are completed, a final set of bonus points are awarded to teams based on their final ranking. The Asshole gets 0 additional points. The Bumblefuck gets 1 point. The Vice President gets 2 points. The President gets 3.

The winner of the game is the team who earns the most amount of points. So it behooves(sp) teams to try and either maintain a higher rank, or get out of the lower ranks.

One of the interesting possible side-effects of this multiplayer FPS and card game hybrid is cooperation and back-stabbing that could go on during the course of a 5 minute round of Capture the Flag. Lower ranked teams could gang up on higher ranked teams. Or perhaps the mid-ranked teams could try to fend off both the lowest and highest ranked team. Or maybe one of the lower teams could make it to the top by working with another team, only to screw that other team in order to keep their high ranking.

Drawing for this to come either later today (gosh it's already Thursday!) or to be shown live in class.

I happened to run across this site while doing my usual search of independent games. This is the sort of project that makes me happy that games and associated interactive entertainment media exist. It's an adventure game of a fake remaning soviet country in Ukraine. Although I haven't played it yet (I plan on doing so shortly) the concept is definitely outside the norm of the male 13-34 demographic. I'll have more about this after I've played it. You can find it here.

It was an interesting game in which people were to one-up each other by passing them by to win. The big problem I had with it was the title. I think the gameplay didn't really reflect riding other people's coattails. It felt more like I was using other people to get ahead. The more people there were to use, the further ahead I could make it. Riding coattails means I stay behind someone and ride on their success (but not surpass that person). I'm not sure of what other title could've been used. Maybe Cruise and Abuse?

the food chain game (sorry, I forgot the title):

This was a game that highlights what it is like to hunt and be hunted. The idea was to capture your prey (the person sitting to the right of me) and avoid being captured by my predator (the person sitting to the left of me). I really liked the premise of the game and the game itself actually played real well. I think the only problem I had with it was that in real life, the being at the top of the food chain can't be eaten by the person at the bottom of the food chain. That is, the food chain isn't a circular construct. It's linear going from weakest to strongest (with humans on top). However, it's all but impossible to express this in a game without keeping it balanced for all players. So given that, it's a great concept and made for an enjoyable experience.

the Verona game (I also forgot this title too :/):

The only difference between this game and normal Pachisi is that players can elope with each other. However it was extremely difficult to get the eloping mechanic to actually happen. It required that only certain players could elope with other players and it only lasted up until a specific space was reached, which would break the couple apart. I think this mechanic could've been worked on more so that the core change to Pachisi could be seen and played with more often. I also think some other alterations to the game could have been made which would have furthered the game's life theme. As it was, the game felt like Pachisi with just one added sub-set of rules.

Here is the rules to Cops and Robbers (the game Yuechuan and I put together). Please note that when I typed this up, I accidentally forgot to mention the Safe Houses and what they were used for on the board. They were like the safety spots in Pachisi. Cops couldn't capture Robbers on these particular spots.

1. One thing that struck me at the aquarium was a mural that was completely static, with a touchscreen plasma monitor sitting right next to it. People were supposed to touch parts of the mural on the monitor and make it "come to life". Nobody seemed to get this and most people passed the mural by without giving it a second look. I propose creating a projected interactive mural installation in which the imagery changes based on motion sensors (so kids can participate as they don't need to reach for something to interact with it). The experience would last no longer than 3-5 minutes.

2. I love the camera concept. I think we could do it so that it's not invasive to the aquarium wildlife. I think it'd give people a chance to swim with the fish without getting a diver's license.

3. Continuing on the interactive mural, I'd like to do a thing where interacting with it allows people to see what happens when we harm the environment. The idea would be to inform, more than to show cutesy imagery and try to relate it to social issues (like that horrible 3D movie).

5,000 bucks would be best spent on finding extra help (only if absolutely necessary). I think 5,000 isn't a lot of money, but I do think it'll be inteteresting to see what we can conjure up given this limitation.