Just another day at the office
Working for HASTAC has it's perks. Today's Presidential announcement about National Lab Day was the culmination of several frantic months of percolating, planning, wondering, worrying, creating, and kvetching. And it was all worthwhile to see the big public launch of this incredible strategic initiative to improve education and address global challenges.
One of the interesting aspects of this year's Digital Media and Learning Competition is that it includes a partnership with Sony to create "levels" in their PS3 game LittleBigPlanet that incorporate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning. So, dutiful New Media "expert" (ha ha) that I am, I have started to research the game. Not surprisingly, Wikipedia is a definitive resource. I also found a site where users can create their own avatars (known as "Sackboys") for the game. Seen at right is my very own Sackgirl! Cick on it to make your own.
There's more over on BoingBoing today about National Lab Day and on the unique art of LittleBigPlanet (a sample of which is below).
- Ruby Sinreich's blog
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Exploring a new planet
I spent some of the wee hours of the Thanksgiving break actually playing LittleBigPlanet for the first time. (I have a son who is too young for TV, so gaming was restricted to after his bedtime.) I definitely get what all the fuss is about! The beautiful graphics have a depth my partner described as "the opposite of the Wii." The personalization was reminiscent of Second Life, without being nearly as flexible of course. And the game play was not unlike the Atari video games of my youth, with a lot of jumping around, picking up glowing prizes, and avoiding dangerous pits.
The game does a nice job of walking the newbie through the basic skills and concepts, gradually ramping up the challenges to dexterity and problem-solving. After completing the first three story levels a whole new world of user-created community levels opened up before me, as well as an area of blank canvas for me to create my own levels!
...And that's as far as I've gotten, but I will continue to report back here as I learn this game. If you are a Playstation gamer, and especially if you are interested in "serious games" or real-world applications of video games, drop me a line. Rubyji is my Playstation network ID, feel free to friend me there.