Filed under: Games, Linux, Open Source
Design an education game for the OLPC
by Brad Linder May 26th 2007 at 11:00AM
How do you get national governments to commit to ordering hundreds of thousands of your new low-cost computer for "educational" purposes? Put more games on it, of course.The One Laptop Per Child Project is hosting a "game jam" in Needham, Massachusetts from June 8th through the 10th. The goal is to get small teams of game designers together to create open source games that:
- Take advantage of the XO laptop's mesh networking capability
- Use the built in camera
- Use the XO's tablet mode (it's not a touch-screen, but there are joystick-like buttons on the side
- Oh yeah, and educational games, and applications that let kids create their own games
[via PC World]
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rob O. said 9:37PM on 5-26-2007
Right. Not enough to vainly hope that a teacher can hold a student's focus when he has notebook PC sitting on the desk in front of him but now we're going to turn it into a glorified GameBoy? Poor teacher hasn't got a prayer...
This whole thing is a well-intentioned boondoggle. Notebook PCs aren't the key to a better life for impoverished children. It's incredibly naive to believe that the introduction of technology into the lives of children (third-world or otherwise) will somehow magically equate to a better educational environment or boost a child's learning potential.
We've certainly seen no evidence that the introduction of technology bring about miraculous educational reform for children in America. In fact, studies are beginning to indicate that computers may be a barrier to kids learning to think creatively and solve problems. Many U.S. schools that had launched programs to provide computers to students are now reconsidering because of the lack of positive impact on academic achievement.
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Brian said 8:15AM on 5-27-2007
OLPC definitely is a nice concept and adding a open source games are going to be a real nice touch. Does anyone know if anyone is US (like myself) would be eligible to purchase one? =)
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