National Geographics Shows Its Gamer Side, Launches Video Game Series
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 11.19.08
Photo via Neeta Lind
National Geographics is launching into video games, something we’re a bit surprised hasn’t already happened considering the teaching potential behind them. The games have been built in conjunction with recent articles and television programs launched by the nature icon.
The first game is already available and more are on their way. But, has National Geographics captured the potential behind them - are they worth the electricity put into playing them?
Already available for computers and the iPhone is “Herod’s Lost Tomb” – a find-the-lost-object game revolving around a story in the December issue and TV show. Later in the month, for Nintendo DS, will be “National Geographic: Panda” in which the gamer essentially has to raise a panda. More upcoming titles include “Rain Forests,” “Greencity,” and “National Geographic: Africa.”
"Our content is extremely well-suited for a global gaming audience," said Paul Levine, a National Geographic executive who will lead the new games division. The games will be drawn from a broad range of content and themes across National Geographic's properties.
Those are very tempting titles, especially for big National Geographics fans. And the variety is sure to capture a wide audience. Yet what makes these games worth the energy put in to them? Gaming, after all, takes electricity. National Geographics of course is a huge source for quality information and teaching tools for the world around us. So the games will be quality tools as well, right?
While the games seek to offer "entertainment with substance," Levine said he does not expect them to be used in schools. "They are games, first and foremost," he said.
Not too reassuring that they are a cut above popular time-wasters.
We’re all for games that teach people about the environment and have an impact on how people view and treat the world outside their windows. Hopefully, these games – especially coming from such a natural world giant as National Geographics – will live up to that. Though the emphasis on the gaming element rather than the educational element has us worried.
If you do want to play, check out some greener gaming tips.
Via MSNBC
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Educational games are boring as hell.
They fail as games, and fail as educating because nobody wants to play them.
Games are entertainment, not "teaching tools".
What expertise of games business and educational games do you have to criticize National Geographic's plans?
Be as condescending an insulting as you want about games ("popular time-wasters" ),
you won't educate anyone with such attitude.
Everyone has their vices. I think at the end of the day, video games are a pretty green hobby, using only slightly more electricity than TV watching in most cases.
Personally, I tend to game most on my MacBook Pro (Boot Camp), which uses 85 watts at peak in theory, but according to online reviews uses about 24 watts at idle, and 37 watts while under load, or my Wii, which I've read uses 14 watts, but continues to use that power even while off, likely because of its 24/7 online connection system which isn't that widely used. A good idea for the next generation might be to have the Wii just boot up every hour, check to see if any updates/info/messages have been pushed, and then shut down.
My roommate seems to have the dirtiest gaming habits, as he plays on an Xbox 360. It uses 200 watts of power, and it feels like it! The corner of the room he keeps it in is notably warmer, and I've placed cold drinks next to it without thinking to find them lukewarm in less than 30 minutes.
This isn't meant to bash Microsoft, of course. The Xbox is meant to be produced cheaply and most consumers don't consider power constraints, but do worry about the graphic capabilities. Meanwhile, the Wii is meant to be small and reliable since Nintendo has a generous warranty system, so overheating related defects would make it harder to maintain. Also, the Wii sells itself on the motion-sensing technology rather than stellar graphics. The laptop has to use less power because it's meant to last about 3 hours on a battery charge, and more power would produce more heat, which could damage the sensitive components inside since laptops don't have room for the bigger heatsinks inside larger computers.
What would be nice to see in the world of gaming is less physical media. Steam is a great service, but I wish Valve would pass on the savings to consumers. When at home, I buy game via Steam, but at college, I tend to buy a physical copies of games because the downloading is too slow. The Wii could use a bigger hard drive for online games. The Xbox needs more A-List titles for sale on the marketplace, and a larger hard drive to support them. This confuses me, because they do have demos for the big games (Mirror's Edge, Banjo Kazooie 3, L4D, etc), but don't sell the full games that way.
I'd also like to see game systems come with rechargeable controllers in the box if they are using wireless controllers. Preferably with an option to charge through the console itself, so that the controller's don't get lost, and the console's vampire power goes to good use. The problem with the current system is that they include a controller and batteries, but then the alkaline batteries die, and most consumers will just replace them with more alkaline batteries, since the initial investment of rechargeables can be off-putting, and it's a pain to remember to take them out and recharge them. If they use custom batteries that fit better in the controller, that makes the controllers more ergonomic and lighter, too, and perhaps healthier for one's hands.
Just realized what I typed was near completely off topic. As for video games teaching about green issues/history, that is a good idea. The problem really seems to be that they can seem really preachy compared to their purely entertainment oriented brethren. However, I feel like we really are scratching the surface of using video games to educate and inform.
What's interesting is that many of the better developers do seem to consider psychology and how people learn inside of games. If you have any recent Valve games, play through them again with Developer's Commentary turned on, and they'll talk on and on about how much thought is put into level design and so on in order to inspire people to learn how to solve a puzzle or get through a tough spot creatively. They also talk about how they pace a game so people stay engaged and don't get fatigued, which sounds a lot like how educators struggle to keep students motivated. I predict that within 10 years, we'll have a Renaissance of educational gaming that's actually fun and educational.