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Virtual reality: game or reality takeover?
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May 23, 2008
Video games have become a huge man-made economic resource. The worldwide sale of six million copies of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV earned its publisher $500 USD million in the first week of the game’s May release.
Are we seeking more sophisticated forms of entertainment through a medium that possesses possible educational value? Or does this trend mean that the virtual worlds offered by video games are changing our concepts of reality and the world as we know it?
Anthony Gurr, an SFU master of education student, can offer some insightful answers to these questions and others that are cropping up at two major new media conferences in Vancouver. The Vancouver International Game Summit has just wrapped up. Vidfest, a four-day conference for people in film production, new media, online gaming and television, is running until May 24 on Granville Island and at other locations across the city.
Gurr is a veteran game developer with 20 years of experience working for the video game industry in Canada, Japan, and the United States. He is researching the possible benefits of using video games in public education to make learning an engaging experience. Gurr is debuting the pilot episode for Dr. Arkanoid Presents! — a proposed 10-part television documentary series he produced — at the SFU Burnaby campus on Tuesday, June 3 and Thursday, June 5.
Episode one, A ‘Radical’ Point of View, an interview with Kelly Zmak, president of Radical Entertainment, will be shown to the Faculty of Education from 12:30 -1:30 p.m. at the Learning Instructional Development, and again, at the same time, on June 5 to the campus community. Radical Entertainment is one of Vancouver’s most prominent game development studios and has sold more than 25 million copies of its games worldwide since it started in 1991. Zmak has worked for well-known game publishers, including Acclaim Entertainment, Sierra Online, and Vivendi Games.
Anthony Gurr, 604.263.8435, agurr@sfu.ca (Vancouver resident)
Are we seeking more sophisticated forms of entertainment through a medium that possesses possible educational value? Or does this trend mean that the virtual worlds offered by video games are changing our concepts of reality and the world as we know it?
Anthony Gurr, an SFU master of education student, can offer some insightful answers to these questions and others that are cropping up at two major new media conferences in Vancouver. The Vancouver International Game Summit has just wrapped up. Vidfest, a four-day conference for people in film production, new media, online gaming and television, is running until May 24 on Granville Island and at other locations across the city.
Gurr is a veteran game developer with 20 years of experience working for the video game industry in Canada, Japan, and the United States. He is researching the possible benefits of using video games in public education to make learning an engaging experience. Gurr is debuting the pilot episode for Dr. Arkanoid Presents! — a proposed 10-part television documentary series he produced — at the SFU Burnaby campus on Tuesday, June 3 and Thursday, June 5.
Episode one, A ‘Radical’ Point of View, an interview with Kelly Zmak, president of Radical Entertainment, will be shown to the Faculty of Education from 12:30 -1:30 p.m. at the Learning Instructional Development, and again, at the same time, on June 5 to the campus community. Radical Entertainment is one of Vancouver’s most prominent game development studios and has sold more than 25 million copies of its games worldwide since it started in 1991. Zmak has worked for well-known game publishers, including Acclaim Entertainment, Sierra Online, and Vivendi Games.
Anthony Gurr, 604.263.8435, agurr@sfu.ca (Vancouver resident)