Not All Video Games are Evil

One of the big news topics last week was the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Immediately came the condemnation of the video game industry from parent groups and others with their own conservative agenda. While games like Grand Theft Auto get all the attention you may be surprised to know there are video games designed to change the world in a positive manner.

My friends at Breakaway Games know a thing or two about simulations and take the topic very serious. Best known for their battle simulations Breakaway entertains and provokes thought without gangsters and prostitutes. I’ve listed some titles you might take a look at.

Pulse!
Playing doctor will never be the same once you have a look at “Pulse!”. Developed jointly with Texas A & M the future of medical education is featured by this virtual simulation of clinical health care training.

A Force More Powerful
If you’d like to see yourself as Ghandi or Martin Luther King this simulation game might be for you. Your job is to oust a repressive dictator by creating a campaign of non-violent resistance.

Incident Commander
If you’d like a job with Homeland Security this simulation game is for you. You’ll face hostage situations, bomb scares, chemical spills and other potentially real life disasters. Incident Commander is distributed free to municipalities by the Dept. of Justice.

Code Orange
If the hospital environment suites you, Code Orange Emergency Medical Management Training for Mass Catastrophe might thrill you. Can you handle mass casualties from a weapon of mass destruction as they flood your ER?

Disclaimer: My friend Doug Whatley at Breakaway Games and my other real gamer friends will tell you I’m not a gamer. My attention span reaches its limit with simulations like the old Activision title “Little Computer People”.

How Does the Wii Controller Work?

According to Technology Review

“The key to the Wii's main controller is its three-axis microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) accelerome­ters, which measure movement in three dimensions.”

As some of my readers know I’m a big fan of the Wii, even though it’s caused some old aches and pains. Sales of Nintendo Wii are kicking butt even against the superior graphics of the PlayStation and X-Box.

The tactile and audio response along with the realistic play action makes the Wii a generation ahead of any other video game console. The controller includes a speaker so you hear the whoosh sound of your tennis racket, and includes its own micro processor with both RAM/ROM memory.

The controllers use a combination of both Broadcom Bluetooth and infrared signals to quickly detect distance and motion. The console includes WiFi so the Wii can connect to your local wireless network. I regularly send photos back and forth to my grandkids Wii located in Germany.

Thanks to my CNet newsletter I was directed to a great article in the MIT Technology Review called “Hack: The Nintendo Wii”. This article is the best explanation I’ve seen for how the Wii controllers work.

This reminds me of back when Texas Instruments developed a 10th level LPC voice synthesizer for their Speak & Spell toy. They had no idea the significance of what they created. While this motion-sensitive technology was created for the video game wars I expect to see it adopted for many other applications.