September 2006

One Laptop per Child

"Computers were supposed to be a democratizing tool," says designer Yves Behar. "You used to see that boundless optimism from Silicon Valley hardware companies. One Laptop per Child is the first thing I've seen in many years that is in line with the original goal of the PC."

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a hugely ambitious project begun by the founder of MIT's Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte. The goal of OLPC is to manufacture and distribute 5 million sturdy, easy-to-use laptop computers to children in underdeveloped nations around the world. One of the key challenges for the project's design team (headed by Behar) is to keep the cost of the laptops so low (about $140 each) that governments will be willing to buy lots of them (and many countries, including Brazil, Egypt, Nigeria and Thailand, have already expressed interest in OLPC).

Bdhar and his team are currently continuing work on the prototype for the laptop, the latest of which is pictured here. And while it is very difficult work, he is certain of its value. "There's a criticism that comes up. I think it's the stupidest argument: Send kids food, send them water," says Bdhar. "This is the typical ignorance of the West. There are different conditions in different places. And there are a lot of places where kids are not starving, where kids want to learn - more than anything else."

To learn more about OLPC, visit http://laptop.org/. And you can read more about Yves Bdhar at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.08/laptop.html.

 

It’s the End of E3 As We Know It (and I Feel Fine???)

In a shock to many in the game industry, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) recently announced the downsizing of its previously monumental video-game trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

According to the ESA's Doug Lowenstein, E3 will now be renamed the E3 Expo and become a much more "intimate" event. "It is no longer necessary or efficient to have a single industry 'mega-show,'" said Lowenstein. "By refocusing on a highly-targeted event, we think we can do a better job serving our members and the industry as a whole…."

Some, however, believe the "downsizing" of E3 was the result of a decision by the largest game companies (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and Electronic Arts) to withdraw their substantial financial support for the event. Colin Campbell, a writer for the website "Next Generation," wrote that the main industry players "believe that the multi-million dollar budgets would be better spent on more company-focused events that bring attention to their own product lines rather than the industry as a whole."

To learn about some of the other possible reasons for E3's transformation, read Campbell’s analysis at www.next-gen.biz.

 

More Women © Mobile Games

Flying in the face of conventional wisdom about gender and video games, a recent Parks Associates study found that when it comes to mobile games, players are actually more likely to be women than men. According to the study, women make up 59% of all consumers who play games on their cell phones and/or PDAs.

Most of the games played on mobile devices are categorized as "casual games," relatively simple games that don’t take a long time to play (e.g., Solitaire, Tetris, Mahjong). Jason Spero of the mobile game company Digital Chocolate contrasts these games with the more complicated, graphics-intensive ones typically played on game consoles: "On the phone, people play for two to five minutes at a time. You have totally different design parameters, and it's much more mass-market because everybody’s got it in their pocket." And while women represent an increasing percentage of gamers overall (38%), the study suggests that women are that much more enthusiastic about casual games that can be played anytime and anywhere.

With the mobile game market growing quickly (it's expected to be a billion dollar industry by 2010), some analysts are suggesting that the industry might create a higher percentage of these games targeted particularly to women. To learn more, visit boston.com.

And for some interesting thoughts on the future of casual games in general, see the article at Gamasutra.

 

Update on (P)laying down the Law

We recently wrote about several cases of state legislatures passing laws around the regulation of video games sales. Another such law, the Safe Games Illinois Act, has now been declared unconstitutional, and it’s resulted in great taxpayer expense. Check out the story at Gamasutra.

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