In the News Archives

October 2006

It’s Election Season for Gamers, Too

The Video Game Voters Network (VGVN) recently announced a new initiative, “Play for Real: Gamer Voter Drive,” the objectives of which are to educate gamers about current political issues relating to games and to provide information about registering to vote in this year’s elections.

According to Doug Lowenstein, the president of the Entertainment Software Association (the sponsor of the new gamers’ group), the VGVN is a “grassroots political network” whose goal is to “engage gamers by offering this new [voter] registration tool, and by spreading the word that it’s time for gamers to put down their controllers and play for real by voting in the upcoming elections.” This is not the first time that the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has gotten involved in politics. It has also been the sponsor of many lawsuits filed against states where legislatures have passed laws attempting to restrict the sale of video games (typically games deemed to be excessively violent).

In addition to encouraging voter registration, the VGVN is currently engaging its members to take action against “The Family Entertainment Protection Act,” soon to be introduced in the U.S. Senate. The bill, which will be introduced by Senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh, would attempt to regulate video game sales at the federal level.

To learn more about VGVN and its activities, go to http://www.videogamevoters.org/

 

America Still Digitally Divided

Is there really a “digital divide” between school children who have access to computers and those that don’t?

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), there is. In a recent study, it found that almost every school in the U.S. has internet access, but that there are major demographic differences in terms of internet access in students’ homes. The study showed that 54% of white students regularly used the internet at home, compared with only 27% of African American students and 24% of Hispanic students.

The lack of access to technology can, of course, have very real implications for students. Here’s an excerpt from the blog of San Francisco first-grade teacher, Klaus Uebelacker (also available at http://lessonplans.blogs.nytimes.com if you’re a New York Times subscriber):

“As I was setting up the computers in my classroom last week, I remembered one family that last year waited in line at the public library for two hours for a computer; they wanted their child to have access to Web site to practice addition, which I had included in my students’ homework package. I know that this family eventually bought a computer over the summer; they knew that technology at home is a part of what I expect as a teacher, as much as I expect them to have pencils, crayons, and books at home. But not all families can afford computers.”

And the digital divide can have long-term impacts as well. Citing the NCES study, Mark Lloyd of the Center for American Progress said that the lack of internet access “narrows [children’s] ability to even think about the kind of work they can be doing. It doesn’t prepare them for a world in which they’re going to be expected to know how to do these things.”

You can learn more about the study “Computer and Internet Use by Students in 2003” at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006065.

Wii Shall Be Released

According to industry sources, Nintendo is likely to release its new Wii console in the U.S. this November at a price of approximately $250, much less than competing consoles from Sony and Microsoft. The big news about Wii, though, is that it’s Nintendo’s attempt to reach beyond its core market of hard-core gamers to a wide general audience of folks who have previously been intimidated and/or uninterested in games.

Wii’s big technological innovation is its controller, a small remote-shaped tool that enables players to interact physically with the games they play. For instance, players swing the controller like a racket to play tennis; make a throwing motion with it to toss a spiral in football; and turn it to steer their cars in racing games.

According to Reginald Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s president and chief operating officer, “Our focus is interactive game play, a whole new way to play, that puts fun back into this business. It allows everybody to pick up and play and isn't focused on the core gamer.” While Sony and Microsoft have typically placed their emphasis on creating games with progressively more complex graphics, Fils-Aime says that “prettier pictures will not bring new gamers and casual gamers into this industry. It has to be about the ability to pick up a controller, not be intimidated, and have fun immediately.”

You can follow developments about the new Wii console at Gamasutra and at Nintendo’s product website.

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