based on my reading of Game Usability: Advancing the Player Experience (Chapter 2)

Game development and traditional production software development share various similarities. However, unlike production software, measures such as efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction are not enough for success. Although this may sound like common sense, when large amounts of money are at stake, there is some convincing that will be necessary with both management and developers. A few of the key points that are mentioned on “Game Usability: Advancing the Player Experience” are, justifying return on investment, formalizing work procedures, and building cross-professional relationships.
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Popularity: 3% [?]

based on my reading of Game Usability: Advancing the Player Experience (Chapter 1)

Why Game Research?
A new generation of gamers has expanded at a rapid pace. The doors have flung open with new consumer demographics that have never had much of an influence in the gaming industry. This being said, game developers and publisher have the opportunity to reach a broader audience and stay competitive in the gaming industry.

Traditionally, the typical gamer’s user profiles shared many commonalities with the designers that created them. This allowed them to rely on gut intuition to make design decision. However, with the introduction of other genres such as social and casual gaming, this is no longer the case.(Isbister, 2008, Chapter 1, Section 1.1, para. 2) To appeal to a larger more diverse audience game designers need to make more informed decision.
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Popularity: 3% [?]

It is that time of year again. Looking through websites for the perfect present for all those people on my Christmas list. For me, the best part of the entire experience is checking out all the wonderful toys that are out, and living vicariously through the kids that i buy them for. Typically i try to put some effort into buying toys that I feel have some productive value and are fun. I also try my best not to buy into the glitzy commercials and Hollywood productions that some toys have.

Reflecting on my own toys from my youth, there are only a handful of toys that really resonate with me. Most of these toys had aspects of construction. For example I loved GI Joe, but my clearest memory of interacting with them where building the vehicles with my dad, not actually playing with them. I loved playing with my Domino Rally Set, and create Rube Goldberg type creations. Then, of course there is the popular Lego construction kit that has withstood the test of time.

The bellow video, is far beyond I ever created with my Domino Rally set, but was very impressed!

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Popularity: 12% [?]

A local teacher asked me a question that immediately took me back to my childhood. “How do you help an eager non-English speaking parent, not feel helpless when their children come home with homework?” According to her, these parents want to do the very best for their kids, however their lack of understanding the English language is not allowing them to be as involved as they would like to be.
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Popularity: 14% [?]

co-authored by: Adrienne Schafer

Background

Young children learn how to recognize and identify things such as numbers and letters at school. What they don’t learn from their teachers is how to recognize and properly express emotions. This is something they are expected to learn at home, but if a young child has been abused or lives in a household where the only emotions they’re exposed to are negative, they don’t have the opportunity to gain emotional intelligence and build emotional literacy. Young children need to be taught how to properly recognize and express their emotions to fully realize their potential and to avoid unnecessary conflict in school and social settings.

EEMIO, which stands for Enabling Emotional Instruction & Observation, is a physical toy coupled with a web site that provides children with activities and lessons that help them build their emotional intelligence or EQ by developing emotional vocabulary, also known as “feeling words” as well as coping mechanisms for emotional situations. A child’s inability to express or recognize emotions can lead to behavioral problems which extend to the classroom and ultimately affect their learning experience. By understanding and learning to identify different types of emotions, children can apply methods of self-regulation.

It can be difficult for adults such as social workers to get children to discuss their feelings if they try to sit down and talk about it. Allowing young children to interact with a toy and web site provides a level of safety and familiarity that encourages them to open up more. This approach allows adults to expand on topics the child might have touched upon during their interactions with the toy.

According to the Emotional Literacy Campaign at www.feel.org “ ‘Emotional Literacy’ is the ability to recognize, understand and appropriately express our emotions.”
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Popularity: 8% [?]