Persuasive Games

For the final part of our project we have been asked the question can games change the world? This is a very wide and open topic, as it can be explored in many different areas. To begin with I was interested in how modern games now (especially the first person shooter genres) have to contain multiplayer. This seems (to be mostly Call of Duty) unique selling point. Along with that factor I was also going to debate about how when it comes to multiplayer social playing is more important than being a full on rival competitor.

However as I have taken such a massive interest in War with my first project I have decided to write and debate about how could gaming advance to produce sufficiently engrossing, valid experiences.
I want to explore what possiblities games have, as a media, to create a documentry. History documentaries are used in every other form of media yet it has only barely touched the gaming industry with the original Call of Duty series and Medal of Honor. Games may have had help create a realistic feel with level designs from ex military forces but it is always from the point of the Allies in WWII. Why can we not have level designs from the Axis point of veiw?

Learning with video games

There are lofty expectations for the potential of video games to disrupt schooling in the near future. Video games are based on good learning principles and they can create deep learning experiences that significantly develop student understanding. They also teach vital skills that counteract the short-sightedness of high-stakes tests. As a subject, History stands much to gain from the use of video games as they encourage strategic thinking through decision-making, weighing evidence, and assessing consequences. However, the hype around the educational potential of video games does not match the reality of the classroom experiences. The complexity and depth of many video games results in them being difficult to institute in a traditional factory-model school setting. Video games are not the answer that they are often made out to be in the popular press, and disciples of games are likely to be disappointed. Momentous reform would be needed to the use of time and physical space in schools, and to the conventional roles of teachers and students.
http://learningshore.edublogs.org/2010/12/16/learning-history-with-videogames/

Educational appeal of video games

Video games teach vital skills like teamwork, decision-making and digital literacy, which are often overlooked in the age of high-stakes tests. Research (Van Eck, 2006) has consistently found that games promote learning and reduce teaching time across multiple disciplines and ages. Van Eck comments that, “a cursory review of the experimental research in the last five years shows well-documented positive effects of DGBL across multiple disciplines and learners”. Most teachers only dream of their students spending the amount of motivation, attention, passion, and critical thinking on their classes that some students do playing videogames. Research is also showing how gamers are different as employees and leaders in their attitudes towards the value of experience, their own capabilities, decision-making, risk, and achievement (Beck & Wade, 2004).
http://learningshore.edublogs.org/2010/12/16/learning-history-with-videogames/

Limits to the educational use of video games

Games are usually advocated as part of a blended learning process and therefore the role of the teacher is essential. According to Cuban (2001), introducing technology into the classroom without appropriate teacher training is a waste of money. Teachers need evidence of the effectiveness of video games, how to use them, and how to successfully integrate them into teaching practice. Teachers need sufficient sandpit time to develop their own confidence in using games and understand how games relate to curriculum goals. The most important consideration from a teacher’s perspective is how much the game will make their life easier (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2007). The game must easily enhance their teaching. This involves more than just assuming games will motivate and engage learners. Some work has commenced on designating the best pedagogical roles for teachers when they use games within their classroom: instructor, guide, explorer or playmaker (Hanghøj & Magnussen, 2010).
http://learningshore.edublogs.org/2010/12/16/learning-history-with-videogames/

Hitler: The Rise of Evil

The Rise of Evil is a Canadian TV mini-series in two parts, directed by Christian Duguay and produced by Alliance Atlantis. It explores Adolf Hitler's rise and his early consolidation of power during the years after World War I and focuses on how the embittered, politically fragmented and economically buffeted state of German society following the war made that ascent possible. The film also focuses on Ernst Hanfstaengl's influence on Hitler's rise to power. The miniseries, which premiered simultaneously in May 2003 on CBC in Canada and CBS in the United States, received two Emmy awards, for Art Direction and Sound Editing.
The film's subplot follows the struggles of Fritz Gerlich, a German journalist who opposes the rising National Socialist German Workers Party. He is portrayed as to fulfill the essence of the quotation disputably attributed to Edmund Burke, which is displayed at the beginning and at the end of the film:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hitler_-_The_Rise_of_Evil.jpg

JFK shooting game provokes anger


A Scottish firm has been criticised by the family of John F Kennedy for producing a game which recreates the president's assassination in Dallas.
"JFK Reloaded" was released on Monday to coincide with the 41st anniversary of the president's assassination.
David Smith, a spokesman for Senator Ted Kennedy, the brother of JFK, said the PC-based game was "despicable".
A spokesman for Traffic Games said it was encouraging youngsters to take an interest in history.
The Stirling-based company argued that the game was aimed at disproving theories that a conspiracy, rather than lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald, was responsible for the assassination.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4031571.stm

Movie Review: Saving Private Ryan 68

When you watch the first 25 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, I'm reminded of a story that I heard from an old lady who was tired of playing her umpteenth round of "Housie" at the Catholic Club (in Bangalore, India) a few years ago.

speak... and to see a countless number of them waste away, thanks to this demon that is known as war through the ages.

And in watching the first 25 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, I saw for a brief period what the old lady saw, for it throws you right into the thick of it all. Normandy, that is.

And

She was a nurse for the Red Cross in Africa during WorldWar II, and spent many a sleepless night nursing the wounded and near-dead soldiers. It's a life-changing experience as she mentioned briefly, while hearing the groans of the living dead, so to  you can't help but identify with atleast one of the soldiers regardless of whether they breathed their last or lived to tell the tale. This is the magic of and genius of Steven Spielberg with whom I share a fascination for all things World War II.

But whatever happens during that 25 minutes, the movie will leave even the most trigger happy individual shaken (if not stirred). And I mean, right from the word go till the end...

http://danielchakraborty.hubpages.com/hub/Movie-Review-Saving-Private-Ryan

Environment Designs

After looking through some interesting archives I found some interesting photos of soliders in Normandy and through watching the films , Saving Private Ryan and Enemy of the gates I felt that I could imgine far more of what an environment would have been like to have lived in or have possibly experienced given the circumstances.
This first Image randomly came to me when watching 'Black Hawk Down' with the aftermath when the American rangers arrive at the second downed hawk. So I decided to base this first environment on a downed plane in Stalingrad.
I then did some quick designs of environments that I imagined as well as factual areas that happened in WWII. I stuck with keeping as little amount of people in them as possible to not make people feel un nervy.

Final Designing

With the inital thumbnail sketches done I began asking what where the favourites that they would like to see finalised. I got very similar requests from a variety of people, so taking them forward with what I had learnt from the research, I looked at one or two references and designed with photshop detailed designs, which I feel look relatively pleasing. I also learnt what does work in Photoshop and that I had to spend more time on the tank designs than I intended to compared to some of the pistols or rifles.Again for the time being I am sticking with a back and white feel to the designs since my designs are based from exisitng weapons and vehicles in WWII. If I feel that I have enough time I shall add an overlay colour to give alittle more depth but with a simple black and white it wouldn't effect anyone who disaproves of colour.

 

Initial thumbnails

After learning about the past war, all the; weapons, vehicles and from watching how modern documentry films have been visualized. I can now take this knowledge into my artwork and begin the desgining stage for the weapons and props.
I have started with some very quick and basic ideal thumbnails for the pistol, rifle, sub-machine gun, aircraft and finally tank.
Through all my inital designs I used black and white to show what I saw in my mind aswell as looking at some reference images. It also gives a slight more detail in the images making them not just plain silhouettes.

Inspiration

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Noted for its graphic and realistic portrayal of war, the film is especially notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depicts the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944. Afterwards, it follows Tom Hanks as U.S. Army Captain John H. Miller and seven other men (Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Adam Goldberg, and Jeremy Davies) as they search for a paratrooper, Private First Class James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), who is the last-surviving brother of four servicemen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Private_Ryan

Enemy at the Gates

Enemy at the Gates is a 2001 war film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins and Ed Harris set during the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II.
The film's title is taken from William Craig's 1973 nonfiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad, which describes the events surrounding the Battle of Stalingrad from 1942–1943. It is based on a duel mentioned in the book that developed between Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev and German Major Erwin König.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_at_the_Gates

Armoured Vehicle Research

An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and armed with weapons. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked.
Armoured fighting vehicles are classified according to their intended role on the battlefield and characteristics. This classification is not absolute; at different times different countries will classify the same vehicle in different roles. For example, armoured personnel carriers were generally replaced by infantry fighting vehicles in a very similar role, but the latter has some capabilities lacking in the former.

History

The first AFVs were armoured cars, dating back virtually to the invention of the motor car. Such vehicles were largely used as scouting vehicles, and were armoured to protect the crew. The development of the AFV continued into World War I, when the tracked tank was introduced on the Western Front a machine that was armoured because it was specifically designed to be fired upon.

The tank proved highly successful, and as technology improved the tank became a weapon that could cross large distances at much higher speeds than supporting infantry and artillery. The need to provide the units that would fight alongside the tank led to the development of the wide range of AFVs that exist today, with most armies having vehicles to carry infantry, artillery and anti-aircraft weaponry by the end of World War II. Most modern AFVs are superficially similar in design to their World War II counterparts, with significantly better armour, weapons, engines and suspension - however with an increase in the capacity of transport aircraft allowing AFVs to be practically transported by air, many armies are replacing some or all of their traditional heavy vehicles with lighter airmobile versions, often with wheels instead of tracks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armoured_fighting_vehicle

Tank

The tank is an all terrain AFV designed primarily to engage enemy forces by the use of direct fire in the frontal assault role. Though several configurations have been tried, particularly in the early experimental days of tank development, a standard, mature design configuration has since emerged to a generally accepted pattern. This features a main artillery gun, mounted in a fully rotating turret atop a tracked automotive hull, with various additional machine guns throughout.
Philosophically, the tank is, by its very nature, an offensive weapon. Being a protective encasement with at least one gun position, it is essentially a pillbox or small fortress that can move toward the enemy hence its offensive utility.

Historically, tanks are divided into 3 categories: Light Tanks, small, thinly armoured, weakly gunned, but highly mobile tanks intended for the armoured reconnaissance role, Medium Tanks, mid-sized, adequately armoured, respectably gunned, fairly mobile tanks intended to provide an optimum balance of characteristics for manoeuvre combat, primarily against other tanks and Heavy Tanks large, thickly armoured, powerfully gunned, but barely mobile tanks intended for the breakthrough role against fortified lines, particularly in support of infantry formations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armoured_fighting_vehicle

Armoured personnel carrier

Armoured personnel carriers are intended to carry infantry quickly and relatively safely to point where they are deployed. In 1918, the British Mk V tank was capable of carrying a small number of troops and in 1944, the Canadian general Guy Simonds ordered the conversion of redundant armoured vehicles to carry troops. This proved highly successful, even without training, and the concept was widely used in the 21st Army Group. Post-war, specialised designs were built, culminating in the Soviet BTR-60 and US M113
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armoured_fighting_vehicle

Infantry fighting vehicle

An infantry fighting vehicle is an armoured personnel carrier which can provide significant fire support. The first IFV was the Soviet BMP-1, which surprised western intelligence analysts when it appeared in a military parade in 1967.

Modern IFVs are well-armed infantry carriers, differencing from earlier APCs by their heavier armament allowing them to give direct-fire support during an assault. Many also have firing ports allowing the infantry to fire personal weapons while mounted and improved armour. They are typically armed with a twenty millimetre or larger autocannon, and possibly with ATGMs. IFVs are usually tracked, but some wheeled vehicles fall into this category, too.
Specially-equipped IFVs have taken on some of the roles of light tanks; they are used by reconnaissance organizations, and light IFVs are used by airborne units which must be able to fight without the heavy firepower of tanks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armoured_fighting_vehicle

Aircraft Research

Military aircrafts

Fighters

The main role of fighters is destroying enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat, offensive or defensive. Many are fast and highly maneuverable. Escorting bombers or other aircraft is also a common task. They are capable of carrying a variety of weapons, including machine guns, cannons, rockets and guided missiles.
WWII fighters include the Spitfire, the P-51 Mustang and Bf 109. An example of an interceptor would be the MiG-25. An example of a heavy fighter is the Messerschmitt Bf 110. The term "fighter" is also sometimes applied to aircraft that have virtually no air-air capability – for example the A-10 ground-attack aircraft is operated by USAF "Fighter" squadrons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_aircraft

Bombers

Bombers are normally larger, heavier, and less maneuverable than fighter aircraft. They are capable of carrying large payloads of bombs. Bombers are used almost exclusively for ground attacks and not fast or agile enough to take on enemy fighters head-to-head. A few have a single engine and require one pilot to operate and others have two or more engines and require crews of two or more. A limited number of bombers, such as the B-2 Spirit, have stealth capabilities that keep them from being detected by enemy radar. A WWII bomber would be a B-17 Flying Fortress. Bombers include light bombers, medium bombers, heavy bombers, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_aircraft

Military transport aircraft

Military transport aircraft are primarily used to transport troops and war supplies. Cargo can be attached to pallets, which are easily loaded, secured for flight, and quickly unloaded for delivery. Cargo also may be discharged from flying aircraft on parachutes, eliminating the need for landing. Also included in this category are aerial tankers; these planes can refuel other aircraft while in flight. An example of a transport aircraft is the C-17 Globemaster III. A WWII example would be the C-47. An example of a tanker craft would be the KC-135 Stratotanker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_aircraft