News about Games and Gaming

Scott Nicholson discusses “Reframing Gaming” and Jenny Levine rounds up ‘The Games People Play” in the August issue of American Libraries.

Rafael C. Alvardo, Director of Academic Technology Services at Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA), writes about Overcoming the Fear of Gaming: A Strategy for Incorporating Games into Teaching and Learning in EDUCASE, introducing faculty to games as a new medium for curriculum requirements, and recommending, among oher approaches, studying the game critically, not just playing and discussion. For example, “Instead of using Civilization IV to replace the voice of an authoritative text (or podcast, for that matter) on the nature of historical change, faculty can ask students to study the logic of the game as it applies to the subject matter.”

Kelly Czarnecki covers a cross-country Super Smash Brothers Brawl tournament on the YALSA blog that involved libraries in NC, MI, and OH. “We improved our geography … as well as our sportsmanship skills [and] teamwork skills,” writes Czarnecki. More coverage is on the PLCMC Gaming Zone blog and the AADL AXIS blog.
“Literacy has more than one meaning,” says Kirsten Andersen, explaining the unconventional collections at the Greater Victoria (Quebec) Public Library.

Columbus Public Library got great coverage in the Dispatch about the library’s gaming initiative. “Gaming is storytelling for teenagers,” said Julie Scordato, teen services specialist. Check out CPL on YouTube.

Gaming & anime are destined to combine at an annual event at the Irvine Library, where teens are invited tobring their own consoles and games to play with. “By setting up a game system you are inviting everyone to play; share and share-alike is the rule.” advises the staff blogger promoting the Anime Club.

The new Goudy branch of the Langford Library (Victoria, Canada) is offering express library services that include popular materials, wifi and gaming stations. Says mayor Stew Young: “It’s what I believe should happen with libraries. We should be building smaller ones, more Internet-friendly, more funky with the coffee shop right beside it.”

1UP, publisher of numerous gaming magazines and related websites, writes on their blog: “It should come as no surprise that we at 1UP wholeheartedly support the notion of videogames in libraries, and we bow down to the inevitable future of Halo-savvy librarians.”

Brian Mayer posted a short and succinct entry at LibraryGamer on Why Games Belong in Libraries.

In other gaming news…

Gamasutra is offering a webinar titled “Serious Games: Using Gamer Technology to Solve Real-World Problems,”  on Tuesday August 19 at 2pm EDT.

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Gary (IN) Public Library’s Game Time Galore program offer high and low tech games ranging from Operation to Wii Bowling. Registered participants had to check out two books to get into each session.Librarians at the Montgomery Public Library responded in writing to a political cartoon criticizing gaming at the library. Staff members Carol Legarreta and Kathie Weinberg pointed out that circulation teen books has increased more than 50 percent in the past year.

Professor Megan Winget at the School for Information at the University of Texas (Austin) is working through a grant of over $250K to study collection and preservation of MMOGs. Library Journal’s interview with her appeared at the end of July.

Librarians represented at Comic Con! Merideth Jenson-Benjamin, Mike Pawuk, Eva Volin and David Serchay spoke on a panel. Eva & David even made it on NPR to discuss!

Other Gaming News:

Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass may now be available on a cell phone near you! It debuted to Sprint customers Thursday August 24 August 18.

The ESA released a report on 2008 stats (even though the year isn’t over yet???) Their annual survey continues to claim that more middle aged women play videogames than boys age 6-17. Check out the newest version of Industry Facts to bolster your videogame advocacy efforts!

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The Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation has just awarded to the Georgetown County Library a grant of $600,000 to expand their successful interactive gaming/computer program for teens throughout the county. The library will receive $200,000 per year for the next three years to continue their work at Carvers Bay while establishing the program at three other public libraries.

Starkville (MI) Public Library held a 2-day Monopoly tournament, won by a local homeschooler.

The Fayetteville Public Library has been providing a videogame experience for all ages since May; event organizer Monica Kuryla comments that “the 21st-century library is turning into a community media center. It’s about the social experience of the community,” and gaming furthers that purpose. The article also cites Scott Nicholson’s work with GameLab at Syracuse.

The Longview Library is leaving Rock Band set up and available from 3-6 on Wednesday & Thursdays all summer in the Library’s soundproof, air-conditioned auditorium.

Carroll County Public Library is offering game tournaments this summer. “Video games are actually a perfect fit for the library,” said PR specialist Lisa Back… “A lot of video games focus on learning and they have a social aspect.”

Vashom (WA) Library offers a mix of gaming experiences: board, card, computer and console, and has for the last ten years in their Late @ the Library programs every other month for four hours on Saturday night. “We wanted to give the teens something to do at the library … It’s really given them a sense of ownership of the library,” Librarian Hester Kremer said.

Gamespot sponsored a program featuring the PS3 and Wii Fit at the Bossier (LA) Parish Library with plans to return in the fall.

The Serious Games Portal picked up on libraries getting serious about games. with a nice round up blog post about notable gaming initiatives and ALA’s Verizon grant.

The Detroit Free Press has an article about how libraries have reinvented themselves in the digital age, and because of it, libraries in most communities are thriving.

The Teen Scene at the Waco Library is using a blog to promote their gaming events. Notice the poll about DDR in the left menu

Other Gaming news:
Rock Band II’s track list hase been released, with 84 songs to start with and more available for later download.

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The Entertainment Software Association’s Electronic Entertainment Expo ran this week in Los Angeles, CA. It’s an annual computer and videogame expo for developers, publishers, programmers and other industry types. Since it’s become invitation only, a event for the public — Entertainment for All– takes place October 3-5, 2008.

What happens at E-3? It’s a like a trade show. Console companies and game publishers hold press conferences and parties to announce and celebrate new developments and products and show off game demos. The video game television network offers near complete coverage, including televised press conferences. Microsoft’s was on Monday night, and their big announcements were:

• $50 price drop on the XBox 360 Premium edition, good news for libraries considering this as a purchase
• Netflix partnership to stream movies direct to your XBox360; don’t forget both microsoft & Sony consoles double as a DVD player, so with apublic performance license for films or anime, you can get a lot of programming mileage out of a console
• Highly anticipated titles your gamers will want: Final Fantasy XIII!

Nintendo’s press conference stressed they want to  break down the psychological barriers between gamers & non-gamers, and they are committed to content creation and community building. Their top announcements: 

• Wii Motion Plus! is coming soon! New remotes that are supersensitive, accurate controllers. Plan to replace your original remotes in the near future
• Animal Crossings will be introducing voice chat; it could follow for other games
• Highly anticipated titles your gamers will want: Call of Duty: World at War, Rayman Raving Rabbids 3, Star Wars: Clone War, Wii Music, and for the DS: Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, Spore, Pokemon,  GTA: Chinatown Wars, and productivity type software for airports and ballparks. Gosh, what about a LIBRARY application?! 

Sony declared 2008 to be the year of the PS3! Other announcements:

• Little Big Planet will allow gamers to create games, combining social networking, user-created content & gaming in one title
•  A number of PS3 best sellers will be dropping to $29.99 (titles include Need for Speed, Rainbow 6 Vegas, Assassins Creed, Elder Scrolls, and Ninja Gaiden, to name a few; this is GREAT news for collection development! 
• Another 130 titles will be released for the PS2 before the end of the year - the PS2 isn’t dead yet! At just $129 new for a slimline PS2, it’s a great bargain for budget conscious libraries.
• Playstation Home is still in the works - to combine games, film, music & more
  
• Highly anticipated new releases: DC Universe Online, Resistance 2, God of War 3
• More games available through Sony Online Entertainment (Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty, Crash Commando, PAIN Amusement Park, Flower, Siren: Blood Curse, Rag Doll Kung-Fu: Fists of Plastic) means libraries may want to consider subscriptions to SOE.
  

Further press coverage is online from G4TV, Jostiq, and Gamasutra, among other sites.

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Of possible interest, to any of you attending Comic-Con:

Saturday, July 26; 6:30-7:30 Gamers in the Library?

Did you know that at least 7 out of 10 libraries support gaming? From consoles to D20, board games to CCG’s, gaming in libraries is a hot topic. Find out about this seemingly odd combination with Kearsten LaBrozzi (Glendale Public Library, Arizona), Susan White (University of Advancing Technology), Mike Pawuk (Cuyahoga County Public Library), and Merideth Jenson-Benjamin (Glendale Public Library, Arizona). Hear about successful programs, learn pitfalls to avoid, and find out why gamers in the library are here to stay.

Room 30CDE

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H&M announced the winning virtual design chosen from over 1000 entries to be created in real life. The black and white striped tunic/sundress will retail for about $15 beginning July 31.

Julie Brasil of San Francisco is the winner of the Sony G.I.R.L. (Games in Real Life) game design competition. The prize? A paid internship at Sony Online Entertainment, and a $10,000 scholarship to attend the Art Institutes School. Official G.I.R.L. t-shirts and a blog about her internship experience are forthcoming.

How could your library duplicate one of these contests? Certainly, you could provide tools for a costume or clothing design contest for the Sims or Teen Second Life, using software like Gimp or Photoshop.

And for game design, there are lots of free tools out there for making text adventure, 2-D and 3-D games:

• Adrift: Interactive Fiction Game Creator
• Alice
• Game Creator: Ben 10
• Game Maker
  
• Scratch
• Youth Digital Arts CyberSchool

Check out this article on Teaching Game Design from School Library Journal!

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The Arizona Daily Star picked up the story about ALA’s $1 million Verizon Foundation grant in an article, Libraries Booking Young Gamers, and interviewed, among others, gaming panel expert Liz Danforth. Liz has some great talking points in the article. Way to go, Liz!

The Malpass Library at University of offered a second gaming night on Friday July 11. Events included dominoes, Wii DDR and a LAN party.

The London (Ontario, Canada) Public Library, produced a short and sweet blog post to introduce patrons to videogames, with links to resources on game ratings, game quality, and popular titles. “Gaming is no longer the domain of the young,” writes a staff member.

Manitowoc-Calumet (WI) Library System is offering a series of tournaments, funded by an LSTA grant. “Libraries are all about literacy, but literacy isn’t only reading and writing. … Literacy is about technology,” says Rachel Muchin Young, the library’s public relations manager

AASL is planning its 2009 annual conference in Charlotte, NC, and specifically mentions requests for information about gaming. Proposals are due by September 15, 2008.

I hadn’t heard of the LOEX conference, but one attendee wrote up a post about two sessions on gaming.

A librarian in Stanley, Idaho is launching gaming services this summer, and seeking best practices for small town libraries.

In general gaming news…

Hasbro has teamed with the Electronic Arts to create a sanctioned Scrabble game that began private testing Monday at Facebook and should be publicly available later this month. The popular Facebook game, Scrabulous, is unauthorized, and Hasbro have demanded it be removed. An interesting twist in the gaming and copyright debate!

Led Zepplin continues to decline licensing for recreating their music in videogames. “It ain’t about the money,” says Jimmy Page’s manager.

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Gaming at ALA got the attention of the Chicago Tribune, in the form of an article that covers gaming at conference and gaming in libraries. ALA president Loriene Roy says, “Libraries are adapting to new technology. It ties in with one of our key values, which is equity of access.” ALA staff had their own gaming day back in April, and photos are posted on Flickr.

James Stubbs wrote a great article for School Library Journal on board, card and miniatures games for videogamers. If tabletop games are not familiar to you already, check out “Cardboard for the Silicon Set.”

Charlotte & Mecklenberg County Public Library is hosting a citywide Brawl tournament; their $1000 seed money three years ago lead to a 69000 grant to pay for high end gaming computers and consoles for the library system. During the program at her branch, librarian Brittani Thompson she displays game tutorial books, graphic novels and books on game design. The Charlotte Observer reports the program serves 3000 people a year.

Gaming is just part of the Orlando (FL) Public Library’s technology innovations. Every branch has a Wii and an XBox 360, and there are 300 game titles in circulation, and the Washington-Centerville (OH) Public Library is about to start loaning videogames. “Our library strives to be on the leading edge of library service,” said library director Cindi Klinck, noting their library will be one of four in the state, and the only one in the county, to circulate videogames. Interestingly enough, the collection is being split into 2 age groups - family games for all ages, and games for ages 10 & up.

North Carolina residents are encouraged to take advantage of library services during tough economic times, services like music, movies, board games and classes.

Dante Namiba wrestles with gaming in the school library on his blog, Wrestling with Dewey.

Other Gaming News…

Halo - the Board Game! Halo is being reinvented as a strategy board game for ages 10 & up, and will be available this fall.

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“The American Library Association (ALA) will launch an innovative project to track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy skills and build a model for library gaming that can be deployed nationally.  Funding for the project will be provided by a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation. ”

The funds helped us to pay for the Open Gaming Night and collect model programs from a dozen libraries, programs that will be instituted  in non-gaming libraries. We’ll also be creating “The Librarians’ Guide to Gaming,” a comprehensive, online literacy and gaming toolbox.

The Official Press Release from ALA

Coverage:

The Earth Times

Street Insider

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EDIT 7/10/08: Audio from session available!

20 people attended the games and gaming member interest group meeting Saturday at 10AM. The mission of the group is to address larger issues of games and gaming in libraries. It’s a cross platform group not intended to take the place of divisional interest or discussion groups. One of our goals is in 3 years, to be a round table: 600 member signatures are needed. Member roles may include gaming ambassadors to get info to state conferences, liasons to ALA divisions, liasons to gaming vendors/industry, people to run gaming night, market our events and programs, and more.

Communication Venues for The Games & Gaming Member Interest Group:

Add your name to the member list at http://gaming.ala.org/resources/index.php?title=Games_and_Gaming_MIG_Members! ALA Community Spaces is coming, and there is a mailing list at http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/gaminginlibraries. Messages are being cross posted to the LibGaming group. Sign up at http://groups.google.com/group/libgaming.

Resources
ALA Gaming Blog

ALA Gaming Wiki

Games in Libraries Podcast

Game Lab Research Articles

The first half of the meeting was introductions and sharing. A rundown of some of the great projects from public, special, academic, school, and virtual librarians:

• Aligning games with AASL standards http:// sls.gvboces.org/gaming
• Aligning games with ACRL standards
• Syracuse Game Lab
• 21st century learning skills acquired in World of Warcraft
• Second Life, Game design classes, a Game Lab, LAN and online gaming, all at Imaginon
• Senior Center “Transforming life after 50″ grant
• Online RPG to teach info lit skills
• Senior spaces @ old bridge library
• Bringing in materials to support use of games in curriculum, and investigating games for info lit at UIUC @ urbana champaign
• Game collection for circulation to university students
• Public library gaming in 21 libraries in Columbus OH, with a tournament to utilize AADL software
• Console based gaming @ Hennepin County Library System
• University of CA-Davis in Second LIfe
• Gen Con Trade Day for Educators - using games for curriculum

We gave a quick overview of proceedings at Open Gaming Night, which was only a preamble for annual 2009. Open Gaming Night and the Gaming Pavilion have been well covered by ALA press. Verizon Foundation welcomed us, and Presidential Citations for Gaming presented by Loriene Roy. (winners were Brian Myers of the Wilmette Public Library, Julie Robinson, Branch Manager of the KCPL Ruiz Library, and David Ward and Mary Laskowski at the University of Illinois Library. For next year, we hope to have better PR, better signage, and assessment of the event. The program is a development of a Best Practices Model for Gaming Night for librarians at your local library conference

Shameless plugs followed:

• The new International Journal of Games and Computer Mediated Simulations is working on issue 2, deadline is ongoing.
• The Cartoon Network has a free game design software called Game Creator that reached 1 million users in the first month.
• In May, there was a scientific convergence conference in World of Warcraft on the Earthern Rings server Guild: US Science
• Check out a gaming literature review and survey on learning skills gained in WoW at http://whygames.pbwiki.com
• There is a Librarian Guild on WoW now, Kirin Tor server

Upcoming Events

Now-July 15
2007 Gaming Program Survey by Library Game Lab of Syracuse

July 9-10, 2008: Games Learning & Society in Madison Wisc
video of sessions will be posted at http://glsconference.org

August 14-17 2008
GenCon - Gaming Convention in Indianapolis, IN

Nov 2-4, 2008 Games Learning and Libraries Sympoisum, Oak Brook, IL
Register soon! One thing to look forward to this year: bathroom breaks!

November 2008
CA library association preconference for technology (will include gaming)

November 15 2008
National Gaming in Libraries Day
Hasbro is donating 16,000 copies of Pictureka for simultaneous play on Saturday November 15

2009 Program Planning followed. After tossing around ideas like Legalities of Gaming, How to Run Game Night at your Local Conference, and Games You’ve Never Heard Of, we settled on Gaming Advocacy program to highlight the value of games and go over talking points, and host a poster session at open gaming night to showcase games you’ve never heard of.

Join us in Denver for our next meeting, time, date and location to be announced!

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