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  • 2007 Serious Games Summit GDC: Jane McGonigal On ilovebees, ARGs This latest Serious Games Source feature covers a keynote by alternate reality game creator Jane McGonigal presented during the recent 2007 Serious Games Summit, during which she stated “I design games from the future,” and offered insight into the creation of Halo 2 ARG ilovebees.
  • Serious Game Engine Shootout In the march up to the Serious Games Shootout panel to take place in March during the Serious Games Summit in San Francisco, writer Richard Carey presents a comparative analysis of several prominent engines currently used for developing serious games, as well as quotes from the companies behind the technologies.
  • Playing with Fire: Enemy Dolls In this latest Playing with Fire feature, Powerful Robot Games' Gonzalo Frasca offers his unique insight into the perception of conflict in games, as well as in other media, and notes how looking at events through the eyes of the opposition could lead to better understanding.
Nanoswarm Enters Prototype Testing Ahead Of 2008 Release[07.31.06]

Archimage has confirmed that its serious game, Nanoswarm: Invasion from Inner Space, which is focused on healthy eating and exercise, has entered prototype testing. Archimage is collaborating with experts at the Children’s Nutritional Research Center of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine on the project.

Nanoswarm puts players inside a video game that blends sci-fi action and adventure with evidence-based behavior modification theories. The project is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. Two prototype episodes of Nanoswarm will be tested with children at the Baylor College of Medicine during the following weeks. The tentative release date for the game is January 2008.

The game aims to highlight the growing concern surrounding childhood obesity and its link to type II diabetes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts one third of Americans born after 2000 will be diabetic in their lifetime.

Unlike type I diabetes, which is a result of mostly genetic factors, type II diabetes is primarily associated with diet and physical activity behavior. Diabetes is already the country’s leading cause of new blindness and kidney failure, and is also the nation’s sixth leading cause of death. The goal of Nanoswarm is to illustrate these concerns so that players are better equipped to make healthy choices.

By Jason Dobson
July 31, 2006 12:03:00 PM PT