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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.
ZMQ, Reliance Bringing AIDS Awareness To Mobile Phones[06.29.06]

A new report from All Headline News highlights a new set of mobile games from Delhi-based gaming company ZMQ Software designed to raise funds to increase HIV/AIDS awareness. While before now the games were only available to users of Reliance Infocomm, one of India's largest private cellphone providers, ZMQ now plans to make the games available globally.

According to the report, the games were downloaded 2.9 million times between when they were made available in December 2005 and April 30, 2006. The company has indicted that it hopes to see 13-14 million downloads by the end of the year.

The report noted that one of the games, Demons XI and Safety XI, is a “cricket-based game involving balls in the form of condoms, faithful partners, information on HIV and the symbolic AIDS red ribbon.” In order to win the game, a player must avoid “googlies and doosra balls - unsafe sex, infected blood transfusions, infected syringes and the company of bad friends.”

“The games will educate mobile subscribers and create awareness while reducing stigma and discrimination," noted Hilmi Quraishi, ZMQ's chief technology officer.

Other similarly themed games released by ZMQ include Ribbon Chase, Messenger, and Quiz with Babu. According to the report, Reliance Infocomm donates an undisclosed amount of the revenue from the download of these games to projects designed to assist people living with HIV/AIDS.

ZMQ plans to release the games globally by September 1, 2006, with content and language adjusted so that the games will be accessible to everyone who downloads them.

By Jason Dobson
June 29, 2006 12:55:00 PM PT