We all know that the video game industry is a serious business and that it’s not all fun and games. Gaming is an undeniable landscape for the creation of collaborative or competitive spaces through the visualization of the immersive worlds that we want to play in, but video games can provide edu-tainment as well as regular old entertainment.
With this in mind, this week Boston plays host to Games Beyond Entertainment Week, a gaming conference dedicated to providing a forum for exchange focused on serious game development. Organized by Ben Sawyer and Beth Bryant of Digitalmill Inc., and running from May 24th-28th at the Hyatt Harborside, the conference will feature a series of focused events that will showcase the use of games and gaming technologies beyond the normal associations that people have with video games.
Over the week, developers and researchers will participate in talks, demos and discussions to highlight such diverse subjects as accessibility, advergaming, tutorials and the impact that videogames can have on education.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the conference will include the 6th Annual Games for Health Conference. This will be two days of intensive healthcare-related sessions, with keynote speakers exploring the relationship between the virtual and the real world in the fields of health, rehabilitation, psychology, bio-chemistry and the study of disease.
Wednesday will see a key note session by Dr. Richard Marks, senior researcher for Sony, who will be addressing The Mind-Body Experience of Sony Move, the corporation’s eagerly anticipated motion-controlled gaming platform. Marks is expected to discuss how video games can form an important part of exercise through play.
The conference is not purely about discussion groups and presentations from leading developers in the Serious Games industry. There will be an expo (similar to PAXeast) where consumers and attendees will have a chance to immerse themselves in the world of edutainment and the many opportunities that exist to increase educational potential through gaming.
Local representation will come from Microsoft N.E.R.D., MIT, the Mass Technology Leadership Council and Muzzy Lane Software (developers of Making History and the recently released Participatory Chinatown project).
This is a tremendous opportunity for those who believe that games are only about killing zombies or shredding guitar riffs to have their horizons broadened and learn about how gaming is a serious contributor to healthcare and the education sector. We at Bostinnovation are more than happy to see the world beyond the entertainment, and believe that this conference will prove to become an integral part of the local gaming industry.
It might even be fun to be educated.
To learn more about the future of Serious Gaming, be sure to follow the Gaming topic on Pinyadda.
