Situated Research's Blog

(CNN) — History has a funny way of repeating itself, especially when it comes to concerns over the cultural and psychological impact of video games on children.

In 1993, the Senate’s hearings on video game violence gave birth to the Entertainment Software Rating Board and the industry’s current rating system: E for everyone, M for mature (17 and older) and so on. Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will test the constitutionality of a California law that would make it illegal to sell violent video games to minors.

But what gaming insiders find most surprising isn’t that such arguments remain topical. It’s that some 30 years after video games became a popular form of mainstream entertainment, we’re still liable to hear less about games’ positive impact on kids’ lives than sensationalistic accounts of their hidden dangers. Read more »

2010 appears to be a breakthrough year for gaming technologies.  In case you haven’t heard, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and many others in the gaming industry have just announced their latest releases at this year’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles. The E3 press conferences revealed trends toward motion-based game controllers, 3D technologies, controller-less gaming, and an array of retro game titles that are back on the scene. Read more »

(CNN) — Goodbye computer mouse, keyboard and monitor.

Say hello to a new, simpler era of human-computer interaction — this time, with no clunky hardware standing between you and digital information.

In this new world, there are options aplenty. Read more »

Matthew Sharritt, President of Situated Research, has an article titled “Designing Game Affordances to Promote Learning and Engagement” appearing in a special issue of the Cognitive Technology Journal. The issue, focusing on “Games for Good”, contains our article (starting on p. 43). Read more »

When Glenn Harrington donned a motion capture suit complete with more than 40 reflective spheres he wasn’t being turned into the latest video game character, but helping to design car manufacturing jobs that are less physically stressful on workers. Read more »

Rockstar Games was nice enough to send us a copy of Red Dead Redemption to try out. After spending time playing the game, we recommend grabbing a copy. Read more »

If Mario was first designed in 2010, he’d probably have to adopt some of our modern trends. Using eight images, game designer Zack Hiwiller shows us what Super Mario Bros. might look like, if it was made with modern sensibilities:

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TR10 mobile 3-D: Digital Depth synthesizes 3-D scenes from existing 2-D video for smart phones. Read more »

IMMERSED IN POSSIBILITIES: Duke City firm thinking beyond military applications for surround-imagery Multifunction Dome technology

It doesn’t take much to imagine the commercial potential for the technology Albuquerque’s Game Production Services developed for a first-of-its-kind training simulator for the U.S. Army.

The company recently announced the completion of the Multifunction Dome, an 18-foot-high, 37-foot-wide platform that employs 84 projectors and ultrasurround sound system to create a 360-degree “immersive environment” for the Army’s Air Defense School at Fort Sill, Okla. Read more »

A critique of a common method used in video game usability research

Many video game usability practitioners employ a method to test usability within video games, called the ‘RITE’ method, short for Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE). Pioneered at Microsoft Games Studios and Microsoft Research, the RITE method has been adopted by many usability research organizations besides the teams at Microsoft.

While the RITE method has some advantages, such as the ‘rapid iterative’ ability to suggest changes to designers and test them in successive passes, it may fall short when looking for usability issues that lie beneath the surface. Read more »

You might think making games is all about putting 40 percent awesome in a box, throwing in a pinch of zazz and calling it a SKU, but that’s not true. Games, you may have noticed, are all around us, all the time.

In the video below, Carnegie Mellon professor and ex-imagineer Jesse Schell lays out a vision of the future in which our lives become, essentially, one big RPG.

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Sid Meier is known as the mastermind behind some of the most respected and influential video games of all time, such as Civilization, Railroad Tycoon and Pirates.

But in his pursuit of conveying a realistic experience for players, he says his logical mind wasn’t taking into account enough what was going on in players’ heads.

“Gameplay is a psychological experience,” Meier acknowledged during his GDC keynote. Today he is director of creative development at Firaxis Games. “By acknowledging that gameplay is actually a psychological experience we … can end up with a better game.”

Meier outlined specific psychological elements that occur in players’ minds, such as “The Winner Paradox.” Game designers are supposed to give gamers a challenge, but the gamer at the same time expects to win. “In the real world you don’t always win, however in the world of games, you always win” in some capacity, Meier said. Read more »

Tapping on arm allows users to scroll through menus and select options

Touchscreens may be popular both in science fiction and real life as the symbol of next-gen technology, but an innovation called Skinput suggests the true interface of the future might be us.

Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University unveiled Skinput recently, showing how it can turn your own body into a touchscreen interface. Read more »

For years, the sophisticated play of professional teams trickled down to their college and high school counterparts. Recently, that flow has been reversed. Read more »