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Games for Change Fifth Annual Festival – June 2-4, 2008 Keynote Addresses by The Honorable Sandra Day O'Connor and New One-Day Workshop Funded by the MacArthur Foundation Teaches Major New Announcement From the AMD Foundation Expo Night To Feature Microsoft Environmental Games NEW YORK, May 19, 2008 – The nonprofit organization Games for Change presents its fifth annual festival in New York City, June 2-4, 2008 hosted by Parsons The New School for Design. The festival brings together leading non-profit organizations, game scholars, and industry experts to explore and expand the role of digital games as agents of social change and showcases some of the hottest new games in development during a special game expo. Highlights of the festival include a closing keynote by the Honorable Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (which can be viewed via webcast at http://fora.tv/2008/06/04/Games_for_Change_Sandra_Day_OConnor), and a one-day workshop funded by the MacArthur Foundation designed to teach non-profit professionals how to use games to fulfill their social issue missions. The AMD Foundation will also be making a major announcement on this day about a new education initiative involving social issue games. “Now in our fifth year, the Games for Change festival is proud to have brought attention to games as a means to promote social impact initiatives,” said Suzanne Seggerman, President and Co-founder of Games for Change. “This year’s festival continues to showcase the best practices of social issue game design while increasing the accessibility of games among educators, non-profit leaders, philanthropic entities and others through new programs like the one-day workshop.” This year’s festival will feature two keynote addresses focusing on the vision and future of the public interest game community, beginning with a joint address by Dr. James Paul Gee of Arizona State University and Henry Jenkins of MIT on June 3. Both Gee and Jenkins are the leading scholars on learning and interactive media and joint advisors to MIT’s Education Arcade, a consortium of educators and business leaders working to promote the educational use of computer and video games. On June 4, the Honorable Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will speak about a new interactive civics education project she is developing in partnership with Dr. Gee. Now in its third year hosting the Games for Change Festival, Parsons recently deepened its relationship with the organization through the launch of PETLab, the first public interest game design and research laboratory for interactive media. Supported by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, the lab connects the work of the public and private sector with educators and designers to build an overall framework for design as a learning activity. “Through the development of PETLab, Parsons and Games for Change are supporting the next generation of social impact game designers while encouraging the real-world application of these games,” said New School President Bob Kerrey, who will deliver opening remarks at the keynote speech by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. “This incubator fulfills the university’s mission to strengthen the connections between design and the social sciences.” The June 3 Expo Night, hosted by Microsoft, will showcase the latest social issues games in development. Microsoft will present games designed by finalists in the “Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge”. The designers, flown in from around the world, will present their games. As part of Microsoft’s Imagine Cup Competition, this nationwide, socially responsible game initiative was launched at last year’s Expo to challenge game designers to use technology to support a sustainable environment. There will also be a showcase of games created by the United Nations, including games about malaria prevention, water conservation, and global poverty. Other non-profits will display games on immigration, Hurricane Katrina and “playing the news.” PETLab will also participate in the Expo. This year’s festival features the addition of a full day of programming on June 2nd dedicated to helping non-profits utilize gaming technology to fulfill their mission of social service. Titled ‘Let the Games Begin: A 101 Workshop on Making Social Issue Games,’ the workshop is one of 17 winners out of more than 1000 applicants of the MacArthur Foundation’s DML (Digital Media and Learning) Competition. This workshop provides hands-on sessions by notable figures in the field on the fundamentals of social issue games featuring leading experts on topics including game design, fundraising, evaluation, youth participation, distribution, and press strategies. 101 Workshop is sponsored by the AMD Foundation, a leading technology corporation which is announcing a major new philanthropic initiative on this day. Throughout the festival, panels will address hot-button topics as such as impact assessment, games and journalism, funding challenges and public media initiatives. Featured panelists including: game designers Jim Gasperini (Hidden Agenda), Chris Crawford (Balance of Power and Balance of the Planet), and Ken Eklund (creator of World Without Oil); Dr. Michael Levine, director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center; Shelley Pasnick, director of the Center for Children and Technology; Mary Flanagan, director of the Tiltfactor Lab; Tracy Fullerton, director of the USC Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab; and representatives from Participant Productions, the MacArthur and Knight Foundations, PBS, and Electronic Arts, among many others. The full festival agenda is available at www.gamesforchange.org/conference/2008. Games for Change (www.gamesforchange.org) PETLab (Protyping, Evaluating, Teaching and Learning Laboratory) The New School (www.newschool.edu) The 2008 Fifth Annual Games for Change Festival is sponsored by the AMD Foundation, Games for Windows, Microsoft, Parsons the New School for Design, and Xbox 360. Media Contacts: # # # |
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