Could the museum exhibit “Game Changer” be the game changer for the gamer in your life?
The release of “Game Changers” will be Friday at the Science Museum of Minnesota — and it will also be open, along with the rest of the museum, on Presidents Day on Monday (a day that many of our gamers are off from school).
The exhibit, created and curated by a museum in Australia, spans 10,000 square feet. It goes into the history and evolution of video games, and includes more than 100 playable games. So it’s an arcade as well as an exhibit. No tokens are needed, because the exhibit and its features are included in the price of regular admission to the museum.
The games people will be able to play in the exhibit include Asteroids, Pac-Man, Angry Birds, Space Invaders, Sonic the Hedgehog, Fruit Ninja, Diablo, Minecraft and Rock Band 3.
It’s not just for gamers, though; you could say that the exhibit is rated “E” for everyone.
“It’s really multigenerational,” says Kim Ramsden, museum spokeswoman. “We’ve heard from other museums who have hosted it that adults will go in and feel excited to find the games they knew as a kid — they will be excited to show it to their kids; and then, by the end of the exhibit, kids will be able to show their parents the new games, games that kids are playing today. So it’s a really social experience.”
These types of games — played on clunky machines back in the early days and played on devices as small as our phones today — really have been game changers for how kids play, but the exhibit isn’t merely an arcade. Behind every game, after all, there are people and processes to educate and inspire us.
“It’s fascinating to learn about game designers,” Ramsden says, “their process and who they are.”
Their creations are teaching tools.
“In the scientific process, we talk about failure, we talk about getting up again after failing at something,” Ramsden says. “In video games, that happens a lot as you work through the levels.”
In that way, gamers are developing problem-solving skills and the art of collaboration as they play Minecraft or other popular games.
“There are parallels to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education,” says Ramsden.
We can also dance, thanks to Dance Central, an example of how gamers don’t always need a controller anymore.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Ramsden says.
Game Changers
Where: Science Museum of Minnesota, 120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul
When: Opens Feb. 15 and runs through May 5.
Exhibit: Get the gamers in your life into the museum with this special exhibit inside the museum’s U.S. Bank Great Hall that takes visitors on an interactive journey into the history and the future of video games — including more than 100 playable games as well as rare concept artwork and interviews with designers. The exhibit is divided into three sections: Arcade Heroes (think the arcade era and beloved games like Pac-Man); Game Changers (think contemporary designers and how their games, such as SimCity, took gaming to the next level); and Indies (a look at today’s independent game designers and phenomena like Angry Birds, Minecraft and Fruit Ninja).
Admission: Included with regular Science Museum exhibit gallery admission ($19.95 for adults and $14.95 for kids ages 4 to 12 and seniors).
Let’s get one thing out of the way. Disney Channel’s original Kim Possible movie is just that: a Disney Channel Original Movie. We can’t compare it to theatrical live-action versions of animated Disney films; it’s made for TV, and based on a TV show. Adjust your expectations about live-action Kim Possible accordingly.
That being said, this version of Kim Possible, a classic Disney cartoon from the mid-2000s, keeps the true spirit of the DCOMs many of us grew up with — Wendy Wu Homecoming Warrior, Halloweentown, and Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century among them. Kim Possible is campy and hammers in its message with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but that’s not a critique. It just means that Kim Possible is, like most in the DCOM canon, a fun movie, and little else.
[Ed. note: This article contains slight spoilers for Disney Channel’s Kim Possible.]
Kim Possible bears a weighty legacy. The animated series ran from 2002 to 2007 and was a staple of many childhoods. Featuring a crime-fighting teenager and her best friend (and his naked mole rat) as they take on evildoers and the perils of high school, the show received high praise. Unlike many other action comedies at the time, Kim Possible centered around a capable heroine, and many boys and girls alike watched the show. Because it is such a beloved childhood show, the nostalgia value is high.
In Kim Possible the DCOM — just like Kim Possible the Disney Channel Original Series — Kim (Sadie Stanley) lives a double life. By day, she’s a high school girl; after school, she’s either playing soccer or taking out bad guys. In the movie, Kim’s greatest foe, Dr. Drakken (Todd Stashwick), still wants nothing more than to defeat her once and for all. Because Kim is just so good at everything, he decides that he needs to steal the spark of what makes her Kim.
Yes, Drakken wants to nerf Kim Possible. He intends to do this literally, as if Kim’s “spark” is something that can actually be obtained.
Meanwhile, at the core of the movie, Kim deals with a struggle many millennials who grew up with the show can relate to: After being accomplished and the best at everything she does for most of her life, she faces a sharp turn in high school. At first, it’s that she’s unequipped to deal with the social hierarchy and the demands of her teachers; but when her new best friend, Athena, starts to outshine her in almost every way — including in crime-fighting — Kim has to battle feelings of insecurity and jealousy. The eventual plot twist is predictable, but it shakes the movie up from being more than a full-length, live-action episode.
Relatable as this premise may be to older Kim Possible fans, some seem unable to let go of their long-held visions of a live-action version. When lead actress Sadie Stanley was cast, many reacted negatively, because she didn’t fit the version of Kim that they had cast in their minds. The crown of beloved childhood classic sits heavy on its wearer’s head.
But instead of comparing 2019’s Kim Possible to some impossibly polished fantasy, we must look to the other Disney Channel Original movies. That’s what this is, after all; not a full-fledged remake, but fluffy TV fare.
The set design and special effects of Kim Possible are overdramatic, and could be lifted straight from the cartoon. Different gags grace the marquee of the high school each time it’s shown; Ron’s signature dish, the “naco,” drips with cheesy goodness; Rufus the naked mole rat is just silly enough as to not be jarring. At one point, Kim looks at her old outfit — one that resembles the outfit she wears in the cartoon — and remarks that it always felt a bit “cartoony” to her.
The acting is also all about hamming it up. But as far as the kid cast goes, Sean Giambrone as Ron Stoppable is particularly endearing, bringing his own touch to the quirky character. Sadie Stanley’s Kim might be a little more vulnerable different from the golden-eyed way fans recall her, but if you realize that Kim was a crime-fighting, over-achieving cheerleader, then her Type-A personality and insecurities make sense. The adult cast, which includes Kim’s original voice actor, Christy Carlson Romano, in a small role, also delivers the sometimes-cheesy lines with finesse. And Taylor Ortega, who plays Shego, nails everything about the iconic villainess, from exhausted eyerolls to the sassy comebacks.
The cast of Kim Possible mostly manages to save the movie’s shallow plot from falling totally flat. Despite Stanely and crew’s best efforts, however, there is a lot of misplaced melodrama. Kim realizing that she’s more than her accomplishments, that she can be a good person without being good at everything, would have more impact were it not for the grandiose plot twist in the latter half of the movie.
Though a few plot road bumps persist, Kim Possible manages a heartwarming ending, goofy and endearing characters, and a whole lotta wonderful corniness. It pays acceptable tribute to both the cartoon and the Disney Channel Original Movies that came before it — just as long as you keep in mind that it’s a tribute, and nothing more.
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The figurine assortment involves nine of Overwatch’s cast, among them a couple of two-packs of related characters and a giant-size fully poseable Reinhardt with a hujungus Barrier Field.
GameStop is offering all of these toys for preorder right now. (They’re linked in the descriptions.) Here’s the lowdown: GRID VIEW
• Reinhardt is the same scale at six inches tall, but because he’s so, erm, wide he gets his own $49.99 SKU. He comes with a Barrier Field and Rocket Hammer.
All the action figures are expected in Spring 2019.
Other toys coming this spring include three Microshots mini-dart blasters ($9.99 each) based on Lucio, Mei and Roadhog’s gear and an Overwatch collector’s edition of Monopoly($49.99).
Then, this fall, Hasbro is offering an assortment of $19.99 masks (including Genji and Tracer) just in time for Halloween.
Hasbro says everything will be “available at most major toy retailers nationwide.”
Last year around this time we were talking about Dragster, and how a 35-year-old world record was debunked and the record-holder got banned from high score competitions for life. Well, someone — using an Atari 2600 emulator in freaking Minecraft, of all things — technically tied the legitimate world record. Technically being the best kind of world record, of course.
What’s even funnier is this emulator renders at 1 frame per second. So that means YouTuber SethBling’s blazing fast time of 5.57 took about 15 minutes to complete.
Obviously, the fact the game is so slowed down is a big help, since it allows SethBling to get off the line perfectly, hit his shifts perfectly and nail what is considered the fastest playable time in the game. And he points out that, well, his run conforms to the rules for Dragsterposted on speedrun.com, which specify that in-game time (not real time) is what counts, and allow for runs on emulation — which SethBling notes are usually rendered slower than on native hardware. (Probably not one effing eff ps though.)
For the record, the time of 5.57 is held by 16 players on speedrun.com, six of them not in emulation. SethBling is not on the leaderboard, so it sounds like he hasn’t submitted this performance for review.
The rest of the video shows how the emulator works with a variety of other Atari 2600 games. They’re playable, alright, with the slight qualifier that they are all slower than the molasses in January. But if you’re interested in seeing the Minecraft 2600 emulator all for yourself, SethBling has made the world available here.
When Roanoke County Public Schools gathered educators for their first training in how to teach with Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE), “you could hear the rumble in the room,” says Jeff Terry, the district’s director of technology. That was early 2018. Today, his district is among the top ten for M:EE usage worldwide.
While Terry was surprised to hear that stat, he was also excited. He says adding M:EE to the district’s robust technology arsenal is helping students master the oft-cited Four Cs of education—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.
It’s also helping students become opportunity ready in a state where business is finding it tough to fill technology-focused roles. Just last year, former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said the demand for highly skilled workers in the state far outweighed the number of qualified candidates, with “36,000 cyber jobs” needing to be filled.
Roanoke added Minecraft: Education Edition to the district’s Microsoft campus agreement as a pilot project in 2017; now the software has been rolled out to 14,000 students district-wide. Thanks to a strategic approach to PD and support, teacher collaboration has skyrocketed, kindergartners are coding and students are excited about learning.
EdSurge spoke to Jeff Terry about Roanoke’s game-based learning journey, his team’s tech implementation advice and the buzzing engagement they’ve seen in students and teachers since adopting M:EE.
Kids open up with Minecraft.
EdSurge: Why did you decide to adopt Minecraft: Education Edition?
Jeff Terry: Our goal, at the heart of our strategic framework, is for our students to be introduced to deeper learning—learning that is engaging and purposeful. We also want students to be opportunity ready when it’s time for either college or career. And to do that they need to be able to understand the Four Cs.
We have a tight relationship with the business community here and those are the skills businesses want students to have. And while Roanoke County isn’t a gigantic place by any means, it’s a suburban hub within 500 miles and a lot of areas that need technology employees.
Minecraft is one of those unique products that fits in with developing each one of those Four Cs. It even hits the fifth C we have in Virginia for citizenship.
Learning with Minecraft. Source: RCPS.
How does M:EE specifically support the Four Cs?
And the most gratifying piece is that at the end of all these lessons, kids are excited about what they’re learning.
It’s changing our students. Kids open up with Minecraft. On my school tours, I see second- and third-grade students who are not interested in giving a report or reading a book out loud. But when they build a scene from their novel using Minecraft, they are the first ones to get up in front of a projection board and present.
And they’re learning history without even knowing it. Students collaborate to construct pyramids in Minecraft as they study ancient Egypt, for example, and build historically important buildings as they research Cuba and Greece. In a Jamestown Settlement module in Minecraft, they’re building a settlement based on what the colony in Jamestown, Va. would have looked like and what things were available when the first settlers arrived.
Even our kindergarteners are coding. At every level, our students have technological abilities. But they also have people skills—they can collaborate, communicate. They’re gaining important 21st-century skills.
And the most gratifying piece is that at the end of all these lessons, kids are excited about what they’re learning. Not just excited about playing a game—excited about learning.
Student projects created with Minecraft. Source: RCPS.
Adoption and usage are extremely high in your district. How did you achieve that?
With all technology programs, the key is not to overlook the need for professional development. We made that mistake when we rolled out our 1:1 laptop program 16 years ago. Getting a laptop for every kid was one thing, but having the teachers know what that meant was another.
So for Minecraft, we started with a pilot program. We brought in our 15 Instructional Technology Resource Teachers (ITRTs)—as well as another group of high flying teachers—to have official Minecraft PD from Microsoft.
We also included our instructional supervisors in that training so they could see how Minecraft works in the classroom, how it can help them meet their standards measurements and how engaging it is. We want technology to be built into our instructional program.
When we started the official training you could hear the rumble in the room. Teachers were excited to see how many different ways they could use it and share ideas. Since that day, Minecraft has greatly increased collaboration amongst our staff.
How do you support teachers and ensure continued use?
For continued support, we use a co-teaching model with teachers. An ITRT plans a lesson that meets a teacher’s curriculum, and then the two of them implement the lesson. As the teacher becomes more confident with Minecraft, the ITRT will no longer need to always be in the classroom.
Minecraft: Education Edition also has a community of educators who submit vetted lessons. Teachers can search by subject and find lesson ideas, and new ideas are being rolled out all the time. There are also tutorials—for subjects such as chemistry and coding—so our teachers can try new things out with ease. The key really is supporting and training teachers.
And now that it’s on every one of our laptops, it’s being used by many of our students daily. About 8000 students in our middle and high school 1:1 take-home laptop program use Minecraft. And in our elementary schools, every classroom has five laptops and Minecraft is being used there as well.
It’s built into our program so deeply that it would be greatly missed if it was not here.
Back in 2014, the Danish government had the brilliant idea of recreating the whole country in Minecraft for educational purposes. But just a few weeks after the launch of the initiative, cybervandals had already raided it in the name of America.
The Danish Geodata Agency had the marvellous idea of building a virtual version of the entire country of Denmark at a 1:1 scale. One of the biggest Minecraft creations ever made, the government agency built the model based on official topographical data so people could walk around the whole country, free to even visit their own address. Four billion bricks and one terabyte of data, the whole thing was a thing of wonder.
Well, it was nice while it lasted.
The use of dynamite was banned on the Danish server to prevent the structures from being blown up, but users managed to find a workaround and discovered dynamite could be hidden in mining carts.
Cyberpirates started raiding the place, blowing apart small portions of the map and erecting US flags and “America” signs in red, white and blue.
Views of virtual Denmark after being “Americanised” by players.
“I americanlized [sic] the place a bit,” wrote one user on fan site minecraftforum.net. Another said, “Not enough ‘Murica, and did you find the oil?”
The Danish Geodata Agency repaired the damage and described the incident as part of Minecraft’s “nature of play”.
“It was the players who cleaned up the damage, replacing it with green grass and flowers the following morning,” Chris Hammeken, chief press officer at the Danish Geodata Agency, told the BBC.
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