Everybody should learn to code. That’s a statement that we’ve been hearing a lot for the past 3-4 years. From an article we got back in 2016, to the numerous workshops and hackathons on coding that we’ve covered, it’s pretty clear that coding and learning to program will play an important part in the future. It’s not only us who think so though. Microsoft is of the same thought as well.
Celebrating Computer Science
On Friday, 8th of February 2018, the tech giant held their flagship computer science workshop. This was in commemoration of the Computer Science Education Week. The purpose here is to inspire and encourage children to take an interest in computer science.
The purpose behind the Computer Science Education Week is to encourage students to pick Computer science as a field of study (Image Credits: ACCESS)
The workshop, held at the Microsoft Sri Lanka office at Access Towers 2 saw over 100 students taking part. The students, representing public and private schools were also joined by underserved youth from in and around Colombo. Once gathered, the participants were invited to take part in a gamified approach to coding.
Microsoft does it again
If you recall, we attended a session like this in 2017 as well. The coding exercise, called Voyage Aquatic, took the form of an underwater treasure hunt. To make things even more interesting, the exercise employed elements from Minecraft (similar to Hero’s Journey in 2017).
Participants had to complete certain objectives by using the blocks. Each block was coded to perform a certain action. In this manner, the students learned about the logic of each function, and also learned how to code it.
Students learning to code via a Minecraft exercise
Coding is for everyone
In a parallel session, students from grades 10-12 were taught about the BBC Micro: bit. Carried out by members of Micro: bit SLUG, the session covered the basics such as what a Micro:bit is, and what it can be used for. Students were also given a hands on approach to coding their own Micro: bit by means of virtual and physical Micro:bit kits.
Older students were taught the uses of Micro:bit and IoT
Getting Teachers future-ready
Last, but by no means the least, a workshop was also carried out for teachers. The workshop was carried out by Microsoft Certified Educators (MCEs. Here, teachers were encouraged to facilitate real-world problem solving by means of ICT tools. In addition, teachers were also educated on the technology literacy competencies required to provide a wholesome learning experience for students.
There was also a workshop for teachers as well
Following the end of the workshop, certificates were handed to all who participated. This included both students and teachers. Hasitha Abeywardena – Country Manager Microsoft Sri Lanka and the Maldives took the stage to talk about what Microsoft is aiming to do with the Computer Science Education Day.
He emphasized that all efforts are to help bridge the gap in STEM education. He added that more than 50% of jobs today require technology skills. By 2026, it is estimated that the number would grow to 77% of jobs worldwide.
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With platforms such Micro:bit and Voyage Aquatic, students can gain the required knowledge so that they can have a successful future. We saw events such as the Global Game Jam as well, where participants were encouraged to step into the world of game development as well. All these efforts go to show that the world is indeed changing, and it is up to us to keep up with the trends.
It may come as no surprise to most, but it looks like Kelly Clarkson is an avid player of the Nintendo Entertainment System. According to the popular musician, she is “crazy into” Super Mario Bros. 3 and uses the game mostly to prevent her from straining her voice while on tour.
In a post on Clarkson’s Twitter, she shared an image of her NES Classic with a caption that reads: “Other than reading, this is the only way to make me shut up on tour so I can save my voice for shows.” She also claimed that Super Mario Bros. 3 is the “best video game ever invented.”View image on Twitter
In an audio clip shared by USA Today’s Dave Paulson, Clarkson went on to express her love for the 1988 classic title, saying that she is “crazy into it.” The singer also noted that while she is aware of the location for each of the Warp Whistles, she doesn’t like using them.
Clarkson even mentioned that she will reset the game if things aren’t working out. “I will literally press Reset if I’m disappointed,” she said. Her frustration, as she pointed out, is likely due to the fact of sometimes not getting the Treasure Ships, which she referred to as “the boat of coins.”
Breaking: @kelly_clarkson knows where all the warp whistles are in Super Mario Bros. 3
It’s unknown if Clarkson takes advantage of any of the other 29 games that are included with the NES Classic, but if she did, we imagine she always ends up back at Super Mario Bros. 3.
What do you think about this? Do you play a singular game as often as Kelly Clarkson does? Sound off in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @anarkE7!
Removing high-end PCs from the equation, on consoles, Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy The Division 2 will look best on Xbox One X.
Not every game has taken advantage of the Xbox One X’s superior specs, but it looks like the highly-anticipated shooter from Ubisoft will, at least in terms of resolution.
Speaking on the Inside Xbox show, Ubisoft revealed that the Xbox One X version of the game look the “crispest” of all the console ports, aka better than Xbox One, PS4, and PS4 Pro.
We also have learned that the game will support native 4K resolution on the system, and of course utilize HDR to make whites and colors pop more.
For those that don’t know: Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is an online action shooter RPG experience and the sequel to 2016’s Tom Clancy’s The Division.
In it, seven months have passed since the first game and since a deadly virus swept over New York City and the rest of the world, crippling the population and causing chaos. When the virus hit, The Division, a unit of civilian sleeper agents, was activated as the last line of defense. Ever since then, Division agents have been fighting relentlessly to save what remains.
Now players are leaving New York City and playing as agents in the capital of the United States, Washington D.C. — the most heavily protected city on earth, which is at risk, leaving the entire nation on the brink of collapse. If the city falls, it will bring the rest of the country with it. As a Division agent, you and your team are the last hope to prevent the capital from falling.
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is poised to release worldwide on March 15 via the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. At the moment of publishing, there’s been no word of a Nintendo Switch port.
For more news, information, and media on the highly-anticipated Ubisoft title, be sure to peep all of our previous coverage of the game by clicking right here.
And of course feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think. Are you picking this one up? If so, on what system?
PC gamers drop big bucks to feel immersed in their games. But some new smarthome tech is enabling amazingly immersive effects with just a few lights. Take this Philips Hue plugin for Minecraft as an example.
There are plenty of bias lighting setups that can observe data from a monitor or TV screen and match the light color to the average color on the screen. This tool isn’t doing that: it’s actually using Minecraft’s API to gather light source data from the game itself, matching the color of the bias lighting behind the screen to the objects actually emitting light in the in-game environment.
So if you’re traversing a sunny day in Minecraft, your Hue light will shine almost pure white matching the sun. At sunset you get a slowly-darkening orange, and lightning will flash white then fade to a darker blue. Travel to the game’s final environment The End, and your walls will light up with the ethereal purple glow from the horizon. Inside your cabin you’ll get the flickering reds and yellows of the fireplace. In a nod to utility, it will flash red when you take damage.
It’s a super-cool effect to watch in motion. Since it uses the APIs from Minecraft and Hue, it only works with those specific lights and single game. But as smarthome tech becomes cheaper and more prevalent, you can expect to see this sort of thing more often. To implement the plugin you need to download the source code from Github, then compile it and install it on a Minecraft server. HIt the link for full directions.
The UT System and Kate the Chemist are using video games to spark interest in STEM with their new Careers in Chemistry project.
Careers in Chemistry was created with help from DISCO Learning Media, a UT alumni-created education innovation company, for the website Minecraft: Education Edition, a version of the popular video game Minecraft. In Minecraft Edu, players use the open-world crafting mechanics to explore topics ranging from coding to art and design. The module will be available for download in the middle of February through the Minecraft Edu website.
The UT System brought on Kate Biberdorf, also known as Kate the Chemist, to help write the project. Biberdorf’s innovative chemistry demonstrations launched her into national popularity with appearances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Wendy Williams Show.
“When you step into a digital platform, you really can tap into the make-believe, but in reality you’re showing them how these (chemical) pieces can come together,” chemistry professor Biberdorf said. “They think they’re doing magic but really it’s science, and it’s just a great way to promote the level of STEM.”
Through Careers in Chemistry, players will explore four unconventional chemistry-based career paths: chef, science journalist, chemistry teacher and art conservationist. The game will guide them through activities based on these jobs in which the player will combine chemicals to achieve in-game goals.
“Chemistry is one of the most popular subjects in the Minecraft Education environment right now … but what was overall lacking was this idea of how you actually get a career in chemistry,” DISCO President Juan Garcia said. “Minecraft educators are trying to target high school age ranges with their content, so we thought this was a perfect opportunity.”
The classic version of Minecraft has over 91 million monthly players, a large chunk of which are under the age of 21. This age group has seen a 12 percent decline of interest in STEM careers between 2017 and 2018, according to Junior Achievement, a nonprofit dedicated to youth education.
Nichole Prescott, assistant vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, said this game is part of the UT System’s overall goal to reinvigorate interest in STEM and prepare K-12 students for college.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ 2015 assessments, only 25 percent of high school seniors are proficient in math and only 22 percent are proficient in science.
“When we look at the educational attainment in the state of Texas, there are some major gaps and there are a lot of gaps in STEM fields,” Prescott said. “Even within the STEM fields, there’s not a lot of diversity of students going into STEM, so we really want to increase access of students of all types to get interested in going into a STEM field.”
Biberdorf said she joined the project to inspire young people, especially girls, to join STEM fields.
“There’s something about that middle school age where … all of a sudden, girls believe that they can’t do science or can’t do math,” Biberdorf said. “What I’m hoping to do is open the doors for more girls, and boys in general, and show them what you could do with this knowledge.”
When Cory Burdette awoke recently to learn that Winter Storm Gia had caused a two-hour school delay in Reston, Va., he seized the chance to do a little family bonding. Plopping down in front of the TV, Burdette and his 5-year-old daughter spent the morning together playing “Minecraft,” the Lego-like adventure game where players construct buildings out of virtual blocks.
“We play all our games together on the Xbox,” he said. “In ‘Minecraft,’ we both get to build a house together, find monsters and explore.”
The first time he fired up the game, Burdette had to wait for “Minecraft” to download and install on his Xbox before launching it. But by the time his daughter is old enough to play more adult games, that wait could be a thing of the past.
Major companies from Microsoft to Verizon are exploring how to replace game downloads with Internet-based game services hoping to do for video gaming what Netflix and Spotify have done with TV and music. Instead of being run directly from a device, high-quality games of the future could be streamed from a data center, with most of the computations and image rendering being performed by powerful servers many miles away before being piped online to players’ phones, PCs and consoles.
Unlike passive forms of media such as movies and music, playing games over the Internet calls for highly responsive technology that can interpret a player’s actions from afar, process them within milliseconds and relay the results back to the player and her opponents instantaneously.
The challenge has stymied gamers and game companies for years. But with advances in computing power, the adoption of high-speed broadband and fresh investments by tech behemoths, what was once a lofty technological and cultural goal for the game industry now seems closer at hand than at any point in the past decade.
“Game streaming services will be the ultimate driver of a rapid transition from the sale of games in boxes to digital consumption,” Yosuke Matsuda, president of the game company Square Enix, declared in a New Year’s letter to the public. “Streaming also lends itself to new subscription-based business models, so we believe deciding how to engage with these forthcoming trends will be key to future growth.”
As more Americans turn to mobile and online entertainment, executives across the media landscape have recognized that they are competing for the same, quickly diminishing resource: consumer attention. Even Netflix this month acknowledged that it views the hit game “Fortnite” as an even bigger competitor in some respects than HBO.
In the war for consumer attention, cloud-based gaming represents tens of billions in additional profit for game publishers alone, analysts say. Beyond the simple convenience of playing games off a central server, what makes the idea so attractive is the capability to turn even the weakest laptop into a fully functional gaming rig.
That could make it far easier for people to play video games on whatever device they have, wherever they may be, according to Brian Nowak, an industry analyst at Morgan Stanley. “As a base case, this new technology has the opportunity to expand the addressable player base by lowering barriers to entry around AAA games,” Nowak wrote in a research note this month.
Recent high-profile experiments with cloud-based gaming include Google’s Project Stream, which wrapped up a beta trial this month that allowed testers to play “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” online for free; Microsoft’s Project xCloud, which promises to enable game streaming over mobile data connections; and Verizon Gaming, leaks of which emerged earlier this month. On Monday, reports suggested that Apple may be planning a cloud-based games service of its own, and e-commerce giant Amazon is also said to be doing the same. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
The jolt of interest in cloud-based gaming reflects how quickly the landscape for video games has shifted in recent years.
The popularity of mobile gaming has some publishers such as Epic Games, the maker of “Fortnite,” moving to build its own app marketplace for games — circumventing the traditional app store middlemen such as Google. But in Project Stream, Google may be hinting at one possible strategy for outmaneuvering Epic in return: by eliminating app downloads altogether.
The last major attempt to build a cloud-based games service was known as OnLive, which launched in 2010 with five data centers scattered across the country. The service showed promise, but many gamers discovered that their own experiences differed drastically from those of professional reviewers. In particular, players said, OnLive was marred by input lag, or a significant delay between user actions and results on the screen.
“The latency between you controlling the game and it reacting was really bad on OnLive,” said Ethan Hawkes, a lifelong gamer who lives in Irvine, Calif. But times are different now, said Hawkes, who tested Google’s Project Stream. “The tech has finally caught up.”
Other gamers said that while the technology has come a long way, it still isn’t seamless.
Another Project Stream tester, Chris Cantrell, said Google did a good job showcasing how its servers could faithfully reproduce the high-fidelity graphics of a single-player game like “Assassin’s Creed.” But that game notably does not come with fast-twitch, competitive multiplayer, a staple of modern gaming culture and a data-intensive hurdle that tech companies must still address as many households are already streaming multiple services at once.
“[’Assassin’s Creed’ is] a slower game, and so you don’t have to be as precise. But you can’t play ‘Call of Duty’ on this connection,” said Cantrell.
Meanwhile, the growing consolidation of media and technology firms raises other questions for the future of streaming games. For example, Verizon’s fledgling gaming service would likely compete against similar platforms run by Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Some gamers, such as Burdette, fear that could lead to Verizon giving preferential treatment to its gaming service on its own broadband network at the expense of its competitors.
“They will definitely prioritize their own services if they find it lucrative enough,” said Burdette. “Throttling will absolutely be an issue.”
Verizon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on how the company might treat its cloud gaming service on its network.
Burdette expects that with enough Internet bandwidth, it will be only a matter of time before game streaming truly takes off. Gamers are hungry for a way to play premium titles without having to drop hundreds or thousands of dollars on specialized equipment like a console or gaming PC, he said.
Until that time comes, he’ll continue playing locally stored games with his daughter — “a die-hard ‘Minecraft’ fan.”
Gamers play “Forza Horizon 4” computer games using XBox consoles at the Microsoft stand at the Gamescom gaming industry event in Cologne, Germany, in August. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Krisztian Bocsi
