This week we’ll be discussing the relationship between the visual arts and gaming. Here I do not mean the graphic design of a game but rather how might gaming influence the artist in us all or perhaps increase our appreciation of the arts. My guest is John Sharp, who is with the Savannah College of […] The post VideoGames: Brain Gain or Drain? – Visual Arts and Gaming appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

This week we’ll be discussing the relationship between the visual arts and gaming. Here I do not mean the graphic design of a game but rather how might gaming influence the artist in us all or perhaps increase our appreciation of the arts. My guest is John Sharp, who is with the Savannah College of Art and Design as well as Metagame (http://www.metaga.me). As an avid gamer himself (http://www.etc.cmu.edu/etcpress/content/drop-7-john-sharp), he brings a unique combination of backgrounds to...

Dr. William Gibbons, Assistant Professor of Musicology at Texas Christian University, chats with me about the role of music in video games. He comes from a classical music background to inform his work in the music associated with gaming. Dr. Gibbons primary research interests are opera studies and musical nationalism as well as music in […] The post VideoGames: Brain Gain or Drain? – Music and Video Games appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Dr. William Gibbons (http://www.williamgibbons.net), Assistant Professor of Musicology at Texas Christian University, chats with me about the role of music in video games. He comes from a classical music background to inform his work in the music associated with gaming. Dr. Gibbons primary research interests are opera studies and musical nationalism as well as music in video games. He has published on these topics in various professional journals and is currently co-editing a book which is a...

Our interview is with Chris Hewett, Founder & Executive Producer of a new social media and self-development tool, Mindbloom. A long time game designer and developer, Chris tells the story of the birth of Mindbloom. This free-to-play game is designed to inspire people to define what’s important, discover what motivates them, and take meaningful daily […] The post VideoGames: Brain Gain or Drain? – Self-discovery with Mindbloom appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Our interview is with Chris Hewett (http://www.mindbloom.com/about/about/team/), Founder & Executive Producer of a new social media and self-development tool, Mindbloom (http://www.mindbloom.com/). A long time game designer and developer, Chris tells the story of the birth of Mindbloom. This free-to-play game is designed to inspire people to define what's important, discover what motivates them, and take meaningful daily actions in all areas of their life. By choosing a series of images...

This interview is with Garth Chouteau who oversees all surveys and research related to the health benefits of video games at PopCap Games. A casual game is one which is easy to learn, does not take much time to play, yet occupies enough attention to distract one from day to day ruminations. Previous casual game […] The post VideoGames: Brain Gain or Drain? – Casual Games for Improved Thinking in the Elderly appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

This interview is with Garth Chouteau who oversees all surveys and research related to the health benefits of video games at PopCap Games (http://www.popcap.com/). A casual game is one which is easy to learn, does not take much time to play, yet occupies enough attention to distract one from day to day ruminations. Previous casual game research we have spoken about on this show showed that casual game play is associated with relaxation as well as decreased depression and anxiety. This time in...

This is Dr. Jayne Gackenbach and this week on Video Games: Brain Gain or Drain? we’ll be discussing avatars. What is an avatar? Classically they have been our characters in video games or in virtual worlds like Second Life, but our guest argues that avatars are now our online footprint. Beth Coleman, who received her […] The post VideoGames: Brain Gain or Drain? – Hello Avatar Author Interviewed appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

This is Dr. Jayne Gackenbach and this week on Video Games: Brain Gain or Drain? we’ll be discussing avatars. What is an avatar? Classically they have been our characters in video games or in virtual worlds like Second Life, but our guest argues that avatars are now our online footprint. Beth Coleman (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/bcoleman ), who received her PhD in comparative literature at New York University, is currently with Harvard and MIT (http://cms.mit.edu/people/bcoleman/). She...

This time we will be talking with the editor of a new journal devoted to games for health, Bill Ferguson. Premiering in February of 2012, Games for Health: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications, will offer original peer-reviewed research articles, as well as industry insights and developments. Additionally, interviews and commentary on the games for health […] The post VideoGames: Brain Gain or Drain? – Games for Health Journal Founded appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

This time we will be talking with the editor of a new journal devoted to games for health, Bill Ferguson. Premiering in February of 2012, Games for Health: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications (http://www.liebertpub.com/products/product.aspx?pid=398), will offer original peer-reviewed research articles, as well as industry insights and developments. Additionally, interviews and commentary on the games for health initiative will be included in its pages. While there are by now...

In this show we’ll be talking about various perceptual and cognitive advantages to gaming. Dr. Walter Boot (http://psy.fsu.edu/faculty/boot.dp.html)is the director of the Attention and Training laboratory in the Department of Psychology at Florida State University. In his lab they have tested expert video game players versus newbie’s on a variety of attentional, memory and information processing tasks (http://http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691808001200). This included...

In this show the use of games in the military is explored. In a recent study in the journal, Military Psychology, it was found that 43% of their over 10,000 soldier respondents reported gaming on a weekly basis. These individuals were largely male, young, and of the lower ranks. Given that almost all young people […] The post VideoGames: Brain Gain or Drain? – Military and Gaming appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

In this show the use of games in the military is explored. In a recent study in the journal, Military Psychology, it was found that 43% of their over 10,000 soldier respondents reported gaming on a weekly basis. These individuals were largely male, young, and of the lower ranks. Given that almost all young people have played or currently play some form of video game, this figure is likely to grow. My guest is Jeremy Hsu (http://sciencehsu.wordpress.com/about/), who is the senior writer at...

In this show I am talking with Dr. Barry Grant (http://[email protected] ), who is a professor in the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. Our topic is horror in film and video games (http://journals.sfu.ca/loading/index.php/loading/article/view/85/82 ). As an expert and teacher in film genres, science fiction, and horror, as well as a game developer, Dr. Grant has an informed perspective on why horror is such a popular genre across...

Dr. Patrick Markey director of the Interpersonal Lab (http://www.InterpersonalResearch.com)at Villanova University is interviewed. He has examined how personality can be a predictor of aggression resulting from gaming. He talks about three personality (http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/gpr-14-2-82.pdf)traits that are particularly likely to predict negative outcomes of violent video game play. You’ll learn what these are as well as how does situation affect aggressive modeling after...

There are two parts to this show. First the history of video game chapter is read from my forthcoming book, Playing Reality, by my coauthor who happens to be my son, Teace Snyder (http://www.teace.ca)! As you know from earlier shows the reason that I got interested in video game play was because my son is a gamer but he is also a writer and film maker. So when I thought about writing a book for my students, and other gamers, on what we know psychologically about gaming, it seemed a good idea...

Dr. Evelyn Ellerman, chair of the Department of Communication Studies (http://cmns.athabascau.ca/)at Athabasca University, is interviewed in this show. She talks about the implications of gaming for the field of Communication Studies. Dr. Ellerman will address the role of narrative in games as a form of storytelling. How media overlap with newer media transforming older media is a theme in this discussion. She particularly explains how the movie and gaming industries are cross pollinating...

This interview is with Dr. Jose Zagal (http://facsrv.cs.depaul.edu/~jzagal/index.html), who is with DePaul University. He is the author of Ludoliteracy (http://www.ludoliteracy.com/). In his article in Game Studies (http://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/zagal_bruckman), “Novices, Gamers, and Scholars: Exploring the Challenges of Teaching About Games”, Dr. Zagal explains his doctoral dissertation research. The field of game studies is rapidly growing and in this interview we talk about the...

Dr. Amy Bruckman (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/)is interviewed this time. She is an Associate Professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. She and her students in the Electronic Learning Communities (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/elc)research group, do research about online communities and education. Listeners will find this conversation quite helpful as it will introduce how gaming can be cooperative and constructive yet is not a panacea for all educational needs....

Dr. Jesper Juul (http://www.jesperjuul.net/ludologist), author of The Casual Game Revolution (http://www.jesperjuul.net/casualrevolution) and Half-Real (http://www.half-real.net) is interviewed in this show. He is a Danish game researcher who is currently a Visiting Assistant Arts Professor at the New York University Game Center. As a casual gamer myself, I was fascinated to find this book and required my students to read parts of it. The shift in the gaming industry spoken of in this book is...

Mia Consalvo (http://twitter.com/#!/miac)who is has just begun teaching at Concordia University in Montreal after a year as a visiting scholar at MIT. She is the co-editor of the forthcoming Handbook of Internet Studies published by Blackwell and is author of Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames (http://onpoint.wbur.org/2010/08/03/social-games-and-cheating)from MIT Press. She has published articles and book chapters in the areas of game studies and internet studies. In this interview...