Image: ABC / Four Corners (YouTube)
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After months of work behind the scenes, the ABC’s
Four Corners finally aired an investigation into the workings of the video game industry this week. You could almost set a clock to the inevitable reaction: accusations of poor reporting, misrepresentation, a lack of developer insight and balance, and a general lack of appreciation for the “good” video games have done for people.
More than $500 million of a $1.2 billion digital economy strategy in Tuesday’s budget will be spent on overhauling the federal government’s myGov and My Health Record sites.
The initiatives, to be announced by Scott Morrison on Thursday, include $200.1 million for myGov, which is the main portal for people to access government services on line.
Changes will make it easier for people to find services, from childcare providers to disaster support, as well as to manage payments and claims.
The government says the time saved by the enhancements will generate benefits across the economy worth an estimated $3.6 billion over a decade.
A shot of Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, as introduced in the report. Image: YouTube (ABC / Four Corners)
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Yesterday, the ABC and Four Corners unveiled their investigation into the video games industry, squarely targeting microtransactions and loot boxes in particular. But the production of any lengthy report is always going to leave out some context and detail, and this morning the representatives of the local games industry have tried to address that.
Not reflective of the overwhelmingly positive and enjoyable experience the majority of players have.
The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) has labelled a report by ABC’s Four Corners as “unbalanced and not reflective of the overwhelmingly positive and enjoyable experience the majority of players have.”
Four Corners’ report, “Are You Being Played,” aired last night and is now available on YouTube as “Video gaming investigated: The sneaky tactics used to take your time and money” (available in full below). Predominently, the report focused on “the business models used by the gaming industry and examine how some games are being deliberately designed to extract maximum time and money from players.”
RIT students collaborate to create games with students around the globe, from Japan to Senegal RIT game design and development students participated in a virtual cultural exchange this semester. Teams collaborated with students from Japan and other countries to create game prototypes, including SkyHigh, a management game where players aim to amplify the voices of minorities in a floating city.
International travel may be limited, but it hasn’t stopped RIT game developers from collaborating with students across the world to create new game prototypes.
As part of a gameplay and prototyping class at RIT this spring, 25 game design and development students got to participate in a virtual cultural exchange with 30 students at the Japanese college Kyoto Computer Gakuin (KCG). The student teams learned about each other’s cultures and overcame language barriers and time zone differences to create projects for a global game jam.