A WebQuest is an inquiry based online learning activity in which learners are given the task of finding out information on the internet. A WebQuest can last for quite a short time (for instance a half hour computer room session) or for a long time (a long term course project, for instance).  A common format for a WebQuest is:

1. An introduction to what the webquest is about and the expected outcome.
2. What the learner is expected to do.
3. A list of what to do and how
4. A list of online links to follow to achieve the outcome.

Are they suitable for Language learning?

The answer has to be a definite ‘yes!’  Many sites cater for both language learners and language teachers and cover a wide range of general language webquests for the ESL and EFL classroom.   If you like using authentic material with language learners then check out lesson planet, which has webquests graded from pre-kindergarten to 12 grade (17 or 18 year olds).

Is a WebQuest digital Play?

By reading the answer to ‘what is a WebQuest?’ above you would have to say no.  However, as most or all of the information comes from the web you could argue it’s digital and because learners are engaged and enjoy doing webquests you could argue there is an element of fun too. But does fun make it play?  Is the fact you ‘do’ a WebQuest rather than ‘play’ a WebQuest just semantical nitpicking?  Answers on a postcard to . . . hang on! Why not just add a comment here? If a WebQuest involves playing a game is it digital play?  What about WebQuests that are on video game playing?

Take ‘The most dangerous video game‘ and the Video Game WebQuest.  Both about video games with the latter looking at the difference between what we see as a ‘good’ video game and a ‘bad’ video game, both cover the subject of digital play?  They are, however, about digital play and not actually digital play.

Which have a digital play look and feel?

The Da Vinci Code looks a little like a game – it has a narrative, some visuals and even has a soundtrack.  There is also a short story walkthrough. Unfortunately it still doesn’t boast great graphics nor many of the principles that make a game fun.  Game challenges such as hand eye co-ordination, time constraints, territory gaining, power projecting or object hunting are lacking.

Treasure Hunters involves some of the principles behind both point-and-click games and WebQuests.  You use your mouse to find objects, solve puzzles and follow clues to other websites to find information.  It has some nice visuals and some online searching too but the level is probably too high for most of my young learners.

The Rule of Four WebQuest opens with a puzzle that looks very much like a video game and has some challenging puzzles. I did find the second puzzle quite frustrating – I kept running out of time – until I realised I didn’t have to complete it but solve enough to be able to click the right answer.  Frustrating too was the fact that once you lost all your lives you had to start right back at the beginning again.  It certainly has a digital play feel to it.  But is it a WebQuest?

Then of course there are some games online that can be used as a WebqQuest.  Take the game Peace Doves for example.  It’s a really a quiz about the proliferation of nuclear weapons thinly disguised as a game.  You read information about a non identified country, identify it by clicking on a world map and then launch a peace dove to the destination from the orbiting space rocket.  You have two chances to get the answer right but as there is no time limit its great for higher levels in a computer room to look up the information on the internet and then answer the questions.  Fastest team to win and with the least mistakes wins.   So maybe it’s just possible to make digital play into a WebQuest.

So, there are probably a few digital games or quizzes hiding online out there that can be used as a WebQuest.  It seems for a webquest to be ‘digital play’ it needs to have some visual interactive elements, or at least have a video game look to it.  Does anyone out there know of anymore out there?  Maybe that’s a WebQuest in itself.

Location: Home computer

Topic: Worlds domination

Skills Focus: Writing

Game: Astro Empires

Astro Empires is a purely text based game.  Look on the left at the screenshot and what you see is pretty much what you get.  It’s not at all the kind of special effects driven game that dominates the market at the moment yet over 40,000 players are registered to the site.

What is Astro Empires?

Astro Empires is what is called a “more peg” or a massively multiplayer online role playing game or MMORPG.  You start off on a single planet with very little resources and you have to build up an empire.  You start by building metal refineries.  Once you’ve built one of them you now have metal to start constructing other buildings.  Each different building you construct opens up new buildings and new technologies that you can build and develop.  As your level gets higher you get more powerful but it takes longer and costs more credits to build things.  When you get to a high enough technology you can build a space fleet and start to expand to other planets but BEWARE! There are other players out there too so you need to join a guild in order to make friends, get a little help and protection as well as finding a common purpose in the game.

How did I hear of it?

Believe it or not one of my learners got me into it.  A teen lad who used to arrive late to my class, cause trouble to attract attention and generally treated class time as anything but an English class.  One day after we had been edugaming in the computer room he came up and spoke to me.  This was unusual not only because it was time to go home but also because he was talking to me in English – at a time he’d usually have been out the door, down the hill and be waiting at the bus stop to go home.  I expressed my surprise at this and really wanted to know what was behind this miracle.  He wanted to show me a game he was into.  The game he showed me was Astro Empires.  It wasn’t a great surprise he was into an online game – he’s a digital native don’t you know.  It wasn’t even a great surprise he was into a game that involved empire expansion, space battles and worlds colliding though I would have pegged him more as an ‘online football manager‘ kinda guy.  Instead my surprise came from the fact that there were no gleaming ships with evil looking weaponry, no explosions and no nothing apart from text.  Even more amazing was that he communicated extensively with other players on one of the 5 notice boards IN ENGLISH!

How much English is produced?

As the screenshot above shows it is text, text, text.  There are 5 boards by which players give or receive information from the rest of their guild members (think team) about strategy, trade routes, combat reports, general announcements from the guild leaders and a final board for general chit chat.  There are also forums where you can get strategy guides, start up guides, advice, help and general support in the game.  I think my troublesome learner was getting through more English than there was in the coursebook and with none of the pretty pictures.  I was and still am a little in awe of that.  I didn’t just want to get on board to see what all the fuss was about but also I saw that he’d attempted a third condition (something about if he’d kept an eye on the enemy base he would have noticed a build up of his fleet and done something about it but in intermediatese) and I reckoned I could get in there a tweek language a little.

How did I start?

I became an apprentice to my learner.  I joined the same galaxy he was in (there are a few non connected galaxies you can join) told him where I was, joined his guild and generally listened to him tell me what to do.  I wasn’t too happy when he attacked me and raided my resources but as soon as he learnt his aggression was index linked to the amount of homework he’d get in my class we soon settled down to a peaceful co-existence.  I could find the start up guides but I just told him I didn’t have time for all that and just threw questions at him to which a lot he replied.  I found ways to model more complex structures in situations I found myself in and was pleased to note that he was soon reporting to fellow players with a much more accurate use of conditionals.  My work here was done.

The end?

Ironically enough my learner played the game for another year and then sort of drifted out of the game.  He probably lost interest and found other more interesting teen things to do.  I’m relieved to say that my tutelage in English didn’t put him off.  If anything he came out a bit more in class and even went as far as to recruit two more of his friends into the game.  No doubt to check out the novelty of their teacher playing their online game.  Once out of the game and having completed a year course with me some 6 months previously I lost touch with him and who knows whether he’s conquering galaxies now.  Maybe he became a lawyer or something (that’s what he wanted to be).

New Beginnings?

If I ever do get the chance I start the game up with other learners especially if they already have an interest in online games.  Intensive courses have proved good recruiting grounds and I set down a few rules:

A disadvantage of this game is that to stop multiple accounts being created the designers of the game have made it difficult to play the game all in one place.  Maybe a good thing but it means game play takes place in the gamers own time and in their own homes.  But get this – it’s homework they enjoy, actively use and struggle to master.  Any way to get them writing in English, eh?

Clockwise from the top -Magnavoz game console, a light gun, game cartridges, SIMON

The Father of Video Games

In 2006 Ralph H. Baer was awarded the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States for his “groundbreaking and pioneering creation, development and commercialisation of interactive video games”.  In fact many believe he invented the gaming industry.  Quite an accomplishment.  Would it surprise you to learn that Ralph is 88 years old?

Born in Germany into a Jewish family and the son of a shoe factory worker life could not have been too easy.  At the age of eleven Ralph was expelled from school for being Jewish and in 1938 the his whole family left Germany for America just in time to avoid the anti jewish purge of Kristallnacht.  Once in America Ralph took a job in a factory on minimal wage, self educated himself and two years later graduated from the National Radio Institute in Chicago.  In 1943 with the world at war he was assigned to work for US military intelligence.  After the war ended Ralph went back to studying and chose the American Television Institute of Technology from which he graduated from in 1949 with a degree in Television engineering.  His future as the father of video gaming was beginning to take shape.

In 1949 he worked as chief engineer at a small electronic medical equipment firm responsible for making electrical surgical equipment.  Two years later he went to work as a senior engineer at a company that made equipment for the computer company IBM.  By the age of 30 he had changed jobs and moved up again and was the vice president for a company that made semi conductors.  Finally, four years later, he went to work for a US defense contractor that made aircraft electronic systems and he stayed there for the next 31 years until he retired.  It was while he was working here that he established his name in the video gaming history books.

In August 1972 the release of the ‘Brown Box’, or the Magnavox Odyssey, heralded the birth of the first home video game console.  Designed by Ralph Baer the Magnavox Odyssey predated the next video game console by 3 years.  Ralph saw his invention build up 24 game titles, he pushed for the development of sound but his idea was rejected.  So too was his idea to make an add on cartridge that you could use to ‘load’ games on to the console with.  However, some ideas were accepted and the first add on peripheral is credited to the magnavox - the light gun.  This was a plastic moulded gun that when pointed at the screen registered the light emitted from a television set.

Quite an impressive story but it was not over.  Ralph’s story of inventions goes on.  One of these was the single-chip micro-processor controlled handheld game called SIMON that became a cult hit in the 80s.  This game had four large coloured buttons that lit up in a random sequence starting with one colour and then adding one more each round.  The object of the game was for players to repeat the sequence by pressing the correct buttons and the game ended when a mistake was made.  Other inventions included a recordable talking doormat called the ‘chat mat’ and a talking speedometer for a bike.

Ralph has retired now and has donated all the original game units he owned to the Smithsonian Institution  This government run educational and research institute owns  just under twenty public access museums and if you want to see some of Ralph Baer’s inventions then you can go and visit them there.  Alternatively you can play any one of the half dozen home video consoles and appreciate the legacy that he has left.

Classroom activities

Download a worksheet focusing on the pronunciation of -ed in regular verbs.

An EVOKE is defined as an urgent call to innovative solutions to real life problems.  In the same way that EVOKE is calling for gamers to solve in-game problems which could then be applied to real world strategies.   Think of the gamers as parts of a huge organic computer brain being set the task of solving problems facing Africa within the context of an online ARG.

The game targets Africa and aims to look into using playfulness and gaming as a tool for solving the bigger issues facing the world today, such as “hunger, poverty, disease, war and oppression, water access, education, climate change”.

Could this game as a languguage learning tool?  Such a game could not only have great potential within the TEFL context for motivating language learners but ARGs have had a fair share of success stories already.  The European Union ran an Education Project called ‘Babel Tower’ aimed at Secondary school language learners from around the world.  This was part of their ARGuing for Multilingual Multivation Project and was rated as a huge success.

ARGs run prior to Evoke have included Superstruct and World without oil and Superstruct which reached ‘Game Over’ status in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

To learn more about the EVOKE Alternate Reality Game project then visit the official website, Watch the trailer, or read up on the game story so far by checking out the graphic novel storyline.

So why not Make Life a Game and Change The World?

photo by Preoccupations

Event: More Details are here
Date: Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 1am GMT (next day) (check your time here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In the Elluminate Virtual Classroom. Log in at. The room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event for those who want to come in early. If you have never used Elluminate, go to http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page (here).

James Paul Gee is perhaps at the forefront of those academics calling for others to take the use of video games in education seriously.

He states in his book Situated Language and Learning that he is a linguist ‘whose interests have changed over the years.’ This is probably the understatement of the decade – he has moved from being a theoretical linguist to being the author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, which “argues that good video games are designed to enhance learning through effective learning principles supported by research in the Learning Sciences“.

He is currently the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University, and is an engaging speaker who always has something thought-provoking to say.

Manyparents complain that their children waste too much time playing video games and not enough time on their schoolwork.  Maybe it’s because they are worried that their children won’t study hard at school.  If they don’t get good exam results they won’t grow up and get a good job when they leave.  Well, this is not a problem for Victor De Leon III, AKA ‘Lil Poison , who first took up playing video games when he was two years old.  His parents have been so supportive of his video game playing that he is now, as his website says, the world’s youngest professional video gamer.

‘Lil Poison first started playing games such as basketball and Star Wars: Episode I on the Sega Dreamcast when he was just two years old.  Two years later, he signed up for a HALO tournament in New York.  By the time he turned nine he was competing in championships against thousands of other competitors and coming third.  In one to one challenges he was unbeatable.  He is now in the Guinness book of records and there is a film being made about him.   He even earns a living by charging $25 an hour for personal online tuition to people who want to learn how to play Halo better.  He also earns money from gaming tournaments, licensing deals and having his very own clothing company.  That’s not even where the big money is.  Prize money at one of the gaming tournaments he attends can be as much as $200,000.  Not bad for a video gamer.

What do his parents think of all this?  His father is very proud of his son’s achievements and he calls him “Superkid . . . He just needs a cape.”  It was ‘lil Poison’s dad, also called Victor De Leon, AKA Vic, who first noticed his son’s gaming talent.  One day Vic was playing a game when his two year old son joined in. By playing together they completed the whole game and it was at that moment that he realised how talented his son was.  His mother hopes that ‘lil Poison will make enough money to pay for his university education, which in America can be more than $30,000 (about 20,000 Euros).

His parents do have some worries though.  Some of the more violent games, such as Grand Theft Auto, are games that they want to keep away from ‘lil Poison.  The strong language content, both in these types of game and that used by gamers at conferences, is something they frown at.  They are even careful about how much time he spends playing on his games.  His father says “He comes home from school, does homework first, takes a little break – eats, of course – and then plays two games, just two.  Then he goes in the pool, plays basketball . . . Then 8 o’clock comes and he plays with the team from 8 to 10 pm.”

‘Lil Poison himself says that he has got a lot of interests outside of playing video games.  He likes to swim and play basketball.  He likes to draw, play with his toys and watch TV.  He also has 3 pets he like to play with and look after.  Their names are Rocky, Scruffy and little Cortana.  Those are the names of his two dogs and hamster.  As for school work, he always does his homework because his mum and dad won’t let him play if he doesn’t.  His school work always comes first.

Both his father and uncle are avid gamers and give him advice on the ‘dos and don’ts’ at tournaments and how best to deal with all the female groupies that ‘lil Poison has been known to be pursued by.   He is still a little too young for that kind of attention though and prefers to play with his hamster than spend time with girls.  He’s a long way off being eighteen.  But what does the future hold for Victor De Leon III?  ‘Lil poison himself is uncertain whether he’ll still be playing games, at least professionally, but reckons if there are still cool games out there then he’ll be playing them.

Download a copy of “‘lil Poison plays video games – parents are ‘oh so happy!‘with a reading activity.

The Digital Educational Revolution

The explosion of technology that is taking place in schools has led to a number of ideas being put forward related to the death of the book in education. More and more, laptops are being introduced in schools all over the world. In some cases, buying a laptop for a child is actually cheaper than a typical year’s spending on text-books. The OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project is the driving force behind this in developing countries, such as Rwanda. Elsewhere, such as in Spain, current trials are underway in schools to evaluate how the use of laptops could replace much of the content now delivered through coursebooks. It also seems to make sense in order to appeal to the new generation of digital natives.

Death of the Book

That books are a dying species is a popular subject for debate on the Web and in the press. It seems clear that we are reading less, and this has been happening for some time now . Of course, books won’t totally die out, but they will probably become what they were to earlier generations – for a minority audience only. But should we really be lamenting this?

School didn’t teach me to read – I learned from my games

- a student (Prensky, 2005)

Replacing the Book with Games

Games offer so many benefits when you compare them to books:

• Playing video games burns more calories than reading a book
• Reading books chronically under-stimulates the senses
• Games are more interactive and involve players in complex decision-making
• Games are better than books at providing a context for situated meaning

Finally, the last words go to a researcher of the Institute of Educational Research, University of Oslo:

“A reader has no say in what happens to the protagonist of a book…while we may feel empathy, emotions run higher for videogames. By controlling the protagonist in a videogame, we become an active participant in the story. We are no longer passively being taken for a ride, but have to process information actively, make decisions and respond to stimuli from the game. Thus videogames are the stronger medium playing to a broader register of the human mind.”

Hans Christian Arnseth, quoted in The Book of Games (Volume 2)

You’ve probably sat on a bus or train and see someone playing ‘braintraining‘ and finding out how old their brain is. You may even have played it yourself. This popular hand held puzzle video game was designed by a prominent neuroscientist who claims that playing the games’ puzzles reduces the chances of dementia in old age. Such a health benefit from a video game may sound incredible but the evidence is mounting that one way to be healthy is to play video games. Similar neurological benefits have also been credited to the game Tetris. Who would have thought fitting different shaped coloured bricks could make your brain better? Neuropsychologist Dr Rex Jung, who works at the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, is on record as saying practising this puzzle game increases grey matter in the motor areas of the brain. Food for thought. Meanwhile, at the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at University of California Irvine’s, Richard Haier was finding that first time Tetris players’ brains experienced a boost in glucose levels. Could this mean that glucose deficient diseases such as diabetes may one day have a pharmatronic solution? Playing video games, in this case, could be just what the doctor orders.

Nor are video games just for patients it seems. The study “landmarks the arrival of Generation X into medicine”conducted in 2002 found that doctors who played video games for three hours a week were less likely to make mistakes in surgery. A doctor was quoted as saying that both game playing and surgery required the same hand eye co-ordination so, in effect, the gaming improved that skill. Surprisingly, it is the violent games such as Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, HALO or Left 4 Dead that seemed to offer the best opportunity for practising hand eye co-ordination skills. Back to the patient and Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester in New York suggests that action video-game training may even be a useful complement to eye-correction techniques because such games train the eye in what eye doctors call contrast sensitivity. Contrast sensitivity allows a person to distinguish objects from other objects and the background. A persons ability to do this is said to diminish dramatically with old age. Know of any games your parents may be interested in?

Being fitter and having regular exercise is what doctors would say is the greatest preventative medicine. Getting fit and healthy is not the sort of thing that playing video games brings to mind though. However, keeping fit with video games does have its proponents and gained early popularity in the late 90s with the release of ‘Dance Dance Revolution‘. This arcade game involved players scoring points for dance moves, which were played out on a dance platform that flashed in time to each of the gamers dance moves. Many players of DDR, as it is called, claimed to have lost weight through the games aerobic work out of dance. This may be the reason why Norway recognises DDR as an official sport and why the game was also adopted by many state schools in the USA as part of their physical education programme.

Perhaps the most well known and popular keep fit video game in recent years has been the wii fit. Its fitness programme is divided into four categories – yoga, strength training, aerobics and balance games – and its popularity placed it as the third best-selling video game in history. However, its popularity wasn’t restricted to the living room at home, health clubs and gyms also invested in this technology. What is surprising is the Finnish army Defence forces decision to buy hundreds of the console to encourage more free time exercising. It proved a very popular choice with the troops. No doubt they enjoyed the need to be fighting fit.

The ancient Greeks believed that healthy in mind was healthy in body. To look at how healthy a nations mind is you should look at the education it receives through its schools and universities. Earlier this year, a study commissioned by a Member of the European Parliament came to the conclusion that playing video games “have a positive contribution to make to the education of minors”. This was an opinion that had already been put into practice in Scotland. It was in Scotland that an education project using the Nintendo DS was introduced into state primary schools. The project took advantage of the fact that short bursts of playing on the Nintendo DS before a class activity actually improved results in classes such as maths. I wish they’d known this when I was at school!

Across the borders to England and in Kent a graphic adventure video game is being used to stimulate creative writing in state schools for juniors. The video in question is called ‘Myst’ and the writing project is the brainchild of Tim Rylands.  Rylands states that the game provides a “shared experience” in the classroom as well as providing a context with which to explore and enhance children’s writing. The project is ongoing but has received positive feedback from both teachers and pupils alike.

The potential for video games in education is now being realised in English language teaching. The International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) holds its International Annual Conference & Exhibition every spring. It’s attended by around 1500 ELT professionals from 70+ countries and was held in 2009 in Cardiff, Wales. One of the plenary speakers at the event was Marc Prensky who is the author of such books as “Digital Game-Based Learning” and “Don’t Bother Me Mom – I’m Learning“. In these books he advocates the use of video games as a means in which to help children develop the kind of meta skills that will help them to become successful adults in the 21^st century. Although Prensky doesn’t refer specifically to language learning games it is interesting to note that he excludes the more violent action games from his agenda.

‘Language learning computer games‘ have been around for decades but have never really gained a high rung on the social ladder of video games. Perhaps it is their overt language agenda and a lack of an engaging storyline or an engaging aspect that they lack but best-selling video games have. What is for sure is that the big money companies have been reluctant to invest time and money in developing ‘edutainment‘ games. To this end commercially successful gaming platforms and video games are now being adopted and adapted by education.

If you are a language teacher and want to know where video games meet the classroom then look no further than the internet for information. A very popular blog run by Larry Ferlazzo  provides access to numerous video games for use in the language learning classroom. Youtube has videos on the use of such games as ‘The sims‘ (the best-selling PC game in history) as a language teaching tool. ‘Wii English‘ is a site which looks at the use of wii games, such as animal crossing, and uncovers and reveals their potential as a language learning tool. There are even sites that take online point and click games free on the internet and into the classroom. If video games are being used as engaging and fun group collaborative activities that practice language learning skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking) then the view that video games are an individual and isolated activity for geeks and nerds will soon become outdated. In fact, ask the younger generation and you may discover that this view is already a little old fashioned. Remember though it’s never too late to start playing!

Video Game characters at the movies

I’m game for the movies

Many films go on to become video games but do you know which films started out as video games? The pictures above show just four of those films, can you name them? You may be surprised to find out that there have been quite a few more. Which do you think was the first video game to make it to the big screen? I asked this question to a friend recently and he came up with Tron. My friend didn’t know that Tron didn’t start off as a video game. First, it was a 1982 science fiction film by Disney and although it was about a video game it was actually the film that spawned the game. The prize for first live action film based on a video game was in fact ‘Super Mario Bros’ in 1993 starring Bob Hoskins as the moustachioed title hero and Dennis Hopper as the bad guy. Though Bob Hoskins received praise for his portrayal of the popular game character, the film itself received very negative reviews and did poorly at the box office.

During the mid nineties there then followed a spate of kung fu and kick boxing video game / film crossovers, the most famous of which were the run of ‘mortal combat’ films and Street Fighter. Such stars as Christopher Lambert, Jean Claude Damme and even Kylie Minogue brought theses video game titles kicking, if not screaming, to the big screens. Initially both titles proved to be commercial hits but unfortunately, the negative reception of each subsequent film meant that the prospect of further releases is minimal.

It was not until Tomb Raider and Lara Croft (played by Angelina Jolie) hit the screens in 2001 that a video game could really lay claim to having successfully made the leap to the movies. In takings it broke the record for a film that featured a female lead and took over $300 million at the box office worldwide. It not only remains the most successful video game adaption to date but also launched Angelina Jolie’s career as a Hollywood actress.

Ironically enough the next video game to successfully make the transition from computer screen to cinema screen also starred a female protagonist. In Resident Evil Mila Jovovich also plays a gun-totting amnesiac heroine and a secret underground genetic research facility called the ‘Umbrella Company’. The trouble starts when the company is responsible for accidentally releasing a virus which causes dead bodies to reanimate as blood thirsty zombies. To date three live action movies under the name of Resident Evil have been released. The fact that the movies took an average of $20 million on their opening weekends and grossed $150 million worldwide means that Alice’s fight against the Umbrella Corporation is sure to continue.

The talk of the computer game town at the moment is the prospect of Peter Jackson’s (director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) involvement in HALO. HALO is a very successful first person shooter video game. It will be interesting to see how a video game that took $300 million in its first week of sales will make it as a movie adaptation. There are many sceptics who simply believe that a successful video game loses its principal appeal once it becomes a movie. You watch a film passively for a couple of hours at the most. A video game requires active participation and it is the choices that you make that decide the story. Also a video game, from start to finish, can provide anywhere in the region of 100 hours or more of play.

So what is the future for computer games at the movies? Rather than seeing movies and video games switching back and forth we may see the two blending together to form a single new media. The technology perfected by James Cameron to film his new movie Avatar may hold the key to this future. As James Cameron himself says, he used “a big, powerful game engine” to capture actors’ motions to let them interact with computer generated characters on a real, live-action set while shooting live action. Perhaps the video gamer of the future will interact with a game environment in a similar way putting the player inside the game in real time. This will bring a whole new meaning to “I’m into video and computer games”.

Download this article (PDF) for your learners (with comprehension questions)