IBM and Microsoft enter the Serious Games arena in Education, Training and Co-generation

In 2008, Microsoft released ESP a serious games tool based on Flight Simulator, a 25-year-old video game from Microsoft Game Studios.

Microsoft's ESP allows corporations to design customized training simulations and the first target market is the long term leader in training simulations -- the military and aviation companies that cater to the U.S. military and other clients.

In 2009, IBM released Innov8, another foray into serious games creation tools by a major computer company.

Serious games are getting attention in the training sphere because the technology and the game strategy are rapidly maturing alongside the growing experience of the general population in casual and hardcore gaming.

The movies are often society's vision-maker, and the 2006 movie "Snakes on a Plane," gave us the vision of a passenger whose only aviation training was playing video games successfully lands a jumbo jet.

The movies make believers of us!

Gaming teaches skills and develops confidence.

Education and training have struggled with using electronic tools, and struggles with competition for attention with glitzy entertainment games -- so they are committing to the journey of using gaming and simulations as an adjunct to classroom education and training.

New game engines, creation tools, and online environments such as Second Life are making it possible to rapidly prototype games, create them and distribute them using online strategies such as Adobe Flash and web stores.

We're entering a distributed-generation phase much as the energy and utilities field with solar and wind generation at the enduser's site.

Co-generation is the trend for the next decade...watch it for opportunities to learn, teach and share.

BOOKSHELF & TOOLS FOR FILM & VIDEO