Episode 31 – Gaming our Audience

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Michael R and Phaedra B finally disprove the rumor that they are the same person by co-hosting a show together for the first time in a long time unfortunately Michael M. was unable to join us.

We look at sites and games that are helping students learn more and teachers engage their students more. Sites like Brain Nock and Brain Pop aim to help pull students and teachers into competitions with other schools and classes.

Thinking about the holidays makes us decide to brush up on our wine skills, with a few apps, including Blush and Bottlenotes, before we decide that no one should actually drink Rhubarb wine. We then get into discussing a bit of our latest games.. and can you believe it? It’s Mine Sweeper!

So lean forward, grab a nice glass of your favorite beverage, and write us a review while listening to this week’s episode of – Games At Work DOT Biz!

Links:
Brainnock
Techcrunch Article
Brain Pop
Quiz Bowl
National Forensic League
The Flipped Classroom
BottleNotes
Blush
Playing Skyrim as a Pacifist
Mine sweeper – FTW!
Flattr – Social Micropayments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:53 — 33.0MB) | Embed

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Episode 30 – Gaming Health

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A blue moon must have occurred, because Michael M and Michael R are together in the same room for this week’s show. We do, however, miss Phaedra due to circumstances beyond our control. We look at gaming programming education and gaming your health. Michael R. gives a read out on the new class he’s been taking via Code School (check out Episode 12th – Going Oldschool from way back on July 8th). This class allows your to learn iOS programming without investing in a Mac. Then we turn over to discussing Michael M.’s desire to game his work outs, with a review of various devices which provide insights to your daily work out, etc.

This week’s Links:
Brain Health:
Try iOS class
Mr. Higgie
Body Health:
Nike Fuel Band
Lark Life
Jawbone Up
FitBit

Big Data and self analytics

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:58 — 28.5MB) | Embed

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Episode 29 – Simon Says

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Games don’t stop just because it is a holiday week in the U.S. and neither do podcasts about games at work. After a bit of looking at things differently – can you say might-tight? Our friend Ian Bogost has a new game out, that Michael M. discovered while being all peckish, and we discuss the history and speak a little Latin. When then ask – are persuasive games really that persuasive after all?

We also discuss how we can make our mundane, boring, and overloaded todo list much more fun to work on. Or do we? Can you make it fun to deal with all the crap you have to do? How do you make all the things that pile up – doable? We discuss the impact of intrinsic verse extrinsic rewards on doing your tasks. Is “clippy” enough to make you happy?

Now that the Thanksgiving Holiday is over in the U.S. it’s time for everyone to get Back to Work and hopefully our little gaming your todo list will be helpful.

If you want to play games with us on Apple’s Game Center – you can find us at MichaelRowe01 and Michael_in_nc.

This week’s links:
Simony
Simon Says
Cow Clicker Episode
Geek Rock – Barcelona
They Might Be Giants
Are persuasive games really that persuasive?
Security Now – ROCKS
Back to work!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Michael get’s some science wrong
Melatonin – has nothing to do with skin color!
The Mythbusters get it right!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:49 — 35.7MB) | Embed

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Episode 28 – Dating Flashmob

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Michael and Phaedra express their love of martial arts, and how they don’t mind deceiving themselves in the least, by gaining cardio exercise benefits while doing something inherently fun.  “Dirt runs faster than I do” says Phaedra, thinking that zombies chasing her would be a great motivator to run even faster!  Talk about living in the undead moment!

 

Phaedra and Michael talk about a wide variety of alternate reality games (ARGs), from the recently started Google Niantic Project, to the stolen Audi (from 2006 if you can believe that!) to the MIT Game Lab’s Smithsonian game.

 

Then, the concept of applying games to dating is raised, and while you may think that Phaedra and Michael would start thinking about The Dating Game — no, they take it fully in the more modern way, with phones acting as agents and helping to arrange Dating Flashmobs!

 

Concluding this show with saving throws featuring videos from Rhett & Link, Michael and Phaedra agree that if you have a tough problem, call the bacon bot ARG and have a good laugh.  And a hot tip…  if you watch the video in full screen view, there are some hidden videos interviews to find.

 

Selected show notes links

 

TechCrunch article:  Are Games Really That Persuasive?  — http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/10/are-games-really-that-persuasive/

 

Quest Center — http://chquestcenter.com

American Ninja — http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/American_Ninja.mp3/view?searchterm=american%20ninja

 

Zombies, Run — https://www.zombiesrungame.com

 

Niantic Project — Day of Weirdness — http://www.nianticproject.com

 

That’s Niantic — not to be confused with Nyan Cat — http://www.nyan.cat

 

Requesting an invite via Ingress — http://www.ingress.com

 

Audi game — find the stolen Audi — http://kotaku.com/038191/stolen-audi-could-be-viral-marketing-game

 

MIT Game Lab Smithsonian ARG — http://www.fastcompany.com/1748531/mit-creates-one-video-game-youll-be-thrilled-see-your-kid-get-hooked

 

 

saving throws 

Michael M — rub some bacon on it video — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSReSGe200A

Phaedra — the breakup song — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyfNZs2dPto&feature=relmfu

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:59 — 29.0MB) | Embed

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