Obama backs games in education

By Robert Purchese Published 24 November, 2009

LittleBigPlanet to play an important role.

US President Barack Obama has revealed a new education initiative that will enlist the help of games like LittleBigPlanet to get kids interested in science and maths.

The Government is throwing $4bn at the Educate to Innovate scheme and has attracted the help of not only Sony but also the Entertainment Software Association, MacArthur Foundation and Microsoft.

"I'm committed to moving our country from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math education over the next decade," stated Obama during a launch event for the project (as reported by Gamasutra). He name-dropped Sony as an "industry leader" during the speech.

LittleBigPlanet will host a Game Changers competition where participants are challenged to create LBP levels with "new gameplay experiences that enhance STEM [science, technology, engineering, maths] principles".

"We're thrilled by the opportunity to participate and support the Game Changers challenge announced today," responded SCEA boss Jack Tretton. "It casts a huge spotlight on the innovative medium that is videogames and digital entertainment.

"It also embodies for us what we see everyday: amazing things can happen when you provide the right tools and environment, combine it with great technology and put it in the hands of really creative people."

The ESA will join with Games for Change and The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop (among others) to organise the STEM National Video Game Competition. This calls for the creation of educational browser-based games aimed at people aged between four and 16 years.

ESA boss Michael Gallagher said it was "a very good day for the gaming industry".

"Our industry's lifeblood is the energy and innovation of new, emerging developers," he told Kotaku. "To create the next generation's epic titles and incredibly immersive storylines, we need America's youth to have strategic and analytic thinking skills along with complex problem solving abilities.

"It is my hope that it will produce games that will have a lasting impact on the STEM skills our nation's students so desperately need.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • RandomTerrain #1 2 years ago

    I knew he was the best President ever. Damn kids don't know how lucky they are.

  • Olemak #2 2 years ago

    I'm sure Microsoft is lobbying hard to get Halo 3 included in that project too. Or maybe the exclusive GTA IV DLC.

  • BabyJesus #3 2 years ago

    About time politics understood that (most)games are essentially problem solving activities with bells on, from simple things like micro-manging inventories to working out how to tackle a boss.

    To use a recent example, the glyph puzzles in Assassins Creed 2 which include you having to employ code-breaking and observation skills to come up with the solutions.

  • Shadders #4 2 years ago

    I actually did a uni project on how LBP could be used as an educational tool - [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=IxYpRO2KjLw
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=IxYpRO2KjLw
    [/link]

    Obama is blatantly an idea thief. :D

  • altitude2k #5 2 years ago

    Forget LBP - it's all about Lego Mindstorms for education.

  • superted1974 #6 2 years ago

    "I'm committed to moving our country from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math education over the next decade"

    Science and math OR science and MATHS?

    Discuss.

  • Zephro #7 2 years ago

    Maths clearly, what about Civilisation eh? I'm sure that was wonderfully educational for me as a kid.

  • altitude2k #8 2 years ago

    @superted1974

    I think technically it is actually "math". It's a rare example of how we have butchered the English language.
    Edited by 1 at 24/11/09 @ 09:35

  • mcmonkeyplc #9 2 years ago

    You are surrounded by a covenant drop. You only have a pistol with 2 grenades. How the hell do you get out?!

    There's a problem to solve in Halol :)

    Ofcourse you have to force the kids to play on Heroic + for it to actually be a puzzle though.

  • superted1974 #10 2 years ago

    @ altitude2K

    and I technically agree with you but it still doesn't feel right to us Brits!

  • kongzi #11 2 years ago

    first of all.. 4 billion is nothing in a country the size of america. And I don't thinks MS is going to get in on this.. they supported the Bush campaign, Bush overruled some judicial decisions for them. My guess is Obama is a mac.
    Modern Warfare 2 was pretty educational too: never, ever trust an American general. That's a valuable lesson.

  • cianchristopher #12 2 years ago

    I wonder if Obama thinks LBP should've got a 10/10 from EG....

    I'll bet he thinks the Face-Offs are BIASED in favour of "M$" too....

  • Kapo! #13 2 years ago

    First, the US Air Force orders 2200 PS3s. Now Obama has stated he wishes to use the PS3/LBP to educate American children. I wonder if Microsoft has issued all their employees with adult diapers, as surely they must be bricking it?

    Cue the backlash from 360 Fanboys in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..........

  • Ringot #14 2 years ago

    I love the acronym STEM personally. Reminds me of something else these new scientists should be doing...

    Also another vote for Civilization as a big educational influence.

  • davisorle #15 2 years ago

    I was in California for about 4 years to know that the least they needed was to become slower from younger age and from the only place that was keeping them up from being dumb at early stage and that was School.. And i can tell you that women,when not too sluty ( amen to that though ) were always smarter and faster than guys. Its not like that nor obvious in any other country so.. This is another first for the Americans. Shame, and i loved it in CA ( Full of latin women that love outsiders too. Go and you wont regret it but single. NOT with a partner ).

    Other than that I find the attempt to make "scientists" through LBP stupid. I bet the kids wont mind playing at all though so good for them in some weird way.

  • Bigglesworth #16 2 years ago

    All very admirable, but it wasn't so very long ago that Obama was blaming games (among other things) for his nation's obesity epidemic and culture of sedentry.

  • metalangel #17 2 years ago

    @superted: Why not write to Obama and tell him how speeches made to Americans should be changed so they sound right to you? You could drag up the tedious old "aluminium" thing while you're at it.

  • the_mtfr #18 2 years ago

    So Americans are dedicated to improving kids' knowledge by tossing their heads in the asscrack of humongous corporations.

    They should try Empire Total War, or Civilization as some guy above said, or Colonization to remind them a bit about their own years, or Freeciv to be a bit more "market-neutral".
    Edited by 2 at 24/11/09 @ 12:21

  • Gillespionage #19 2 years ago

    I think this is great. I hope other countries follow

  • spekkeh #20 2 years ago

    Good. I'm a scientist doing research in education and games, so this probably means I'm going to have to move to the US now.

    Not sure if that's a good thing though.

  • spekkeh #21 2 years ago

    So Americans are dedicated to improving kids' knowledge by tossing their heads in the asscrack of humongous corporations.

    They should try Empire Total War, or Civilization as some guy above said

    Yes support the small and medium enterprises! Local indie developers like SEGA and 2K Games!

    wut.

  • Lamb #22 2 years ago

    Obama to world: Do the Mario! :D

  • Shrike #23 2 years ago

    As someone said once in a different comments thread, 'maths' as short for 'mathematics' is consistent with the general English tendency to retain the 's' on abbreviated plurals - so we say 'pants' rather than 'pant' when referring to 'pantaloons' (what a strangely Regency example.. sorry). So we're more consistent in this one thing than Americans. But that doesn't mean that British English isn't equally wonky elsewhere.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #24 2 years ago

    $4bn ? Obama should check out hotdeals, LBP is regularly on there for 9.99, he could probably get quidco and spend a fraction ;)