We just arrived at the Serious Games Summit at the Crystal City Marriot Hotel just outside Washington D.C. and we are excited to get to work. Right off the bat it seems that there are a few more people here than last year - which is a good sign of growth, but we will have to get the official numbers. This is only the 3rd annual event of who's who in the gaming business on the serious side.

For those who don't know or haven't heard about Serious Games let us enlighten you to a booming area that has and continues to show great potential in purposeful ways. So what are Serious Games? The short answer is video games that are created for corporate training, education, first responders, government, health, military, science, social change and other areas.

You see the Video Game business has two sides:

1) the $11billion dollar Entertainment side with games like World of Warcraft, Halo, NFL Madden etc... 

2) the $1 billion dollar Serious side with games like Darfur is Dying, Americas Army, Food Force, A Force More Powerful and Pulse! HealthCare System Simulator.

Opportunities are abound in both areas and both are continuing to see great growth and potential. On this blog we will cover some of the exciting sessions and share information to educate you more fully about this side of the video game business and help get you thinking about how our society could use games as an effective means for educating our kids and solving real-world problems. Games aren't just toys for kids they have relly grown up - the average age of a video gamer is over 30 and organizations from the Red Cross to Maryland Public Television to Humanitarian Aid are using games to further educate, inform and engage. Corporations like Wells Fargo, Cisco and others are becoming more and more engaged too.

So enjoy the coverage we bring to you live from the 3rd Annual Serious Games Summit.      

This session presented research conducted at DeVry on the effectiveness of using simulation games as a supplement to college level business courses. The results indicated that final exam scores of students of all ages (except those above 40), ethnicities, and genders improved significantly with the addition of games such as Industry Giant II and Zapitalism.

The attendees posed many questions regarding the methodology at work, the statistical significance of the numbers, and questioned the specifics of the way the classes were conducted. Blunt provided some specifics, but was unable to answer some questions that delved into areas of the research that did not revolve around the cause-and-effect of gaming on scores. He explained that there is very little research similar to his that has been documented in academia and that the other factors are necessary to be examined, but currently the emphasis is on basic research that will support more funding as serious games gain credibility.

Blunt had great presence, a great sense of humor, and had excellent video clips of former students, who seemed to be happy, even excited!? about these business and economics classes. I hope to see more research soon.

This session was totally moving, exciting, and refreshing to hear for a number of reasons. The students were tasked with creating a video game about fire safety for the Red Cross. This was a great example of a school/industry partnership. High school students worked on developing a game about fire safety in an effort to educate other kids and families about fire safety in an interactive and engaging format.The added benefit is that not only have the students learned the basics of creating a video game using the program Maya (which is industry-standard software), but the game is a great public service. How many kids really read, study, or simply know enough about fire safety, or for that matter, how many adults? KIDS LOVE GAMES - if a game can educate in a fun and interactive way about subject matter that is typically overlooked, then you've made great strides and have MAJOR SUCCESS!