June 2008

Saving the planet via video game seems to be all the rage at the moment. Being cynical (my natural state of being), you could argue that this is a great way to get some free publicity and, given that I’m writing about it here, I couldn’t disagree!

PowerUp looks to one of the better versions out there, having some substance, rather than relying entirely upon “the message”.

Developed by IBM in partnership with TryScience/New York Hall of Science, PowerUp plays under the following premise:

Hundreds of years ago the nations of our planet realized that the side effects from burning fossil fuels for energy were damaging the atmosphere and changing the climate. They joined together to develop and build technologies to create electricity from available renewable energy resources like wind, sun and water power. Meanwhile the planet’s citizens–our ancestors– pulled together and pledged to use less energy. This ushered in a Golden Age of energy balance and ecological harmony.

In fairness, it does look pretty good. Clearly, some effort has gone into making this an enjoyable as well as interesting experience.

You can grab the free download from their site.

The University of Glamorgan has released information about iStan, a “‘state-of-the-art human patient simulator which can help trainee medical professionals to gain as close to real-life experience of treating a patient as possible without working on the real thing.”

This is a fantastic use of simulation being used in the real world to help people. I really am astounded by the ingenuity of some people.

Designed from the inside out, iStan has a human-like skeletal structure that provides true-to-life articulated motion. Spine, neck, arms and hips all move with incredible life-like accuracy.

Modelled from a unique cast of a real person, the skin of iStan acts, looks and feels like real human skin. iStan is fully wireless and battery operated and offers the portability and versatility to conduct simulation training in a wide range of real-world situations.

You can read the full story here.

There are a couple of interesting news items in relation to Ship Simulator 2008 this week.

Firstly, Lighthouse Interactive have announced the first Ship Simulator competition:

Today leading computer software publisher Lighthouse Interactive and game developer VSTEP announced the Ship Simulator ‘Sail the Open Sea’ Contest sponsored by Matrox Graphics. The contest starts on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. (GMT) and closes on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. (GMT). Enter for a chance to win over ten prize packages and one of two Matrox TripleHead2Go^TM Digital Edition units. For contest details and to enter the ‘Sail the Open Sea’ Contest, visit www.shipsim.com/contest or click on ‘Contests’ at www.lighthouse-interactive.com.

To enter, all you need to do is send them an email describing a Ship Sim adventure you’ve had. The top 3 entries will receive the prizes.

Secondly, Lighthouse have released a multiplayer server application for Ship Sim.

Today publisher Lighthouse Interactive and developer VSTEP released a multiplayer server application for their successful simulation hit, Ship Simulator 2008. The application provides all Ship Simulator 2008 players the ability to create their own stand-alone multiplayer servers. The multiplayer server application is English, but compatible with all available language versions of Ship Simulator 2008. Furthermore the application is suitable for players with Ship Simulator 2008 and the official add-on Ship Simulator 2008: New Horizons. This highly realistic simulator puts players at the helm of some of the World’s most varied and detailed ships found at sea, allowing them to explore accurately recreated environments. Ship Simulator is available in 20 countries and 7 languages.

This is a pretty neat idea and is sure to open up the sim to more players.

If you’re interested in astronomy, the news of the release of Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope probably hasn’t escaped you, but if it has, get yourself over to their web site now - you’re in for a treat.

In Microsoft’s own words, WorldWide Telescope is “A service free of charge from Microsoft lets students and lifelong learners tour the night sky using high-resolution images from the world’s best land- and space-based telescopes.”

The program is for Windows only, although I’ve been running it successfully on my MacBook Pro using VMWare’s Fusion. Performace is very good and the imagery is simply stunning.

I found it a little fiddly setting my home location - you have to manually search through a very long list to find it, unless I’m missing something.

Once you’ve set your location (or any other, for that matter), you’re free to roam the night sky. The user interface is very intuitive - simply drag the sky around to pan in any direction. The mouse wheel allows you to zoom in and out at will.

You are provided with a number of “Tours” and pre-configured places to Explore, such as the planets. You can easily track objects, either in real-time, or at a defined time-rate (e.g. X10, X100 etc).

I’ve only begun to scratch the surface, but my initial impressions are very favourable. If you have even the slightest interest in astronomy, I’d thoroughly recommend you download it. It’s free, so you’ve got nothing to lose!