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  • 2007 Serious Games Summit GDC: Jane McGonigal On ilovebees, ARGs This latest Serious Games Source feature covers a keynote by alternate reality game creator Jane McGonigal presented during the recent 2007 Serious Games Summit, during which she stated “I design games from the future,” and offered insight into the creation of Halo 2 ARG ilovebees.
  • Serious Game Engine Shootout In the march up to the Serious Games Shootout panel to take place in March during the Serious Games Summit in San Francisco, writer Richard Carey presents a comparative analysis of several prominent engines currently used for developing serious games, as well as quotes from the companies behind the technologies.
  • Playing with Fire: Enemy Dolls In this latest Playing with Fire feature, Powerful Robot Games' Gonzalo Frasca offers his unique insight into the perception of conflict in games, as well as in other media, and notes how looking at events through the eyes of the opposition could lead to better understanding.
Report: Ledonne Speaks Out On Super Columbine Massacre RPG[05.25.06]

A report by the online edition of Colorado's Rocky Mountain News details the events surrounding the Super Columbine Massacre RPG, a freely downloadable role-playing game that mixes cartoon-style imagery and events based on the April 20, 1999 school shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado - and, its creator alleges, attempts to communicate a social message through the use of games.

The report follows up on a recent interview by the Rocky Mountain News with Danny Ledonne, the game's creator who now works as a filmmaker in Alamosa, Colorado, within which he discusses not only the game itself, but his reasons for making it.

While not directly involved with the shootings, the event nonetheless had a profound effect on Ledonne, who in some ways felt as if he was on a similar track as Harris and Klebold. The report also discusses Ledonne's reasons for expressing his emotional attachment to the event through a video game, a decision spurred by exposure to the video game creation software RPG Maker.

While many have been critical of Super Columbine Massacre RPG, some resorting to threatening Ledonne himself, the game's developer points out in the report that it is not a game that advocates school shootings or violence, but rather is a way for himself and players to deal with the issues raised by the events surrounding the Columbine High School shootings.

Interested readers can visit the full report for more information, including quotes from Ledonne and additional insight into the game and its creation.

By Jason Dobson
May 25, 2006 01:55:00 PM PT