Video Game for Learning English

[Tdol]

I recently spent several months in internet cafes in Cambodia and there are problems with connection speed, but I did see people playing games there. However, there would be problems. It is also fair to say that the majority of customers were not locals.

[A.Russell]

Imagine how much bigger -than it is already- the market will be when they get up to speed

[A.Russell]

Very positive results here.

I have artists working on some concept work and finished models. Stay tuned and I'll have something to show soon.

[ricardosong]

I voted 3.

I totally agree with what Tdol once said as how to enrich one's English vocabulary. It is blood, sweat and tears that work things out. This is also ture for the whole English learning.

[A.Russell]

Thanks for your input, it's good to hear the negative side, too.

After four years of "blood, sweat and tears" at university learning Japanese, I knew a lot, but could barely speak a sentence. After coming to Japan and practicing with friends, at work, and in bars I quickly became fluent. Really quickly. I could see improvement week by week. So for me personally, "blood sweat and tears" didn't do nearly as well as immersing myself in the language in a real and useful environment, and was a heck of a lot more enjoyable, too.

Things that are difficult to learn never seem nearly as hard to me when I enjoy them and am motivated to practice. I hope this game will provide that sort of motivation and enjoyment for others and make the task of learning a whole new language a little less arduous.

I do not recommend learning entirely by playing video games. They are another tool just like books and videos, and one that a growing number of people are beginning to feel is under exploited.

[ricardosong]

A.Russell, thanks for your comment.

Your experience is another proof that success comes only out of hard work and formal training. When you are proud of your Japanese, you cannot forget your university education, which is the base for your progress. You should also thank the time and efforts talking with native speakers, which is another form I call "blood, sweat and tears". Maybe you consider talking to people kind of fun, but there exist learner who don't even open their month.

I have similar story with yours. I learned 4 years Portuguese in unversity, but I still found it was not enough on many aspects. Later I had oportunity to work with portuguese natives and I made suprisingly rapid progress, even feeling that I learned more than I did in the past 4 years. However, I say to myself, if there was not A,B,C and the basic knowledge I got before, the miracle is just a dream.

Your efforts to develop other ways of learning are positive. Perhaps I'm too tradicional, but I think the main stream is formal education. People have to learn things seriouly, to attain scientific knowlege is not sweet, it is rather bitter. Otherwise, all people will be scientists and great knowlegeble person.

[A.Russell]

One of my fellow developers has just released a video game for drilling multiplication. Now, normally multiplacation drills are dead boring, but try this and see what you think:


Timez Attack

http://www.bigbrainz.com/

Also, he currently has a promotional offer:
http://www.coniserver.net/ubbthreads...280#Post524017


For those of you who try it, what do you think about the fighting depicted? I've asked about this before, but perhaps after playing this you will have a clearer opinion. Is the bloodless violence in this game acceptable for an educational title? I have a poll on another part of the forum asking about violence, and somme people were a little squeemish about the idea of how bloodless violence would be recieved by teachers and parents.

The acceptable level of violence poll can be found here :http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=11833

[A.Russell]

Very encouraging results so far.

I have a client who wants my pachinko simulation ported to Linux, and that is taking up most of my development time these days (which is restricted by my day job time). I do have a couple of artists working on concept, though, and I'll post some of these in the next few days. I'd like to hear your opinions.

[Tdol]

I watched the demos and was very impressed. I'm not a computer gamer but I have seen a fair few games over the years. I thought it was slick and I wouldn't worry at all about that sort of level of violence- it is a very cool program. I look forward to your next posting.

[Poor Student]

Yes its can help me with me brukin English.