Crash Course
Role-playing Games: Crash Course Games
Today, we're going to explore the world of role-playing games. Role-playing games are different than most, because they're technically a form of interactive storytelling with one player managing the game as the game master (or dungeon...
Crash Course
The Pok_mon Phenomenon: Crash Course Games
Today we're going to do something a little bit different and take everything we've learned so far and apply it to a case study on (arguably) the biggest game franchise in the world: Pok_mon. Now Pok_mon, like a select few other games...
Crash Course
Let's Make an AI that Destroys Video Games
Today we create a game and then build an AI to destroy it. Our game is called TrashBlaster, and it’s like Asteroids but with trash in the ocean, and instead of a spaceship John Green Bot is wielding a laser. We'll use machine learning...
Crash Course
AI Playing Games
As we mentioned last episode, one of the best test spaces for building new AI systems are games. This is because games provide a great framework for an AI to learn an objective and slowly improve. In recent years, AI has made huge...
Crash Course
Microsoft and Connected Consoles: Crash Course Games
Today, we wrap up our discussion of the console wars by taking a look at Microsoft's Xbox which was announced in 2001. The early 2000s saw a lot of innovation in hardware and games and we'll cover some of that, but one significant change...
PBS
Is Buying Call of Duty a Moral Choice?
If you play video games, you've shot a gun. And those guns are REALISTIC. So real that many are actually LICENSED by IRL arms dealers. Which means that when you buy a video game, you're also putting money in the pockets of those gun...
SciShow
The Biggest Psychology News Stories of 2016
From Pokémon, to fMRI, to the relationship between masculine norms and mental health, 2016 left us with some interesting psych news to ponder.
TED Talks
TED: How games make kids smarter | Gabe Zichermann
Can playing video games make you more productive? Gabe Zichermann shows how games are making kids better problem-solvers, and will make us better at everything from driving to multi-tasking.
TED Talks
Ali Carr-Chellman: Gaming to re-engage boys in learning
In her talk, Ali Carr-Chellman pinpoints three reasons boys are tuning out of school in droves, and lays out her bold plan to re-engage them: bringing their culture into the classroom, with new rules that let boys be boys, and video...
PBS
Are Virtual Video Game Economies Becoming Real?
The idea that a collection of pixels can be sold for actual money might be confusing to some, as they are neither true "objects" you can hold nor "ideas" that can be considered intellectual property. But despite the lack of tangibility,...
SciShow
When The Universe Will End
Hank serves up a buffet of news items that includes an approximate date for the end of everything, scientific proof that when it comes to sex bigger IS better, and a look behind how the London Olympics are going green. Bon appetit!
SciShow
Will Video Games Eventually Replace Your Therapist?
You might have heard that video games are bad for you, but psychologists think they might be a useful therapeutic tool for improving some people’s mental health.
Crash Course
Handhelds: Crash Course Games
Today, we're going to talk about the gaming devices that combine the screen, speakers, controls, and computer into one neat little package - that's right we're talking about handheld game consoles. Handhelds have actually been around...
TED Talks
Daphne Bavelier: Your brain on video games
How do fast-paced video games affect the brain? Step into the lab with cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier to hear surprising news about how video games, even action-packed shooter games, can help us learn, focus and, fascinatingly,...
Crash Course Kids
Engineering Games
So how can a game teach us about engineering? Pretty easily! When you're trying to solve a game, or a puzzle, or whatever, you will have a bunch of variables. The trick is knowing how to change one variable at a time to see what changes....
TED Talks
Scott Kim: The art of puzzles
At the 2008 EG conference, famed puzzle designer Scott Kim takes us inside the puzzle-maker's frame of mind. Sampling his career's work, he introduces a few of the most popular types, and shares the fascinations that inspired some of his...
TED Talks
Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life
When game designer Jane McGonigal found herself bedridden and suicidal following a severe concussion, she had a fascinating idea for how to get better. She dove into the scientific research and created the healing game, SuperBetter. In...
Crash Course
LARP: Crash Course Games
Today we're going to talk about LARPs or live action role-playing games. Larping tends to conjure up the image of a bunch of nerds hitting each other with foam weapons but it's much more than that. LARPs merge performance, community, and...
Crash Course
Playstation and More Immersive Video Games: Crash Course Games
So by the mid-90s the video game industry was once again booming and this attracted the attention of the Japanese electronics giant Sony. In 1994, Sony introduced their Playstation console which successfully coupled cutting edge...
TED Talks
Charles Leadbeater: The era of open innovation
In this deceptively casual talk, Charles Leadbeater weaves a tight argument that innovation isn't just for professionals anymore. Passionate amateurs, using new tools, are creating products and paradigms that companies can't.
Crash Course
The Future of Gaming: Crash Course Games
Welcome to the FINAL LEVEL of Crash Course Games! We thought it made the most sense to sign off this series by taking a look towards the future because you know... boss battles are supposed to be tough. Now we don't know the future...
TED Talks
Brenda Laurel: Why not make video games for girls?
At TED in 1998, Brenda Laurel asks: Why are all the top-selling videogames aimed at little boys? She spent two years researching the world of girls (and shares amazing interviews and photos) to create a game that girls would love.
TED Talks
Will Wright: Spore, birth of a game
In a friendly, high-speed presentation, Will Wright demos his newest game, Spore, which promises to dazzle users even more than his previous masterpieces.
TED Talks
TED: 3 fears about screen time for kids -- and why they're not true | Sara DeWitt
We check our phones upwards of 50 times per day -- but when our kids play around with them, we get nervous. Are screens ruining childhood? Not according to children's media expert Sara DeWitt. In a talk that may make you feel a bit less...