Game designers aim for Nobel Peace Prize

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Ideally, he explained, the game would spawn "cool, peaceful projects" that would "erupt all over the world," as players move from their DS handhelds and form instant groups that plant trees, clean up public messes, build structures, donate money or collect important materials.

"There should be a U.N. resolution passed that those making the call to war must log time in this program."

--Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer, Epic Games

Ultimately, he said, the idea would spread because game play would be fun, but players would get involved initially in a bid to make a difference in their communities and around the world.

Next up was Bleszinski, whose "Empathy" concept was built around the idea that people could learn to better understand war by putting themselves in the position of the victims of military conflict.

Players would take on the role of the father of a family of five and become responsible for everyone's well-being as war drums sound and a full-blown battle is joined.

To win, players must keep their families alive until war ends. If the family dies, then the players lose.

Bleszinksi said his fantasy was that the game would help world leaders avoid war through better understanding of the consequences of their political actions.

"There should be a U.N. resolution passed," he said, "that those making the call to war must log time in this program."

Last up was Takahashi. As the creator of the popular "Katamari Damacy," the hit game of the 2005 Game Developers Conference, Takahashi was clearly a crowd favorite.

But while his presentation style was well-received and endearing, his concept was thin on game design elements. Takahashi said that because people love video games and are not violent while they play, the world could be more peaceful if everyone played video games.

After the final presentation, Zimmerman exhorted the audience of hundreds to vote with applause for their favorite.

Zimmerman and Wright ultimately judged the audience response for Smith's "Peace Bomb" to be the loudest and declared him the winner.

Wright placed the tiara on Smith's head and then ran off the stage waving his hands wildly.

To Zimmerman, the contest is about more than getting top designers to pit their conceptual skills against each other.

"There is no reason that any of these game designs could not be realized," he told the crowd of designers. "I want (you to) make more games, better games and more innovative games."

For Wright, being able to watch the event, but not participate, was relaxing. But he said he thinks the challenge is important.

"It's inspirational," Wright told CNET News.com, "especially since you're allowed to think about problems that market considerations don't allow."

He said the challenge also brings out interesting elements of innovation.

"Not so much design innovation," he said, "but social innovation?how to reach people" with game designs that are outside the usual commercial fare.

Zimmerman also said he was happy with the results of the challenge, which he spent months producing.

"The thing about the Game Design Challenge is that it's like game design," Zimmerman told News.com. "I create the structure and then (the contestants) come play in it. It's satisfying seeing players take your design and play with it."

[Pop4]

ViD Designer would benefit with an AVi change-up toward capital investment.

Bitmaps and 2D mastery have seemed to fruision. Direct X formats are currently upgraded for further debate with Sony advicasey; no announcments are planned.

[Tomcat Adam]

Peace Bomb wouldn't work.

Or, it would be an exclusively online game, but even then it wouldn't work. That is, without a wifi connection, how would it update itself on the 'flash mobs'. We gotta remember that the DS has a 30 ft. maximum range on great conditions.
All I can see is preset flash mobs inside the card itself, but that would lead to another slew of problems.

[jcmahal]

Peace Bomb Pros and Cons

The idea of Peace Bomb is a perfect game for DS.
Ofcourse the competetive aspect will require the gamers to compare scores globally and also a way to get new "flash mobs". So 1 a wifi access will be necessary for either updates on flash mob events, and also for score uploads. A feature should be inplace that you can't always group with the same people for each flash mob event or at least varrying point would be given for each unique and repeat person you interact with.

In a business standpoint, if the card based game does get public interest, the possibility events created with in cards could really result in more sales of newer events, but that can also be a draw back for many people who would not want to constantly buy new games.

This is a great idea to look into. I think the feasibility of this game is very possible, now will ther be any company that will take on the idea is another thing.

[lingsun]

Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize, anything is possible

Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize, anything is possible.