Back to lectures and first day sounds like good news for this blog/portfolio site. Why? well cause of Business of Computer Game module. No need to explain as time will show.
Anyways back to random ramblings. Was searching for fee prices for the halls in Bolton through Google. Yes I know, there's a perfectly fine search feature(a hint of sarcasm) on the Bolton uni website but since Google automatically opens itself for me then why not. Anyways I recently stumbled upon a link to "Good University Guide" and well decided its a good time to wilf about the net so I clicked the link and it opened up huge information about Bolton University. If you do care about the University then you may want to check up on this here and here. I trust all broadsheet infos, even though its last years, Bolton University has some distance to go.
Now what I did was made comparison to my first choice university. That's right, I did not get into my first choice due to 20 credits short. Wanna know where and what degree I was going to do. Check it here http://www.reading.ac.uk/Study/ug/ComputerScienceandCyberneticsBSc.asp
Reading Uni had cybernetics with computer science which what I really wanted to do. For the insurance choice I made sure that I'll get that insurance choice no matter what, and Bolton University got the spot. Nothing against the university here, nothing subtle.
Anyways I ended up comparing the two. Here's what I got:
From the tables student satisfaction I agree with, as I am in fact satisfied where I am, more satisfied than I was a couple of years ago. Other stuff, Bolton has a lot to work for and I'm sure I will move up a spot by the end of this year. I checked this last year and Bolton was joint 99th position with another institute, so it goes to say something at least.
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In my recent dev ramblings I found some nice infos and articles whilst I was wilfing around.
My AGTEngine portfolio work uses RakNet middleware and I usually ramble about how good and easy it is to integrate networking capabilities into your engine if you're also in the same process. This awesome UDP networking middleware is great for games and I recommend it alot if you plan to get the most of middleware codes. Anyways Jenkins (lead developer) has made a feature list video which you can check out here. Visit main webpage here.
Also found a nice article today on gamasutra headlining "
UK Government Considers Wii In Schools". Assuming Jack Thomson doesnt get there in time schools could be a little more interesting for kids. Report suggested that child obesity trebled in the UK and this could be one way of encouraging them to get some exercise once in a while. It's not suggesting that the Wii be used for something like cooking classes, instead of cooking, you're simulating, instead they plan on integrating and making the console available in PE sessions, making sure that in whatever forms necessary the child will get some sort of exercise out of it. It seems to even out the idea behind the fact that playing games could lead to less exercises and to the inevitable. Thanks to Nintendo.
Anyways the article; It may also be down to the department of health stated in the short article, and if we do face with this upcoming approach then my personal opinion would be is that kids are getting good at being spoilt. With any means necessary the government will do what ever it can. It seems nice for them to encourage children to play games but there's always nasty critics that would love to slate the hell out of this.
Just imagine when you have children-
You: "Hey matt, did you have fun today at school?"
Matt: "Yeah I played video games all day..."
For some parent that'll appall them but if the industry is well accepted that view may be all so different.
My response: "Tell me what game you played...was it on the 360?"
Surely a gamer's response and the inate response well here. At the moment education will just have to do with something else up their sleeves.
Just to leave with a nice article from Gamasutra:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16392
Peace.
