"Students from Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently created a video game for the blind.

"AudiOdyssey, developed by the Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab, has players layer audio tracks as if they were DJ's trying to get friends dancing. Sighted players can view animation that goes along with the game, but AudiOdyssey relies more on audio quality than visuals. The game can be played with a keyboard or a Wiimote."

"A new computer game created by MIT and Singaporean students is taking the 'video' out of 'video games.'

"AudiOdyssey is unique in that it lets visually impaired or blind players control the action just as well as a sighted player, as the music-based rhythm game relies solely on audio cues.

"Specifically, players assume the role of Vinyl Scorcher, an up-and-coming club DJ who must layer sounds to build up a great song in the hopes virtual partiers remain on the dance floor."

"Gaming boffins from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a Wii-style videogame designed to help visually impaired players virtually thrash their 20/20 competitors.

"AudiOdyssey sees the player become Vinyl Scorcher, an up-and-coming DJ on a mission to get clubbers shape shifting with merriment. Players must swing the Wii's remote in time with the virtual beat, but as Scorcher lays down more phat beats, gamers must continue to swing the Remote in time so that party goers don't desert the disco."

"AudiOdyssey will never match the popularity of the hit Guitar Hero game.

"But a group of MIT students thinks its recently released music game could be a groundbreaking experience for those with visual impairments, who often can't play alongside friends with sight."

"A new computer game created by MIT and Singaporean students is taking the "video" out of "video games."

"AudiOdyssey is unique in that it lets visually impaired or blind players control the action just as well as a sighted player, as the music-based rhythm game relies solely on audio cues. Specifically, players assume the role of Vinyl Scorcher, an up-and-coming club DJ who must layer sounds to build up a great song - in the hopes virtual partiers remain on the dance floor."

"I'm partial to new and different kinds of video and computer gaming, so I really love to pass along stories like this one.

"AudiOdyssey was developed in Flash to run on Windows PCs. If your PC has Bluetooth, and you happen to have a Nintendo Wii controller, or Wiimote as it's called, then you can play the game that way."

"AudiOdyssey is the work of the folks at MIT's GAMBIT Game Lab, and is designed to be playable for both visually-impaired and sighted users. It's not alone in this respect -- in 2006, Nintendo released Soundvoyager for the GBA in Japan, a title that featured exclusively sound-based gameplay -- but AudiOdyssey is the first Wiimote-compatible title to be designed with both groups in mind."

"The guys at MIT's gaming lab just unveiled AudiOdyssey, a game for the Wii that doesn't require sight to play. The game is sort of a musical composition tool, in which players create layered beats for an imaginary crowd of dancers. The game does have a minimal visual component but for the most part just relies on your ears and your beat droppin' (or for the less whimsical, Wiimote swinging) skills."

"The guys at MIT's gaming lab just unveiled AudiOdyssey, a game for the Wii that doesn't require sight to play. The game is sort of a musical composition tool, in which players create layered beats for an imaginary crowd of dancers. The game does have a minimal visual component but for the most part just relies on your ears and your beat droppin' (or for the less whimsical, Wiimote swinging) skills."

(Note: AudiOdyssey was designed on, and runs on, the PC using Bluetooth connectivity to a Nintendo Wii controller, not on the Wii console itself.)

"If some researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Singapore-based Gambit Game Lab have anything to say about it, gamers with serious vision problems won't have to take a backseat to their 20/20 friends anymore. On Tuesday, the lab unveiled AudiOdyssey, a game for the Nintendo Wii that is based solely around sound and tasks players with mimicking a DJ trying to create a catchy beat that people can dance to."

(Note: AudiOdyssey is a game for the PC that can use a Wiimote, not a game for the Nintendo Wii.)

"A new computer game developed by MIT and Singaporean students makes it possible for visually impaired people to play the game on a level field with their sighted friends.

"The game, called AudiOdyssey, simulates a deejay trying to build up a catchy tune and get people dancing. By swinging the remote-control device used by the Nintendo Wii, which senses motion, the player can set the rhythm and lay down one musical track after another, gradually building up a richer musical track."

"Microsoft on Thursday launched a program to give schools in Singapore free access to some of its developer tools.

"Termed Microsoft DreamSpark, the global campaign started its Southeast Asian roll out in Singapore with two universities--the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

"Microsoft hopes to spread the program's outreach across some 120,000 tertiary students in the country this year."

"Every year more and more people join the ranks of gamers, and new and innovative products are created to feed this influx. However, despite all this progress, disabled gamers have been routinely left behind.

"Many of the most popular games and systems are inaccessible to various forms of disability, such as visual impairments. Equally troublesome is that the games that are accessible are generally not playable by the mainstream market, due to the very design quirks that made the game accessible in the first place!"

"All fall I've been trying to free up time to attend Boston PostMortem, a gathering of Boston-area video game developers held once each month at The Skellig, an Irish pub in Waltham. When it turned out that a team from MIT's GAMBIT video game program would be presenting at PostMortem this Tuesday, I persuaded Bob and Rebecca to unchain me from my Mac for a few hours, and braved the freezing drizzle for the drive to the western 'burbs...

"I arrived half an hour late, but it was okay--the drinking hadn't yet given way to the speechmaking. The Skellig, it turned out, is about as authentic as Irish pubs get on this side of the pond, with real red-headed Irish bartenders and a real flute-and-fiddle ensemble belting out Celtic dances in the front room. I ordered a Harpoon and settled back to listen to Philip Tan, Matthew Weise, Clara Fernández-Vara, and Eitan Glinert talk about GAMBIT's first year in operation."

"Two gaming projects led by Communications and New Media (CNM) students are due for commercial showcase. They were completed during an eight-week internship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under the first Singapore-MIT GAMBIT (Gamers, Aesthetics, Mechanics, Business, Innovation and Technology) Game Lab programme.

"A mathematic literacy game project, The Illogical Journey of Orez, led by CNM graduate Donny Kristianto, has been selected to be published in USA. While another gaming project, Wiip, led by CNM final-year undergraduate, Joshua Wong, will be pitched by the Media Development Authority to potential commercial publishers."

"In case you haven't noticed, videogames are sort of popular these days. As the game industry continues its meteoric rise, the days of 'winging it' are long gone for publishers and developers. As budgets for triple-A franchises such as Halo and Grand Theft Auto have skyrocketed, it's clear that gaming business is now big business. With million-dollar budgets and hundreds of employees, game makers have left their garage games roots in the past and have embraced a more professional, corporate culture. They can't afford not to.

"And a more professional culture demands more quality trained game makers. College students dreaming of working on their favorite games are increasingly interested in game design programs, and academia has responded. Large public universities and small private colleges around the country are embracing degree programs in 'interactive entertainment' and 'digital media.' Whatever moniker you choose to use, being educated in both the art and science of videogames is very attractive to prospective employers like Electronic Arts and Microsoft.

"In GameTap's new series, called School of Thought, we'll examine educational institutions around the country that are pioneering this new field of learning. Our goal is to you a glimpse into the life of students hoping to embark on a career in making games."

For our first stop, we head to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one of the leading technical schools in the entire world: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Videogames are big business. By 2011, the worldwide gaming market is projected to be worth 48.9 billion US-dollars. Growth in the Asia-Pacific is generally outperforming other regional markets.

"The GAMBIT Game Lab is a collaboration between Singapore's Media Development Authority and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

"In June 2007 thirty-one students from various local institutions participated in an 8 week-program at Boston's MIT, creating playable videogame-projects from the ground up."

"The Government will pump in $20 million to fund 14 research and development projects in areas such as gaming, computer graphics and image processing.

"These projects, undertaken by institutes of higher learning, will involve about 400 researchers and were selected from 50 proposals submitted since the call went out early this year by the Integrated Digital Media (IDM) programme office.

"Giving this update yesterday, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, said that half a billion dollars would be committed to fund research and development in IDM over the next five years.

"'With this programme, we hope to achieve a value-added contribution of $10 billion to our economy and to create 10,000 new jobs,' said Dr Balakrishnan at the official opening of the Games Convention Asia 2007.

"One of the initiatives under this programme, called GAMBIT - or Gamers, Aesthetics, Mechanics, Business, Innovation and Technology - is a joint drive between Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States."

"The Singapore government plans to develop the island-state into a knowledge hub for games and digital media business, and the first step is to ensure that a pool of local and foreign talent is readily available.

"Speaking to reporters at the Games Convention Asia 2007 show held here Thursday, Singapore's Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said the first priority is to develop local expertise, as well as attract foreign talent, "to create productive teams from day one".

"Building Singapore's talent pool is important, because 'venture capitalists (VCs) basically go to where talent is,' the minister explained. 'Once they (VCs) see that you've got good people [with] good ideas which are commercially viable, smart money will come.'"

"An experimental PC game developed by the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT game lab hopes to introduce the visually impaired to the world of rhythm games. In AudiOdyssey, players use the keyboard to lay down the tracks of a song (similar to Frequency or Amplitude), but the game is also compatible with the Wii Remote.

"Since it was developed with the visually impaired in mind, AudiOdyssey relies more on audio than video, but GAMBIT wanted it to be enjoyable for a mainstream audience, too. Eitan Glinert, the lead researcher on AudiOdyssey, believes that sighted players won't even realize that they're playing a game designed for the blind."

"Forget shoot-em-up addicts -- video games are reaching out to the rest of us.

"The greatest symbol of this is the Wii console from Nintendo. Its innovative wireless control -- the Wiimote -- has even non-gamers excited as they swing it through the air to control, say, a tennis racket on the screen.

"Wii's Wiimote may play a pivotal role in bringing the visually impaired into the electronic gaming fold.

"But not quite everyone has been reached. One group is still largely ignored by video game makers: the blind.

"With that in mind, a team of researchers at the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab in Massachusetts set out this summer to make a music-based video game that's designed for mainstream players and also accessible to the blind.

"Appropriately, perhaps, they incorporated the Wiimote into the game-play, though it's optional.

"The resulting DJ game, designed for the PC, is called AudiOdyssey. In it, players try to lay down different tracks in a song by swinging and waving the Wiimote in time with the beats. Or they can just use keyboard controls."

"This week in Blogwatch with Jason Tan, find out about the GAMBIT (Gamers, Aesthetics, Mechanics, Business, Innovation and Technology) Game Lab, a joint collaboration between Singapore's Media Development Authority (MDA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston.

"Formed in October 2006, the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab conducts research and development of next generation digital games.

"The five-year initiative will focus on identifying and solving research problems using a multi-disciplinary approach that can be applied by Singapore's digital game industry.

"In June this year, 31 students from Singapore's various institutes were sent to Boston on an 8-week internship. This pioneer batch recently returned and was given the opportunity to showcase their playable game projects.

"Jason Tan speaks with Ms. Teo Chor Guan (TCG), Programme Director of the GAMBIT Game Lab."

"During the summer term break, 31 students from Singapore, including 6 NUS students, spent 9 weeks, from 9 June to 11 August 2007, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working together with MIT students and faculty as part of the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab. During this exchange programme, the students had the opportunity to work on research-based games projects, attend seminars provided by MIT professors, engage in cross-cultural interaction, and were exposed to the overall games production cycle."

(Translated.) "Singapore is having a celebration these days. The GAMBIT Game Lab (Games, Aesthetics, Mechanics, Business, Innovation, Technology) started off on Monday 18th of June. It is a five-year collaboration for innnovation between MIT and diverse public and private institutions from that country. The idea is to predict, research and develop the videogames of the future.

"Videogames stopped being child's play long ago. They're extremely interesting to fans and millions of adult consumers play, as well as educational institutions, big corporations and start-up companies. By the way, videogames involve large capital investments.

"Now whole countries are interested in videogames too. Singapore decided to invest $500 million in digital interactive media. Its national research center – akin to CONICYT in Chile – is following an aggressive research and development agenda on digital media. One of the privileged areas in this is the growing field of videogames."

"In the opening ceremony for Games Convention Asia, guest of honour Vivian Balakrishnan, minister for community development, youth and sports, and second minister for information, communication and the arts, detailed the extent that Singapore is prepared to go to in order to become a games industry centre of excellence.

"'Singapore intends to be part of the action,' he said, after pointing out that the Asia-Pacific region is estimated to contribute 40 per cent to the industry's global revenues of USD 39.8 billion by the end of 2008.

"Balakrishnan revealed that the Singapore government is spending SD 500 million to stimulate research and development in the digital interactive sector, and went on to outline the GAMBIT initiative, a student exchange between Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

"The best modern video and online games do more than entertain. They also teach – and give players a say in how they learn. MIT is a pioneer in this participatory, games-to-­educate approach, with a growing number of faculty and alumni leading the field. And students interested in this kind of gaming can tap MIT's academic strengths, such as artificial intelligence, as well as industry savvy right on campus."

"The recently announced Singapore-MIT International Game Lab is a collaboration between MIT and the Singapore government's Media Development Authority. Singapore hopes to create 10,000 new jobs in the digital media sector by 2015, and to that end will send its best and brightest to study at MIT -- about 30 to 40 undergraduate students each year, says Philip Tan, executive director of the lab's U.S. operations.

"Faculty, postdoctoral students and graduate researchers will all work together under the auspices of the lab to study game design and produce "a lot of games, somewhere between five and 10 each year," says Tan.

"'The game industry isn't particularly fond of reading research papers from academia,' but its leaders do pay attention to games, says Tan.

"Jenkins says the university connection will foster greater innovation: 'We see the lab as a space where we can move swiftly from pure research into compelling applications, and then partner with the games industry to bring the best ideas to market.'"

Read Full Interview Transcript »

"The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Singapore Media Development Authority have announced an agreement to establish the Singapore-MIT International Game Lab (SMIGL). The SMIGL initiative will allow students and researchers from Singapore to collaborate with MIT researchers and game industry professionals in international research projects.

"Outcomes planned for SMIGL's initial period include development of both an academic and a high-impact research program, publication of peer-reviewed research papers and production of publicly distributable digital games. However, the long term goal of the new initiative, according to SMIGL representatives, will be to 'further digital game research globally, develop world-class academic programs in game technology, and establish Singapore as a vital node in the international game industry.'

"Beyond technology development, representatives also note that SMIGL will engage in research concerning the "artistic, creative, business and social aspects of games." The organization will also provide Singapore game researchers and professionals with access to new technologies, as well as the latest conceptual developments and links to international game development and research communities.

"The collaboration, which will include offices both in Singapore and at MIT, will be co-directed by the directors of MIT's Comparative Media Studies Program (CMS), Henry Jenkins, DeFlorez Professor of Humanities, and William Uricchio, professor of comparative media studies. Both Jenkins and Uricchio will also serve as the leading investigators in the collaboration."

"ST, ZB, TODAY and BT reported that about 300 of Singapore's top talent in computer games will be headed for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to soak up the latest ideas and technologies. A five-year tie-up between Media Development Authority and MIT has produced the Singapore-MIT Game Lab, which will enroll its pioneer batch of game designers and media researchers by the middle of next year. Also announced by PM yesterday, this initiative will bring together Singapore game designers, MIT academics and game-industry professionals for research into the creative, business and social aspects of computer gaming."

"The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said Tuesday it teamed up with a Singapore-based group known as the Media Development Authority to establish an international game lab. The focus of the lab, called the Singapore-MIT International Game Lab (SMIGL), will be to research and develop game technology--including new genres, multicultural vocabularies and gaming's societal effects--and create academic programs in the field, among other goals.

"The lab, which will have offices at MIT's Cambridge, Mass., campus and in Singapore, will be lead by the directors of MIT's Comparative Media Studies Program, Henry Jenkins and William Uricchio. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"'We are excited by ... the opportunity to push game research and the industry in new directions, and we very much look forward to initiating an international dialogue among leading scholars, designers, students and gamers,' Uricchio, a specialist in trans-national media distribution, said in a statement."