ESA HEARTLAND SERIES: Q&A WITH SECOND AVENUE LEARNING FOUNDER AND CEO VICTORIA VAN VOORHIS
This month, ESA spoke with Second Avenue Learning founder and CEO Victoria Van Voorhis about her start in the video game industry, how video games enhance learning experiences, and collaborating with schools in Rochester, New York, to introduce students to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. Read the Q&A.
Showcasing the geographic diversity of the video game industry, the Heartland Series features interviews with video game publishers, developers, and innovators from across America, highlighting the groundbreaking work and innovation they bring to every corner of the nation.
CELEBRATE
THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF NITE TO UNITE
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are now available for the 20th annual Nite to Unite. It is sure to be a memorable anniversary event, bringing together the video game community to celebrate the best of the industry, support a great cause, and network. The ESA Foundation will honor LearnDistrict founder and CEO Laila Shabir at the event for her pioneering vision to empower young women through her company’s female-focused Girls Make Games summer camps, workshops, and games. Watch this video to learn more about Laila’s work. You
can be part of the excitement and help the ESA Foundation make a difference in the lives of future game developers by sponsoring the event or making a donation. To purchase tickets, make a donation, or learn more about sponsorship opportunities, contact the foundation at NTU@TheESA.com or call (202)-903-2310. See you March 20 in San Francisco!
More people tuned into Twitch than CNN and MSNBC in January, attracting a record average of 962,000 concurrent viewers, according to data from Macquarie Capital analyst Benjamin Schachter. (Source: PC Games News)
ESPORTS GET
AN OLYMPIC QUALIFIER
Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn claims victory at the Intel Extreme Masters
PyeongChang esports tournament. (Photo credit: @IEM)
There were no esports on the 2018 Winter Olympic schedule, but they did receive what could be viewed as a qualifier for the games in the days leading up to the opening ceremony. Before 2,925 athletes from more than 90 countries gathered in PyeongChang, South Korea, to participate in sports like snowboarding and ice hockey, Intel and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) hosted the Intel Extreme Masters PyeongChang Starcraft II tournament. The event made both Olympic and esports history, with Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn becoming the first woman to win a major international Starcraft II tournament. “This is just the start of an exciting future and we’re interested to see how this experience will play out,” said Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC Television and Marketing Services. The IOC already recognized esports as sporting activities in 2017. In its newest Esports Market Report, Newzoo projects the global esports
audience will grow to 380 million people this year and global revenue will grow to more than $900 million. If esports continue on their current trajectory, Newzoo projects that by 2020 the global esports audience will reach 557 million people and global revenue $1.4 billion.
VIDEO GAME
TREATS SCHIZO-
PHRENIA
A rocket journeys through space in a video game developed by researchers at King’s College London and the University of Roehampton to treat verbal hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. (Photo credit: King’s College press release)
A new video game treatment is helping people with schizophrenia control brain activity linked to verbal hallucinations, according to a study by researchers at King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience (IoPPN) and the University of Roehampton. Recognizing the need for alternative treatments for patients who experience verbal hallucinations, brain imaging experts Dr. Natasza Orlov of King’s IoPPN and Professor Paul Allen of the University of Roehampton devised a
neurofeedback technique using a space rocket video game and an MRI scanner. The video game was designed to target a region of the brain that responds to speech and human voices, which is particularly active in people with schizophrenia. Using neural activity measured by the scanner to control the rocket, participants of the study were asked to safely land the rocket using mental strategies and without any instructions on how to move it. After four sessions, all patients were able to reduce neural activity in the speech sensitive region of the brain without visual feedback from the video game. The video game helped patients learn lasting strategies they could apply to their daily lives. “The results of this pilot are astonishing, as almost everyone in the patient group was able to
control the space rocket, successfully bringing the rocket in the game back down to the ground,” said Professor Allen. “What this means is that by using this technique patients learnt to control brain activity in the area of the brain that responds to voices – an area we know is hyperactive in people whom experience auditory verbal hallucinations.” “Our study has shown that people with schizophrenia can learn some sort of mental strategy to help their symptoms – something which several years of medication has not helped with,” added Dr. Orlov. The pilot study only included a small sample size of patients, but the researchers believe the preliminary results are promising and they are currently planning to test the technique with a larger group of patients.
E3 2018 REGISTRATION AND TICKET SALES OPEN
More than 68,000 people at E3 2017 try the latest video games and technology.
E3 invites the global video game community to experience its best show yet at E3 2018, June 12-14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Industry registration and gamer pass sales for the biggest event in video games are now open. Following an enormously successful, gamer-powered show in 2017, E3 2018 will feature extended show hours to accommodate all attendees, providing industry and media exclusive time on the show floor without cutting short gamers’ opportunities to play the most anticipated games of the year. E3 Coliseum is also returning to L.A. Live with producer Geoff Keighley (The Game Awards) to give gamers three full days of panels and behind-the-scenes access to the show’s biggest announcements. “Gamers raise the
energy of E3 to a fever pitch, reinforcing its place as the world’s preeminent event for video games,” said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of ESA. “We are excited to fuel that passion and enhance the gamer experience at E3 by extending show hours and adding a third day to the wildly popular E3 Coliseum.” Industry registration and gamer passes are available at www.E3Expo.com. For the latest updates on E3 2018, follow E3 on Facebook @E3Expo and Twitter @E3.
The global video game market is forecast to reach $172 billion by 2025 and register a 6.5 percent compound annual growth rate between 2014 and 2025.
(Source: Digital Journal)
“Immersive environments can help motivate patients to do painful or difficult physical therapy movements. Make it something that’s fun, make it joyful. How do you create an opportunity that gets people to go beyond themselves in healthy and supportive ways? Using the virtual world for physical therapy can help create that opportunity.” - Donna Z. Davis, Ph.D., Director of the Strategic Communications Program at the University of Oregon (Source: VentureBeat)
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