Via: Games 4 Change - Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge Winners Announced Today in Paris!
Following my previous post Environmentally Themed Serious Games via Xbox Live, Games for Change has issued a press release announcing the winners of the Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge.
First place went to City Rain (pictured) from Brazil-based Mother Gaia Studio. In this single player 3D "Sim City meets Tetris" we can learn about Urbanism, Ecology, and maintaining a Sustainable Environment. As buildings drop from the sky, they need to be strategically placed on the grid so the community can grow whil still being ecologically mindful. Team Members: Rafael Costa, Guilherme Campos, Helena Van Kampen , Tulio Marques Soria.
From Paris - Today Microsoft and Games for Change announced the winners of the Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge - a game contest on environmental sustainability made using XNA Game Studio, Microsoft’s toolkit which allows almost anyone to make and distribute a game for the XBox.
The contest was launched during last year’s 2007 festival Expo and then saw the 6 finalists during the 2008 festival just last month.
Today the final three were chosen and feted in a big splashy show at the Louvre. The 3 winners were CityRain from Mother Gaia Studio in Brazil in first place; Future Flow from Belgium’s Drunk Puppy in second, and CleanUp from the South Korean team Gomz in third.
The Imagine Cup is an annual contest created by Microsoft to encourage university students to tackle world problems through technology. This year’s Imagine Cup attracted more than 200,000 students from more than 100 countries to create technology solutions around the theme of environmental sustainability.
2008 was the first year the game development category was included and the 6 game finalists from around the world stood up to some pretty intense competition over the past week. They were all great games with serious messages and solid gameplay.
The criteria were primarily: Fun Factor, Innovation and Adherence to Theme.
Winners were awarded $25K in prize-money and their games have a chance to be included on Xbox Live. The winning team will also be considered for internships at Microsoft.