Applying Physics to Gaming
Germain Mendoza
The article “Teaching introductory undergraduate physics using commercial video games” talks about a course that was offered to college students at the University of Texas at Brownsville that would last from December 2010-January 2011. Many games were used to demonstrate how developers of the video games used real world physics laws and applied them to the basis of the game. In the article only four were mentioned these were: “Little Big Planet”, “Shaun White Skateboarding”, “Guardian of Light”, and “Uncharted 2”. With “Little Big Planet” the college students were assigned to make a platform with frictionless glass and build an object that would move across the platform and on the object, they had
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For “Uncharted 2” the students would have to line up their reticle and shoot a Thermos flask in different spots to see how the flask would react. When shooting the flask at the top it would spin clockwise and when shot at the bottom it would spin counterclockwise then they shot the flask in the middle and the result only gave a little spin. This activity would show the students how different torques make the flask spin in different directions. Though the producers of the games try to give the players a feel of real life physics laws in the game there are always some parts that defy the laws of physics this would include: bodies going through each other, body continuing to move in a forward direction when hit by a stronger opposite force, and bodies going through floors and walls.
My interest for this article came from my great passion of playing video games and also that video games can be used for an educational purpose. From my personal experiences of video games teaching me something educational came from the well-known series of “Call of Duty” in their older version of giving the player a feel of the World Wars that happened. From those games I learned quite a bit about the World Wars including: who was on the axis side, who was on the allies side, who won the World War, and important battles
I had always wanted to program, not just anything. I wanted to program video games. Not just any video game. I wanted to to program the greatest game ever made.
In this lab, we applied the concepts of velocity,force, acceleration, time, and distance in order to calculate which trial had a higher velocity. We also learned the relationship between each of the factors and how altering one plays a role in the other factors. For example, if we were to apply more force the velocity of the cart would increase, as well as the amount of time it took for the cart to go down the
Everyone enjoys the sweet taste of victory and the feeling of accomplishing a goal, especially in a video game. However, video games are not just about winning. Video games are a good method to enhance our educational experience and create a career pathway for us to take. By creating a video game course within schools around the world, we are able to create a whole new generation and future that incorporates the advanced technology that is constantly improving.
James Paul Gee, a professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, dove into the world of videogames to see
The gears in my mind began to turn. This fun-filled moment with my classmates sparked my curiosity into the realm of physics. That unforgettable autumn day was the catalyst for my fascination of the laws of
Many people think that up to 60 million people died, others think that maybe it was up to 85 million between in 1939 – 1945. In this essay, I am going to tell you why it is important to learn about the World War II. There are many reasons for this. First of all, learning about the history so it won’t happen again. Second, the war is a big part of the world history. If we learn about this event, it will not be that easy to forget. Third, it is also important to learn about how people lived during this war, and reasons for why the war started.
World War Two, a conflict that involved six continents, three great oceans, scores of countries, and billions of people, epitomizes the perception a war unlike any other. It completely revolutionized modern man’s perception of total war on a global front, where the scale of mobilization, utilization of resources, and the deployment of military personnel the world had never seen before. The aftermath of this war is, in fact, still being felt to this very day, where the ripple effects are far-reaching and ever so subtle. World War Two drastically altered our global landscape through major shifts in our technological, political, and social dynamics.
center with the pool tables and a line of arcades in front of me. At least nine to twelve players are gathered around 2 gaming arcade machines in front of me. The two main popular ones that are of interest would be the Street Fighter 3rd Strike and the Marvel vs Capcom 2 machines. The gamers are heavily immerse in watching the players and cheering them on. I am observing four players playing on two separate machines. The two players who are on MVC2 are wearing both hooded jackets and baggy jeans with tennis shoes. It seems they were here for quite a while. Backpacks are off to the side of the machines or lying around randomly near them on the ground and some
The consumer video game systems offer an exciting opportunity to discuss and analyze the design of technology based on the strategy of each of the players within the industry. We will focus our analysis on the next generation of video consoles: Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3).
Many video games use visuals to mentally immerse gamers into a virtual world filled with seemingly living, breathing people, animals, or cities. According to Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey, game designers for Tale of Tales, video games increasingly develop into a true medium of artistic expression (Lamb). In just forty years, video games transformed from an abuse of the new computer for entertainment purposes into a sophisticated form of popular art. The development of video games recently produced results that arguably equal other similar, representational arts. Video games share many qualities with other forms of art, but they are also artistically significant in their own way. “This seems to be something
Many young children and teenagers have heard their mother’s incessant plead to get away from the screen and to go outside or pick up a book for once instead. The urge to play “just one more level” before starting that homework or doing those chores can be quite distracting. But are video games really as awful as Mom exclaims or as brutal as those TV ads depict? It turns out that video games can have a strong impact on participants’ lives in both positive as well as negative ways.
Video games in today’s society have become very popular. Every new game that comes out to be played and conquered by the average gamer has its own category. There are several other types of genres of games that people play but because of big hit titles and the new popular game systems like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, people become more interested in a game that is well known than a game they have never even heard of before. Every game has its own storyline and own way of how it unfolds and where the game ends according to game play. Some of the biggest reasons people sway to certain genres of games is because of the game titles released under them and the demand of people who want a good game under that category. The top three most
Just about everything you do from moving to eating to listening to music involves physics. Now that I have really explored them I think it is hard to go about our day and not do something that involves physics. Some of the things I will talk about are getting out of bed, the eye and how eye glasses help a person see better, speakers, the Frisbee, sailing, and the pulleys I use to get my jeep unstuck in the mud when I ride in the woods.
Video games are and interactive environment with a low cost and absolutely no risk. Games allow the gamer to have an active role in creating to the fullest extent (Video games act as educational tools). Games are worlds in which anything can be done, and the player is exposed to creativity with no limitations. When this creativity is exposed over and over, the creativity becomes stronger. Even very violent games like Grand Theft Auto 3, have educational background to them, this game allows the player to determine what type of person he will become. Gee goes on to say that “everybody plays that game (Grand Theft Auto 3) differently, they’re getting to explore identities, values, and ideologies.” (Video games act as educational tools). Also historical games such as Medal of Honor and Battlefield 1942, involve players into battles that happened in World War 2. I have learned about many battles while playing these games. I realize after playing, what type of climate the solders endured, what they fought against, and what was need to be done in order to win. These games give an accurate portrait of what the battle may have looked like, including bullets, expulsions, and historically accurate vehicles. Games like these show the students what they are actually learning. Also when the students tend to want to learn more about a particular battle, and remember information easily. Some other video games, such as
The repetition of the statement claiming that video games do not help children in their educational enterprises is unfair. There have been numerous studies conducted providing evidence that children gain structural knowledge while engaging in video game play (Pillay 2002).