Design Interactive, an Army Research Labs contractor, is using Microsoft's Kinect to create an augmented reality program that simulates sand for the U.S. military. The technology was recently shown off at the Modern Day Marine Expo at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., according to the Marine Corps. Times.

Over the weekend the White House hosted the White House Game Jam, where game creators in the serious games and "Games for Change" space took part to show "the beneficial properties of games."

The Serious Play Conference announced today its line-up of game industry speakers taking part in its fourth annual event from Tuesday, July 22 to Thursday, July 24 at USC in Los Angeles. Speakers for this year's event include Noah Falstein, Chief Game Designer at Google; Trip Hawkins, Founder of Electronic Arts (and current CEO of Ifyoucan); and Peter Marx, Chief Innovation Technology Officer of the City of Los Angeles.

Developer Theorify was awarded a cool $25,000 during the Games For Change Festival this week. The developer took the grand prize in the Shoot for the Moon game design challenge for its game, SpaceIL Academy.

The Shoot for the Moon game design challenged participants to create a space exploration game that would help Israeli non-profit organization SpaceIL team promote its goal of landing an unmanned spacecraft on the moon in 2015.

SpaceIL Academy is described as a massively multiplayer adventure game that puts players in the shoes of spaceflight trainees.

Lucas Pope's popular indie game Papers, Please won the Most Innovative and Best Gameplay categories at the 11th Annual Games for Change Awards. The annual awards honors games that show creativity and aspire ideas. In Papers, Please players take on the role of an agent at a border crossing who is charged with approving or rejecting entry into their country.

The Fullbright Company's popular hit Gone Home won the Game of the Year category.

The Neurotechnology Industry Organization announced that the NeuroGaming Conference & Expo will return to San Francisco May 7-8 with a line-up of high profile speakers, new exhibitors, and even a gamejam to make this year's event memorable. In its second year, the NeuroGaming Conference focuses on the convergence of mind and body with game play using all kinds of cutting-edge technology including virtual reality, neurosensing, motion and gesture control, augmented reality, haptics, eye tracking, facial recognition and more.

Organizers of the 11th annual Games For Change Festival announced today an impressive line-up of keynote speakers scheduled to appear during the event scheduled to take place in New York City April 22 - 24 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Last month organizers announced that this year's event will run in tandem with the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. Headlining the Games For Change Festival will be academics, authors, researchers, and award-winning game designers.

This year's Games For Change Festival (April 22-24 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts) will be held in conjunction with the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. In case you didn't know, the games For Change Festival is an annual celebration of games that influence society in positive and unique ways.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is using video games created by Akili Interactive Labs in a clinical trial with Alzheimer’s patients to see if it can help detect the early signs of the disease. Pfizer plans to conduct a clinical trial with 100 elderly participants with and without "the presence of amyloid in their brains, based on Positron Emission Tomography imaging," according to a company statement.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation have announced the selection of the ESA Leaders on the Fast Track (LOFT) Video Game Innovation Fellows. The organizations have jointly selected twenty minority youths to each receive a grant to further their development of video games designed to solve social problems within their communities.

Recently the Human Interfaces division of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California released a video on YouTube showing how game-related technologies like Microsoft's Kinect motion sensing hardware and Oculus VR's Oculus Rift headset could be used together to control a robotic arm remotely.

The 11th Annual Games for Change Festival will take place April 22-24, 2014 at New York University's Skirball Center, event organizers announced this week.

New York news station CBS 2 offers an interesting report on the use of video games (Games for Change as we like to call them) to teach children (and adults) about the importance of empathy. "That Dragon, Cancer" and "Papers, Please" are examples of games that deal with subject matter that puts ordinary people in seemingly insurmountable situations. By putting players in the shoes of someone in such situations, experts say that young people can learn to show a bit more empathy towards their fellow man.

Twenty-five executives and experts in the interactive entertainment industry are taking part in an event to discuss how New York City lawmakers can attract and support an industry that generates nearly $5 billion a year today. The event is being hosted and sponsored by Polytechnic Institute of New York University (in Brooklyn, NY).

Scot Osterweil, creative director at MIT’s Education Arcade writes an interesting article on Boston.com detailing a game created by the lab to push the idea of good conflict resolution. The game is called "Quandry" and it teaches players to resolve conflicts by better understanding the different perspectives of those who might be engaged in strife.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced a partnership with the Black Association for Science and Engineering, the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF), HHF's Leaders on the Fast Track (LOFT) and other groups to create the ESA Loft Video Game Innovation Fellowship.

Games for Change has announced that the game concept Safe Sex with Friends is the winner of the 2013 SEXETC.ORG Game Design Competition. The three finalists were Safe Sex with Friends, SexEd Super Task Force, and Check/Mate. After hearing presentations from all three finalists (during the 10th Annual Games for Change Festival) and thoughtful deliberation by jurors (Matt Parker, Lana Dakan, Lucinda Holt, and Naomi Clark,) Safe Sex with Friends was selected as the winning game.

Filmmaker Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, who is best known for her documentary ("Wonder Women! The Untold Stories of American Superheroines") about strong women throughout history and championing  the empowerment of women, has made a new game called Wonder City.

Organizers of the 10th annual Games for Change Festival sent along a reminder that next week the annual event dedicated to games will officially launch. This year the Games For Change Festival will take place at New World Stages in NYC from June 17-19.

The official schedule of events for the 10th annual Games for Change Festival in NYC (from June 17-19 at New World Stages) has been released. The highlights include keynotes from Michael Jones, Chief Technology Advocate at Google, co-creator of Google Earth; "mini" keynotes from journalist Leigh Alexander and gaming thought leader Jesse Schell; and closing keynotes from Eric Zimmerman and Brenda Romero.

The English language version of Data Dealer, a Facebook and web game about data privacy, has been released. Developed to teach about the perils and pitfalls of data mining, the 2013 Games for Change Awards nominated game puts players in the shoes of a data mining company that uses various internet services to collect and resell both legally and illegally obtained information. Players do this through social networks, sweepstakes, mobile apps, the web, dating sites and more.

Game designer, author, and professor Jesse Schell will receive the very first Game Changer Award during the Games for Change Awards Ceremony on June 10 in New York City. This year marks the ten year anniversary of the annual event dedicated to the positive social impact of games. Schell is an award-winning game designer, and author of the Front Line Award-winning book The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses. He is also the CEO of Schell Games, and Distinguished Professor at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

Games for Change announced the finalists for the Games for Change Awards, to be presented at the 10th Annual Games for Change Festival. The special 10th anniversary event will take place over three days from June 17-19th at New World Stages in New York City.

The Games for Change Festival is dedicated to bringing game creators and other individuals together to discuss and celebrate the positive social impact of games. Over the years, the festival has played host to speakers ranging from VP Al Gore to retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Accessibility advisor AccessAble Games is looking to raise $40,000 via Start Some Good for a Spanish and English language game called My Carnival that helps children with cystic fibrosis maximize their pulmonary functions.

Organizers of the Games for Change event announced the dates and confirmed speakers for the 10th Annual Games for Change Festival. The special 10th anniversary event will take place over three days from June 17-19th at New World Stages in New York City. The Games for Change Festival is dedicated to giving "serious games" creators a venue to discuss using game technology to make the world a better place.

In the latest issue of the science journal Nature two neuroscientists say that their colleagues should work with game developers to help create games that can be used to boost brain function and improve well-being. Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester and Richard J.

Organizers of the annual National STEM Video Game Challenge - Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media announced today that student submissions of original video games and game designs is now opened at www.stemchallenge.org. In its third year, the annual challenge hopes to inspire and motivate interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by tapping into students’ enthusiasm for playing and making video games.

Ball State University (in Muncie, Indiana) professor Ronald Morris and computer science professor Paul Gestwicki have teamed up with graduate students to create a Unity-based game that teaches fourth grade students about the Underground Railroad (thanks to Polygon). The game is called The Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley River and puts students in the shoes of a runaway slave who must make his or her way to Canada where they can live a free life.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media have revealed the participating sponsors and partners for the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. For the third year, the AMD Foundation, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) will once again serve as key sponsors for the Challenge. New partners include the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Hive NYC Learning Network.

BVM Capital announced that it has made a seed round investment in health and fitness gaming company Fitness Interactive Experience (FIX). FIX is dedicated to making fitness and health fun, accessible and socially connected using massively multiplayer online games.