Canadian Game Studies Conference Highlights Education, Serious Games

The Canadian Game Studies Association will hold its 3rd Annual Conference on May 23rd and 24th. The event will take place at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. 2009's conference features an emphasis on the community, identity, and culture of video games and virtual worlds. The event will additionally host sessions dedicated to educational applications and serious games. The 3rd Annual Conference will open on May 23rd with a pair of sessions on game audio: Dominic Arsenault's "Chiptune Aesthetics: Places from the Past," and Milena Droumeva's "Creating a 'Sound' Curriculum." Later in the day, a group of panels dedicated to serious games will focus on the political implications of Hearts of Iron, Islamist politics in games, and the development of applications inspired by Aboriginal communities. Educational sessions planned for both days of the event will discuss alternative play spaces and Dance Dance Revolution's role in exercise curricula.