The National Institute of Health (NIH), a division of the Health Department, has been funding a video game to teach fifth and sixth grade students about the dangers of smoking. In a recent post, developer Moai Technologies states that the game will be based on another NIH-funded program from the 1980s. “This combined biology and smoking cessation education has been successfully done for over two decades with a video called Dusty the Dragon and Dr. Margie Hogan Talk About Tobacco.” The video has been sold to 20,000 schools and seen by countless students.
The NIH believes that a video game will be much more effective than a video for today’s students. The user navigates through a Cancer Room, Heart Disease Room, and Lung Disease Room, Nicotine Addiction Room, Oral Cancer Room, Gum Disease Room, and more. The player must solve puzzles, which include hidden objects and matching activities, to advance. Upon completion, the player receives an object to fight back against tobacco.
A team of experienced researchers and developers has been put together to work on the project. Tom Plocher has conducted human factors research for three decades. Dr. Klassen has created over 60 educational software products. Dr. Carole A. Bagley will oversee the student and teacher evaluations of the game during its early phases. Dr. Marjorie J.Hogan, a pediatrician who appeared in the original Dusty the Dragon video, will consult on the STEM aspects of the game. Finally, Dr. Christi Patten, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Behavioral Health Research program, will consult on the smoking cessation content for the game.
Funding has so far has cost $224,767, and will continue until July 2016.
The NIH states that in 2012, five percent of eighth grade students reported having their first cigarette by the end of fifth grade.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.