Assassin’s Creed is based on a the Hashshashin or Assassins, a religious group of Ismaili Muslims, thought to be active in the 8th to 14th centuries as a mystic secret society specializing in terrorizing the Abbasid elite. The group transformed the act of murder into a system directed largely against Seljuk Muslim rulers that had been persecuting their sect. Assassins were meticulous in killing the targeted individual, seeking to do so without any additional casualties and innocent loss of life (more…)

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What are the memories of childhood that keep coming back to you? Oftentimes, they are of the first movie we saw. Movies are profound (and often intense) experiences for first-timers. Think back to your first visit to a cinema: whether it was a public screening or a private viewing at home, when the lights went out and the movie came up, you were alone in your own experience. This great gift of cinema helps create those memories that are so clearly affixed in our minds.

Now do you think that memory from your childhood, that cornerstone in the foundation of your life, influenced who you are today? If you’re were a kid in America in the 70s who turned on the Afterschool Specials on Wednesdays at 3:30pm when they were playing foreign films, chances are that is why you are tuning into KidConfidence and this blog today. And look at how similar things around us are to the 70s.

Cinema has always played a large part in the memory of our American society. Those 70s kids’ parents spent entire afternoons in the cinema for a nickel watching Betty Grable, Clark Gable and the stars of the 40s and 50s. Their parents remember the advent of the “Talkie.” No doubt, vivid memories of cinema days were passed on. But with so much media at our fingertips today, parents have to make more careful choices about providing the opportunities for those memories. What is the exposure that is going to make the lasting impression and perhaps plant seeds that continue to inspire your child as her or she progresses to adulthood?

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This is the second video in our three part Interview series with Nolan Bushnell (Founder of Atari & uWink)

In our first interview Nolan Bushnell discussed how Videogames can provide context for learning. In this interview Mr. Bushnell looks at the targeted audience and the complexity of today’s games.

Nolan Bushnell has received a great deal of recognition, including being inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame, receiving the Nations Restaurant News “Innovator of the Year” award, and being named one of Newsweek’s “50 Men That Changed America”. Bushnell has started more than twenty companies and is widely recognized as one of the founding fathers of the video game industry.

File Size: 10.8MB (Load times depend on your connection speed)

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About a year ago, Konami and West Virginia teamed up for a three-year agreement to place DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) in all public schools statewide as part of a study to see the effects the game would have on childrens’ health.

The West Virgina Games for Health study involved children who were required to play DDR for five days a week at 30 minutes a day for a duration of 24 weeks. WVU then monitored recorded health indicators such as weight, blood pressure, body mass index, arterial function, fitness levels and attitudes towards exercise.

Not all of the children actually lost weight, but “the majority” stayed at the same weight and had improved overall fitness levels. Attitudes toward exercise and self-esteem also improved.

WVU professor Dr. Linda Carson said, “The answer is clearly more exercise, but the challenge is finding something that appeals to this generation of technologically sophisticated children. DDR combines the appeal of ’screen time’ within a physical activity format. We are excited that we can now demonstrate that it is a valuable health tool and something kids enjoy.

Wanna dance ?

Here is our Kidconfidence mini-introduction to Dance Dance Revolution : (more…)

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