game-developers-choice-awards-2010
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White House courts devs to make healthy eating games
In a video presentation at the Game Developers Choice Awards, White House chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra discussed the Apps for Healthy Kids project, a plan to encourage game developers to collaborate with government to work against childhood obesity. The latest component, an Apps for Healthy Kids contest tasks game developers with creating games that help encourage good exercise and diet habits among kids and give parents information about what their children eat -- with $40,000 in prizes for the winning games. The apps, to be submitted in either "tool" or "game" categories, will integrate the data from MyFoodapedia.gov, a database of the caloric content of common food. In a letter, First Lady Michelle Obama told game devs, "You know better than most the power of games to deeply engage our nation's youth. Today I'm asking you to dedicate your creative energy skills to address one of America's biggest challenges and help make healthy living fun, exciting and relevant for kids." [Via Gamasutra]
Game Developers Choice Awards shooting John Carmack a Lifetime Achievement Award, Warren Spector hosting
This year's Game Developers Choice Awards will honor id Software's John Carmack with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Although certainly well deserved for his (continuing) contributions to the technical side of the industry, it's got to be weird to receive such an honor at the cusp of turning 40. We certainly hope Carmack still has plenty of years in the industry ahead of him. Former winners of the award include Sid Meier, Shigeru Miyamoto and Will Wright ... which got us wondering: could Carmack (or any of the above!) grab another Lifetime Achievement Award in the actual twilight of their career or does a single award preclude you from future awards, regardless of the achievement? Hosting the GDCA's this year is Warren Spector, who'd better be on his game following Tim Schafer's stellar performance as emcee last year. Spector is currently working on the (currently) Wii-exclusive Disney Epic Mickey, but is best known for his work on Deus Ex. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, March 11, during GDC 2010 in San Francisco.
