News

The Games Institute student, Betsy Brey, teams up with ODScore to research on gamification in the workplace.

The Games Institute is pleased to announce that our recurring Brown Bag Sessions are now open to the university public. University of Waterloo faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend these events held in The Games Institute each month. For up to date information, please consult our events page regularly.

After the IQC Open House at the University of Waterloo on October 3rd, Quantum Cats is receiving some incredible recognition. Launched by the Institute for Quantum Computing and The Games Institute, this Angry Birds-style game aims to help people better understand some of the core concepts of quantum science.

Are you attending the IQC Open House on October 3rd? The Games Institute, in collaboration with the Institute of Quantum Computing, has created new interactive experiences to allow visitors to discover, explore, and play! You can download the games right onto your mobile device to make the most of your time at QNC.

A partnership between the University of Waterloo and Communitech, the Waterloo Innovation Summit is taking place from September 16th - 18th. The Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre (QNC) on the UW campus hosted a variety of sessions on Thursday, September 17th. 

The Digital Premodern: From Codex to Code + Medievalism and Video Games conference took place this past weekend at the University of California Davis. From May 1st to 3rd, academics from various institutions in Canada and the United States gathered on the UC Davis campus ModLab for this event hosted by the Digital Premodern Research Cluster. 

PhD Position: Multisensory integration

Department of Kinesiology (Neuroscience)

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

One PhD position is available to Canadian resident students for a September, 2015 start to study multisensory integration (broadly defined) in the Multisensory Brain and Cognition Lab in the Department of Kinesiology (Neuroscience) at the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Michael Barnett-Cowan.

Diane Watson from The Games Institute has been featured in UWaterloo's Alumni blog:

At the University, my research has led me to create a game, called Reading Garden, which motivates undergraduate students to read the textbook that is assigned with their course. In the game, players grow and harvest flowers. The game has social features where players can visit and water other players’ gardens. Like many casual games, there is a special currency, which unlocks advanced gameplay mechanics, such as levelling up faster. To earn this currency, players must complete reading challenges related directly to assigned course readings from the textbook. This game has been now deployed in several courses in two different departments (Management Sciences and Systems Design Engineering) at the University of Waterloo; results show that the social play in the game is useful in motivating real-world textbook reading.

Do you have experience with spray paint? Do you like to play/study/create games or games-related material? The Games Institute is looking for a volunteer to spruce up our new space in East Campus 1 with some graffiti art. Interested parties should contact GI’s Graphic Artist Becky Anderson for more details. We look forward to hearing from you!