a speech about video games

The illuminating benefits of video games

Are video games eroding our minds? These TED Talks suggest the opposite -- that video games can improve our brain function, and even help better the world.

Gaming can make a better world

How a video game might help us build better cities

Your brain on video games

How games make kids smarter

A video game to cope with grief

Gaming for understanding

7 ways games reward the brain

Regular visitors of  With a Terrible Fate  may recall that, last February, I delivered a speech as part of the Lowell House Speech Series at Harvard University. In it, I discussed my decision to pursue the study of video game philosophy instead of medicine. This year, on 1.26.16, I delivered another speech as part of that same Speech Series; in it, I discuss why video games are worth playing and studying at any age.

I offer the transcript below, in full:

What are video games good for? I study the stories of video games, so I worry about that question a lot. I want to share one way I think the special stories of video games, and the way we engage them, teach gamers to learn from one another.

We often try to communicate with one another by referencing our experiences. We argue about aspects of society that offend us; we talk about aspects of our identities that other people lack direct knowledge of – if you are a woman and feel that your employer treats female employees worse than men, you might want me to understand what that is like, although I am a man. We want to convey to others what it is like to be us – but how can we, when others have no way of standing in our shoes?

Video games can help us share who we are. Let me explain why.

When I was in high school, I played a little-known video game called “ Nier .” The game tells the story of a man, Nier, who will stop at nothing to save his daughter, Yonah, from a deadly plague. The emotional depth and complexity of this game were what first motivated me to study and analyze video games in school. If you haven’t yet, you owe it to yourself to play it some day.

At the same time that I dove into analyzing Nier , I also felt compelled to share the game with two of my closest high school friends, Dan and Nate. Just as I wanted everyone I knew to read The Catcher in the Rye after I first encountered the classic in middle school, I now wanted Dan and Nate to experience this game. One after the other, I passed my copy of the game along to Dan and then Nate in the hall between classes.

But when I spoke with them both after they handed the game back to me, I discovered something I hadn’t expected: although they had played the same game as I had, we each made different choices in the game—something that couldn’t have happened if we’d all seen the same movie or read the same book. I had focused on exploring the secrets of the game’s world, digging through virtual basements for classified government records to learn what had caused the apocalypse. Dan focused instead on exploring the relationship between Nier—the player’s character—and Yonah. He completed quests collecting food for Yonah, and she surprised him by making him a cake to thank him. Nate found the desolate wasteland of the game depressing, so he completed it once and moved on.

As I discussed Nier with my friends over lunches and in between classes, I learned about my friends and myself through the choices that we each made. We talked about how a single story prompted us to act differently from one another, and we accounted for our actions. Through these conversations, I learned how much Dan valued the intimacy fathers share with their daughters; I learned that Nate wanted to be excited about the environments of video game worlds, so that he could jump at the opportunity to explore them. Through these conversations, I began to articulate to my friends my desire to unravel mysteries.

Video games allow players to share their experiences with one another by grounding them in a common story. Games invite players to enter a single world, chart their own course through it, and compare their journeys with their friends. By giving us a special position in an artistic world, our choices become part of the work of art—something we can discuss and make meaning out of with others.

When I think about video games’ practical value, I always reflect on the degree to which they can unify people and allow them to understand and share their way of being. This invitation to share ourselves with others is the hidden utility of the engaging, epic stories waiting in the many worlds of video games.

But be warned, it can take a lot of work to get to know someone else—so you may just need to spend many hours playing video games.

Aaron Suduiko - Founder and Chief Video Game Analyst

Aaron Suduiko is the founder of With a Terrible Fate and a philosopher of video-game storytelling. He specializes in the impact of player-avatar relations on game stories.  Learn more here.

With a Terrible Fate is dedicated to developing the best video game analysis anywhere, without any ads or sponsored content. If you liked what you just read, please consider supporting us by leaving a one-time tip or becoming a contributor on Patreon.

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Ben Hur · February 6, 2023 at 4:54 pm

Hello, i came across this website while searching online for themes and philosophy in FF IX (article of Necron). Just wanna say you guys did a wonderful work here! It’s nice to read so many interesting insights about games that were part of my history! And this article, in particular, summarize why i Will always stand by The idea that videogames can be art! Thanks by

Aaron Suduiko · February 8, 2023 at 1:39 pm

Thank you for your kind words, Ben! We strive to offer a different standard of video-game-story studies here, and I’m so glad that our work resonates with your history and passion. I hope that you’ll continue to follow our work, and that you’ll share it with like-minded gamers!

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27 Free Online Games for Speech Therapy You Need to Know About

Online games that are quick to play are perfect for speech teletherapy.

Like many SLPs right now, I’m a newly minted teletherapist due to school closures during the COVID 19 pandemic. After three months of diving into speech therapy telepractice this spring, I quickly realized that I need more tricks up my sleeve to keep my students engaged with me online! Thirty minutes of pure drill time wasn’t cutting it. It wasn’t long before they started looking at me with eyes that said “What else have you got?”

And…like a bunch of you, I’ll be headed back to school seeing my students online, at least for now. So it’s time to gather up some great resources to keep participation and interest high!

It’s important to mix it up with a variety of activities to keep students engaged during online speech therapy sessions.

Especially the youngest ones. Gee- in that respect it’s not unlike in-person sessions, is it?

I may have 2-3 different activities during a session. including books, real games (I take their “turn” for them in front of the camera), puppets, toys for the younger crowd, riddles, and worksheets we could draw or write on with annotation tools. I also love Boom Cards  and digital resources like interactive pdfs. I like to get my kiddos up and moving sometimes too. We all need that!

Online games are a favorite activity for my speech therapy students.

No prep for you, fun for them. If you are using a platform like Zoom where you can give your students control, any of these games are great. If you can’t give students control, look at the online board games that automatically advance. You can click the dice for your students.

I keep a document of links on my desktop so I can head over to a great online game quickly during a session. Ready for a list to make your teletherapy planning easier? Here you go!

Here are some of my favorite sites for engaging, quick-play online games.

I’ve played a lot of games y’all, and I’ve listed games from these sites that load easily, are quick to play, motivating, and won’t take away too much therapy time! You may want to look through the main sites and see if there are more games you love.

Pink Cat Studio   3 fun games that you can use open-ended or for words, rhyme, and more

Fun Brain   Tons of engaging, quick-play games kids will love

Toy Theatre    Fun games, and lots of extras like dice and spinners

For little ones, you’ll also want to check out:

ABCya   Lots of “Make-a” games and holiday games for little ones…Some games require Flash Player. PBS Kids   Simple games with characters kids like such as Clifford, Sesame Street, or Arthur.

Happy Clicks   I love this site of super-easy activities for very young learners

Easiest online games for early learners:

Make an Icecream  build your Ice cream

Fruit Fall  Help the farmer catch the fruit in his basket.

Helipopper  The monster is flying with a helicopter hat. Pop the balloons that match the color of his hat. Requires paying attention to changing hat color.

Open-ended online games for all grades

Desert Dive:  Big Blue and his friend are on a see-saw, drag Big Blue up, and drop him to make his friend splash into the pool.

Spaceship Maze  Guide your spaceship through the maze. Starts easy and each maze becomes a bit more challenging.

Turtle Wax  Raise and lower the slide, then let the turtle slide down. Can you make him hit the target?

Play Tic Tac Toe   play the computer or another player

Online board games:

These games automatically play when you click the dice. Fast and easy!

Snakes and Ladders  Roll the Dice and your game piece automatically moves. Play with 1-2 players, or establish teams in a group.

The Goose Game: Roll the dice to advance. Some spaces are luck, some are not! Up to 6 players

These games require you to move the pieces. Some are strategy games best for older kids.

Checkers  for 1-2 players or teams

BackGammon strategy game for older kids

Reversi Another strategy game for older kids. 1-2 players.

Games that are a bit more challenging:

Treasure Dive: The diver must avoid the sea creatures as he collects the gold from the treasure chest.

Word Turtle Create your own word search. Two levels of difficulty. Greate for articulation generating synonyms, antonyms, or category members Visual Memory Puzzle Study the colored circles on the grid before they disappear. Can you re-create the pattern? Becomes progressively harder.

Poki Cut the Rope Feed the monster strategy game

Online dice and spinners for any game

Toy theater is great for these. These can be a game in themselves. Who will rack up the most points? Throw the dice or spin a spinner.

Dice:  Colorful online dice in many shapes and sizes

Spinners; Choose spinners for either colors or numbers. You can choose how many spaces on the spinner too!

Online games are great to use in in-person therapy too.

Play them on a  tablet, computer or project them on a whiteboard for instant engagement. Huge bonus- you don’t have to lug these around as you travel from school to school or setting!

Don’t forget to pin this post to save it for later when you need a fresh, motivating activity for your kiddos.

Are you still needing to provide send-home materials, either printed or virtually?

I hope you’ve found some games you and your students love. Please leave a comment if you’ve found any more terrific open-ended games we should know about!

Stay well, my friends,

• Read more about: Teletherapy

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7 talks on the benefits of gaming

[ted id=1618]

This weekend, hundreds of video games enthusiasts lined up in the cold, waiting 12 hours-plus to be the first to get their hands on Nintendo’s new console, the Wii U. And when the game  Call of Duty: Black Ops was released in 2010, gamers around the world played it for more than 600 million hours in just the first 45 days. That is the equivalent of 68 years.

While some people worry about the popularity of video games, in today’s talk, brain scientist Daphne Bavelier suggests that gaming may be far more beneficial than we think (in moderation) — even if the game is all about shooting up the enemy.

“Most of you have thought, ‘Come on, can’t you do something more productive than shooting zombies?’ I’d like you to put this knee-jerk reaction in the context of how you’d feel if you found your girl playing Soduku,” Bavelier says. “In reasonable doses, action-packed shooter games have quite powerful positive effects on many different aspects of our behavior.”

In the lab, Bavelier and her team measure the impact of gameplay on the brain. While your mom might have told you that staring at screens will wreck your eyes, Bavelier’s lab actually found that playing 5 to 15 hours a week of video games correlates with better vision — and the ability to see more detail in the context of clutter.

It’s another common trope that gaming causes attention problems. However, Bavelier shows data that people who play video games are better able to keep track of objects around them — while the average person can track three objects effectively, video gamers can track six to seven objects. They’re also better able to multitask in general.

Initial studies suggest that these benefits may be trainable. In one study, Bavelier’s lab gave participants a test, and then asked them to play 10 hours of video games over a period of two weeks. When they came back for a post-test, their performance improved — and the improvement was still measurable five months later. Bavelier’s lab hopes to use these findings to create games that can improve eyesight or help keep the brains of senior citizens sharp.

To hear more about Bavelier’s studies, watch her talk . And after the jump, six other talks that suggest video games may simply have a bad reputation.

[ted id=799]

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world Video game designer Jane McGonigal is deeply inspired by video games like World of Warcraft — because they call on players to become heroes and save worlds.  In this blockbuster talk from TED2010, she shares why she thinks it’s possible to harness the power of gaming to solve real-world problems like hunger, poverty, climate change and war.

Gabe Zichermann: How games make kids smarter Gabe Zichermann wishes that we could channel the era of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? —when students, parents and teachers agreed that video games were great. In this talk from TEDxKids@Brussels, Zichermann suggests that video games make kids better at problem-solving and multitasking, and should be championed rather than villainized.

[ted id=1053]

Ali Carr-Chellman: Gaming to re-engage boys in learning Many boys are having a hard time in school—they’re disproportionally suspended, marked as learning disabled, and diagnosed with ADHD. In this talk from TEDxPSU, Ali Carr-Chellman ponders whether this could be a simple culture clash. She shares a fascinating idea — that creating educational video games full of rich narratives could help boy culture connect with school culture.

[ted id=996]

Tom Chatfield: 7 ways games reward the brain Video games are transfixing, says Tom Chatfield at TEDGlobal 2010. Why? Because they offer emotional rewards and satisfy our ambitions. In this talk, he wonders if other tasks — for example, going green or losing weight — could be made fun by emulating the brilliance of game design.

[ted id=1501]

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life After a severe concussion, Jane McGonigal found herself on mandatory bedrest and feeling deeply depressed. In this talk from TEDGlobal 2012, she shares how she found her way out of a downward spiral — by creating a video game, SuperBetter , that helps people heal. ( Check out the TED Blog post: 10 online games … with a social purpose .)

[ted id=361]

David Perry: Are games better than life? Speaking in 2006, game designer David Perry says we’re at an interesting moment in video game history—where graphics and audio have gotten extremely lifelike. Which means that the next generation (meaning: now) could have games that actually surpass real life. While Perry is excited for what’s to come, he points out that video game makers have a big responsibility given their influence and reach, and hopes that his industry will rise to the challenge. What do you think: Has it?

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Voice Controlled Games: The Rise of Speech Technology in Gaming

Last Updated August 12, 2021

Button mashing isn’t the only way to collect coins, smash bricks, and jump on top of enemies. Video games can now be won or lost using a secret weapon: our voices.

Creating a video game is extraordinarily difficult. First, you decide between designing a first-person shooter (FPS) or a role-playing game (RPG). Then, it takes years to properly flesh out the plot, the gameplay, character development, worlds, and game mechanics.

Hundreds of moving parts must come together seamlessly.

In open-world games, there are simply so many scenarios the game developers must run through, test, and create content for. Not only that, but the game must be able to change and adapt based on each player’s actions.

Additionally, there’s audio to add. That involves recording voiceovers with actors, not to mention translating it all for foreign markets. That’s why the game localization sector is growing so fast.

Now, imagine adding another level to gaming through speech recognition technology .

What is a voice-controlled video game?

A voice-controlled game allows you to command your character and interact with others through speech.

Innovative gaming companies champion this idea with the intention of making gaming more accessible for visually impaired and disabled people. It also allows players to immerse themselves further into gameplay through yet another layer of integration.

Voice control also lowers the learning curve for beginners, seeing as less importance is placed on figuring out controls.

The Challenge of Developing Voice-Controlled Games

The challenge for game developers is accounting for the hundreds of hours of speech data needed to build the voice-recognition engines for these games to run smoothly.

Developers must consider accents, dialects, and whole languages on top of baseline video game localization for players in different cultures. There’s also the gathering of all the different potential phrases or voice commands a user would say within the context of the game to account for.

Recording and implementing only a handful of expected phrases without accounting for natural language utterances means the player might never say the “correct” phrase to trigger a response.

As you can see, a lot goes into making speech recognition work smoothly. There’s nothing more frustrating as a gamer than having to repeat yourself, only to be met with your character’s impassive-yet-expectant stare.

So, let’s take a walk through the rise of speech technology in gaming. We’ll start with where we’ve been, move to where we are, then what we’re expecting to see more of.

Early Examples of Voice-Controlled Games

As with any new technology, pioneers will be the ones dealing with the uncharted territory.

Here’s a couple examples of those early attempts to incorporate speech recognition into video games.

In the late 1990s, Leonard Nimoy (whom you may know most famously for his role playing Spock in various incarnations of Star Trek ) provided voice-over narration for what Matt Vella of Time Magazine named, “one of the strangest, most wonderful experiments in video game history: Seaman .”

Released for Sega’s Dreamcast console, the Japanese game put a virtual pet in the care of players who were charged with feeding, nurturing, and guiding its evolution from sea to land.

First released in 1999, the game’s speech recognition system was a little lackluster. Players spoke to the creature via a microphone accessory plugged into their controller, resulting in tedious gameplay and controls.

However, it was still lauded for its creativity, receiving an Excellence Award for Interactive Art at the Japan Media Arts Festival.

Perhaps it was the novelty of Nimoy’s voice that elevated the success of the game. Or maybe it was the wonderment of having a fish with a man’s face respond to your questions with their own witty responses.

Either way, players were hooked by not only being able to control their characters, but also communicate with them.

Canadian-based North Side Inc. was another early pioneer who saw the potential for speech recognition early on. They took on the challenge of building a full-fledged 3D-graphics video game centered around speech recognition technology.

The game was named Bot Colony . It was a sci-fi story in which players find themselves in a technology-driven future. Robots have become ubiquitous helpers in human society.

At the core of North Side’s technology is natural language understanding (NLU). It recognizes natural speech patterns rather than being limited to overly rigid or limited static command phrases. The players can therefore command the robots remotely using speech.

At least, that’s the idea behind it. Playing the game is an entirely different experience.

“The reality of Bot Colony is that it’s as frustrating as it is inspiring” says Josh Tolentino of Game Critic. “Even after multiple minutes-long ‘training sessions’ designed to get the computer to accurately recognize the player’s voice… questions and commands will need to be stated and restated multiple times to get [the bots] to respond properly.”

Ultimately it was concluded that gameplay was much more efficient when the microphone was muted. Instead, a keyboard was used to type in questions and commands manually.

Though Bot Colony wasn’t quite the success story North Side was hoping for, Tolentino added the “the prospect of being able to simply ‘talk’ to a machine in the way one talks normally, and have it respond in a (somewhat) intelligent manner.”

It’s this attraction – this magical moment – that keep developers chugging along in search of a better way to bring speech technology to video games.

Speech Recognition Meets New Video Game Technology

Speaking directly into a microphone isn’t the only new technology to enter the spotlight in the gaming industry. Smart controllers and biofeedback technology, for example, took center stage as video games became even more complex.

Mass Effect 3

Back in 2012, Microsoft struggled to convince the gaming world that motion sensor controllers would be the next big thing. Their belief was they would elevate and improve a person’s gaming experience.

However, with the release of Mass Effect 3 , all that was about to change.

Aimed at making the gameplay as easy and intuitive as possible, Mass Effect 3’s Kinect controller was completely voice-controlled. Players shout commands to their squad mates, and they follow your orders. Simply tell your character to activate a skill, and they will.

Players can also use the Kinect microphone in dialogue sequences.

Traditionally in RPG games, you use your controller buttons to pick phrases from the game’s discussion wheel to direct the flow of the protagonist’s responses. With the benefit of speech recognition technology, players do this with their voice instead.

In games like Mass Effect 3 , speech recognition technology radically simplifies the game’s controls while simultaneously allowing more complex gameplay action.

It’s more immersive – not only because yelling at your screen results in in-game action, but also because you never have to break the cinematic experience to pause your gameplay and jump into an abstract menu screen.

At its core, Flying Mollusk’s Nevermind is an adventure-horror game. You dive into the minds of psychological trauma patients for whom traditional treatment methods have proven ineffective.

In-game, you are a “Neuroprober” – a physician who, using cutting-edge technology, can enter the surreal subconscious of these victims and solve the puzzles of their minds and unlock the root of their trauma.

The Windows and Mac versions of Nevermind use biofeedback technology to detect the player’s feelings of stress and excitement while playing. When you start to become scared or anxious, the game will dynamically respond to those feelings, which in turn affects gameplay.

The biofeedback functionality is not essential to play Nevermind , but if you have an Apple Watch or a Garmin, you can plug in and start experiencing the tech for yourself.

Nevermind was developed to help players “become more mindful of their feelings of stress and anxiety levels and help them practice managing those feelings.”

How does this relate to voice? Nevermind’s biofeedback technology and voice-activated controls bring it to a whole new level of immersion because it considers not only what you say but how you say it. Stress levels in your voice affect gameplay.

Flying Mollusk even tackled the challenge of bringing Nevermind to an international audience. In fact, we helped conduct video game localization and localization testing for Nevermind into ten languages, including German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, plus Simplified and Traditional Mandarin Chinese.

Voice-Activation Meets the App Store

Amazon is behind one of today’s most well-known smart speech recognition systems , and the company also invests in voice-activated game development through various accelerator programs.

Techstars x Amazon’s Alexa Accelerator accepted its first batch of incubator companies mid-2017, but what has really propelled Amazon’s Alexa forward as a bona fide platform is Amazon’s Alexa Skills Kit (ASK).

Alexa Skills allows third-party developers to create apps and tap into the power of Alexa without ever needing native support. In other words, video game designers can utilize the thousands of data strings Amazon has already collected and integrated into Alexa to their advantage.

Android Auto gives you the option to activate games by saying “Hey Google, play a game” while you’re in the car. On long road trips, you can

Android Auto gives you the option to activate games by saying “Hey Google, play a game” while you’re in the car. On long road trips, you can play a voice-controlled game of Jeopardy , for example.

Wayne Investigation

The Wayne Investigation is a skill developed by Warner Bros. to help promote Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice .

Combining speech recognition technology and produced audio assets (namely, compelling music and sound effects), The Wayne Investigation seems almost like an old-timey radio show with a modern technological twist.

Just say “Alexa, open The Wayne Investigation ” to begin.

The game models a “decision tree” format, explains Alexa Blogs writer Emily Roberts . “From three starting actions, users can make up to 37 decisions, each taking the user down paths that lead the player to new and iconic Gotham characters and locations before completing the game.”

During the first week, the game engaged seven times more (per weekly average) than all other skills combined. It earned top spot for both total time spent engaging with the skill and average time spent per user.

Other similar games that have been created include, Runescape Quests Skill: One Piercing Note , The Baker Street Experience , The Magic Door , and many more.

Chicken Scream

While some mobile games are based on complicated technology, some are simpler. We previously tested one of these simplified voice-activated apps for ourselves: Chicken Scream .

The only way to move your character along its journey across dangerous terrain is by using your voice. Stay silent to keep the chicken still, speak to move the chicken forward, and squawk loudly to make it jump.

The unique controls offer a nice change of pace from other games you find in the app store. The game doesn’t need to understand and interpret certain words or phrases. The removal of literal speech recognition opens it to be used by anyone, anywhere around the world.

There aren’t any language limitations or barriers for localization here. In fact, we even tested the app using chicken sounds from speakers of different languages around the world. This app, and others like it, are less intimidating examples of voice-activated technology.

Scream Go Hero is a similar game. You use your voice to move and jump between platforms, and the more you shout, the higher you jump.

A New Era in Voice-Controlled Games

Some people still favor the classic joystick/button and keyboard/mouse combinations to communicate with and control our characters on-screen. Games that make use speech recognition, though praised for their innovation, have yet to truly succeed in their mission. They haven’t ever quite moved past the novelty aspect of it all.

One of the major challenges is the vast amount of speech data needed to make it work. Collecting speech data at scale is a complex task, and video games need to work in concert with third-party providers who have spent years developing efficient workflows and technology.

And, as these partnerships do indeed start to form, the future of speech recognition technology in video games can become even more accurate, localized, and totally ubiquitous.

We Can Help with Your Next Voice-Controlled Video Game

At Summa Linguae Technologies, we’ve worked for years to develop our speech data collection and annotation processes.

Our data solutions team is recognized by our clients to be extremely versatile with our outside-of-the-box thinking. We offer  custom speech data collection  at scale as well as video game localization and testing to get your next project off the ground.

To learn how we can help your company, book a consultation now .

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Recent news, the valuable role video games play in the classroom.

• UChicago's Film Studies Center to preserve groundbreaking work by Black and Filipino filmmakers
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The following was posted on Scripps News on August 20, 2024.

By Casey Mendoza

Do video games belong in the classroom?

It may sound counterproductive to learning, but experts say the right games can help students stay engaged and learn about history, science, math and more.

A 2019 study from Carnegie Mellon University  found that nearly 75% of teachers have used digital game-based learning in their lesson plans.

Games like "The Oregon Trail" have been teaching students about 19th-century pioneer life since the 1970s in American classrooms, but today, students and teachers have so many more options.

"Games in American society tend to get a bad rap because they get associated with things like violence and addiction. But in fact, games have immense interpersonal possibilities. And so, games are a great way of teaching people things,” said Patrick Jagoda.

Jagoda has a bit of a dream job: at the University of Chicago, he teaches game studies and game design. His lab is filled with board games, and he gets to talk about video games all day.

But as the faculty director of the university's Weston Game Lab, Jagoda emphasizes that video games, board games and role-playing games aren't just for fun, he says they can be valuable for interactive learning.

"You can learn about economies, you can learn about political systems, you can learn about climate change through games, for instance,” Jagoda said.

"We have a game called 'Infection City' that we produced, and this is a game where you have one player play the infection ... and then the rest of the players are playing as epidemiologists,” said Ashlyn Sparrow, game designer for the University of Chicago.

Jagoda mentioned another.

"Right now, our team is working on 'Haven,' which is a game for all of the incoming students, and the learning objectives are focused on freedom of expression,” he said. “So the idea is, how do you have a debate or how do you have a conversation about something you disagree about?"

Jagoda and Sparrow said games are safe places for students to fail and learn from their mistakes. Interactive puzzles can either be collaborative or competitive, and compelling stories can be played from multiple perspectives.

"There was a game that came out in 2007 called 'Peacemaker' that came out of Carnegie Mellon. And you could play either as the Palestinian or Israeli president or prime minister. And you have to create peace in the region,” Jagoda said.

"There's 'Cytosis,' which is another kind of science game,” said Sparrow. “There's a game on freedom that talks about abolition. There's a new game that's going to come out called 'Chicago 68,' which is talking about protesting."

For teachers curious about getting games into the classroom, Jagoda and Sparrow say students can help lead by talking about what they're playing, connecting it back to lessons, or even by designing their own games for the class.

"Games are their art form in the way that film or novels were for previous generations,” Jagoda said.

Audio in Video Games: A Guide for Developers

Audio in video games is more immersive than ever, but the latest developments will take gameplay to a whole new level. Learn more here.

Audio in video games has come a long way since the Nintendo Entertainment System’s heyday in the 1980s. The “Super Mario Bros.” soundtrack may remain iconic, but it doesn’t compare with the immersive, cinematic soundscapes of today’s video games.

As technology has unlocked more possibilities for video games, however, it’s easy to lose track of the fundamentals. What’s the purpose of audio in a traditionally visual medium? How should developers approach audio to construct a believable digital world? This guide will help you explore answers to these questions.

We’ll start with the assumption that video game audio breaks down into two general categories. The first is speech, whether that’s a narrative voice-over or in-game dialog. The second category includes everything else: music, sound effects, cues, accessibility features, and more.

We address both pillars of video game sound in this comprehensive guide to gaming audio. First, we’ll provide an overview of the topic, focusing on everything but speech. Then we’ll zoom in on spoken language, including both recorded human speech and the latest text-to-speech (TTS) integrations.

Here’s a detailed introduction to audio in the game development process.

Table of Contents

Audio in Video Games: What It Does and Why It Matters

Video game voice actors: an introduction, 5 tips for casting video game voice actors.

• Using Text to Speech (TTS) in Video Games

Want to include dynamic, runtime synthetic speech in your next project? Contact ReadSpeaker AI to try the Unity text-to-speech plugin.

A game’s soundtrack isn’t just a kind of audio set dressing. It’s essential to the player’s experience. In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say that, for video games, audio is just as important as video. More specifically, audio serves at least six purposes in any video game:

1. Audio contributes to a more immersive gaming experience.

We experience the world through our five senses, so It makes sense that engaging more senses will make a virtual experience feel more real. We know that multi-sensory content improves learning outcomes, probably through deeper student engagement. The same dynamic can help make the digital experiences you create feel more immersive.

By creating a lush, believable soundtrack to your game, you can deepen the sense of space; trigger emotional responses; and make your digital world feel more real, no matter how outlandish the setting (remember Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssee?).

2. Audio cues give players information about in-game events.

Most video game sound designers use one of two audio development applications: Wwise or FMOD. Both offer spatial audio programming, which allows designers to precisely locate both sound sources and in-game listeners within a virtual environment.

Spatial audio gives players a sense of where sounds are coming from, so they can use audio to locate enemies and other objects of interaction. There are even audio-only games that omit video content altogether; see Blind Drive, a nominee for the IGF 2021 Excellence in Audio award, for example.

3. Music cues enhance the player’s emotional engagement.

Music taps directly into a player’s emotions, creating a more powerful and purposeful experience. With adaptive scoring technology, designers can program rules-based triggers that play musical cues based on the player’s behavior. Anyone who’s played 2022’s God of War Ragnarök can tell you how emotionally powerful that can be.

4. Audio increases video game accessibility.

Many gamers experience games primarily or only through sound. Neglecting your soundtrack leaves these gamers behind. In a 2022 survey by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), 70% of ex-gamers with blindness or partial sight said they quit playing video games because of poor accessibility.

Audio accessibility features include:

• Additional sound cues
• Support for screen readers
• Glossaries that explain each sound cue through audible speech
• Audio descriptions of events

Increasingly, game studios are investing a lot more effort into accessibility. Both Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II and Santa Monica Studio’s God of War: Ragnarok offered historic suites of accessibility features—including TTS audio descriptions powered by ReadSpeaker.

5. Thanks to natural language AI, audio unlocks new forms of conversational gaming.

Conversations with video game characters are usually pretty restrictive. You may be able to choose from a list of comments, but you’re typically not free to say whatever comes to mind. That’s changing, thanks to natural language understanding (NLU) technology, which allows software to extract relevant data from normal human writing and speech.

Take the alternate reality game (ARG) Acolyte from game studio Superstring, for instance. Gameplay revolves around conversations with a fictional digital assistant who guides you through the mystery story. Acolyte’s AI supports natural language input, which supports natural conversation. With this technology on the game’s back end, you don’t need pre-defined dialogue choices. Just say what comes to mind and watch the story unfold, with you at the center of the action.

Acolyte’s designers originally built a text-only game but found the lack of spoken dialogue too restrictive. So designers used ReadSpeaker’s TTS game engine plugins to give the robotic main character the perfect voice. That’s just one example of how TTS is changing the landscape of audio in video games. (See Chapter 4 of this guide to learn more about how TTS supports video game development.)

6. In-game dialog keeps the story moving.

It’s hard to tell a story without characters—and characters express themselves most fully through speech. Dialog is an essential audio element for any narrative video game. Non-player characters (NPCs) assign quests, provide backstory, or develop your game’s theme. Player characters respond, creating a more interactive experience. All that depends on in-game dialog.

So how do you go about producing speech files for your video game characters? These days, you have two choices: You can record voice actors, or you can use neural text to speech (TTS) to generate lifelike dialog on your own. For reasons we’ll describe shortly, many developers do both.

Let’s discuss each method of producing dialog in turn, starting with video game voice actors.

The hardest part of relying on video game voice acting doesn’t have anything to do with microphones. In fact, most voice actors have their own home studios these days; all you have to do is send the script. Instad, the toughest part about recording human dialog is hiring voice actors in the first place.

In this chapter, we’ll cover the basics of working video game voice actors, from starting the search to budgeting your project.

Where To Find Video Game Voice Actors

Major game development studios often cast Hollywood actors for their tentpole titles. For instance, you’ll find Josh Duhamel in Call of Duty , Elijah Wood in Legend of the Spiral , and Simon Pegg in Hogwarts Legacy .

Of course, independent game studios are unlikely to hire established voice stars or the Hollywood elite right out of the gate. Instead, up-and-comers should develop their own bullpen of talent, says voice-over artist and teacher Philip Galinsky, who appeared in Grand Theft Auto Five and trains the next generation of video game voice actors through his online studio.

“Develop your own voice team that sets the bar and the tone for all your productions,” says Galinsky.

“Start with a really good small team of voice artists who are committed and understand the vision. Then branch out.”

That’s good advice for the developing game studio, but where do you find your initial core of voice talent? Good news: There’s a process.

Your best bet is to reach out to an established voice agency. Search the internet for “video game voice agency” and you’ll find dozens. Voice agents know the talent, and they have the connections to provide experienced voice actors who are ideal for all sorts of roles.

“Agents are really good sounding boards,” Galinsky says. “They know their actors. You can say, ‘Is this guy reliable?’ and the agent’s going to know more than anybody, like, ‘Yeah, I worked with him for 10 years and it’s always been good.’”

Eventually, your studio may benefit from setting up an internal voice department. First, though, it’s best to work with the voice agents who’ve spent years building a vetted network of professional video game voice actors. “You can learn about voice casting that way,” Galinsky says.

“Maybe you create a voice department, but learn from experts first.”

Of course, voice agents do charge a fee for their services. This brings us to an important question beginning developers ask: How much should you budget for video game voice acting?

How Much Do Video Game Voice Actors Charge?

Your first decision is whether to go with union actors or independent freelancers. You’ll pay more for members of SAG-AFTRA, the actor’s union that advocates for voice-over artists, but you’ll also eliminate risk; union actors are vetted and experienced in the industry.

“Ultimately, it’s up to the person who’s putting the budget together if they’re going to use union talent,” Galinsky says.

“[Developers will] pay a lot of money for union actors, considering they could find someone off the street to do it for $300. However, you don’t know the quality. That’s the risk of trying to save the money upfront.”

One industry rate card for non-union voice actors recommends a pay rate of $200 to $350 for a standard four-hour recording session (limited to two hours for vocally stressful performances). By contrast, the SAG-AFTRA pay schedule for interactive media places the rate at $929 per four-hour session through most of 2021. That wage climbs to $956.75 between November 14, 2021 and November 7, 2022, and will likely rise by 3% per year from there.

Experienced voice actors, union or independent, may charge more than these base rates. Agents may negotiate for royalties or buyouts. Fees will mount for motion-capture work, of course. In short, paying for video game voice actors is complicated, and must be approached on a case-by-case basis—but the base rates listed above should help you put together a preliminary casting budget.

The next step is to choose the right talent, of course. Next, we’ll share a few of Galinsky’s casting tips for game developers.

As a game developer, it’s not always easy to find experienced video game voice-over actors for hire, let alone recognize the perfect performer for your role at first glance. Here are five tips that’ll help choose an incredible cast for your next project, informed by Galinsky’s experience in the industry.

1. Look for voice actors who use a lot of movement in the recording booth.

Given the decentralized nature of today’s video game work, this may be something you have to actually ask about, since you might not get to watch your voice-over actors record—but despite its audio-only presentation, actors who use their bodies in the recording booth are more likely to create compelling characters.

“In my practice and teaching, it’s a very physical process,” Galinsky says.

“As a voice actor, you have to embody the character. You have to make analogies, like ‘Is he snakey?’ so that you have a very unique quality to that character.”

2. Choose actors with improv experience and let them experiment with the script.

Don’t feel that you have to stick to the script religiously. When you allow actors to riff a little—to vary up the timing, feel, and even dialog as they play off each other, virtually or not—you may end up with creative gold that pushes your story and the characterization along better than a script alone ever could. That’s why it helps to work with actors who have a background in improv.

“Take some improv classes,” Galinsky tells his students. “Casting directors will want you to riff off the script.”

3. Advertise recording schedules that protect your actors’ vocal limits.

When actors perform, they place some level of strain on their vocal cords. That can actually change the quality of the actor’s voice from the start of the session to the end, which isn’t good for performance consistency—and can even cause costly delays if your cast needs a few days off for vocal rest. Let your pool of potential actors know that you’ll schedule sessions to respect their limits; they’ll appreciate it, and you could attract more accomplished applicants.

During his sessions for Grand Theft Auto Five, for instance, Galinsky recorded for 45 minutes, took a half-hour break, and repeated the schedule until the script was complete. Other scripts and other actors will have different needs. It’s way more efficient to protect the actor’s voice with frequent breaks than it is to blow out a voice and have to start again from scratch a week later.

4. Make access to Source Connect (or your team’s real-time HD audio collaboration software) a prerequisite for auditioning.

Given that so much video game voice-over work is done remotely these days, it’s essential that your actors have the technology they’ll need to collaborate effectively. That starts with a state-of-the-art home studio—but just as important, they’ll need the remote recording software that allows them to perform with other actors, from a distance and in real time.

Source Connect is the industry standard for remote audio collaboration. In this age of remote work, your cast probably needs it if they’re going to appear in scenes together, Galinsky says.

“The engineer could be in Seattle. The producer could be in Chicago. I’m in New York and another actor’s in L.A. It doesn’t help if you don’t have Source Connect.”

5. Pay attention to when actors submit their audition recordings.

Game development schedules are infamous for their delays; don’t let the audio department be the culprit. A voice actor who returns audition recordings promptly will probably make, or even beat, all your deadlines. This mindset will help to keep you ahead of schedule, and promptness is good for the actors, too.

“The earlier you send a recording to the producer, the better chance you have to book the job,” Galinsky says. “Or, if you already booked the job, the earlier you send them your stuff, the sooner they can say, ‘This is perfect!’ or ‘You’ve got to redo it.’”

Following these tips will help you cast the ideal voice actors for your interactive media project. But what if you didn’t have to go to the trouble? Increasingly, video game developers are turning to AI voice technology for dialog, prototyping, and more.

Here’s what developers need to know about cutting edge TTS for video games.

Using Text to Speech in Video Games

Given the cost of skilled voice performances for video games, thrifty developers may be tempted to rely on text to speech (TTS) for character voices. Thanks to advances in machine learning, AI-driven TTS sounds increasingly natural—but it’s not the best choice for most final-cut performances. Human artistry remains the gold standard in narrative art, including interactive media.

That said, every game development studio can benefit from access to high-quality, runtime TTS with ReadSpeaker’s game engine plug-ins. These game engine-native TTS solutions expand the creative possibilities in many ways, including:

• More accessible video games. ReadSpeaker began developing TTS for digital accessibility more than 20 years ago, and that mission continues into our work in the game development industry. Introduce user interface (UI) narration to remove barriers for players with vision impairments and other disabilities. Provide an audio stream of in-game chat messages for second-language learners and people with reading disorders. Game engine plug-ins allow you to integrate these crucial accessibility features into your system without cumbersome audio file management.
• Proof of concept for prototyping and fundraising. Onboard TTS allows you to test your dialog in scenes throughout the development process. That can help raise funds by providing a compelling rough draft to investors. Even better, it allows you to tweak pacing and language as you work, saving time and money when you finally reach the recording studio.
• Vocal performances that would strain a human actor. Sometimes you just need an evil, screaming robot. Human voices are fragile, and while you can and should limit recording session length for strenuous performances, some roles may be safer left to a top-quality TTS voice. The human voice is best at what it does, but your game may call for an inhuman voice; TTS could be the solution.
• Dynamic, responsive non-player characters with conversational AI. Imagine a procedurally generated game world populated by NPCs who can respond meaningfully to anything the player says. This is possible today, and runtime TTS from ReadSpeaker allows those characters to speak out loud without perceptible latency.

In fact, AI NPCs will probably be a big part of gaming’s future. To conclude this introduction to audio in video games, let’s take a closer look at the possibilities AI and TTS are bringing to interactive media.

Neural TTS for AI-Generated Content in Video Games

Developments in AI are leading to the creation of in-game non-player characters (NPCs) free from the constrictions of pre-scripted conversation trees. The audio component? Getting those characters to speak their dynamic responses, out loud and in real time. That’s where TTS comes into play—but not all TTS engines are ready for the technical requirements of video game developers.

This isn’t speculative; AI NPCs are already in development . Based on the player’s questions or statements, they use large language models (LLM) like ChatGPT to come up with a fresh, relevant response. Essentially, these characters are AI chatbots—and, unlike characters who stay on-script, only text to speech can give these bots a voice.

Voice actors remain the gold standard of video game character speech, but when characters themselves —or at least the AI models behind those characters—come up with new lines on the spot, pre-recorded speech isn’t an option. To create the next generation of immersive AI NPCs for open-world games, developers need to leverage TTS. They also need an embedded TTS game engine plugin to ensure runtime response, free of latency.

Generating Dynamic TTS Audio Without Latency

The latency issue is a major barrier to deployment of AI NPCs in today’s games. In the video below, you can see there’s a multi-second delay between the player’s question and the AI NPC’s response. That’s because both the LLMs and the TTS services are cloud-based, integrated into the game engine via API. The game has to send a request out to the LLM and TTS modules and wait for the reply before it can play the audio, causing a delayed player experience.

Developers can leap the audio hurdle by using a TTS game engine plugin from ReadSpeaker. This TTS software integrates directly into game engines, generating audio tracks on the user’s device so they’re free from latency. It’s dynamic TTS at runtime : instant video game audio for dynamically generated dialog.

As we mentioned, many game developers already use TTS to prototype game dialogue, faster and at a lower cost than re-recording voice actor dialogue again and again. Lots of developers also use TTS as a key accessibility tool.

But with the emerging generation of runtime TTS game engine plugins, we’re looking at something new. Voicebot NPCs are poised to take audio in video games—and the experiences it creates—to a higher level than ever before.

Contact the experts at ReadSpeaker to learn more about TTS for AI NPCs and other game development applications.

ReadSpeaker’s industry-leading voice expertise leveraged by leading Italian newspaper to enhance the reader experience Milan, Italy. – 19 October, 2023 – ReadSpeaker, the most trusted,…

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My name is Erik X. Raj and I’m a speech-language pathologist who believes in the power of video games. Video games motivate children like nothing else on this planet so that’s exactly why I created SLP Video Games. This one of a kind 21st century experience allows your clients and students to play video games and grow as communicators, all at the same time. Yup, speech and language therapy will never be the same again.

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2024 Election

Harris prosecutes case against trump and pitches herself as a middle-class champion.

Deirdre Walsh

Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption

Kamala Harris used her first major address as the Democratic nominee for president to combine a personal recounting of her middle-class roots with a sharp prosecution of the case against electing Donald Trump to another term.

She called Trump an "unserious man" but said the consequences of putting him back in the White House would have "serious consequences."

Harris took the stage after three days of an enthusiastic Democratic convention. The political environment dramatically transformed in a matter of a few weeks after President Biden’s dismal debate performance on June 28.

Just last month Democrats were distraught and resigned to losing the White House in the fall, and potentially losing both the Senate and any prospects to retake control of the House of Representatives. But Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris , and the 2024 race for the White House was completely upended.

The vice president, donning a dark pantsuit on stage at Chicago's United Center, addressed a convention hall with many delegates donning white attire — the color of the women's suffragette movement. The convention hall was at capacity, with security officials restricting access to some levels of the hall hours before Harris' speech. Delegates drowned out the music with loud cheers and a prolonged standing ovation as she took the stage.

Attendees of the DNC hold up "Kamala" signs. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption

Harris outlined forward looking agenda, warned about Trump's second term

Harris served as Biden's vice president for the last three and half years, but during her speech Thursday night she sidestepped links to the incumbent administration, instead pitching herself as a change agent.

She briefly thanked Biden and maintained history would regard his record as "extraordinary."

Her address — which lasted roughly 40 minutes — quickly pivoted to establish her own brand, saying, "with this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past. A chance to chart a new way forward — not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans."

The vice president outlined a series of policy priorities like middle class tax cuts, and an "opportunity economy," but gave few specific details. She pledged to revive the bipartisan border security bill crafted by congressional leaders that Trump urged GOP lawmakers to block.

Watch the full speech here:

(Video credit: AP)

The vice president spent a good deal of her speech warning that Americans' basic freedoms were at risk if Trump returned to office. She referenced the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Who is Maya Harris, Kamala Harris' sister? Plus, highlights from her DNC speech

“Consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol , his explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents and anyone he sees as the enemy, his explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens," she said.

And she pointed to a recent Supreme Court decision that upheld Trump had immunity : "Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails. How he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life. Not to strengthen our national security. But to serve the only client he has ever had: himself."

She also argued that Trump would cut Medicare and Social Security, eliminate the Department of Education, repeal the Affordable Care Act. But she gave special emphasis to Trump's impact on reproductive rights, pointing out that he "bragged" about appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and that he would pass a nationwide abortion ban, restrict access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and said about his party's plans: "Simply put, they are out of their minds.”

Watch The Chicks and Pink perform at the DNC's final night

Harris, like other speakers throughout the four-day convention, held up Project 2025 , a detailed policy blueprint drafted by the Heritage Foundation, as the playbook for a second Trump administration. Trump has said he had nothing to do with the document , but many of his top administration officials crafted it.

Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and Gwen Walz on stage at the end of the Democratic National Convention. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption

Harris also marked contrast with Trump on foreign policy

A big task for Harris was to demonstrate she could take on the role of commander in chief. Thursday's lineup featured a string of speakers with military or intelligence backgrounds, like former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, acting as validators.

For her part Harris sharply poked at what se described as Trump's allegiances to foreign adversaries, and cast herself as a defender of democracy.

“I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un who are rooting for Trump."

“They know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors. They know Trump won't hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself.”

She vowed to "never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals. Because, in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand — and where the United States of America belongs."

Harris worked to bridge the divide inside her own party on the Israel-Gaza war.

"Let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself," Harris declared. She said that Israelis should "never again" go through the horror and "unspeakable" attacks on Oct. 7 .

Gabby Giffords recounts her own shooting in DNC remarks

And then she added, "at the same time what has happened in Gaza in the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking."

She said she and Biden were working for a peace deal that would bring all the hostages home so that "Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self determination."

Harris uses convention to introduce herself and tout middle-class roots

Balloons fall in celebration of Kamala Harris officially accepting presidential nomination. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption

Harris’ paid tribute to her mother Shyamala Goplalan , who emigrated from India to California when she was 19, and recounted growing up in working-class neighborhood in the East Bay.

How do you pronounce Kamala's name? Her great-nieces gave the DNC a lesson

She repeated what has become a familiar line from her stump speeches from her mother — saying when she complained about something she would reply "do something about it," and then added her mother would add, "and never do anything half-assed — and that is a direct quote."

Harris' background as a prosecutor in San Francisco and as attorney general in California have been her regular focus on the campaign trail, and Thursday night she stressed her record representing victims of sexual assault and homeowners facing foreclosure.

"I've only have one client: the people," Harris said.

Trump took to his social media channel to respond to Harris' primetime speech, at one point asking, "Is she talking about me?"

Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who had been a member of the House Jan. 6 committee and is a vocal critic of Trump's, also appeared in primetime to argue democracy was at risk if the former president returned. He said "I never thought I'd be here," but he said to fellow Republicans "the Democrats are as patriotic as us. They love this country just as much as we do."

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110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples

🔝 top 10 video game topics for 2024, 🏆 best video game topic ideas & essay examples, 🎮 good video game research topics, 🕹️ interesting gaming topics to write about, ❓ video game research questions, ✅ simple & easy video game essay topics.

Looking for video game topics for your project? Look no further! Here, we’ve collected excellent essay topics for true gaming enthusiasts. Whether you’re looking for argumentative essay ideas on video games, research topics, or questions for debate, you will find them here.

• History of Video Game Consoles
• Myths of Video Game Violence
• The Global Phenomenon of Esports
• VR Gaming and Its Future Possibilities
• How Video Games Influence Cognitive Skills
• Therapeutic Mental Health Benefits of Video Games
• Diversity and Gender Representation in Video Games
• How Multiplayer Games Impact Social Interaction
• Healthy Gaming Habits Against Video Game Addiction
• Aesthetic and Narrative Qualities of Artistic Video Games
• Product Life Cycle & Marketing of Video Game Industry One of the most important advantages of the concept of life cycle can be seen in the sphere of marketing, where if used as a tool it allows adjusting the strategies, including marketing, based on […]
• Twitch.tv and Video Game Streaming Career From this point, in spite of the fact that the Twitch.tv platform can be viewed as belonging to the live-streaming industry, the careers of streamers develop according to the traditional principles of the entertainment business.
• The Monopoly Tycoon Video Game Review The game is stylistically similar to the board game Monopoly, and it can be played both online and offline. It is important to note that the game has a multiplayer feature, which can be played […]
• A Video Game Store’s Business Plan The projected cash flow of the cash in the balance sheet will appear positive for the next five years and will show that the company’s profitability in will be good enough pay for operating expenses […]
• Sony and Nintendo in the Video Game Industry The firm has manufactured several generations of the home console since the 1980s, beginning with the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System released in the early 1990s, and the Nintendo 64 that was […]
• Video Game Industry Analysis In 1950, Yamauchi assumed the position of the president in the firm and got on a variety of strategies with the purpose of rationalizing and modernizing the way the firm was controlled.
• Video Game Effects: Good or Bad? Given the fact that there is indeed a logically sound rationale to such a suggestion, throughout the course of conducting my study, I remained thoroughly observant of the article’s classification-related suggestions, in regards to the […]
• The Video Game Industry Evolution The first mention of the creation of such games dates back to the 1940s, but it was in 1952 that Alexander Shafto “Sandy” Douglas officially presented his dissertation at the University of Cambridge. One of […]
• The NASCAR Video Game Project Management Plan The plan attempts to draw the features and gameplay mechanics by replicating the thought process of a potential player. At this stage, the game should be well-advertised and ready for release.
• The Motivation of the Video Game Player For instance, the project gave its players the dynamic and fast pace of the game, a vast and detailed map, various locations, several different weapons, and character skins, and this is not all the possibilities.
• The “Medal of Honor” Video Game Analysis The game is set to depict the Afghanistan invention in 2002 and the battle between the U.S.military and the Taliban. Due to the close resemblance of the game to the Afghanistan war, the game has […]
• Human Life: Video Game, Simulation, or Reality? Drawing parallels between the real and the virtual world, one can admit the unreality of the existence of the planet and people and compare everything that happens with the simulation in which we are.
• Does Video Game Violence Lead to Aggression in Children? Among the gaming community, children participate vigorously in absorbing the plethora of entertaining content, including age-restricted ones where the scenes of violence are abundant.
• A Role-Playing Video Game Ayiti: The Cost of Life This strategy worked but not to the topmost level simply because the burden of the living cost was gradually weighing down the overall income of my family.
• BioWare Video Game Project Management For example, Dragon Age: Inquisition, the third installment of the company’s flagship series, switched to the Frostbite engine used by most of the EA games and succeeded in delivering the product despite the technical difficulties […]
• Video Game History: Overview From the 1990s to Nowadays In addition to arcade car behavior, the game was also famous for its beautiful graphics at the time, with each game in the series being a launch title showing the capabilities of the console.
• FIFA 10 Football Simulation Video Game A lack of consistency is evident in the various versions of this game as FIFA 10 played on a PC lacks the realism that is exhibited when the game is played on XBOX 360 and […]
• Video Game Delivery Project: Strategic Marketing To initiate strategies in marketing of Video Game, the company will decide to develop a web based application by ABC CORP and this application is customized to meet the requirements of the project. The purpose […]
• The U.S. Video Game Industry This was also based on the views of the company’s developers who assumed that the technological advantages of the the16-bit system were extremely less than that of the 8-bit system.
• Video Game Company Against Online Piracy The purpose of the said DRM software is to protect the intellectual rights of the company. The fourth major issue is the encompassing goal of the VGC to end all types of piracy.
• Video Game Addiction and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs As to me, I was interested in video games when I was a child because this industry was at its beginning and almost every pupil was involved in it.
• Nintendo in the Video Game Industry Previously, Atari was a major power to reckon with in the industry but was later toppled by Nintendo. Part of Yamauchi’s vision was to introduce new and cheaper video games in the market than the […]
• Game designers have the responsibility to design less video game Secondly, the outcome of the video game is unpredictable as compared to movie in which the audience can predict the point at which the story would end thus making the video games more interesting to […]
• Striving for the Ultimate Knowledge: Eli’s Mission. Video Game Owing to the peculiarities of the movie plot, the game can be shaped in a most intriguing way, with a lot of turns of the plot which lead to the most effective denouement.
• Analysis of the Counter-Strike Video Game Phenomenon in Computer Gaming
• Comparison of Three Companies in Video Game Industry; Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft
• Analysis of Free Will in The Stanley Parable Video Game
• Analysis of the Effects of Playing a Video Game Used in Computer Science
• Analysis of the Characteristics and Player Statistics of Bungie’s Video Game Destiny
• Are Video Games Truly a Game or a Reality?
• Analysis of the Topic of the Releases in the Video-Game Industry and the Issues of the Violence
• Analysis of the Rise of the Video Game Empire in Modern Society
• Two Aspects of Creating a Video Game
• Analysis of the Third-Person, Console-Based Video Game, The Last of Us
• Are Users The Next Entrepreneurs? A Case Study On The Video Game Industry
• Combating Video Game Addiction : A Global Problem
• Does Playing Video Game Consoles Bring About Plenty of Advantages?
• Analysis of the Field Work Project and the Topic of a Video Game Community
• Does Video Game Violence Affect Children?
• Do Video Games Contribute For Video Game Violence?
• Is The Video Game Industry an Oligopoly?
• Is Video Game Violence the Cause of Juvenile Delinquency?
• Psychological Effects of Video Game Violence on Children
• What Is the Defining Business and Economic Characteristics of the Video Game Console Industry?
• Why Play Station 4 and the Xbox One Are the Kings of the Next Generation Video Game Console?
• What Makes A Video Game Addictive?
• Competition Among 3 Main Video Game Companies: Nintendo, Sega, And Sony
• Brief Note On Video Gaming And The Video Game Industry
• Effects of Television and Video Game Violence on Children and Teenagers
• Analysis of the Different Genres of Video Game Systems for Children
• Overview of the Process and Career in Video Game Design
• Development of the Elder Scrolls Video Game Series
• Breaking Gender Stereotypes in Traditionally Masculine Sports: The Inclusion of Women in FIFA 16 Video Game
• Cancer: Video Game and Playing Violent Video
• Fighting the Online Video Game Wars in China
• Government Regulation Of Video Game Violence Is Unconstitutional And Unnecessary
• Japanese video game industry
• History of the Video Game Industry
• Microsoft Xbox Entering the World of Video Game
• The Merchant of Video Games: Adapting the Merchant of Venice into an Adventure Game
• What Are Some Revolutionary Breakthroughs in the Video Game Industry?
• What Does It Take To Make It in the Video Games Industry?
• Why Has the Video Game Industry Exploded Recently?
• What Is Wrong With the Video Game Industry in This Generation?
• Is the Video Game Industry Going Downhill?
• Who Is the Best Voice Actor in the Video Game Industry?
• What Will Be the Next Breakthrough or “Big Thing” in the Video Game Industry?
• Is the Video Game Industry in Trouble Right Now?
• Who Makes More Money: Hollywood or the Video Game Industry?
• How Has the Coronavirus Impacted the Video Game Industry?
• What Is the Biggest Missed Opportunity Yet in the Video Game Industry?
• Does Video Game Violence Induce Negative Affects on Our Youth?
• What Are the Changes the Video Game Industry Needs?
• How Large Is the Video Game Industry?
• Why Is the Video Game Industry in China Dominated by MMOs?
• Is There a Bubble Forming in the Video Game Industry?
• What Do Video Game Players Understand That Most People Don’t?
• How Easy Is It to Make a Video Game?
• What’s the Best Advice You’ve Received From a Video Game?
• What Was the First Video Game?
• What Is the Most Inappropriate Video Game You Know?
• What Are the Elements of a Good Video Game?
• How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Video Game?
• What Can Video Game Consoles Offer You?
• Why Video Game Addiction Is One of the Urgent Problems Today?
• How Does Science Create Video Game?
• How the 1970s Sparked the Video Game Industry?
• Why Do Video Game Movies Always Fail?
• What’s the Most Popular Video Game Genre?
• The Science Behind Brain-Boosting Games
• How Gaming Reflects and Influences Society
• How Video Games Participate in Social Justice
• Pros and Cons of Gamified Fitness and Wellness Apps
• Gamification, Its Benefits, and Learning Outcomes
• Virtual Goods in Video Games and Their Real-World Value
• What Factors Influence Immersion and Player Engagement?
• Cloud Gaming and the Potential of Streaming Technology
• Market Trends and Revenue Models of the Video Game Industry
• Violence, Microtransactions, and Other Ethical Issues in Video Game Development
• Problem Solving Essay Ideas
• Computers Essay Ideas
• Technology Essay Ideas
• Cyberspace Topics
• Developmental Psychology Essay Ideas
• Software Engineering Topics
• Online Community Essay Topics
• Hacking Essay Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Welcome to the Language Playroom!

Language Playroom is a 100% FREE hub for online games and activities designed to grow communication skills with a 3,000+ word vocabulary. Left-side links organize the activities by developmental level, and right side links organize the activities by area of communication.

Speak and Play with Language Playroom!

Check out our boom cards.

Creations with the same images you see on this site can also be found in the author's Boom Cards store. Boom Cards are a great tool for online learning, with interative and appealing games that also track data and student responses. If you would like to support Language Playroom, please consider purchasing from the author on Boom Cards.

Great for Telepractice

Telepractice is the application of telecommunications technology (such as online classrooms and chat software) for the delivery of speech-language pathology services at a distance by linking the speech-language pathologist to their client or student from far away. It can be used for testing to determine speech therapy eligibility, as well as direct treatment of communication disorders and consultations with families. Telepractice applications can include schools, medical centers, rehabilitation hospitals, community health centers, outpatient clinics, universities, clients' homes, residential health care facilities, child care centers, and corporate settings. There are no limits to where telepractice can be implemented, as long as there is an internet connection, a speech-language pathologist, and a communication partner who is ready to learn. This can be especially helpful for individuals in rural areas, or where physical disabilities may limit access, or for students attending school from home.

Even though this site is designed for teletherapists, the exact same tools can be used in a face-to-face therapy setting with computer and internet access.

Great for families

Research shows that when school-aged children practice speech and language skills more often, they make more progress in their communication skills. Even practicing speech their five minutes a day will improve a student's carryover, where they learn to apply their skills in areas outside speech therapy sessions, such as in the classroom, on the playground, or at home.

Where to Start

The activities in this site are organized in two different ways: by developmental level and by area of communication. The left side of the menu at the top has speech and language activities organized by developmental level, or by certain milestones that children are expected to achieve by certain ages. The suggested ages given below are based on typical development, so some students with moderate to severe communication delays or disorders may need to work at a level that is below their real age. For older students, reading levels also may have an impact on what level is best for them.

• Emerging activities are targeted at students developing language for the first time, and would be great for preschool students. The vocabulary is simple and functional, including many household objects and core vocabulary. This section would also be a great resource for students using AAC devices and still learning the meaning of core vocabulary.
• Developing activities are targeted at students in grades K-2, who are learning early reading skills and seeing a wide expansion of their vocabulary. In this section, there is a broader set of terms that may support elementary science, history, or reading academic content.
• Expanding activities are targeted at students in grades 3-5, who are developing more reading skills and expanding their vocabulary into more specific and complex terms or concepts, especially ones that they may not have been exposed to before. Aside from additional vocabulary expansion, multicultural concepts are introduced in this section, and the activities demand a higher level of thought and complexity in each answer.
• Perfecting activities are intended for students in grades 6+, who should be reading at near-adult levels and able to engage complexly and deeply with content, and is asking students to engage with high-level concepts as well as develop tools to understand words or concepts they've never seen before using the skills they have.

The right side of the menu at the top has speech and language activities organized by area of speech. Speech-language pathologists are professionally trained to provide intervention in five domains of communication: articulation, language, fluency, pragmatics, and voice. Each section will have games and activities that target each area.

• Articulation contains activities to target issues with speech sounds, to support someone who is difficult to understand, can't pronounce certain words/sounds, leaves out sounds in words, or replaces one sound with another.
• Language contains activities to target expressive and receptive language, which would support someone who has difficulty with asking questions, answering questions, forming grammatically correct sentences, and finding relationships between concepts.
• Social contains activities to target pragmatic and social language, which would support someone who has difficulty talking to others their same age, staying on topic in conversation, appropriately adding to conversations, and solving social conflicts.
• Fluency contains activities to target stuttering, which would support someone who may repeat sounds in words, have blocks while talking where they're unable to speak, or insert sounds or pauses into their speech.

Speech recognition-based ‍ video games designed for people with speech disorders

Try " Stutter Stars " (formerly known as Fluency Friends) today!

Proven speech therapy exercises All our games use scaffolding to teach new techniques, offer gentle practice, and provide encouragement.

Real-time feedback Practice whenever you want, wherever you want. Our games will always give you the feedback you need, even offline.

Monitor your progress Get a glance at your progress with easy to read graphs that reflect performance ranging from a single day to a year.

instant feedback with a personal touch

When a client works together with a speech and language pathologist (SLP), the SLP provides both guidance and feedback on how the client performed or how they can adjust to continue making speech gains. SAY IT Labs proprietary artificial intelligent (A.I.) technology has been created to mimic this behavior by providing instant feedback and player-performance guidance.

in-house speech recognition technology

Speech recognition has become popular by systems such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. People with speech disabilities have never managed to use such systems with ease nor accuracy.  After years of development, SAY IT Labs has created speech recognition technology that has been trained and adapted specifically for people with various speech disorders. Finally people who wish to practice independently have a platform that understands less common speech productions and offers speech assistance for remediation.

Top-notch technology wrapped in an accessible game

Imagine playing a video game designed for people with speech disabilities where your voice becomes the super power. This is the case with all SAY IT Labs video games where the client is at the center of the universe. Practicing hours and hours of speech goals independently in one of the most entertaining settings is the ultimate puzzle piece imaginable that can stimulate and offer confidence to promote speech practice.

Speech therapy techniques implemented deep within each game

Our proprietary artificial intelligence-based speech recognition technology is designed to support and treat people with a range of speech disabilities. Our goal is to develop a more effective manner to improve speech pathology treatments, increase compliance with treatment recommendations, monitor results and provide ongoing feedback both to the patient and speech therapist, and overall materially improve upon current traditional speech pathology treatment methods. 

Say It Labs represents the intersection of speech recognition technology and speech and language pathology . Stay motivated, learn techniques taught by some of the world's most esteemed communication experts and dare to level up your communication skills.

Your voice is the joystick . Use your voice to climb a beanstalk, swim with dolphins, or jump on crocodiles. Your voice will experience something fantastic as it is used to discover a whole world, manoeuvre around obstacles or collect secret objects.

The best way to conquer speech goals is by practicing. Finally the science has been transformed into a video game that provides real-time feedback . Stay motivated and confident while you explore all the different levels in the game.

Stutter stars

Stutter Stars is the first game developed by Say It Labs in English and Dutch. This game is aimed for children ages 6 to 12 to improve their stuttering. This is the most fun and interactive video game to engage in speech therapy practice where your voice is the joystick.

renown specialists

Renown fluency specialists are helping Say It Labs throughout the different development stages to ensure the best possible version of the games will be brought to the market. They have donated hundreds of hours of guidance and evidence-based research on countless techniques that work towards improving speech from the neurological, physiological, and linguistic levels.

Dr. Suzi Fosnot is a former member of the American Board of Fluency and Fluency Disorders, former fluency professor, and master clinician. The work of the Stutter Stars video game is largely motivated by her work entitled, The Fluency Development System for Young Children.

Dr. Frances Freeman is one of the iconic researchers in the field of stuttering, having recently published her 100th academic article.  She has profound knowledge of what happens in the brain when people stutter. Frances generously provides Say It Labs with scientific expertise.

Have a question?

Got a question   we’d love to hear from you..

(c) 2019-2023 SAY IT Labs BV, a limited liability company registered under Belgian law (VAT: BE 0721.671.486)

15 Most Badass Monologues In Video Game History

"Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?"

Cinema has long been the go-to medium that everyone would look to for legendary monologues, and you'd expect no less from something that's been around for over 100 years. However, ever since video games evolved from blips and bloops and made cinematic storytelling possible, they've been brimming with memorable speeches that cause tingles to go up your spine, engraining themselves into your collective subconscious in the process.

Whether they spur us on into last stand battles, mockingly introduce us to ruined worlds or make us rethink everything we've done in the game up to that point, video game speeches have a unique relationship with the player.

What gives them their power is the fact that they're addressing you directly, pulling you in on a personal level and inviting you to react and respond to them - be it with your gun, your own dialogue options, or simply by playing the narrative laid out for you. A great video game monologue affects us in a way that no other medium ever will, and these are the greatest ones that will stuck with you forever.

Gamer, Researcher of strange things. I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.

3 Ways to Use Video Games in Speech!

Are your students obsessed with video games like mine? Are you looking for more ways to use their interests in your speech room to keep them motivated and engaged in working on their speech goals?

Here are 3 ways to incorporate video games in your lessons without actually playing a video game! Way number one is Mysterydoug. It’s a free site and all you need is login information. Also, if you share it with multiple people you get access to the archives. One of the videos is “How are video games made?” I use this site when working on describing, summarizing, answering higher-level thinking questions, note-taking strategies…..anything that you’re working on, you can utilize this video or any video on this site! Your students can use what they already know about the video games they play to answer questions.

The next one is a free article from Time for Kids called “Hooked on Games.” It talks about things like are video games okay, hooked on games, and mental health. This is a great one for your older kids who are really working on those reading skills, note-taking, context clues, and things like that. And if it's too advanced, what you can do is cut it down, put it into a google slide, and simplify it however you need to. You can also have debates with this article which is great if you have social skills students.

The next one can either be the lesson or the reinforcer and it is Kahoot.com. If you go into the discover tab and type “guess the video game” a whole bunch of options come up for all different video games. Some of them even have the old video games that we watched on the “How are video games are made” video, so it all ties in. It elicits conversation and uses their interests to motivate them so it’s a win win!

I hope you found this helpful and it is something fun and engaging that you can use with your students soon! To learn more check out the resources mentioned and this video below!

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10 Most Riveting Speeches In Video Games

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Diablo 4: How to Get Andariel's Visage Unique

Wow: the war within - all skyriding glyph locations in isle of dorn, fortnite fans think they have found the best landing spot in chapter 5 season 4.

Video games often blend fun with commentary. There are many games out there that have a character tell a riveting speech, one that makes the player think and ponder the reality of the person speaking the powerful words. Fictional, or not, the words spoken by characters can truly be both inspiring or upsetting.

RELATED: RPGs With The Most Romance Options

There is a great deal of iconic video game characters that give speeches , either to the player, or their crew. Some are entirely compelling and make the player forget that they are holding a controller. What can make these speeches harder to listen to, is when a boss fight is brewing. So, which riveting speeches in video games can be considered iconic?

10 The Healthy Human Mind (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2)

As the penultimate mission of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ’s campaign, “ Just Like Old Times ” features a grandiose speech from Captain John Price. As his ally, Soap, asks for Price’s input, he is met with silence, until Price begins to audibly philosophize on death.

RELATED: Why Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Won't Feature Zombies

Price’s speech is cold and somewhat morbid. It’s a great look into his mind and his goal. “ We will. Kill him .” That’s it, that is the mission. Price will forever be a soldier, and his speech to Soap teaches him a valuable lesson on doing whatever it takes to make sure true history survives.

9 More Powerful Than Any Weapon (Mass Effect 3)

As the climax in Mass Effect 3 ramps up, Commander Shepard performs their final speech to their Comrades . The Mass Effect games have held some great speeches, thanks to Commander Shepard’s charisma and intellect. Yet, there’s something poignant about their final speech.

Shepherd rallies their friends and comrades-in-arms, and the player can choose what Shepherd says to their friends. It makes the speaker feel that much more personal, and that much more emotional; knowing how close the player has become with their crew, before entering perhaps the final battle as Commander Shepard, and the lats look of their friends.

8 Dear Humanity (Halo 2)

The fourth campaign mission of Halo 2 features Master Chief on Old Mombasa, Earth, with his fellow Marine soldiers. The introduction cutscene of this mission, “ Outskirts ”, has the characters ponder on the mystery behind the message they received, which repeats “Regret, Regret” in a loop.

The intensely charismatic Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson wastes no time in deciding on what “ regret ” means. His speech is extremely short but gets the point across. He talks of how the aliens will regret coming to Earth. It’s funny, and Sergeant Johnson rallies his troops with one large “ oorah !”

7 Free To Follow Our Own Path (Assassin’s Creed 2)

A compelling speech, from one of gaming’s most iconic characters, and most iconic assassins . Assassin’s Creed 2 features Ezio Auditore giving a speech to the Italian people about the profound identity of individuals, the freedom of choice, and forging one’s path.

RELATED: Assassin's Creed: Games With The Best Cover Art, Ranked

Ezio proves with this speech just how wise and strong he is. It’s a beautiful speech and one that sums up Ezio’s character growth perfectly. From a rebellious youth to one of the bravest, and greatest leaders of the new Assassin order. There’s a reason why Ezio Auditore is so well remembered, even after the conclusion of his story.

6 There Is Light In The Darkness (Fallout: New Vegas)

Fallout is a franchise that is no stranger to the weird, the wonderful, and the compelling. Fallout: New Vegas provides fans of the Fallout franchise with a plethora of interesting characters. Characters that make the player debate their choices for a while.

One character is Joshua Graham, introduced in the Honest Hearts DLC. Toward the end of the DLC, Joshua offers a glimmer of hope, even after the horrific circumstance of his being and location . This is because Joshua has been burned to near death. Joshua speaks of religion and the importance of family. It’s a grand speech.

5 My Fellow Americans (Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus)

Those that chose the Wyatt timeline are given a riveting speech in the genre-defining franchise sequel, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus . At the end of the game, Wyatt provides those watching live television with a great speech. After the victory of the Nazis in an alternate timeline, Americans were left on their knees.

Wyatt gives warnings to the Nazi regime, as a hopeful song softly strums in the background. Wyatt’s passion can be felt through the television screen, and it’s entirely infectious, patriot, and in search of the liberty that belongs to a free country, and a free people.

4 I’m Big Boss (Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain)

As gunfire and explosions rage across Outer Haven, Big Boss takes one last look at himself in the mirror before heading off to the latest, and potentially last, confrontation, in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain . It’s here, that Big Boss remembers all those years ago, and discovers “ The Man Who Sold The World ”.

“Venom” Snake listens to a recording from Big Boss, who tells “Venom” who he is. “ I’m Big Boss, and you are too. ” Big Boss is so inspirational , and grand, that a man willingly changed his entire identity to reforge the laws of the world. It’s epic and perfectly wraps up the Metal Gear saga.

3 Vorkuta Burns (Call of Duty: Black Ops)

The second campaign mission in Call of Duty: Black Ops follows Alex Mason and Viktor Reznov starting an uprising to escape Vorkuta, the brutal Soviet Labor Camp in Northern Russia. As the men rally to a radio tower, Reznov delivers a powerful speech to help invigorate the men escaping, as it echoes across the labor camp.

His speech is nothing short of riveting, and it rallies even the harshest critics to Reznov’s side. He speaks of war, the exploitation of young men for their country, and how it is now their time for victory. The speech is the perfect call to action, as the imprisoned of Vorkuta seek death over enslavement, even though, a Thundergun easter egg would have helped too.

2 I Fight (The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim)

There is a uniqueness to The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim for its story. Not only does the player embark on the journey of the Dragonborn, to fight the evil Alduin the World-Eater, but they are also faced with the decision of war. The player can embark on either side, the Imperials, or the Stormcloaks.

The leader of the Stormcloaks is Ulfric Stormcloak, the Jarl of Windhelm. The civil war in Skyrim is over the Nords and their rights to their freedoms and right to beliefs. He gives a powerful speech on why he fights, and even if the player opposes Ulfric’s rule, they cannot fault his dedication.

1 Life’s End (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater)

Hideo Kojima’s creative genius has no end, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is no exception. When The Boss betrays Naked Snake, he ventures through the game in wondering why she would betray her country, and him in particular.

At the final confrontation, The Boss provides Snake with a great speech. It’s a one-sided conversation in which Snake just listens, and is enthralled by her words. It’s one of the saddest scenes in the franchise. His love for his mentor is strong, and The Boss is encapsulating, and beautifully tragic. She’s one of the greatest characters in Metal Gear , and her character had a domino effect on the entire franchise.

MORE: Games That Incorporate Game Overs Into Their Stories

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Mass Effect 3

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Doing an informative speech on video games and need some input

As mentioned in the title, I am doing an informative speech on video games. I've decided to focus on the different types of video games throughout the years, but I can't decide between either: a) Talking about the different types of consoles and/or platforms or b) Talking about the different genres. It's only a 6-8 minute speech, so I can't possibly cover everything.

Since I will be speaking to fellow college students, I figured the best place to ask would be here. Any suggestions are appreciated. :)

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After DNC, Donald Trump works overtime to define Kamala Harris – and defend himself

WASHINGTON - The Democratic convention is over, and so is Donald Trump's counter-convention tour - but the former Republican president's struggle to keep up with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris goes on.

During a week-long tour of battleground states , it became clear that Trump must continue trying to define Harris, defend himself against mockery from Democrats, and deal with the fact that the incumbent vice president is pulling higher poll numbers than President Joe Biden did before his exit last month from the 2024 White House race.

Friday marked Trump's latest attempt to swing back.

On social media, the GOP presidential nominee tried to defuse the abortion issue by proclaiming that his administration "will be great for women and their reproductive rights." His comment drew even more mockery from Democrats who recounted how Trump's three appointees to the Supreme Court helped overturn Roe v. Wade and also pointed out that a large part of his political base wants to ban abortions.

As Trump conducted week-ending events in Nevada and Arizona, he also welcomed an endorsement from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr , an independent who announced he'd be suspending his own run for president.

Now comes the post-convention phase of the campaign, one that figures to last at least until the first Trump-Harris debate , scheduled for Sept. 10 less than a mile away from the historic Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

In the meantime, Trump's to-do list includes:

Making up ground

Trump campaign officials expected Harris' poll numbers to rise in the wake of the Democratic convention. Now they will try to close the margin in the weeks ahead by playing up what Trump calls her "radical" record.

How best to do that is a dispute even within the Trump campaign, a subject the candidate has brought up in public.

Throughout his post-convention tour, Trump did cite inflation, immigration, wars in other countries, and the overall economy as big issues in the campaign against Harris; he has also kept up some of the most strident attacks ever made by a major party candidate, routinely labeling Harris as a "communist" and a "Marxist," language reminiscent of "Red Scares" of the past.

Make it personal? Policy? Both?

Some Republicans fear that Trump's stridency is turning off swing voters; Trump himself seems unsure.

The former president has spoken about the intra-party dispute over how to approach Harris and running mate Tim Walz .

During an event Wednesday in Asheboro, N.C., Trump said people often advise him to be nicer - “'please, sir, don’t get personal; talk about policy'" - and he asked the crowd of supporters two questions: "Should I get personal? Should I not get personal?"

The crowd responded overwhelmingly in favor of "personal."

After joking that "my advisers are fired," Trump then told supporters: "No, we’d rather keep it on policy. But sometimes it’s hard when you’re attacked from all ends."

Fence-mending

Moving past the Democratic convention, Trump is also trying to mend relations with some of the Republicans he has fought with over the years, particular Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp .

During a recent rally in Atlanta, Trump attacked Kemp at length (again) for refusing to back up his protests of Biden's win in Georgia in the 2020 election. Many Republican questioned Trump's agitation, given the fact that Kemp supervises an effective get-out-the-vote operation in a a closely contested state.

On Thursday, just minutes before Harris' acceptance speech at the convention in Chicago, Trump reached out to the Georgia governor via Truth Social: "Thank you to #BrianKempGA for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country. I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Trump later said he commented after watching a positive Kemp interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. Trump also made up with Kennedy, a former opponent he has also described as radical. During a Las Vegas event for his "no tax on tips policy," Trump thanked Kennedy for "a very nice endorsement."

Playing defense

Trump also spent Democratic convention week playing defense, and that doesn't figure to stop anytime soon.

In Chicago, Harris and other Democrats repeatedly hit the Republican nominee over efforts to overthrow the 2020 election, his hush money trial conviction , the sexual abuse judgements against him, his threats to use the power of government to investigate political opponents, and conservative plans to cut essential services and restrict abortion rights.

“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man," Harris said in her acceptance speech . "But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious."

Trump, who live-tweeted his reactions to Harris in real time, posted at one point: "IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?"

The former president also found time this week to push back on an allegation lobbed at both him and running mate JD Vance: That they are "weird."

In kicking off his counter-convention tour in York, Pa., Trump referred to Biden and said: "You know, he said, we’re weird ... that JD and I are weird. I think we’re extremely normal people, like you, exactly like ... He’s weird."

Trump did express particular concern about one issue: Abortion rights.

As his tour wrapped up Friday, Trump posted a cryptic comment on Truth Social saying: "My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights."

Democrats quickly pointed out that, when he was president, Trump nominated three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to reverse the Roe v Wade abortion rights ruling . Trump has said that states should decide abortion policy, expressing implicit support for new laws that ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.

"Donald Trump waged war on women’s reproductive freedom," said Ammar Moussa, rapid response director for the Harris campaign. "Now he’s trying to run away from his record. It won’t work."

Well before the Republican and Democratic conventions, Trump often mentioned the political risks for Republicans over abortion - and that's not going away during the last two-and-a-half months of the campaign.

Get ready to protest 2024 election

Democrats in Chicago also expressed concern that Trump would contest the vote if he loses in November, as happened four years ago when his protests led to the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.

In television interviews, Trump said he would not protest the election if it is "free and fair." Four years ago, numerous officials told him the election was fair, but he pushed lawsuits and pressured lawmakers to change the outcome anyway.

"I think if I lose, this country will go into a tailspin, the likes of which it's never seen before - the likes of 1929 - but if I do, and it's free and fair, absolutely, I will accept the results," Trump told CBS News.

Trump said he believes there "many problems" in the 2020 election, but added: "I think things have been done over the last four-year period that will make this a free and fair election."

1 Minute Speech on Video Games In English

A very good morning to one and all present here. Today, I will be giving a short speech on the topic of ‘Video Games’.

Simply put, video games are those games played virtually played on a computer screen or a television screen or perhaps a PlayStation. 

There are several types of video games in existence, over 30 in fact! Some of them, namely, are Sandbox, Real-time strategy (RTS), Shooters (FPS and TPS), Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), Role-playing (RPG, ARPG, and More), Simulation and sports, Puzzlers and party games, and Action-adventure.

Out of these, Action Games, Adventure Games, Role-Playing Games, Strategy Games, and Simulation Games are popular. 

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RFK Jr. endorses Trump after weeks of back-channel courtship

PHOENIX — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed former President Donald Trump Friday afternoon during a lengthy speech putting to rest his tumultuous independent presidential campaign.

Kennedy's campaign first confirmed the endorsement in a court filing in Pennsylvania before he took the stage for the speech in battleground Arizona. Trump has his own event in nearby Glendale later Friday, where Kennedy will speak, according to three sources familiar with the planning — the culmination of weeks of talks.

Kennedy, who gained prominence as an environmental lawyer and then as a leading anti-vaccine advocate, opened his remarks Friday blasting the Democratic Party for "abandon[ing] democracy," lambasting his "naysayers" for not believing his campaign could be successful, and accusing both the media and Democrats of a conspiracy that kept him from being competitive. Then, Kennedy made it official.

"Many months ago I promised the American people I would withdraw from the race if I became a spoiler. ... In my heart, I no longer believe I have a realistic path to electoral victory," he said.

Framing both Trump and himself as victims of the "continual legal warfare" by Democrats, Kennedy criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for not having won "a single delegate" during her 2020 race and accused her of ignoring the press and scuttling a policy platform for what he called a campaign focused exclusively on opposing Trump. And he compared Biden's, and then Harris', grip on the Democratic Party to the autocracy of Russia under President Vladimir Putin.

By contrast, Kennedy made clear that in Trump, he sees a partner — and a fellow victim.

"These are the principled causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump. The causes were: Free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on our children," he said.

"One of the two candidates has adopted these issues as his own to the point where he has asked to enlist me in his administration. I'm speaking, of course, of Donald Trump."

Other members of the Kennedy family criticized the endorsement . And in a statement, Democratic National Committee senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill said, "Donald Trump isn’t earning an endorsement that’s going to help build support, he’s inheriting the baggage of a failed fringe candidate. Good riddance."

Inside the negotiations

Kennedy’s decision to back Trump comes after weeks of back-channel courtship. One person familiar with the discussions said that Donald Trump Jr. had been looking to engineer a Kennedy endorsement of his father for six months, with another source noting that Trump Jr. had long felt that Kennedy’s presence in the race was hurting the GOP campaign.

For a time, polling was unclear about that question. But it changed dramatically after Harris took over as the Democratic presidential candidate and the polling landscape shifted. It's a reality the Trump campaign acknowledged in a memo from pollster Tony Fabrizio sent to reporters after Kennedy's announcement, which argues its polling shows that Kennedy's vote "breaks for President Trump" in every key state.

Still, the initial conservations started earlier, about a week before the Republican convention, with right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson connecting Trump Jr. with Kennedy.

From there, Trump Jr. and donor Omeed Malik served as go-betweens to help close the deal. The two sources familiar with the talks said that Kennedy is expected to play a role on the campaign trail going forward.

In an interview, Malik said Kennedy has not been promised a Cabinet position in exchange for his endorsement, though that's something Kennedy running mate Nicole Shanahan suggested when speaking on a podcast earlier this week. (Shanahan did not appear at Friday's event.)

But, Malik said, "I think both President Trump and JD Vance have said as much in the last 24 hours, that should they be successful, there are plenty of roles, and I think the area of health is one," where Kennedy could serve.

"I don't see any downside whatsoever" to Kennedy supporting Trump, Malik said, adding, "These types of events have the potential to really change everything."

At his speech on Friday, Kennedy went onto detail about speaking to and meeting with Trump and his advisers, when he said he discovered "we are aligned on many key issues."

And he implied he's been offered a say in a potential future Trump administration.

"If President Trump is elected and honors his word, the vast burden of chronic disease that now demoralizes and bankrupts the country will disappear," Kennedy said.

"President Trump has told he wants this to be his legacy," Kennedy continued. "I'm choosing to believe that this time he will follow through. His son, his biggest donors and his closest friends all support this objective."

And he admitted that aligning with Trump will "a difficult sacrifice for my wife and children but worthwhile if there's even a small chance of saving these kids."

But he stressed that this alliance with Trump "will allow us to disagree publicly and privately," while still working together on their shared goals.

Criticizing agencies like the FDA, Kennedy added that with "Trump's backing," they are going to "staff these agencies with honest scientists and doctors."

As to his electoral future, Kennedy said he would only work to remove his name from ballots in swing states because he wanted to give his to give his supporters in "red states" and "blue states" a chance to vote for him without "harming or helping."

And he said that by remaining on the ballot, he could technically be eligible to assume the presidency in 2025 if no candidate wins a majority of the Electoral College, a virtual impossibility because it would require him to win Electoral College votes .

A long and difficult campaign

Kennedy's bid for the presidency stumbled amid intense opposition from Democrats, controversies stoked by the candidate himself, and difficulties overcoming the significant hurdles facing independents trying to get on ballots across the country.

The decision to end his campaign had been expected, after Kennedy’s running mate began openly musing this week about whether he would drop out to endorse former President Donald Trump . Even before then, his campaign had stopped putting on its own events and started engaging in unusual public diplomacy with Trump, an opponent Kennedy had harshly criticized earlier in the campaign.

Kennedy’s impending drop-out marks the end of one of the more quixotic presidential campaigns in modern history, one that initially gained enough traction to send Democrats into a panic about whether his bid could jeopardize their path to victory in 2024. Initially, Kennedy sought the Democratic presidential nomination, but he decided in October 2023 to run as an independent bid instead . 

His support waned, as it typically does for candidates charting a collision course with the country’s two-party system — though this time, it came amid a summer packed with campaign-shaking events.

The Democratic Party’s decision to switch up its presidential ticket has prompted a decline in the share of voters saying they’d back third-party candidates, leaving Kennedy largely pulling from Trump . Even before that, Kennedy and his campaign struggled through a months-long, difficult stretch that raised questions about his viability. 

Kennedy’s public poll numbers have been dropping, and neither the candidate nor his running mate have spent much time on the trail in recent weeks. Instead, the candidate was accumulating negative headlines — an allegation that he groped a former famly babysitter (to which he responded to by declaring, “ I am not a church boy ”); a revelation that he used a dead bear he found on a roadside to stage a fake bicycle accident in New York’s Central Park; and a claim by Kennedy that doctors found a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, among other things. 

He struggled to reconcile his career as an anti-vaccine activist with a need to win over a broad electorate. Kennedy repeatedly courted the anti-vaccine influencers and organizations that were integral to his career, leading to severe criticism from Democrats and other groups pointing to his comments and associations to frame him as a radical.  On Thursday, after his campaign announced his intentions to give a Friday update on the state of the race, he tweeted out an 11-minute video he said was an attempt to “set the record straight by explaining my exact posture, point-by-point, one what is probably the most controversial issue of my campaign,” his stance on vaccines. Just 24 hours later, he left the race. 

Kennedy also flip-flopped on abortion policy throughout his campaign: In August 2023, while still running as a Democrat, he told NBC News that he’d support signing a national abortion ban after the first three months of pregnancy, before his campaign quickly walked back the comments. Then this May, Kennedy said in a podcast episode that he would support “full-term abortions,” stunning his running mate . Days later, Kennedy walked back those comments, too .

And at an organizational level, Kennedy’s camp struggled at times under the weight of having to fund a massive ballot access program to get on ballots in enough states to win the presidency. By August, only a handful of states had certified Kennedy’s place on the ballot, and he has continued to face legal challenges, including a court decision to boot him from the ballot in New York.   

Even though that ballot access program fell short, it wasn’t cheap. The Kennedy campaign spent more than $8 million on campaign consulting from Accelevate 2020 LLC, a group that also does ballot-access work.

Overall, the campaign effectively raised what it spent — it amassed $57.6 million and spent almost $54 million through July. But that fundraising includes $15 million in direct contributions from Kennedy’s vice presidential candidate, Shanahan, who spent the week stoking the speculation the campaign was about to end. (The campaign also refunded her more than $900,000 last month.) 

“There’s two options that we’re looking at, and one is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency, because we draw votes from Trump or we draw somehow more votes from Trump,” she said on a podcast interview released on Monday . 

“Or we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump. And, you know, we walk away from that and we explain to our base why we’re making this decision,” Shanahan continued.

On Friday, Shanahan posted on social media, writing: “I’m not a Kamala Democrat.  I’m not a Trump Republican [.] I’m an INDEPENDENT American who is endorsing ideas, not a person or a party. I will continue working to give a voice to the voiceless and bring power back to the people.”

There have been other financial drains on the campaign, too, including the millions Kennedy spent on security as he repeatedly called on the federal government to provide him with Secret Service protection, evoking the political assassinations of his famous father and uncle. 

Federal campaign finance records show Kennedy’s campaign spent more than $3 million on security services provided by Gavin de Becker, a prominent security consultant protecting celebrities who is also a Kennedy supporter and friend . The campaign is also carrying an additional $3 million in debt to de Becker’s company. 

The campaign received Secret Service protection after the assassination attempt on Trump in July.

Katherine Koretski reported from Phoenix; and Ben Kamisar from Washington, D.C.

Katherine Koretski is a 2024 NBC News campaign embed.

Ben Kamisar is a national political reporter for NBC News

Henry J. Gomez is a senior national political reporter for NBC News

Garrett Haake is NBC News' senior Capitol Hill correspondent. He also covers the Trump campaign.

Dasha Burns is a correspondent for NBC News.

Transport enthusiasts ride on board the Sydney Metro City's first train between Chatswood and Sydenham

Topic: Public Transport

The first services on the Sydney Metro City line have departed this morning, looked on by train enthusiasts waiting to climb on board.

The new section of the metro line between Chatswood and Sydenham opened to commuters just before 5am on Monday after an initial opening date delay.

What's next?

The metro rail extension from Sydenham to Bankstown is due for completion in 2025.

Sydney's new multi-billion-dollar metro line is up and running with government ministers, city workers and train enthusiasts among those aboard the first service.

Crowds eagerly lined the new station platforms on Monday morning to catch a first glimpse of the service between Chatswood and Sydenham.

Services began running from Sydenham station at 4:54am, but some enthusiasts had arrived as early as 1am. 

One commuter told ABC News the new metro was an accessible form of public transport. ( ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri )

"Finally having a transport line that's fully wheelchair accessible at every station, level access boarding ... is going to be a huge game-changer," a commuter and disability advocate told ABC News.

Commuters in Chatswood also expressed their excitement about the opening.

"I always catch the usual train to Central, but now I got this direct one, it's a faster one," one passenger said.

Commuters coming from Sydney's north said it would be easier to get into the city now. ( ABC News: Berge Breiland )

Another commuter, who took the metro from Sydenham to Chatswood, had taken photos of the opening.

"Taking the historical moment of the Sydney Metro opening from this stage from building to its actual operation is pretty exciting," he said.

"It's made connecting between Chatswood and Central and Sydenham much quicker than the trains before."

One commuter said connecting between Chatswood, Central and Sydenham was much quicker. ( ABC News )

Hayley Johnson and Jessica Parsons left Newcastle at 10pm last night to make sure they could ride the first train to Tallawong in Sydney's north-west.

"You really feel your back hit the seat," Ms Johnson said of the speed.

"It's a really cool piece of infrastructure, the architecture of all the stations is beautiful," Ms Parsons added.

Hayley Johnson (right) and Jessica Parsons came from Newcastle for the opening today. ( ABC News: Declan Bowring )

'Historic day for Sydney'

Premier Chris Minns said the service would "transform Sydney" and make different parts of the city more accessible to Sydneysiders.

He singled out former Liberal premier Gladys Berejiklian for praise in getting the line built.

"Gladys Berejiklian deserves a lot of credit for this city-shaping piece of infrastructure," he said.

"She had the vision to get it done, it's a great addition to the city and I congratulate everybody responsible for this sparkling piece of public transport infrastructure that will change Sydney for the better."

The metro trains are expected to carry 37,000 people during peak times. ( ABC News: Berge Breiland )

NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen last week said the opening was the biggest change to the way the city moves since the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

"This train will be able to carry more people than the harbour bridge and the tunnel combined during the peak hour and really takes the pressure off the rest of the public transport network," she said.

"Thousands of people got onboard this morning, it's been an incredible day for our city and means that more people will be able to choose public transport more often.

"This is a historic day for Sydney, so many people are really excited and its great to see them onboard this morning."

She said there would be a family fun day on Saturday to encourage people to try out the new service.

Commuters snap a selfie with Jo Haylen. ( ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri )

Mr Minns said while commuters may notice some construction work near the entrances to some of the stations, the metro itself was unaffected.

"A lot of the build on top of the stations are not complete, so that might be commercial or residential [and] that will continue perhaps even for years," Mr Minns said.

"But the actual metro is up and running, completely safe, independently ticked off."

A crowd eagerly hopped on board the first service this morning. ( ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri )

Tens of thousands expected to use metro

The first service of the day on the other end of the line left Tallawong in the city's north-west at 4:38am.

Originally the driverless line only ran from Tallawong to Chatswood, with construction of the new 15.5 kilometre section started in 2017.

The wider service will stop at metro stations throughout the city including Chatswood, Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, Martin Place, Gadigal, Central and Waterloo before terminating at Sydenham.

Sydney Metro's newest train line runs under the harbour bridge and through the heart of the city.

The extended section of the M1 line is up and running after the opening of the $21.6 billion project was delayed last week due to safety regulator approvals .

The first services on the new line departed before 5am this morning. ( ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri )

More than 37,000 people are expected to use the new service during peak times in the morning, significantly reducing their travel time.

Twenty-one minutes will be saved from Crows Nest to Central, while commuters travelling from Sydenham to Barangaroo will spend 27 minutes less on a train.

These times at Tallawong and Sydenham will continue seven days a week for the first four weeks of operation. Following this, the first train at Tallawong will depart at 4:08am.

Sydney Metro is Australia's biggest public transport project.

The metro rail extension to Bankstown is due for completion in 2025.

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Donald Trump's Comeback To Kamala Harris's DNC Speech Is Now The Internet's New Favorite Meme

Me overhearing my mom gossip to company about me.

BuzzFeed Staff

Last night, while Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was speaking at the DNC, Donald Trump was online, rambling and posting about her.

"Too many 'Thank yous,' too rapidly said, what’s going on with her?" he wrote on Truth Social as her speech began.

He also responded to Kamala blasting him for the "chaos and calamity" he caused in office, including the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol, writing, "IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?"

People immediately turned his question into a meme — and it's hilarious.

One person said that's them when their boss "sends a 'gentle reminder' email to the group after [they] screw something up."

when my boss sends a “gentle reminder” email to the group after i screw something up pic.twitter.com/RjWTbSmOrp — steph (@whutyearisit) August 23, 2024

Another mused that was Jay-Z when Beyoncé first hinted at his cheating.

When Jay Z first heard Lemonade for the first time: pic.twitter.com/KzLhkiCVjS — Maybe: Jacoby (@Getthebagcoach) August 23, 2024

There were so many other funny ones, too:

my dog when the vet says someone needs to cut down on little snacks pic.twitter.com/tea1G2UMRG — kenzi (@kenzianidiot) August 23, 2024

Half a dozen guys, who knew Carly Simon, in 1972: pic.twitter.com/2Znf797KDr — Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens (@CSMFHT) August 23, 2024

lindsey buckingham hearing silver springs for the first time pic.twitter.com/YeOHxLaz11 — i hate you joe biden (@sonyashea3) August 23, 2024

pic.twitter.com/YhR4pvfr9c — Rob DenBleyker (@RobDenBleyker) August 23, 2024

matty healy when taylor mentioned jehovah’s witness suits pic.twitter.com/RA4VeUQH3T — paris rae 🪩🤍 (@parisrae13) August 23, 2024

Dave Coulier in 1995: pic.twitter.com/FmECMPYMyP — my likes are totally not porn (@NetSematary) August 23, 2024

For more funny posts from the DNC, check out this post .

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