"The starting position on video games is skepticism," said New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in his keynote address to this May's Games for Change Conference in New York City. In its sixth year, the conference is a gathering of developers, academics, and activists intent on using the medium of games for social and educational messages. Kristof was there to discuss his forthcoming social-networking game-an extension of his work on gender inequality and an endorsement of games as something more than mindless entertainment. "I think the way to change that perception is just the record of success in connecting to audiences," he said.
But on what level are games connecting? The game industry's roughly $26 billion a year in software sales is on par with Hollywood's yearly box-office receipts, but the public conception of games remains closer to checkers than to Citizen Kane.
That perception may begin to change next Tuesday when Microsoft Research is slated to release Kodu for Xbox 360. Using terrain-drawing tools and an intuitive graphical programming language, players can design, play, and share a wide variety of 3D games
