GDC 2007 Launches OLPC Game Design Challenge

The organizers of the 2007 Game Developers Conference (run by the CMP Game Group, as is Gamasutra) have announced a partnership with the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative for the OLPC Game Design Challenge, awarding two XO computers for the best game ideas for this low cost, humanitarian platform. OLPC is a nonprofit organization that designs, manufactures and distributes the inexpensive XO laptops with the goal of giving every child in the world access to a modern education. The XO will be distributed to children in various counties throughout the world during the coming year, including Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Libya, Nigeria, and Rwanda. The OLPC Game Design Challenge will award two of these specially designed computers for the best ideas for games developed to take advantage of the XO platform. In addition, organizers note that particular interest will be paid to those ideas that emphasize that the laptop's special features, including its wireless mesh, sunlight-readable display, and its ebook and rotated-screen modes. The contest begins today, Tuesday, February 13, and all entries must be received on or before 11:59pm on Friday, March 2, 2007. The conference itself takes place in San Francisco from March 5-9, with the winning game design idea to be determined by a panel of judges and announced on or about Tuesday, March 6. Entires will be judged by OLPC's director of content Samuel J. Klein, as well as University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Kurt Squire, and Xbox Live Arcade worldwide games portfolio planner Dave Edery. GDC 2007 organizers also recently announced that OLPC's Klein will also deliver a keynote address during the event's Serious Games Summit, a gathering of professionals who use games for non-entertainment purposes. Klein's keynote will cover the hardware, operating system, and game development support on the first wave of laptops that will debut later this year, and address the strategies for learning through play that the OLPC team is formulating. For more information regarding the contest, including entry guidelines and eligibility, see the official competition website.