Microsoft and Games for Change have announced the winners of the Xbox 360 Imagine Cup, which tasked development teams with creating environmentally-themed titles using Microsoft's XNA Game Studio toolkit.

Brazil-based developer Mother Gaia Studio came in first with CityRain (pictured left), followed by Drunk Puppy's Future Flow and Gomz' CleanUp respectively placed in second and third. The winners were chosen from six finalists based criteria such as fun factor, innovation and adherence to the contest's theme.

Left, Drunk Puppy's Future Flow. Right, Gomz' CleanUp.

For their efforts, the winners were awarded $25,000 cash prizes and will be considered for internships at Microsoft. The three titles will be available on the Games... Read more

"Gaming is such a powerful medium," chief XNA architect Chris Satchell told me earlier this week. "It really speaks to the generations that are growing up now, and it's a shame not to be able to use it to deliver a social message."

That's why, last summer, Microsoft partnered with Games for Change to host the Imagine Cup and challenge students worldwide to tackle social issues and encourage change through games.

This year's contest, based on the environment and powered by Microsoft's XNA Game Studio technology, received over 160 entries from 10,000 college-age... Read more

One is described as SimCity meets Tetris. Another is a hex-based puzzle game that mixes resource management and RTS-like strategy.

All have one goal: to raise awareness of environmental issues, one click at a time.

Last summer, Microsoft partnered with Games for Change to host the Imagine Cup, which challenged students worldwide to make a game that tackled social issues and encouraged change.

This year's contest, based around the environment and powered by Microsoft's XNA Game Studio technology, received over 160 entries from 10,000 college-age students.

Of those, six games were chosen by a panel of judges to compete in the finals, the prizes of which include cash and an internship at Microsoft. Ranging from simple 2D titles to complex 3D efforts, the finalists are presented in the following gallery.

Because they were all developed within XNA Game Studio, these... Read more

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her involvement in the development of an educational online civics game for middle school students called Our Courts, Game|Life reported today.

O'Connor, who made the announcement as part of the closing keynote address at this year's Games For Change conference, will be collaborating with University of Wisconsin-Madison professor James Paul Gee and other educators to create the game. Our Courts is expected to arrive in September of 2009.

The retired justice explained that American students aren't learning enough about civics and government, and that games could prove a useful tool to strengthen civics education. Early exercises in the game, for example, will use recent Supreme Court hearings to educate students about their First Amendment rights.

"E-mailing, blogging, networking on Facebook—they can take leadership, make their voices heard through tools that belong to their generation. We need ... Read more