Online gaming is widely popular and gaining more user attention every day. Computer game industries have made considerable growth in terms of design and development, but the scarcity of hardware resources at player or client side is a major pitfall for the latest high-end multimedia games. Cloud gaming is one proposed solution, allowing the end-user to play games using a variety of platforms with less demanding hardware requirements. Emerging Technologies and Applications for Cloud-Based Gaming explores the opportunities for the gaming industry through the integration of cloud computing. Focusing on design methodologies, fundamental architectures, and the end-user experience, this publication is an essential reference source for IT specialists, game developers, researchers, and graduate-level students.

This comprehensive and timely publication aims to be an essential reference source, building on the available literature in the field of Gamification for the economic and social development of countries while providing further research opportunities in this dynamic and growing field. Thus, the book aims to provide the opportunity for a reflection on this important issue, increasing the understanding of the importance of Gamification in the context of organizations' improvements, providing relevant academic work, empirical research findings and, an overview of this relevant field of study. This text will provide the resources necessary for policymakers, technology developers, and managers to adopt and implement solutions for a more digital era.

The first wave of Overwatch cinematics captured the imagination of millions of fans around the world. After the game released in 2016, Blizzard Entertainment embarked on a new mission to take cinematic storytelling to the next level. From the intense, action-packed rush of "Shooting Star" to the somber, noble ethos of "Honor and Glory," the creative team wanted to highlight a different side of the game's beloved heroes. In pursuit of their objectives, the crew added new artists in the mix, devised novel methods for making movies, and ventured into formats they hadn't tried before, such as in-game cinematics and stop-motion animation. Covering all the official Overwatch cinematics made from 2017-2020, including the Overwatch 2 announcement trailer, The Cinematic Art of Overwatch: Volume II showcases hundreds of pieces of never-before-seen artwork and documents the epic creative journey that Blizzard took to bring these films to life.

This book explores the ways in which the broad range of technologies that make up the smart city infrastructure can be harnessed to incorporate more playfulness into the day-to-day activities that take place within smart cities, making them not only more efficient but also more enjoyable for the people who live and work within their confines. The book addresses various topics that will be of interest to playable cities stakeholders, including the human-computer interaction and game designer communities, computer scientists researching sensor and actuator technology in public spaces, urban designers, and (hopefully) urban policymakers. This is a follow-up to another book on Playable Cities edited by Anton Nijholt and published in 2017 in the same book series, Gaming Media and Social Effects.

UPDATED EDITION FEATURING VERSION 2.0 CONTENT! Dreaming of an island getaway? Now you can create the perfect island paradise in Animal Crossing: New Horizons with the Animal Crossing New Horizons Residents' Handbook. Newly updated with version 2.0 content, this essential unofficial guide contains everything you need to prepare for your new island life, including tips on how to: - build and design your dream home - gather resources and recipe cards to craft and customize tools, furniture and other decorative items - populate your island with friendly animal villagers - each with their own, often very funny, personalities - help Blathers fill your island's museum with fossils, critters and art - connect with up to 7 friends and share your personal paradise online What's more, Animal Crossing New Horizons Residents' Handbook contains plenty of inspirational landscaping and terraforming ideas, insider information and guides to characters, resources and special events. It's the perfect book to help you live your best deserted island life!

This book presents an overview of the emerging field of emotion in videogame soundtracking. The emotional impact of music has been well-documented, particularly when used to enhance the impact of a multimodal experience, such as combining images with audio as found in the videogames industry. Soundtracking videogames presents a unique challenge compared to traditional composition (for example film music) in that the narrative of gameplay is non-linear - Player dependent actions can change the narrative and thus the emotional characteristics required in the soundtrack. Historical approaches to emotion measurement, and the musical feature mapping and music selection that might be used in video game soundtracking are outlined, before a series of cutting edge examples are given. These examples include algorithmic composition techniques, automated emotion matching from biosensors, motion capture techniques, emotionally-targeted speech synthesis and signal processing, and automated repurposing of existing music (for example from a players own library). The book concludes with some possibilities for the future.

This book brings together contributions from researchers, GIS professionals and game designers to provide a first overview of this highly interdisciplinary field. Its scope ranges from fundamentals about games and play, geographic information technologies, game design and culture, to current examples and forward looking analysis. Of interest to anyone interested in creating and using Geogames, this volume serves as a channel for sharing early experiences, discussing technological challenges and solutions, and outlines a future research agenda. Games and play are part of human life, and in many game activities, place, space and geography plays a central role in determining the rules and interactions that are characteristic of each game. Recent developments and widespread access to mobile information, communication, and geospatial technologies have spurred a flurry of developments, including many variations of gaming activities that are situated in, or otherwise connected to the real world.

Video games have become an increasingly ubiquitous part of society due to the proliferation and use of mobile devices. Video Games and Creativity explores research on the relationship between video games and creativity with regard to play, learning, and game design. It answers such questions as: Can video games be used to develop or enhance creativity? Is there a place for video games in the classroom? What types of creativity are needed to develop video games? While video games can be sources of entertainment, the role of video games in the classroom has emerged as an important component of improving the education system. The research and development of game-based learning has revealed the power of using games to teach and promote learning. In parallel, the role and importance of creativity in everyday life has been identified as a requisite skill for success.

This book introduces the latest visual effects (VFX) techniques that can be applied to game programming. The usefulness of the physicality-based VFX techniques, such as water, fire, smoke, and wind, has been proven through active involvement and utilization in movies and images. However, they have yet to be extensively applied in the game industry, due to the high technical barriers. Readers of this book can learn not only the theories about the latest VFX techniques, but also the methodology of game programming, step by step. The practical VFX processing techniques introduced in this book will provide very helpful information to game programmers. Due to the lack of instructional books about VFX-related game programming, the demand for knowledge regarding these high-tech VFXs might be very high.

From the Foreword "Getting CPS dependability right is essential to forming a solid foundation for a world that increasingly depends on such systems. This book represents the cutting edge of what we know about rigorous ways to ensure that our CPS designs are trustworthy. I recommend it to anyone who wants to get a deep look at these concepts that will form a cornerstone for future CPS designs." --Phil Koopman, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA Trustworthy Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering provides practitioners and researchers with a comprehensive introduction to the area of trustworthy Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) engineering. Topics in this book cover questions such as What does having a trustworthy CPS actually mean for something as pervasive as a global-scale CPS? How does CPS trustworthiness map onto existing knowledge, and where do we need to know more? How can we mathematically prove timeliness, correctness, and other essential properties for systems that may be adaptive and even self-healing? How can we better represent the physical reality underlying real-world numeric quantities in the computing system? How can we establish, reason about, and ensure trust between CPS components that are designed, installed, maintained, and operated by different organizations, and which may never have really been intended to work together? Featuring contributions from leading international experts, the book contains sixteen self-contained chapters that analyze the challenges in developing trustworthy CPS, and identify important issues in developing engineering methods for CPS. The book addresses various issues contributing to trustworthiness complemented by contributions on TCSP roadmapping, taxonomy, and standardization, as well as experience in deploying advanced system engineering methods in industry. Specific approaches to ensuring trustworthiness, namely, proof and refinement, are covered, as well as engineering methods for dealing with hybrid aspects.

Occupational segregation is an important issue and can be detrimental to women. There is a strong need for more women in science, engineering, and information technology, which are traditionally male dominated fields. Female representation in the computer gaming industry is a potential way to increase the presence of women in other computer-related fields. Gender Considerations and Influence in the Digital Media and Gaming Industry provides a collection of high-quality empirical studies and personal experiences of women working in male-dominated fields with a particular focus on the media and gaming industries. Providing insight on best methods for attracting and retaining women in these fields, this volume is a valuable reference for executives and members of professional bodies who wish to encourage women in their career progression.

Who are we in simulated worlds? Will experiencing worlds that are not 'actual' change our ways of structuring thought? Can virtual worlds open up new possibilities to philosophize? Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools tries to answer these questions from a perspective that combines philosophy of technology with videogame design.

The First World War in Computer Games analyses the depiction of combat, the landscape of the trenches, and concepts of how the war ended through computer games. This book explores how computer games are at the forefront of new representations of the First World War.