'Speare: Scrolling Shooter Game Helps You Learn Shakespeare

Review from www.gameology.com

I have to admit I was skeptical when I read the article in CTV.ca about 'Speare. From the article, "Makers of a new video game are hoping students will become excited about Shakespeare by trading in their books for a spaceship." *yawn* Let me guess: you have to fly to different Shakespeare-themed planets and answer a series of multiple choice trivia questions, right? Well, yes, and no. There is trivia, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that most of the game is actually a top down, scrolling shooter (think Ikaruga) that does involve some fact-memorization but mainly consists of fighting off waves of Insidians, powered by poetry. The game, designed by University of Guelph English professor Dan Fischlin and developed by Apollo Games, is being marketed to schools, but you can download a nice demo from the developers website...

Check out the links below to see even more coverage and feedback about 'Speare!
http://fusenumber8.blogspot.com/2007/04/speare-me.html

http://bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com/bookshelves_of_doom/2007/04/speare.html

http://www.multiplayer.ro/2007/04/23/speare-is-a-brilliant-strategy-for-making-kids-love-learning%E2%80%A6.html

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/71038-The-Game-Is-Afoot-Learning-About-The-Speare

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28918&

http://joystick101.org/blog/?p=173">http://joystick101.org/blog/?p=173">http://joystick101.org/blog/?p=173

http://joe.english.purdue.edu/blog/node/425

http://forums.gameinformer.com/gi/board/message?board.id=GeneralGaming&message.id=193694#M193694

http://blogs.ozu.es/index.php/videojuego/2007/04/26/speare

http://www.goblinmercantileexchange.com/?p=816

http://www.therawfeed.com/2007/04/professor-turns-shakespere-into-video.html

http://briangameaholic.blogspot.com/2007/04/i-dont-think-so-shakespeare.html

http://varkentine.blogspot.com/2007/05/oh-no-oh-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-or.html

http://www.gadgetaddict.com/professor-creates-shakespere-video-game/

http://www.medialiteracyproject.com/?p=22

http://funcameravideos.blogspot.com/2007/05/is-brilliant-strategy-for-making-kids.html

http://shootthecore.blogspot.com/2007/04/speare-trying-to-educate-us-shmup.html

http://apollogames.blogspot.com/2007/05/speare-scrolling-shooter-meets.html

http://blog.shakespearegeek.com/2007/04/shakespeare-meets-aliens.html

http://ssg9.com/blogs/blue-book/37946/speare-makes-apollo-platform-a-reality-for-online-games/

http://plime.com/entertainment/games/l/17942/1/

http://seriousgamesblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/speare-is-fun-game-that-teaches.html

http://www.seriousgamessource.com/item.php?story=13661

More exposure

Check out the cool review we received on Kotaku. Looks like people are beginning to pick up on the vibe of the game!

www.kotaku.com

'Wherefore art thou (zap) Romeo?'

Shakespeare video game teaches students his tragic love story by having them `shoot down spaceships and stuff'

Apr 24, 2007 04:30 AM

Daniel Girard
Education Reporter

What light through yonder window breaks? It is a video game and Juliet is the star!

On the 443rd anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth, the University of Guelph yesterday launched an interactive adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, using 21st century technology in an attempt to get schoolchildren excited about English literature's most famous writer.

Entitled 'Speare, the video game requires the player to lead "an elite squadron of spacecraft" to overcome a dangerous enemy, which has plunged the entire Prospearean Galaxy "into an age of dark despair" by capturing the ancient text of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

A successful mission, the narrator says in the game's introduction, will do nothing less than "restore literature, knowledge and peace to the universe – to usher in a new age of compassion and learning."

While such a take on the tragic love story might cause literary scholars to bristle, Shakespeare to turn in his grave and tweens to roll their eyes, those responsible see the game as a logical and powerful way to improve the literacy of kids aged 10 to 15 and interest them in the Bard's works.

"If I write my extremely scholarly article on Romeo and Juliet as an anti-war story, how many of the kids out there in grade school and high school are going to pay attention? Zero," said Daniel Fischlin, a Guelph English professor and one of the game's creators.

Click here to read more

More stuff!

I just wanted to let everyone know that as soon as the launch is over I will be working hard to put more interesting and original content on the ApolloGames.ca Blog. We really would love to start a dialogue with our users, friends, and customers about 'Speare and merits of online educational gaming. If you would feel more comfortable conversing with us and sharing your ideas in another way please feel free to check out our newly arriving myspace site (http://myspace.com/apollogames) or our facebook group (ApolloGames.ca). And don't forget to check out our content on flickr.com (http://www.flickr.com/photos/apollogamescanada/ ) and youtube.com (http://youtube.com/profile?user=ApolloGames).

Thanks for the all the love and support!
Cheers,

Maxwell AJS
Social Media Coordinator

"The Power to Speak is the Power to Do"

The day before...

We're live! And excited! And having fun!

President blogs 'Speare launch

Shakespeare's Birthday

On Monday 23rd April 2007, we will host a party to celebrate Shakespeare birthday (and incidentally the day of his death as well). We are about halfway through the Shakespeare - Made in Canada festival http://www.shakespearemadeincanada.ca/ which is centered on the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare website http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/ and the exhibition at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. The festival has been a great success and the exhibition has attracted almost twice the visitors to the Art Centre. In fact, we have extended the hours of opening to accommodate the extra guests.

In association with the birthday celebrations, we will be launching the literacy game 'Speare. This is a unique interactive video-game based on the language of Shakespeare in his play Romeo and Juliet. Through an innovative interactive folio and a learning commons, the game presents a new way to read and understand Shakespeare. At the same time, the language skills of players is vastly improved. In association with the launch we are also launching a new website ApolloGames.ca which we hope will attract people to the literacy game.

Check out the websites.

Posted by Alastair Summerlee on April 22, 2007 12:13 PM

CASP Launches Online Integrated Learning System (Patent Pending)

Author: CASP Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:19:51 EST

News Release

April 21, 2007

The Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP) has developed a three-part literacy system that engages youth in language and media literacy learning while making a positive intervention in online game spaces. Launched on April 23, 2007, Shakespeare's birthday, CASP's Online Integrated Learning System (OILS; Patent Pending) is a hybrid online/in- or out-of-class system that fuses a fast-paced, highly interactive game play environment that is rich with language and media literacy content with in-class learning modules. The system allows teachers to use the huge volume of research and pedagogical material created by CASP to reinforce the online experience. The three main OILS components include 'Speare: The Literacy Arcade Game, the Interactive Folio: Romeo and Juliet, and the Shakespeare Learning Commons.

'Speare: The Literacy Arcade Game:

'Speare is a fun game that teaches literacy skills as an outcome of spontaneous game play in an authentically appealing interface. The game has been carefully designed to entertain in a way that balances its entertainment value with its pedagogical outcomes.

'Speare fully integrates gaming and educational goals to the degree that the two are indistinguishable.

Click here to read more...

Mat Buntin. Keeping things under control, one post-it at a time.

Yuri and Brad. Working hard!

Max loves macs.

Daniel Fischlin and Arni put their heads together to finalize the layout of Apollogames.ca.

Brad Eccles, VP of Product Development at apollogames.ca, working intently on last minute game tweaks.

Welcome to the beginnings of the ApolloGames.ca Blog. Please keep checking back frequently over the next few days as we gear towards the launch of ApolloGames.ca and 'Speare, the literacy arcade game on April 23, 2007.