Zune plans gaming apps

With last week's release of the Zune HD, Microsoft's portable music player has been the recipient of a fresh blast of buzz - Microsoft has said it intends to begin releasing gaming apps on its handheld device soon, writes Game Informer.

CasualGaming.biz reports that in addition to Facebook and Twitter apps, the Zune HD will receive a number of downloadable games later this year. Early entries include Vans Sk8: Pool Service, Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition, and Audiosurf Tilt.

Of course there's still one major difference that will set Apple's app store apart from Microsoft's plans for the Zune HD: third-party support. All of the aforementioned apps will be first-party and free to download. For now, at least, third-party developers will not be able to create or publish games for the Zune HD.

From next month a New York public school named 'Quest to Learn' will begin teaching pupils using videogames and other ludic sources, according to Guardian.co.uk.

Titles like LittleBigPlanet and Civilization are to set to provide conceptual exercises for the children, who won't be expected to leaf through moth-eaten text books for hours on end.

The idea is that kids learn more easily, and more enthusiastically, from games because they offer simple to follow rule-based systems that clearly exhibit how different elements interact within a recognisable real-world context.

California-based Razer, a brand of gaming peripherals, is to collaborate with Singapore's Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDMPO) to set up an Interactive Digital Media Lab in Singapore, states Channel News Asia.

With an investment of some $20 million planned over the next few years, the Razer IDM Lab will be set up for the purposes of R&D in interactive gaming technology and platforms, as well as in the creation of interactive gaming interfaces and devices to fuel Singapore's growth as a global gaming hub.

Besides developing cutting-edge interactive gaming interface technologies, the Razer IDM Lab will also help improve the core competencies of local video gaming start-ups through mentorship activities.