[ Thanks to Michael
S. Mimoso for this link. ]
“Taking its cue from purveyors of educational games for
children, IBM Corp. is making games for IT pros. More than 215,000
copies of IBM AlphaWorks’ first game, Robocode, have been
downloaded. In this code-writing tutorial, players build robots to
compete in a game. AlphaWorks’ second game release, CodeRally,
gives Linux developers and administrators a fun way to master Java
tools. Marc Goubert, manager of IBM’s AlphaWorks program, is
responsible for bringing to market new implementations of emerging
technologies. “Linux is an emerging trend in technology, so we
provide a lot of basic components for Linux users, developers and
architects,” he said. In fact, he said, more than 30,000 developers
are currently building Linux-based applications for IBM software.
In this interview, Goubert explains how developers and system
administrators can learn from CodeRally and extend the
functionality of their Linux systems.“Why is AlphaWorks developing games as learning
tools?“Goubert: We watched innovation be pioneered by
gamers. Real-time gaming interfaces and engines, 3-D and other
technologies were pushed ahead by game developers. A lot of
developers play games. This is a good way for those games to
deliver education as well as entertainment…”