Games to learn programming

Robocode is a programming game, where the goal is to develop a robot battle tank to battle against other tanks in Java or .NET. The robot battles are running in real-time and on-screen.
http://robocode.sourceforge.net/

RoboWar is a freeware strategy game. Yes it is free. The goal of the game is to make your robot kill all other robots and be the alone survivor. To do this you must program a robot in RoboWar’s own language which is easy to learn.
http://robowar.sourceforge.net/RoboWar5/index.html

Core Wars is a programming game in which two or more programs run in a simulated computer with the goal of terminating every other program and surviving as long as possible.
http://www.corewars.org/

Bug Brain is a game where you build brains to run a bug. You start in the lab where you experiment with the neurons and nodes that make up a brain. From there you move out into the field to build a brain for a Lady Bug to help it feed and survive. Bug Brain features rendered graphics, challenging puzzles and the opportunity to learn about neural networks.
http://www.biologic.com.au/bugbrain/

Kanban 1s Game

Jon Jagger’s Kanban 1s Game

A game can always help understand logic puzzles, and that’s the way to understand how Kanban works in a simulation. The advantage of using games to learn is that people will make more honest choices, as there are no company or project pressures to influence their choices. It’s based on rational thought … and a little by chance (you can’t eradicate the unpredictable).

Kanban applied to Scrum (video)

Rather than thinking in terms of using Scrum with Kanban, it is better to use Kanban as sole approach. However, if you have a company culture that is still getting used to Scrum or another Agile approach, consider implementing Kanban to compliment, rather than replace.

Driving game using googlemaps

I rarely, if ever, recommend any facebook games but this caught my eye as it is a driving game, utilising googlemaps.  Mini Maps is a driving game for Facebook that lets you race anywhere in the world on Google Maps. You can race on tracks created by other players, competing against the best track times or even race against others by inviting your Facebook friends to play. Alternatively you can create your own tracks, set the best time and challenge others to try and beat you.

The game has some great features. Visibility is affected by the local time, so, for example, if you log into San Francisco at night, you are going to be driving with the assistance of your headlamps. The game also lets you select from a number of Mini models and even lets you customise the look of your car.

Play Agile

Some good game formats, to educate business about the business side of Agile. As Agile took many of its inspirations from Extreme programming practices (XP), these games are very relevant. There are two games two games designed to educate and illustrate. The first is the Business Value Game – creating user stories is important skill, but just as important to provide estimate on business value – i.e. what makes one story more critical than another. The other is a less formal effort to …

…familiarize the players with some of the more difficult concepts of the XP Planning Game, like velocity, story estimation, yesterday’s weather and the cycle of life. Anyone can participate. The goal is to make development and business people work together, they both play both roles. It’s especially useful when a company starts adopting XP.

You can find some more similar types of games here:- http://tastycupcakes and agilecoach.

Duke Nukem Developer Shuts Down

A sad day, as the makers of seminal titles of Duke Nukem and the Wolfenstein 3D are folding, due to lack of funds.  Wolfenstein especially brings back many memories of long gaming sessions, and the thrill of completing the game.  At the time, it managed to achieve what other games lacked – a throughly playable and challenging game, with a goal that was just attainable enough, to avoid feeling of wanting to scratch your eyeballs out in frustration.

Report: Duke Nukem Developer Shuts Down – Tom’s Hardware

gwap

When you play a game at Gwap, you aren’t just having fun. You’re helping the world become a better place. By playing our games, you’re training computers to solve problems for humans all over the world.
gwap.com – About

Fantastic Contraption:Physics Puzzle Game

Fantastic Contraption: A fun online physics puzzle game

Making the world a playground

plaYce is a startup that is redefining quick-engagement games by providing high-end, media rich action, streamed within the browser. Think of plaYce as casual gaming for REAL gamers, enabling them to play quick-engagement social games with their online friends. Games are based in plaYce’s 3D virtual world, which is accurately based on real world locations. Game developers can use plaYce’s API to create their own games within this unique 3D world.

plaYce’s first game, Downtown Defender, is a 3D Tower Defense game that takes place in SF. The game provides amazing graphics that have never before been seen in the quick-engagement Web browser format. We will launch more games shortly in NYC and Hong Kong.

plaYce | www.playce.com

PMOG

PMOG is an infinite game built on individual network histories, transforming our web surfing into ongoing social play. With a game head-up display in Firefox, players can bomb each other, wage war over web sites, and lead other users on web missions. Ordinary web sites become caches for items and currency. PMOG fuses an MMO into our WWW. PMOG stands for Passively Multiplayer Online Game. Players play without playing; clicking around the internet turns into experience points and currency.
About PMOG