I really like the TED conference. I have been treating myself to quite a few of their recorded talks ever since Google helped them publish an initial batch of presentations.
More recently the TED conference launched a website to host many more of their recordings, all freely available, the latest of which I enjoyed a lot.
In March 2007 Will Wright - one of my (two) handful of personal game design heros ;) - held a presentation titled "Toys that make worlds" at TED.
Over the last two years, especially at GDC, Will Wright has given very good presentations featuring his upcoming title Spore and the reasoning behind its concept. This talk is different from past demos, in that it focuses more on the educational aspect of the game.
Will gives insights on how he thinks Spore might foster long-term thinking considering environmental issues. The demo of the game he gives throughout the talk shows how well suited the title is to playfully convey an idea of evolutionary scale.
If the term edutainment would not have been overhyped and associated with so many mediocre software titles, that were neither educating nor fun, this title could become a prime example for what that class of software should have been like.
You might want to pay particular attention to
- the mating habits of slug-type creatures (and the accompanying soulful music) at 00:05:11
- the editor which seemingly makes modeling entities to your liking a breeze while not being overwhelming at 00:05:43
- procedurally generated texture maps at 00:07:11
- procedural animation of dynamically created beasts that looks natural at 00:07:31
- terraforming and interplanetary travel :) as of 00:10:45
- and Will's thoughts on helping to change the world in terms of encouraging long-term thinking at 00:16:07
If you enjoy the content of Will's TED talk and his presentation style, GDCTV has a recording of his 2005 GDC Game Design Keynote speech up for sale. If you're into game design or electronic gaming in general it is worth the fifteen bucks.
Google Video hosts a whole bunch of Spore videos from past GDCs and E3s.
