BBCi To Launch Ground Breaking Climate Challenge Game in January.
Public's first chance to tackle climate problems faced by Government.
CLIMATE CHALLENGE PRESS RELEASE
Screenshots in attached zip file "climate_challenge_screenshots.zip"
Screenshots can also be downloaded from http://albion.red-redemption.com/press/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8th, 2007 - The BBC, the world's leading broadcaster, is breaking new ground in launching an interactive climate change game entitled "Climate Challenge" on its BBC.co.uk interactive network scheduled for on-air web playing January 16th, 2007. Funded by the BBC and produced by Red Redemption Ltd, a leading environmental games company producing scientific, educational and environmental games based in Oxford, Climate Challenge builds on the BBC's Climate Chaos collaboration with www.climateprediction.net - the world's largest computing experiment to try and produce a forecast of the climate in the 21st century.
Climate Challenge players will log onto BBC.co.uk, take "the hot seat" and attempt to guide Europe from 2000 to 2100 while all the time making choices that could make the difference between a safe or dangerous future for humanity. Climate Challenge will be launched on the BBC.co.uk Science and Nature website http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climate_challenge/
Why? Climate change and our response to it are issues of vital importance to us all, affecting food production, water resources, ecosystems, energy demand, insurance costs and much else. There is a broad scientific consensus that the Earth will probably warm over the coming century and the Climate Challenge game designed in cooperation with Oxford University's Centre for the Environment and the BBC will allow players to simulate the climate through the fun of computer games.
The choices made by each Climate Challenge player are the real ones that government also has to tackle. Can you juggle the demands of running a country? Can you deliver food, water, and clean energy for a hundred years? Would your ideas save the planet? Or will you just get voted out of power as you make the wrong choices?
Gobion Rowlands, Climate Challenge producer says "As we developed the game it was amazing seeing the science come together with the strategy elements. The chance to try out different strategies was exciting and seeing the subtle interplay of different policies and technologies whilst trying to negotiate a global response was both challenging and rewarding."
Ian Curtis, from Oxford University's Centre for the Environment (OUCE) - a world-class environmental research and educational hub spanning the natural and social sciences which has provided scientific advice for the game and is examining how effectively computer games can communicate important subjects such as climate change, said "Climate Challenge has got imagination and innovation all over it - and that is exactly what the global warming issue needs new ways of getting the guy at the next table to get playing - and then thinking. It has been fascinating to see Red Redemption wrap their gaming expertise and creativity around the climate science. Climate Challenge transforms the labours of climate policy into the skills and drama of climate poker. Next up we need Pixar, we need Madonna, we need Ali G it can't be just about an Al Gore documentary - as important as that is" he concluded.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Ian Pearson said "we understand the challenge of educating people about climate change and recognise that innovative and interesting ways of engaging people are necessary. Climate Challenge allows people to interact first hand with climate change policy and other factors contributing to one planet living. I welcome the Climate Challenge game".
Understanding climate change can be a frighteningly huge challenge, and it can be hard for the individual to know how to piece it all together. Climate Challenge is a game aimed primarily at young professionals (25-35) who are rapidly becoming the decision makers. Now they can see how their decisions impact the world around them.
Climate Challenge is also part of ongoing policy research by Oxford University Centre for the Environment examining how effectively computer games can communicate important subjects such as climate change. As part of the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Climate Challenge Fund which aims to develop new and exciting ways of communicating climate change at a local, regional and national level to help change people's attitudes towards the issue, a second version of the game will be developed for school children to play as a learning aide.
Contact: Gobion Rowlands
Climate Challenge Game Producer, Red Redemption Ltd
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 596 160
Email: gobion@red-redemption.com