A few bits of Africa-related videogame news to report.

First, you can now play and vote for the four finalists in the MTV crisis in Darfur student game design contest, which we mentioned last year. The contest asked student teams to design a videogame to build awareness about genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The network is offering a $50,000 prize to develop the game, although the students don't get to develop it, but rather a professional agency. The students will be invited to New York to advise and participate. Anyway, you can play the finalist games and vote at www.darfurisdying.com. The games are a bit rough, more like prototypes, which is fine for the purposes of the contest. The games come from two USC teams, one Carnegie Mellon team, and one Digipen team. The design challenge of a game about genocide in a historically complex region is not a simple one, and despite MTV's best intentions, I don't know that it's yet possible to make a game "to end the killing." Not in just a few weeks anyway.

Second, a studio called Rapid Reality (based here in Atlanta, no less) is apparently developing an MMO about Africa. According to this MTV article, the developers hope the game will increase awareness and interest in the much-ignored subcontinent. The project is a substantial one, promising ecological evolution and management, African languages (invented or real?), and even system requirements low enough to support most African cybercafes. The game is to be set in the 13th century, and the gameplay will revolve around African myth and

Unfortunately the game websites published in the article, Africa-MMO.com and africammo.com are reported "suspended" or "unauthorized," possibly from traffic clobbering due to Monday's /.ing. Clickable Culture points out that the game is in early stages, and the developer's intention to complete it in one year may be irrational. We'll have to wait for more details.

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