At the Digital Life Design conference yesterday, Bushnell outlined his plans for Speed to Learn according to the DLD tumblr. The new service aims at updating the classroom for modern students to learn in new ways.

“ADHD is misspelled – it’s actually called boring teacher syndrome,” Bushnell said.

He went on to say that the traditional system is not up to date on the kind of learning processes that are needed to keep students engaged.

At this point, he says that the education system can learn from video games. He says that the classrooms should be rid of lectures and homework, and introduce individual learning styles. He went on to say that the classroom should in incorporate notions of different learning cultures, and add the power of computers. Such a move would create an education revolution he said.

The Speed to Learn initiative aims to do that. Teachers can not handle the difficult levels of students, but computers can. He says that through using software that mimics the structures of computer games, initiatives like Speed to Learn can speed up the education process and help individual students reach their potential.

“Matching difficulty with ability makes teaching fun,” Bushnell said.

Here are some more priceless quotes from the talk with Bushnell:

[Lead image courtesy of DLD tumblr]

While many companies are looking to make a name for themselves with such aspirations, Atari just wants to reclaim its piece of the video gaming pie.

Just what sort of unmitigated chaos has been wrought in the wake of Second Life’s popularity?

GigaOM counts no less than eleven different start-ups that all reference Linden Lab’s online world as the fundamental concept for their vision.

Atari becomes the twelfth such company with its announced intentions to develop a 3D world consisting mostly of user-created content.

“Let’s just say it will be PC to start with,” says Atari Online Entertainment Senior VP Chris Bergstresser. “I can’t and I won’t speak for Europe but presumably if it is a success in the US then yes, it will be coming to Europe. We would quickly open it up to other territories."

Wagner James Au of GigaOM speculates as to why the phenomenon of user-generated virtual worlds seems to be catching on like wildfire:

What we’re seeing, I think, is game publishers slowly learning to apply the logic of Web 2.0 on their own medium. Creating content is expensive, and with the sole exception of World of Warcraft (8 million users and still growing), involves an increasingly futile struggle to retain subscribers.

Traditional online worlds require a large team of designers and artists constantly adding new content, for fear that players will quickly churn through the existing experiences, get bored, and leave. (Subsequently, most MMOs spike in growth, then quickly plateau and begin declining.) Going the user-created route means new content on a regular basis, produced by subscribers, with the company only spending money to foster and police it.

Atari certainly doesn’t need to make a name for itself in the world of gaming.

Most analysts would admit, however, that the company has been living off the merits of its past successes and has done very little in recent times that could be viewed as innovative.

If Atari can manage to catch this wave and ride it in to shore, then the company could find itself at the forefront of the gaming industry once again. 

It’s a broad-based adventure game with an all-star voice cast. It’s a gateway to a lifetime of crime.

Atari announced the new title, under development by The Collective, on Monday. Set in the fictional city of New Radius, freedom of expression has been suppressed, graffiti banned. The title character, Trane, strikes back at the tyrannical government, honing his tagging skills under the tutelage of various in-game masters.

But the entirely fictional aspect of the game seems to have eluded the grasp of New York City councilman Peter Vallone. “From what Atari’s putting out, it appears they want to make crime exciting and to teach children how to get away with breaking the law,” said Mr. Vallone, a former prosecutor, in a lengthy statement today.

“I’m just glad they aren’t giving out cans of spray paint with this game.”

In “Contents Under Pressure,” Atari says Trane will earn his street cred by getting his tag all over the city of New Radius, but ends up leading an urban revolution, and expose an oppressive mayor in the process.

“I think Atari will soon learn that they are going to be a ‘Company Under Pressure,’” said Mr. Vallone. The councilman has criticized Time Magazine, claiming a large billboard it displayed featuring the work of several graffiti artists promoted vandalism.

For gamers who want to decide for themselves whether “Contents Under Pressure” is an entertaining diversion or the worst enticement to evil since Star Wars: Episode 3, Atari plans a multi-platform release of the title in the fall of this year.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

Though the company that put the 2600 into gamers’ homes decades ago had a lineup of games ready to announce at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, they added on one more title for the heavily hyped Xbox 360 from Microsoft.

The title, Test Drive Unlimited, allows gamers to purchase cars or bikes online and take them for a ride. Some of the 125 licenses Atari picked up for car models include vehicles from Lamborghini, Ducati, Shelby, and Jaguar.

In-game options for upgrading vehicles will be items including rare performance parts coming directly from vendor catalogs. An online environment for creating race clubs and making challenges to other racers will be supported.

The gamemaker touts the realism with which it will be able to render vehicle attributes like console controls. Other titles announced by Atari for various platforms include The Matrix: Path Of Neo, Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach, and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

Today, Atari announced plans to release a video game based on The Matrix movies; giving gamers an opportunity to play as Neo, the movie’s leading character. The game, called “The Matrix: The Path of Neo” is expected to be released in time for Christmas, 2005.

According to Eurogamer.net, “The Path of Neo is being developed by Shiny Entertainment with collaboration from trilogy producer Joel Silver and, critically, the elusive Wachowski brothers. The path the player takes in resolving each situation will be scripted and directed by the brothers, with all the actors and actresses’ likenesses intact, and we’ll also see footage from all three films and The Animatrix woven into the storytelling side of the game.”

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.