The White House hosts educational game jam

Game jams are held in all manner of venues: triple-A studios, universities, games festivals and conferences. And now the White House has held one, too.

Games developers were invited to Obama’s crib to take part in a 48-hour jam designed to encourage more studios to explore educational games, according to Gamasutra. Participants were tasked with making games relevant to different subject areas based on the US’ Common Core standards in children’s education.

Studios in attendance included Ubisoft’s Red Storm Entertainment and Rovio, as well as various indies. Government figures and educators also took part.

Chad Sansing, a National Writing Project teacher and Education Advisor for the jam, wrote in a blog post: "We don’t all value video games the way we value textbooks or novels or copies or articles for a variety of reasons. However, great games exist – games that can teach as much as any traditional text.

"We should unpack our feelings about video games and work towards a better understanding of the genre, its tropes, and how they can be taught not only to deliver content, but also – appropriately – to help kids identify and critically response to media and world around them."