On Wednesday, I will be leaving for a trip to Mexico and back on board (my first) cruise. The purpose of this little sojurn is to get together a bunch of folks from the academic community that are teaching (or thinking of teaching) games, and to partner them with folks from Microsoft that can help us make good use of their technology in the classroom. The underlying issue here is that computer science and engineering enrollments are plummeting, and the number of students graduating with the background necessary to power the workforce of tomorrow is rapidly diminishing. Microsoft Research has an initiative in which they contend that by using games and entertainment, we can more directly appeal to students in these areas, and create experiences that are more compelling. Quite a few notables will be there, in addition to MSR: Jason Della Roca from IGDA, Jon Laird from Michigan, Cory from Second Life, etc. I expect to be offline for at least part of the trip, but I will be sure and write up what transpires and my impressions.

Oh, and I have my Dramamine. Just in case.