EA Does Something Nice

Electronic Arts is donating one of its most venerable games, SimCity, to a high-tech humanitarian effort.

Internet pioneer, activist and adviser to the non-profit One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, John Gilmore first suggested the inclusion of the game on the friendly, education-oriented, green Linux laptop.

The original SimCity game, released in 1989, won 24 awards and found its way into more than 10,000 classrooms as an educational tool. It is still a part of the Future City Competition, an annual middle school contest.

The OLPC laptop was designed for use in schools in developing nations. Rather than merely provide SimCity in its original form, the OLPC intends to include the ability to extend the game via Python scripting, in order to give older children the opportunity to learn programming and game design.

You can learn more about the OLPC initiative and laptop on their website.