Published June 2, 2008

The Imagine Cup encourages young people to apply their imagination, their passion, and their creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world—today. Now in its sixth year, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a truly global competition focused on finding solutions to real world issues. The 2008 World Finals will be held in Paris France from July 3-8, 2008.

This year, Microsoft called on young programmers, artists, and technologists around the world to "Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment." Meet the six finalists and their creations.

Team Name: BAMM! Studios

Team Members: Florian Maetschke, Jens Jochen Isensee, Martin Wahnschaffe

Country: Germany

Image Earth is a single-player earth simulation game. Your central goal is to build up a strong, growing population and healthy environment. Build cities, power plants, farms, and industry areas and place them on a 3-D earth which is segmented into many fields. In the course of the game, pollution will become a big problem. Some of your buildings pollute the surrounding ground, others pollute the air. Research opportunities come up along the way to help develop new technologies that reduce this pollution.

Team Name: Drunk Puppy

Team Members: Kenny Deriemaeker, Jeroen Van Raevels, Filip Van Bouwel, Timothy Vanherberghen

Country: Belgium

Future Flow is a single-player 2-D and 3-D arcade puzzle game that teaches players about environmental sustainability and ecological issues. Transform existing (unsustainable) cities into sustainable ones by upgrading or creating buildings with environmentally friendly features. Use the 3-D views to build and upgrade your city, and use the 2-D view to manage the connections between buildings that will help improve your city’s environment.

Team Name: ECOThink

Team Members: Frédéric Pedro, Nicolas Gryman, Anthony Chen, Maximilien Paitel

Country: France

ECOThink is a single-player 2-D campaign of an over-polluted universe that needs to be rebuilt. Rebuild the universe one city at a time by making smart choices for power that won't pollute your community. Tools throughout the game help you make the right eco-friendly choices for power. Choose the wrong source and your community will not flourish. Rebuild each community by increasing population and decreasing pollution.

Team Name: GomZ

Team Members: Dong Hoon Kim, Ki Hwan Kim, Min My Park

Country: Korea

Clean Up is a single-player 3-D campaign to create and maintain your own cube (living space) with the help of cleaners, nano machines that have the ability to turn pollutants into energy. Protect your cube by removing pollution and turning it into useful energy so your cube can sustain itself. The third-person view lets you control your character as you use your cleaners to remove pollutants in your cube. Gather the appropriate cleaners from earth, air, water, and energy to help you clean a particular pollutant.

Team Name: Mother Gaia Studios

Team Members: Rafael Costa, Guilhermr Campos, Helena Van Kampen, Tulio Marques Soria

Country: Brazil

City Rain is a single-player 3-D "Sim City meets Tetris" game where you learn about urbanism, ecology, and maintaining a sustainable environment. As buildings drop from the sky, strategically place them on the grid so the community can grow while still being ecologically mindful. Conquer challenges throughout the campaign and help your community thrive.

Team Name: Siss

Team Members: Florian Leckebusch, Frank Goetz, Ingo Koster

Country: Germany

Megalopolis is a single-player game where you control of a robot who has control over the ecological and economical growth of an island. Get the highest score by managing an island for 10 virtual years. Build power plants and the most efficient living conditions for the human inhabitants. Keep a good balance between quick expansion, income, and environmental sustainability. In the end the number of people living on his island and the carbon dioxide emission are the keys to beat the high score.

Games for Change is proud to work with Xbox 360 and the Imagine Cup Competition to promote the development of socially conscious games.

One world. Unlimited possibilities. The 2008 World Finals will be held in Paris, France from July 3-8, 2008.