AUSTIN, Texas -- May 31, 2005.

5th World is a tour de force cataloging 21st century science, technology, workforce, education and demography in what Jim calls “zero time”. Zero time is now. The rate of the creation of new scientific knowledge and technology has reached a point that we no longer have to forecast the future. All we have to do is take a snap shot picture of where we are in time, zero time, and we can see the future. 5th World provides this snap shot and an interesting discovery related to video games and youth.

A lot of the press coverage of video games has been of the "Crossfire" variety: Good or bad? Violent or harmless? Rotting kids' brains or helping them learn? In 5th World, Jim illustrates how consumer “game builders” have leap frogged global institutions of work and school to prepare for 21st century science and technology. Jim illustrates how the activity of building “network video games” creates a new world--the 5th world.

The 5th World is in contrast to the digital divide. 5th World actors are people who connect into TEAMS (Technology, Engineering, Art, Math and Science) and who learn by constructing new online worlds. 5th World actors are “transdisciplinary” actors uniting problem solving, learning and production to create new knowledge, new systems, new processes and new languages.

5th World participants are possibly the first global generation of youth, integrating science and art, and testing their theories in virtual 3-D worlds around the world. Jim discusses issues of poverty, inequality and race as they relate to the 5th World and the workforce crisis in the domains of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). 5th World is motivational, visionary and grounded in the realities of teaching, learning and working in today’s complex society.

Critical Mass Interactive delivers a wide variety of services, including full game production from concept to completion on any platform, any type of outsourcing including concept sketches and storyboards, 3 dimensional models for in-game or marketing materials, design documents, and more. Recent clients include: Electronic Arts, Majesco, THQ/relic, and the United States Air Force. Visit them on the Web at http://www.criticalmassinteractive.com