Nintendo-Supported Institute Aims To Build Game Developers
Feb 19, 1998  (MULTIMEDIA WIRE, Vol. 5, No. 33) -- Talented game
developers are made, not born, and too many go to Hollywood.  Those
appear to be the messages from the DigiPen Institute of Technology,
which officially opened yesterday its four-year college program that
will award Baccalaureate Degrees of Science in game development. The
program will focus on computer animation and video game programming
while emphasizing real-time interactive simulations.  DigiPen plans to
grow its enrollment to 100 students for fall 1998.
Nintendo, Washington Gov. Gary Locke (D) and several industry watchers
support the move. The Institute is located in Redmond, Washington.
This is "nothing more than a human resources [move] from a
forward-looking company," Fairfield Research analyst Gary Gabelhouse
says approvingly, believing that Microsoft's [MSFT] presence has made
it hard for Nintendo to find skilled programmers in the Seattle area.
It is "a real challenge" to get into DigiPen. It looks like a good
farm for potential Nintendo developers, says DFC Intelligence analyst
David Cole, citing a similar degree program in New Brunswick, Canada.
There's a lot of money to be made by programmers in the video game
industry now, he adds.  It isn't clear if graduation ceremonies will
include a rendition of the regal Pomp and Circumstance or theme-music
from the NES version of Zelda.
From:  Silicon Times Report / February 27, 1998 / No.1408
... To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.
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