A series of Nintendo video games called Super Mario Brothers, in which an Italian plumber from Brooklyn tries to rescue a princess in a magical land, has made more than $7 billion, compared to $3.5 billion at the box office for the Star Wars movies.
In the past three years, video game sales overall have surpassed Hollywood box office receipts, and the digital games industry is expected to grow at a rate of 15-20 percent a year. This results in the need for about 5,000 new hires a year.
As a result, college students who grew up playing Super Mario Brothers may find that video games are a ticket to a successful and rewarding career.
With demand high for artists, software programmers and others who can create digital games, several traditional universities are creating programs in digital game development. SMU in Dallas has developed a program called the Guildhall that is getting applications from all over the world, including Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The Guildhall program has already caught the attention of editors at publications ranging from The Chronicle of Higher Education to Computer Gaming World. Other universities planning programs include The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Washington and the University of California-Irvine.
"Forty years ago computer science wasn't an academic discipline," notes Peter Raad, an engineering professor who also directs the Linda and Mitch Hart eCenter at SMU.
By being part of a major university, Raad says, game development programs can incorporate topics and draw on experts in such areas as ethics, law, business and humanities.
"We are acting on the opportunity to define the future of education in digital games," says Raad, who believes that games will be the medium of the future.
The SMU program is being created in cooperation with a variety of leading game software development companies such as Ritual Entertainment, Ensemble Studios and Monkeystone Games.
"These companies tell us that they get inundated with applications from students coming out of college who want to work for them but don't have the skill sets they are looking for," says David Najjab, director of Digital Games at SMU. "We're working with these top game developers to design a program that will give students the portfolio and knowledge that will make them desirable to game development companies."
Technology developed for the games industry has applications for many other industries, including national defense, scientific simulation and education/training.
The Guildhall at SMU will enroll up to 100 students in its first class this summer. The program will offer three tracks that match the primary careers in the industry: art creation, level design and software development. Students interested in applying for the program may visit the Guildhall Web site at http://guildhall.smu.edu.
"While many students like to play video games, they may not have thought about them as a career option," Najjab says.
Southern Methodist University news releases can be found on the World Wide Web athttp://newsmedia.smu.edu
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