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December 15, 2008, 01:22 PM ET
NYU Establishes a Center for Video-Game Design and Research
One of the oft-cited, counterintuitive facts in computerland is that the video-game industry pulls in more money than Hollywood. Over the past several years, the two entertainment media have converged in many ways: Video games often include their own backstory, with cinema-like presentations in the game and trailer-like teases. Cinema, in turn, has its share of video-game crossover products.
So it would make sense that New York University, an institution known for training filmmakers and for its interactive-telecommunications program, would establish the NYU Game Center, devoted to the research and design of digital games.
The center, which was announced last week, will first gather together the disparate courses in game design and research that are already being taught at NYU, said Frank Lantz, interim director of the center and a full-time game designer who has taught game design at NYU for more than 10 years. Next fall, the center may add some courses. The center is the first step in establishing undergraduate and graduate programs in game design, Mr. Lantz said. The center is supported through a $1-million anonymous gift and a $200,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Mr. Lantz said that NYU is examining established game-design programs at Southern Methodist University, the University of Southern California, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Savannah College of Art and Design.
“There has been a lot of trailblazing,” he said of those programs. “We are trying to look at those and build on them.” —Scott Carlson
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