university posts

A recent Associated Press story predicts that a serious shortage of computer science students will be a problem for video game companies in the near future. Baby boomers are retiring from information technology positions, and since interest in technical jobs has sharply declined among recent college students, companies like Electronic Arts are worried that they might have trouble finding new people to fill those positions.

An EA VP said: "We're definitely concerned around the fact that there's a talent shortage." EA is working directly with universities to encourage students to major in computer-related degrees so anticipated gaps can be filled. It's also filling its offices with perks such as on-site massage therapists, game rooms, and fitness centers to make working at its Redwood City, CA campus more attractive.

If you're a recent high school graduate, bright, and interested in working in the games industry, you might want to consider a degree in computer science.

Universities generally teach acting for theatre or film (movies or television). But games? Not usually. The University of Wisconsin at Madison, however, is changing that. Teaming up with Raven Software, the theatre department at UW-M is offering curriculum on how to mo-cap act for video-games. The new trend of 3D animation in games is definitely oriented around motion capturing, and with professional actors learning how to interact with developers and use the mo-cap technology, it's a fair bet that character animation is going to definitely get more fluid.

Besides being the first gaming-oriented mo-cap class we can think of, it's also one of the first times we've ever heard of a respected university using games as curriculum outside of computer science classes. Could these be a trend towards including interactive media in other courses, such as writing or art? We certainly hope so.

[Via ArsTechnica]