April 30, 2009
New Books @ the UGL on Game Design
The Undergraduate Library has gotten a slew of new book on designing video games. Many of these are on display in the lower level of the UGL. Come by and check them out.
You can also look up books on game design in the online catalog through the subject headings:
Computer Games--Design.
Video Games--Design.
Posted by undergrad at 11:48 PM | TrackBack
April 21, 2009
Campus Event: The Future of Games Programming
The Future of Games Programming
Tim Sweeney, Co-Founder, Epic Games
Wednesday, April 22 at 4:15 pm CT
B02 Coordinated Science Laboratory (with live video streaming)
Epic Games Co-Founder Tim Sweeney will discuss the future of video gaming and the need for greater computational speed and power within the industry.
From programming video games in his parents’ basement to launching the wildly successful Unreal Tournament series and Gears of War, Tim Sweeney has left his mark on the video gaming industry. As the co-founder of Epic Games, Sweeney has helped usher in a new era of cutting-edge games and cross-platform game technology. The company has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in its Unreal series, most recently shipping Unreal Tournament 3 for PC, PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360™. Epic’s breakthrough game, Gears of War, sold 5 million copies and won more than 30 game of the year awards. Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is the current holder and three-time consecutive winner of Game Developer magazine’s Best Engine Front Line Award. For more information: www.epicgames.com.
The series is organized by Illinois Professors Wen-mei Hwu and Sanjay Patel and is sponsored by Parallel@Illinois.
If you can't make it check out the live webinar and other archived speakers @ http://www.parallel.illinois.edu/seminars/speed/index.html
Posted by undergrad at 5:15 PM | TrackBack
April 16, 2009
Gaming- Next Collegiate Sport?
The New York Time recently put out an article about Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Texas, and 23 other colleges join together to form Collegiate Star League. The schools compete in the Blizzard Entertainment game StarCraft. A recent exhibition between Princeton and Tsinghua University garnered about 60 spectators.
Read the New York Times article @ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/sports/othersports/12star.html?ref=othersports
And Check out the Collegiate Star League @ http://www.cstarleague.org/
Posted by undergrad at 11:17 PM | TrackBack
April 9, 2009
Trends in creating music for games
BoingBoing has an interesting interview with Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music and Matt Ganucheau of Expression College posted at:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/09/bb-video-music-in-vi.html
This is part 1 of a 2 part interview.
In the interview, they discuss new tools for creating music, how to think about creating, placing, and changing aspects of music in a game based on the action occurring on screen and desired player reaction, as well as some discussion of work and academic backgrounds for people who create game music.
Posted by undergrad at 8:14 PM | TrackBack
April 8, 2009
Getting Wii Fit in the Bronx
About 25 Bronx middle school students are spending four hours a week after school boxing and bowling, playing tennis and golf and exercising using Nintendo Wii Fit consoles.
Check out the Associated Press release @ http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-bc-ny--videogamefitness0407apr07,0,4188870.story
And
A New York Post Article @ http://www.nypost.com/seven/04062009/news/regionalnews/kids__yes__wii_can__163127.htm
Posted by undergrad at 5:19 PM | TrackBack
April 3, 2009
Library Gaming Career Night Follow-Up
The library hosted its fir Gaming Career Night last night (Thursday, 4/2). Staff from local gaming company Volition came to share their experiences on a variety of topics ranging from portfolio design, to interviewing tips, to job hunting tips, to organization of gaming companies, to classes to take when preparing for a career in gaming.
You can read comments from the presenters in articles from the Daily Illin and News Gazette here:
http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2009/04/03/News/Undergraduate.Library.Hosts.First.Gaming.Career.Night-3696329.shtml
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/04/03/volition_team_advises_wannabe_game_designers_at_ui
Also, be sure and check out the library gaming career website for tips on job hunting and lists of resources on campus and at the library:
http://uiuc.libguides.com/gamingcareers
Posted by undergrad at 11:35 AM | TrackBack
April 2, 2009
High levels of action video games will increase your vision. Research proves so.
Video games that involve high levels of action, such as first-person-shooter games, increase a player's real-world vision, according to research in Nature Neuroscience March 29.
Read more from this article @
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090329143326.htm
