{"71832":{"#nid":"71832","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Boosts Video Gaming Industry","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe first video game debuted in 1958, but it wasn\u0027t until the early 1970s that this new diversion began to catch on, emerging first in bowling-alley and bar arcades and then spreading to consumers\u0027 homes via personal computers.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFast-forward to today: Video gaming has become one of the fastest-growing forms of entertainment. According to a recent study sponsored by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA):\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E- Sales of video-game software in the United States totaled $8.2 billion in 2004 - not far behind the music industry, which generated $11.4 billion the same year.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E- By 2010, U.S. sales of video games are expected to grow to $15 billion.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E- Video gaming is expected to generate more than 250,000 jobs by 2009, a 75 percent increase over the industry\u0027s 144,000 full-time positions in 2004.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe New Golf\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat\u0027s caused video games to evolve from a boutique market to a bona fide industry? Experts point to a myriad of reasons, including more powerful central processing units (CPUs) and advanced technology for sound, video, 3-D art and motion in game play.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Digital media lets you describe the world in ways that older media couldn\u0027t,\u0022 observes Janet Murray, a professor and director of graduate studies at Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Literature, Communication and Culture (LCC). \u0022Technology allows us to create imaginary worlds that people can act in. We can set up games that are more challenging and have more variety because they are procedurally created by making up rules in the computer. In contrast to a traditional board game, like Monopoly, which can only do one thing, the computer is tireless.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMichael Nitsche, an assistant professor at LCC, points out that Hollywood films and related video games are often released at the same time. \u0022This blurring of boundaries between media is putting video games more into the limelight,\u0022 says Nitsche. \u0022Plus, we have a longer history of video gaming now, which means a bigger, older and sometimes more mature fan base.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStereotypes suggest that video gaming is primarily for adolescents, but ESA statistics show the market is much broader. According to the organization, 69 percent of American heads of household played video games in 2005. The average age of gamers was 33 years, and 25 percent of players were older than 50.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECelia Pearce, an LCC assistant professor who heads up the Experimental Game Lab, studies both female and older players. \u0022There\u0027s a popular misconception that older gamers, especially women, are only playing casual games,\u0022 she says. \u0022It turns out that Baby Boomer gamers are hard core players, though they have very different practices and preferences than the groups for which the industry typically develops and markets games. Plus, they are spending a lot more money.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPearce sees a demographic shift as gamers get older, and older people get into gaming. The Nintendo Wii machine is leading this shift with aggressive marketing to Baby Boomers and women. \u0022They even had a booth at the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP) National Event and Expo, which is an all-time first for a game company,\u0022 Pearce notes.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EVideo games, it seems, have gone beyond mainstream and captured audiences early developers never imagined.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022In many ways, video gaming is becoming the new golf,\u0022 says Christopher Klaus, founder and CEO of Kaneva, an Atlanta startup focused on building a 3-D virtual entertainment world. (Klaus also founded Internet Security Systems, which IBM purchased recently for $1.3 billion.)\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022While players are on a game quest, they\u0027re also building friendships and bonds with other people - similar to golf,\u0022 explains Klaus. In addition to developing an innovative virtual entertainment world, Kaneva also plans to let subscribers use its platform to engineer their own virtual world or video games.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe term \u0027video games\u0027 comes with a lot of baggage, Klaus continues: \u0022Most people think video games are just for kids. Yet this technology is becoming part of our social fabric and culture. It goes beyond being just a game; it becomes part of your identity.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBeyond Entertainment\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat\u0027s more, gaming technology has transferred to other industries, ranging from health care to defense, where it is used for educational and training simulations.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETake Persuasive Games, an Atlanta startup launched by Ian Bogost, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech\u0027s LCC. Among its products, Persuasive Games has developed a game for Cold Stone Creamery that teaches employees about portion sizes and how they affect profitability.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAnother game helps grade-school students learn about the science behind telecommunications technologies.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBogost, who is interested in how games can argue position and attempt to convince people of a particular belief, has also created a number of public-policy games, such as \u0027Take Back Illinois.\u0027 Sponsored by the Illinois Republican Party, this game challenges players to explore four issues tied to the 2004 state elections.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESparking innovation in hardware, SimCraft - a member company of Georgia Tech\u0027s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) - is introducing a low-cost, military-grade, full-motion simulator that provides a simulated G-force for SimRacing and FlightSim at home.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESimCraft\u0027s system features a patent-pending chassis that rotates around three degrees of freedom. At its most advanced setup, the system allows the cockpit\u0027s occupant to yaw up to 50 degrees to the left and right, pitch up to 30 degrees fore and aft, and roll up to 50 degrees port and starboard.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Some experts believe that the physical, tactile element is the most significant factor affecting the realism of any vehicle simulation, \u0022 says Sean MacDonald, SimCraft\u0027s CEO. \u0022A sense of realism is particularly important if you\u0027re using a simulator for training, because it makes learning more intuitive and fun - and consequently more efficient.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EInitially, the company is focusing on simulations for amateur race car drivers and general aviation pilots because they receive dual benefits in both training and entertainment at home.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Since racing and flying are so expensive, a simulator allows enthusiasts in these hobbies to subsidize actual racing or fl ying with realistic simulation,\u0022 says MacDonald. \u0022It is a safe, convenient and cost-eff ective way for them to enjoy their hobby and get better at it in the comfort of their home.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESimCraft\u0027s technology also has broad applications that include more generalized video gaming entertainment and military defense training.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOn the Upswing\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia\u0027s video-gaming industry is relatively small but poised for growth, say observers.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The overall gaming industry is experiencing tremendous growth and we believe that Georgia has the ingredients to be a hub of activity,\u0022 says Tony Antoniades, general manager of the ATDC. \u0022From the design industry in Savannah to the computing and visualization expertise in Atlanta, we expect to see more great gaming technologies over the next few years.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EKaneva\u0027s Klaus is also upbeat. \u0022If there\u0027s one industry that Atlanta could jump into, it\u0027s video games. We can leverage the high-tech foundation that already exists here,\u0022 he says, noting that ISS alone employs some 300 engineers in the metro area. \u0022If you look at where entertainment is going, it\u0027s all about high tech. Today, entertainment is being driven by how good the technology is.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor the Atlanta region, video gaming is a comeback story of sorts. For in the early 1990s, there were a number of game studios here, including divisions at IBM and Turner Broadcasting. \u0022But then the market shifted from PCs to console gaming, and both IBM and Turner shut down their gaming groups,\u0022 says Marcus Matthews, CEO and co-founder of Blue Heat Games, an up-and- coming developer of wireless video games.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMatthews, a graduate of Georgia Tech\u0027s Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, was working for Turner at the time of the downturn. He relocated to San Francisco where he joined Sega of America and eventually ran its sports group, which generated about $100 million in revenue.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYet Matthews had an entrepreneurial itch that led him back to Georgia to launch Blue Heat in 2001. \u0022I felt there was a lot of untapped talent in Atlanta - plus the cost of living was lower here,\u0022 he explains. Blue Heat, which counts 16 employees, has shipped more than 30 mobile games during the past four years including one on Jimmy Neutron, a movie and TV character that Nickelodeon is distributing.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBlue Heat is one of some 60 companies working in Georgia\u0027s video-game arena, says Clinton Lowe, founder of the Georgia Game Developers Association, Inc. (\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ggda.org\u0022 title=\u0022www.ggda.org\u0022\u003Ewww.ggda.org\u003C\/a\u003E), a nonprofi t trade organization focused on growing the state\u0027s gaming industry.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I see video games as a new market for Georgia - one that, if we make some fundamental investments, will explode,\u0022 says Lowe. Among positive signs, the Georgia General Assembly recently passed tax credits aimed at game developers and film companies that base production activities, such as editing, animation and coding, in the state.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhy care about video gaming? For one thing, the industry provides high-paying jobs that could help ease the economic sting of Georgia\u0027s eroding manufacturing base. According to ESA statistics, entry-level game developers earn $67,000 per year.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EVideo-game development is high science, providing white-collar, intellectual jobs, Lowe notes. Today\u0027s game development teams must have expertise in a wide range of skill sets, including 3-D graphics, architectural engineering, artificial intelligence, computer networking, databases, mathematics, physics, digital sound and more.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEducating the Next Generation\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEducation is one advantage that the state already has in its favor, for Georgia Tech is a magnet school for video gaming.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022When game companies hire employees, Georgia Tech is one of three schools that they turn to,\u0022 says LCC\u0027s Murray, noting the other two schools are Carnegie Mellon and the University of Southern California. \u0022We\u0027re supplying the next generation of game designers and we\u0027re training them in a way that employers can\u0027t get elsewhere.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has offered a master\u0027s degree in digital media since 1993. In 2004, the school expanded its offerings by launching both a Ph.D. program in digital media and an undergraduate degree in computational media, the latter being a joint program between the College of Computing and LCC. Currently there are about 40 graduate students and 200 undergraduate students in the three degree programs.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022More than half of the undergraduate students in computational media are interested in the video-game industry, which is difficult to get into,\u0022 says Blair MacIntyre, an associate professor in Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Interactive Computing, which is part of the College of Computing. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Our program sets students apart from other people,\u0022 he adds. \u0022The degree puts them in a position to bridge the gap between art and technology and get them into production management as opposed to being down in the trenches.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStrengthening Georgia\u0027s video-gaming industry would not only improve the state\u0027s economy, but also prevent brain drain. \u0022If graduates are getting into video games, they\u0027re more than likely relocating to the West Coast,\u0022 says GGDA\u0027s Lowe. \u0022That\u0027s a tremendous loss of human capital for the state of Georgia. We\u0027re spending tax dollars to educate students and then letting them go.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo bolster gaming, Lowe would like to see more venture capital flowing toward video-game startups. That\u0027s because the average cost of developing a video game today has soared from about $40,000 to $10 million during the last decade. \u0022One of the things GGDA is doing is to help companies learn to speak the language of capital sources and learn how to approach venture capitalists,\u0022 says Lowe.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAttracting a major video publishing company would also be a plus, Lowe adds. Publishers have muscle in managing intellectual property - an area where small design studios typically are weak.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOn Matthews\u0027 wish list: recruiting more senior-level talent to Georgia. \u0022We have a good pipeline school, but we also need seasoned people who can avoid making mistakes - and that\u0027s something that only comes from years of experience in an industry,- he explains.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStill, Matthews remains optimistic. \u0022We\u0027re starting to get a nucleus of companies and talent that are doing things,\u0022 he says. \u0022Georgia has the right pieces in place - state incentives, business and technical talent, the right cost structure - it\u0027s just a matter of time.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis article originally appeared in the Summer 2007 issue of Research Horizons Magazine.\u003C\/em\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contact\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: T.J. Becker\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Games are a pervasive form of entertainment and an industry Georgia wants to grow"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"The video gaming industry is growing, with U.S. sales expected to hit $15 billion in 2010.  Georgia Tech is playing an important role in supporting the new industry.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The video gaming industry is growing in Georgia"}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2007-10-06 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:24","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2007-10-06T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2007-10-06T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"71833":{"id":"71833","type":"image","title":"Janet Murray","body":null,"created":"1449177405","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:45","changed":"1475894644","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:04"},"71834":{"id":"71834","type":"image","title":"Ian Bogost","body":null,"created":"1449177405","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:45","changed":"1475894644","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:04"},"71835":{"id":"71835","type":"image","title":"Simcraft","body":null,"created":"1449177405","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:45","changed":"1475894644","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:04"}},"media_ids":["71833","71834","71835"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/","title":"College of Computing"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.lcc.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Literature, Communication, and Culture"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.bogost.com\/","title":"Ian Bogost"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.lcc.gatech.edu\/~murray\/","title":"Janet Murray"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cpandfriends.com\/","title":"Celia Pearce"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4709","name":"entertainment"},{"id":"198","name":"game"},{"id":"3161","name":"industry"},{"id":"197","name":"video"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}