Agent Icebeezy
Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,15012441^15306^^nbv^,00.html
Jennifer Foreshew
APRIL 19, 2005
QUEENSLAND University of Technology plans to teach students to design games exclusively for Xbox, following a research grant from Microsoft.
The decision has annoyed rival entertainment giant Sony, the dominant games console supplier in Australia.
QUT received a $US15,000 ($19,500) grant from Microsoft Research Asia to fund course development and a new lab of Microsoft's Xbox consoles for students to work on.
Students would begin experimenting with Xbox game development later this year.
Classes are expected to start next year as part of the Bachelor of IT degree.
QUT is believed to be the first university in the country to offer an Xbox programming component in its degree.
"This (Xbox) will be the first offering because Microsoft have come through with the funding," Ross Brown, from QUT's visual and media computing group said.
"At the moment, we haven't developed or sought to develop anything with Sony PlayStation."
PlayStation 2 (PS2) console programming was considered more difficult to teach than Xbox, which had a PC-like environment, Dr Brown said.
"In most courses you have to offer what available resources you have to give students experience," he said.
"So, therefore, we give them Xbox experience, which is better than nothing. If we are able to have a chat with Sony and they are willing to talk about such things, we could probably incorporate PlayStation at a later date."
The course developed by QUT for Xbox would be available online through Microsoft.
"A lot of (games) houses, at least in Brisbane, are Xbox development houses and it would give students an edge if they can put on their CV that they have done Xbox development as part of their course," Dr Brown said.
QUT was positioning itself to take advantage of the growing popularity of university game courses, he said.
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia sponsorship and product development director Steve Wherrett said students would lose if they received training on a single platform.
"The important thing is that any student going through university learning games development should be getting a total understanding of it across the multiple platforms available not just one," Mr Wherrett said.
Sony offered a sponsorship program at particular universities for students to study games development, he said.
As an extension of that program, Sony has provided those universities with a PlayStation Linux kit rather than a full-development kit.
Game Developers Association of Australia executive director Evelyn Richardson said she welcomed industry support for infrastructure and curriculum development in Australian educational institutions.
"Generally companies don't expect students coming out to have experience on platforms whether it be PlayStation or Xbox," Ms Richardson said.
"They are more interested in their talent and capability."
The Australian
Jennifer Foreshew
APRIL 19, 2005
QUEENSLAND University of Technology plans to teach students to design games exclusively for Xbox, following a research grant from Microsoft.
The decision has annoyed rival entertainment giant Sony, the dominant games console supplier in Australia.
QUT received a $US15,000 ($19,500) grant from Microsoft Research Asia to fund course development and a new lab of Microsoft's Xbox consoles for students to work on.
Students would begin experimenting with Xbox game development later this year.
Classes are expected to start next year as part of the Bachelor of IT degree.
QUT is believed to be the first university in the country to offer an Xbox programming component in its degree.
"This (Xbox) will be the first offering because Microsoft have come through with the funding," Ross Brown, from QUT's visual and media computing group said.
"At the moment, we haven't developed or sought to develop anything with Sony PlayStation."
PlayStation 2 (PS2) console programming was considered more difficult to teach than Xbox, which had a PC-like environment, Dr Brown said.
"In most courses you have to offer what available resources you have to give students experience," he said.
"So, therefore, we give them Xbox experience, which is better than nothing. If we are able to have a chat with Sony and they are willing to talk about such things, we could probably incorporate PlayStation at a later date."
The course developed by QUT for Xbox would be available online through Microsoft.
"A lot of (games) houses, at least in Brisbane, are Xbox development houses and it would give students an edge if they can put on their CV that they have done Xbox development as part of their course," Dr Brown said.
QUT was positioning itself to take advantage of the growing popularity of university game courses, he said.
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia sponsorship and product development director Steve Wherrett said students would lose if they received training on a single platform.
"The important thing is that any student going through university learning games development should be getting a total understanding of it across the multiple platforms available not just one," Mr Wherrett said.
Sony offered a sponsorship program at particular universities for students to study games development, he said.
As an extension of that program, Sony has provided those universities with a PlayStation Linux kit rather than a full-development kit.
Game Developers Association of Australia executive director Evelyn Richardson said she welcomed industry support for infrastructure and curriculum development in Australian educational institutions.
"Generally companies don't expect students coming out to have experience on platforms whether it be PlayStation or Xbox," Ms Richardson said.
"They are more interested in their talent and capability."
The Australian
