No, Staffordshire University students aren’t driving around with twelve inch rims and state-of-the-art sound systems in every orifice of their ’92 Renault Clio’s. They didn’t even get to meet Xzibit. Even better, Epic Games have delivered 85 cutting edge computers to the University of Staffordshire with all the firepower necessary to run their latest Unreal Developer Kit.
Luckiest students alive? Yeah, without a doubt.
Over the next two years, games design students will be able to correspond with various personnel over at Epic Games, creators of the Unreal Engine and the popular Gears of War and Unreal Tournament series.
Not only that, but Epic will be popping back in a few years to put some new GPU’s and the like into the computers to keep them up to date. You know, as you do.
Dr Bobbie Fletcher over at the university’s Arts and Creative Technologies faculty has said that some of the indie and developer seminars that Epic Games host will take place at the University of Staffordshire too, and that students will be able to socialise with people in the industry in hopes of getting that vital foot in the door.
If I can look past my jealousy (and believe me, it’s difficult), this is fantastic news for young British developers. Getting yourself known in an industry this vast is madness, I’m sure, so kudos to the University of Staffordshire for giving their games design students the best possible start.
graemefinch.com 