Game Study

Last week I was asked by a son who's mother adviced him to contact me and ask if I could share my experience and recommend studies that give access in the game industry in the Netherlands. He is a hardcore gamer and what is nicer than a job related to your greatest hobby.

At IBM I was getting involved in this industry around 2003 when the first large marketing research was done for IBM in the video game industry. Result was that IBM had a good chance to lead in that environment. With a few months later we could leverage the strength of our microchip division who were involved with the development or manufacturing of the chip in the Nintendo (Wii), Microsoft Xbox and SonyPlaystation 3 CELL processor.

If you have interest in the CELL and program like game designers do for PS3 download the SDK (Software Development Kit)at IBM_CELL_SDK.

The design of games was also a first start when I decided to sponsor major events at IMAGINA and Game connection or the large GDC events in San Francisco or London. Further the development of Mobile games will be a good area to work in like IGMA awards.

I changed my 7 zone e-business infrastructure concept into a 6 ZONE GAME infrastructure environment and through working with a fantastic IBM certified IT Architect Veronika Megler, she really linked it all and made it work, designed the technical architecture for the online game infrastructure which you can find at 6 GAME-ZONE.

After a couple of presentations around Europe I also presented together with our Dutch game guru in Utrecht professor Mark Overmars. He focuses on game design at the Center for Advanced Gaming and Simulation (CAGS) and works close together with de Hogeschool Utrecht Jeroen van Maastrigt who looks at the art of visual game design.

If you want to learn at basic level how to design games make use of Mark Overmars game company Yoyo games. A great place to start for young boys and girls who wuld like to build their own game.

Another side of the emerging area of games is the way leadership in online games develops new competencies and capabilities for future managers. Read more about this at Virtual Worlds Real Leaders

Another area where I presented around games was at Real Games a company HQ in Eindhoven Netherlands with a major focus on women and games.

A program subsidised in Europe and lead by Mark Overmars is named GATE (Game Research for training and entertainment)