The University of Southern California has been named the number one game design school in North America by The Princeton Review for its graduate program. This ranking is shared by the USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) Interactive Media and Games Division and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science. USC has been ranked the number one school for game design for each year The Princeton Review has released the ranking. USC took the number 2 position for its undergraduate program.
"This ranking is a tremendous honor for us, and it recognizes the effort we put into constantly growing and improving our program,” said Tracy Fullerton, the Electronic Arts Endowed Chair of the Interactive Media and Games Division. “I'd say this has been a banner year for us in that regard, with some outstanding new faculty joining us from industry, our brand new interactive building, the tenth anniversary of the program and the amazing achievements of our alumni like those at thatgamecompany, who won eight D.I.C.E. awards last month. It's all very gratifying to see how our efforts are having real impact for our students and in the industry."
This is the fourth year The Princeton Review has ranked the schools with the best programs to study video game design. The ranking is based on a survey The Princeton Review conducted in 2012-13 of 150 programs at institutions in the United States and Canada offering video game design coursework and/or degrees. The survey asked schools to report on a range of topics from academic offerings and faculty credentials to graduates’ employment and professional achievements. Among criteria The Princeton Review weighed to make its selections: school curriculum, faculty, facilities and infrastructure, career services, student scholarships and financial aid.
The Princeton Review gave Honorable Mention designations to 20 additional programs—15 undergraduate
and five graduate. Overall, the report salutes 50 game design programs at 35 institutions.
"We are thrilled to once again be named the number one game design program for graduate students. It validates our students’ talent, innovation and collaborative efforts," said Mike Zyda, Director of the USC GamePipe Laboratory and Professor of Engineering Practice in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science. "One of the most distinguishing features of the USC Games Program is its year-long joint games course. In that course, our students build the games of their dreams, work closely with our distinguished faculty and have the opportunity to present their work to professionals in the game design industry."
USC Games is a collaboration between the USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Interactive Media and Games Division and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering but encourages collaboration across all schools and divisions at USC. Incorporating elements of design, artistry and engineering, USC Games offers an utterly unique educational experience for students and serves as the launching pad for significant roles in the game design field. With rigorous, hands-on instruction from master designers, engineers and industry professionals, students gain an invaluable education necessary to delve into every aspect of creating games for a global audience.
Some of the USC Games’ successes include fLow, Cloud, Flower and Journey, all created by alumni Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago of thatgamecompany; The Unfinished Swan, developed by Ian Dallas and Max Geiger, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, developed and designed by Matt Korba and Paul Bellezza; Puzzlejuice, developed by Asher Vollmer; Darfur is Dying, developed by Susana Ruiz; Modern Warfare 3 which had Bharathwaj Nandakumar as lead programmer; Farmville and Farmville 2 which had Raymond Xiang as Senior Software Engineer; and Starwars 1313 which had Pol Jeremias as a graphics engineer.
The Princeton Review's full report and rankings are accessible at www.princetonreview.com/game-design.
About USC School of Cinematic Arts
Founded in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929 over 80 years ago, the USC School of Cinematic Arts has fueled and mirrored the growth of entertainment as an industry and an art form. The School offers comprehensive programs in directing, producing, writing, critical studies, animation and digital arts, production, interactive media and games, all backed by a broad liberal arts education and taught by leading practitioners in each field.
Please visit: cinema.usc.edu or games.usc.edu
About USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Engineering Studies began at the University of Southern California in 1905. Nearly a century later, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering received a naming gift in 2004 from alumnus Andrew J. Viterbi, inventor of the Viterbi algorithm now key to cell phone technology and numerous data applications. Consistently ranked among the top graduate programs in the world, the school enrolls more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, taught by 177 tenured and tenure-track faculty, with 60 endowed chairs and professorships. http://viterbi.usc.edu
No comments:
Post a Comment