Press release courtesy of Danielle Engels from Interactive Ontario:
January 9, 2009 (Toronto) – Interactive Ontario today announced the launch of a new initiative to promote careers in the Ontario video game industry. The first session is taking place at McMaster University on January 14th, 2009 with speakers from Toronto-based video game developer, Bedlam Games.
The Department of Computing and Software at McMaster is hosting the first Go Into Games (GIG) Speaker Series event. Trevor Fencott, CEO, and Jon Paul Schelter, Technical Director, of Bedlam Games are the featured speakers for the event starting at 1:30 p.m. in the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery, room 1105. The lecture is free of charge.
“Ontario game developers create some of the best interactive media content in the world,” says Ian Kelso, President and CEO of Interactive Ontario. “In order to maintain Ontario’s reputation for excellence, we need to raise awareness about the opportunities available to students, and the Go Into Games series aims to connect students of video game production with developers.”
Mr. Fencott will speak about the video game industry as a whole, touching on the types of career opportunities within Ontario, where the industry is going, and what skills will be necessary to move the industry forward. Mr. Schelter will focus on more technical issues related to game development and coding such as how programming skills can be used in the different areas of game development.
“This is a great opportunity for students to hear directly from leading game developers about what they are looking for in future employees,” says Martin von Mohrenschildt, Chair, Department of Computing and Software. “The video game industry is growing in Ontario and we’re tailoring programs at McMaster to meet the changing needs of employers.”
The Go Into Games Speaker Series was developed by Interactive Ontario to provide students studying video game development an opportunity to connect with industry professionals. It also allows business leaders to form relationships with students who will become their future employees and educates students about the types of employment opportunities that may exist with Ontario game studios upon graduation.
For more information on this session, visit the IO Website.
IO is a not-for-profit industry trade organization committed to the growth of the Ontario interactive digital content industry. To this end IO is an industry advocate within Ontario and nationally as a founding member of the Canadian Interactive Alliance /Alliance interactive canadienne (CIAIC).
McMaster University, one of four Canadian universities listed among the
Top 100 universities in the world, is renowned for its innovation in
both learning and discovery. It has a student population of 23,000, and
more than 140,000 alumni in 128 countries.
Media Contacts:
Danielle Engels
Interactive Ontario
416-516-0077 x 224
danielle@interactiveontario.com
Gene Nakonechny
McMaster University
905-525-9140 ext. 26781
Posted by Sim@CanDevs 
