<p>San Jose State might have something that interests him. I ran into a friend last week who told me about her nephew who graduated two years ago and had interviews from Bluesky Studios, Pixar and Lucasfilms. She said he studied Art with a design concentration. Not quite video game design but it might be worth a look.</p>
<p>Thanks 5boys and sbjdorlo for giving me optimism on the current market of video game production! And mom60, will check out SJSU for DS. Thanks!</p>
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<p>Except it’s not the current market that needs to be considered, but the market for new job applicants once the degree is completed. The current trend needs to be considered:</p>
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<p>[Video</a> game sales slump with Wii U failing to make impact | ITProPortal.com](<a href=“http://www.itproportal.com/2013/03/18/video-game-sales-slump-with-wii-u-failing-to-make-impact/]Video”>ITPro | A comprehensive resource for enterprise IT professionals)</p>
<p>sorry to have been awol. thank you for all the responses. I did post over in the other thread as suggested. as an update, did go and visit Monmouth. Campus is beautiful and while it is definitely more costly, I feel it has more opportunity for a change in major should he decide to veer off the gaming path. Going back to Becker for accepted students day before a decision is made.</p>
<p>You should check out the University of Utah…they are ranked #1 in game design and production…My DS was going to major in that field but has since changed to Mechanical Engineering.</p>
<p>My son is a current sophomore at Champlain and most of his friends are game design majors. It is the most selective major to enroll in and I don’t believe it’s possible to transfer into it. The game majors are strongly encouraged to do an abroad in Montreal (where Champlain has its own campus) and internship with EA games. [Game</a> Design Major | Study Abroad | Champlain College](<a href=“http://www.champlain.edu/academics/undergraduate-academics/majors-and-minors/game-design/study-abroad-game-design]Game”>Game Design Major | Study Abroad | Champlain College)</p>
<p>George Mason University (VA) also offers a BFA degree in game design [Overview</a> | George Mason Game Design Program](<a href=“http://www.masongamedesign.org/programs/overview/]Overview”>http://www.masongamedesign.org/programs/overview/).</p>
<p>hazeleyedgirl, We are planning to visit Becker in a couple of weeks. Would love to hear more about your thoughts on it. I had heard they weren’t very generous with aid…so I hope I was misled on that point. Where is Monmouth…is it the NJ school by chance? Will be anxious to hear the final decision!</p>
<p>terinzak, Had you visitied Utah? If so, would love to hear your thoughts about it.</p>
<p>kathiep, We are visiting Champlain in a couple of weeks…is your son happy there?</p>
<p>Something to note:
[LucasArts</a> closed, Star Wars 1313 and First Assault in limbo | VG247](<a href=“http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/03/disney-shuttering-lucasarts-game-publishing-arm/]LucasArts”>LucasArts closed, Star Wars 1313 and First Assault in limbo | VG247)
[LucasArts</a> Closed, Star Wars 1313 (Probably) Cancelled - GamingExcellence](<a href=“http://www.gamingexcellence.com/news/lucasarts-closed-star-wars-1313-cancelled]LucasArts”>LucasArts Closed, Star Wars 1313 (Probably) Cancelled - GamingExcellence)</p>
<p>tcpr: We have visited Utah many times. We’re actually about 45 minutes from there. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll try to answer. My DS will be going there this fall.</p>
<p>terinzak…thank you! One of my concerns about studying game design type industy in Utah is what opportunites for internships/work experience/networking in the field will students have exposure to there? Do any big companies partner with Utah that you know of? Thanks for you input!!</p>
<p>My son is very interested in video game design but is going to focus on the programming side of it for reasons many have stated here. He is going to major in computer science or computer game science, a major offered by UC Irvine with more CS classes for games in place of a few less traditional CS classes. He might do the CGS major since it still gives a core cs education to fall back on.</p>
<p>tcpr: Check out this link and it should help answer some of your questions.[Entertainment</a> Arts & Engineering Tops the Charts | University of Utah News](<a href=“http://unews.utah.edu/news_releases/entertainment-arts-engineering-tops-the-charts/]Entertainment”>http://unews.utah.edu/news_releases/entertainment-arts-engineering-tops-the-charts/)
Also, the co-founder of Pixar is a Utah grad</p>
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<p>How many employees can an $800 million industry support? 5000 total lifetime at $40k/year average? In the meantime, there are at least 150 game design major programs in the US and Canada; if each turns out only 35 graduates a year every year, where will the bulk of these grads 4 years from now find jobs within their industry?</p>
<p>By contrast, Amazon alone has ten times as much income each year net after cost of sales. There are plenty of CS opportunities in Corporate America, but the game niche is too small to be sustainable for the number of grads constantly flowing through the pipeline.</p>
<p>Thanks! Great article!</p>
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Yes, he really likes Champlain and the city of Burlington. In fact, he wants to stay there this summer and is doing his darndest to find an internship there. Three interviews so far, including one today. He’ll probably be one of the speakers in his major at the accepted students visit, which I think is Saturday. If you do a search on this forum with Champlain, you’ll see many of my posts.</p>
<p>[John</a> Ratcliff’s Code Suppository: So your teenager tells you they want to ‘make video games’ for a living…](<a href=“http://codesuppository.blogspot.com/2013/04/so-your-teenager-tells-you-they-want-to.html]John”>John Ratcliff's Code Suppository: So your teenager tells you they want to 'make video games' for a living...)</p>
<p>@Cardinal Fang, thank you very much for the blog. I read it and emailed it to my son.</p>