ETC Press is excited to announce the release of the third issue of 
Well Played: a journal on video games, value and meaning

Following the 2009 revival of Fortunato Depero’s famous "Balli Plastici" in digital version, Franco Sciannameo, director of the BXA Intercollege Degree Programs, and his team of students at the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), Noah Alzayer, Chengfu Chen, Dong Kan, Steven Jones, Maria Tartaglia, Mohit Sadhu, Paola Soriano, and MZ Zhang will present in DVD format Depero’s ballet "Anihccam del 3000" at Casa d’Arte Futurista Depero in Rovereto, Italy, on May 2. Read the full story.

To see the Anihccam's project web site, click here.

To see the Balli Plastici project web site, click here.

Congratulations to Noah, Chengfu, Dong, Steven, Maria, Mohit, Paola and MZ!

VIRTUALLY THERE is a web-based real-time interactive simulation of a proposed venue to be built on top of the U.S. Steel building, Pittsburgh’s tallest building that boasts the largest surface area of any skyscraper rooftop in the United States. The ETC project team's goal was to invoke awareness and excitement for the potential High Point Pittsburgh project by creating a virtual environment that offers freedom of movement and a unique experience for each guest.

Along with accessing the virtual simulation's dozen interactive kiosks and exploring its media gallery and video theaters, visitors to the site could also check out the proposed restaurant/café/bar, central atrium and numerous panoramic viewing areas. VT also allowed site visitors to ride elevators or climb stairs to the rooftop promenade and enjoy a virtual fireworks extravaganza.

The team presented their project earlier this week and here is some of the publicity for the project so far!
1. WESA FM (Essential Public Radio - NPR) 5/1/12 - CMU Creates Virtual Observatory from U.S. Steel Tower View
2. POPcity 5/1/12 - High Point Pittsburgh brings back the aerial views of downtown from the US Steel Tower
3. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 5/2/12 - Video shows what the roof of the U.S. Steel Tower could be
4. Carnegie Mellon University press release 4/30/12 - Carnegie Mellon's High Point Pittsburgh Project Team To Present Web-based Simulation of US Steel Tower Rooftop Venue

Experience for yourself via either portal:

Standard Web: HighPointPittsburgh.com
Facebook App: Apps.Facebook.com/Virtually_There

Congratulations to the V.T. online team; producer Sean McChesney, programmers Siddhesh Vichare and Cintia Higashi, artist/designer Sun-Moon Hwang and faculty advisers MK Haley and John Dessler

Check out ETC faculty member, Ralph Vituccio, staff member Jon Underwood and student Michael Tsai!

http://www.wtae.com/-Burgh-fans-help-unlock-latest-Dark-Knight-Rises-tra...

Congratulations to the CMU Graphics Lab for inclusion on this list of the The Top 100 Schools in Animation worldwide. #9 out of 100. In listing its awesomeness, the Building Virtual Worlds and Dramatic Structures of Interactive Games, classes here at the ETC gets a mention!

9. Carnegie Mellon University's Graphics Lab – Pittsburgh, PA

Carnegie Mellon University's Graphic Lab in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania offers another unique program: a graphics program with an animation focus—with a twist. Their list of incredibly fine-tuned training courses offer their students specific training that will make them experts in niche fields. Courses include oddballs like Physically Based Character Animation, Pixels to Percepts: Visual Perception for Computer Vision and Games, Physically Based Modeling and Interactive Simulation, Generating Natural Human Motion and Data-Driven Character Animation. CMU is a solid choice for aspiring video game designers looking for a well-rounded education, with courses like Digital Narratives, Building Virtual Worlds and Dramatic Structures of Interactive Games. If you aren't convinced to its success, hear this: Disney is. So much so that they located their Research Lab on the CMU campus. As such the school has a rich working relationship, and Disney evens holds a few spots open in their internship program every year for CMU students.

http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/top-100-schools-animation-...
Congratulations to the Jesse, MK, Chris and Ralph, instructors of BVW and to Chris Klug instructor of Dramatic Structures!