Jesse Schell, Distinguished Professor of the Practice, is interviewed on episode 5 of Boing Boing's newest podcast, Tell Me Something I Don't Know. It's an interview podcast featuring artists, writers, filmmakers, and other creative people discussing their work, ideas, and the reality/business side of how they do what they do.

In the April issue of Game Developer Magazine, Alexandrea Hall speaks to the mindful xp team of Mike Lee, Dan Lin and Felix Park. The mindful xp volume was a finalist in the 2013 IGF Student Showcase.

You can also read an interview with Mike Lee in Gamasutra in their Road to IGF series.

Congratulations to Mike, Dan and Felix.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette's Maria Sciullo interviewed ETC student Allison Sommers on her career change and why she is attending Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center.

What inspired you to change careers? And why the ETC?

I have always meant to be an artist: a writer, a painter. I've always done a lot of creative things but pretty much stuck to management in the theater, thoroughly intimidated by the prospect of reinventing myself in that very tight, brutally competitive community. It wasn't until the early 2000s that I began to learn digital art and stumbled upon virtual worlds and video games.

My imagination immediately began to blaze with ideas for doing virtual theater -- whatever that may be -- so I set my sights on finding a way to make a living doing it, with the hope of returning to create a new kind of live performance in and among the huge talent pool I've always worked with. The ETC was the original -- and to my knowledge, only -- program that teaches both artistic and technical sides of what I guess you could call the interactive arts with an emphasis on the performance aspects of game play and virtual reality.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/theater-dance/person-of-interest-...

Congratulations Allison!

This year's Design, Art and Technology Awards DATA, given by the Pittsburgh Technology Center for the most creative innovations here in the southwestern Pennsylvania region has many ETC students work as well as a faculty member!

ETC student project, flux has been accepted as a finalist in the Interactive/Multimedia Category. The flux project is exploring the question: Can a space communicate a story about people who have been through it, by prototyping and fabricating a series of interactive art installations.

Meet Mr. Lincoln, written and directed by ETC faculty member Ralph Vituccio is a finalist for the Interactive/Multimedia category.

As for the Joystick category or the game and app category, a fair number of ETC games from the fall semester's Building Virtual Worlds class have been named finalist: Ghost Story, Floria, Stealth the Game, Chopsticks & Push-Up and Celestia.

This year’s winners will be announced during the DATA Awards Gala from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The presenter is journalist, author, filmmaker and former CNN Bureau Chief, Chip Walter, who has written four books on explorations of human creativity and curiosity. Immediately following the awards ceremony, the Interactive Exhibition will remain available for viewing and networking from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Congratulations to all the ETC finalist!

We didn't mention that ETC Alum Justin Sabo and Digital Dream Labs have been chosen as a finalist in the “Kids & Creativity” category.

The 2013 Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival: Faces of Media will present 2012 Ukranian film, Gaamer, on Thursday, April 4th, at 7pm at the McConomy Auditorium in CMU’s University Center! The event will feature a discussion moderated by Ralph Vituccio, Director of Media Development in Communication Design and an Instructor in the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU, and a LAN party!

Gaamer follows Alexander, a young Ukrainian boy who spends most of his time playing video games, especially the shooting game ‘Quake’, where he is known by the name Koss. The enormous amount of time he spends at the computer screen pays off as Alexander’s immersion into the world of gamers leads him to a chance to become world champion of ‘Quake’. This coming-of-age film explores the alluring world of video games and Alexander’s struggle to bridge the gap between his deepening wired existence and the responsibilities of his often times mundane and uneventful real life.

Presented in conjunction with The Humanities Scholars Program @ CMU.

Regular Admission*: $5 seniors and students | $8 general
* $3 discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more

You can find additional info regarding Gaamer at www.cmu.edu/faces/#gaamer.