PA universities net $750k state grant to grow local game industry

Three Pennsylvanian universities have applied for and won a $750,000 "Discovered in PA" state grant to expand the state's burgeoning video game and digital entertainment industry. The three institutions -- Carnegie Mellon University, Harrisburg University and Drexel University -- will each receive $200,000 in funding and join forces to form the PA Interactive Media Consortium. Together, they'll spend the remaining $150,000 on efforts to attract the game industry to Pennsylvania -- including a state-wide video game conference. "Like E3, but for Pennsylvania," commented Drexel's Frank Lee to a Technically Philly reporter. Lee heads up Drexel's Entrepreneurial Game Studio, which aims to help students successfully develop and launch their games by providing funding, tools, business training and mentorship. Lee and the EGS were responsible for designing a version of Tetris that was projected and played on the side of a 29-story building earlier this year, earning them a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for "largest architectural video game display." Lee plans to use some of Drexel's share of the state grant to expand the Entrepreneurial Game Studio and fund more student developers in an effort to grow the region's nascent game development industry. Harrisburg University and Carnegie Mellon (which already hosts the well-respected Entertainment Technology Center) are expected to pursue similar initiatives.