Boston Mayor Makes Pitch To Expand Local Game Biz

Boston's mayor says the city government will help spur local game development, creating an industry-focused website as well as establishing an advisory committee. The committee's goal is to provide consultation to Mayor Thomas Menino and his staff in bolstering Boston-based game development as well as other forms of digital entertainment creation. Intriguingly and somewhat contradictingly, the mayor has previously supported a bill that seeks to restrict minors from buying violent video games under the same measures that make it illegal for them to purchase pornography. However, the March 2008-drafted bill has not made it through the Boston legislature. A number of game developers are situated in Boston or in its surrounding areas, including 2K Boston, Harmonix Music Systems, Blue Fang Games, Backbone Entertainment, Demiurge Studios, Metaversal Studios, Tilted Mill Entertainment, Turbine, and others. The Steering Committee, as it is known, has been meeting monthly since last October, and is comprised of Boston-area digital entertainment industry notables as well as members of local government and financial figures. It includes Blue Fang Games CEO Scott Triola, Metaversal Studios CEO Jay Laird, Northeastern University game design director Terrence Masson, and others. Also announced was the website PoweringUpBoston.com, intended as a broad resource for Boston game developers. It features a directory of Boston-area studios, links to relevant information, a job-posting system, and other components. "Boston has all the ingredients in place to be a digital media epicenter: creativity, innovation, outstanding schools, diverse and vibrant communities and, most importantly, a young and talented workforce," said the mayor. "The creative industries sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in greater Boston, and I'm committed to creating the conditions that will allow this sector to continue to grow and prosper. These new tools will help us recruit new businesses and bring new jobs."