Chinese University Licenses Gamebryo Middleware

China's Chongqing University has integrated Emergent Technologies' Gamebryo game engine into university curriculum for game development engineering courses, the two parties announced Monday. Chongqing University's Interactive Believe (InbeEdu) program and Emergent signed a deal earlier this summer to create an engineer certification program that incorporates the Gamebryo Lightspeed middleware into all game development classes. The courses begin this fall, and upon completion, students become "Certified Emergent Users." Emergent said it created an advisory made up of local game designers who will approve the curriculum, and well as support and train faculty involved in the program. InbeEdu's Kevin Yang said in a statement that "it is imperative that we educate enough students to fill the industry’s demand. We are working hand in hand with Emergent to create a full curriculum to educate the next generation of game designers." Yang added, "Meeting the increasingly sophisticated needs of studios across China is important to keeping a competitive edge in the gaming space." An August report from San Jose-based Niko Partners forecast that there will be 65 million online gamers in China by year-end. In the past, Emergent has also partnered with other academic institutions including University of Pennsylvania, University of North Carolina, University of Cincinnati, and other establishments, according to Emergent's website. Emergent's Gamebryo technology has been used in nearly 300 games, the company said. Game makers including 2K Games, EA, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have published games that use the middleware.