Ringling and FIEA Hold First-Ever “Virtual” Homecoming Football Game

Author: by Beth A.

Students from the University of Central Florida’s Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) will travel Saturday, October 7, to the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, to play in the first-ever “virtual” homecoming football game. Since the graduate video game development program and the private Sarasota college have no sports programs, students will square off in a virtual homecoming game by playing Electronic Arts’ NCAA Football 2007 on the XBOX 360. The 3:30 p.m. game, which will be projected on large screens in Ringling’s new Student Center exhibition hall, will include many of the traditional elements of a homecoming football game, such as pregame and halftime shows, giveaways, stadium-style refreshments, student “cheerleaders,” and the Ringling armadillo mascot. The game, part of the Ringling School’s homecoming weekend and year-long 75th anniversary celebration, will highlight the collaboration between both schools as well as their ties with Electronic Arts. Nearly two dozen Ringling graduates are employed at the game maker, while 25 percent of FIEA’s current class is interning at EA’s Tiburon studios in Orlando.