Chicago, known for it’s towering skyscrapers, delicious pizza and…video games?

Chicago has been home to industry veterans such as Midway Games and High Voltage Software for quite some time. While other smaller, yet no less important companies have also made Chicago their base.  And while Chicago has plenty to be proud of, video game design was a never a major draw in universities located in Chicago, such as DePaul…until now.

DePaul’s distinction as the largest Catholic university in the country, with major schools in Business and Law, has certainly created a reputation for excellence.  Can DePaul do the same for aspiring video game creators?

With additions to the faculty of DePaul’s College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM) such as Alex Seropian, creator of  the world famous Halo franchise,  Ed Keenan, Industry veteran and former executive technology director at Midway Games, and Bill Muehl, former senior producer at Midway Games in Chicago, DePaul has a achieved an impressive roster of industry professionals in their computing program.

The newest addition to their faculty roster as Game Designer-in-Residence is Alex Seropian.  Seropian, whose work at Bungie Software (which he founded and created such titles as “Halo,” “Marathon,” “Myth” and “Oni”) is currently president of Wideload Games in Chicago.  Seropian has been serving as an active member of DePaul’s Game Industry Advisory Board since 2006.

“We are delighted to have three of the most prominent figures in the industry become part of our rapidly growing game development program,” said CDM Dean David Miller.  “Alex, Ed and Bill each bring incredible track records of success that will serve our students well.”

The future looks bright for students of DePaul’s CDM program. With three strong faculty members helping to create an environment for excellence in video game design Chicago looks to be an even stronger center for video games technology to prosper in the ever growing market.

I’m looking forward to seeing great things from Chicago’s video game market in the future. While there have been many exciting projects in the past, with the help of DePaul’s CDM  maybe we can add video games right next to Italian Beef sandwiches as another tasty treat Chicago serves up piping hot. Mmmm good!

Source: http://newsroom.depaul.edu/NewsReleases/showNews.aspx?NID=2010

written by Brad Bretz