Prominent videogame institute opens in Singapore

John Chan | Jul 04, 2008

The new DigiPen campus in Singapore
DigiPen is not the name of some new tablet pointing device. It's the name of an institute that offers degree courses which relate directly to videogame design. The school has two campuses in the US, and today, it officially opened one more in Singapore. Founder and president of the institute, Claude Comair, was in town for the opening and gave an overview of the purpose of the school and what it hopes to achieve in the island-state. From the time it set up shop in Washington till today, the number of companies creating videogames around it has increased from below 10 to more than 100. Comair is hoping the same effect will occur with the Singapore campus.

In case you are wondering what the big deal is about this school, consider the work of some of its graduates. Portal, the award-winning game developed and published by Valve Corporation, was first conceived by some DigiPen students who were employed by the company upon graduation. Other famous games worked on by past graduates have included Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (Nintendo) and Blood II: The Chosen (Monolith Productions). Imagine, the chance that a future hit game in 2011 may just come from your own backyard. The first line of the Portal theme song, Still Alive, truly describes its awesomeness: "This was a triumph."

Filed under: Future Tech, Music & Play
Leave a comment | Bookmark | Share