Campers Make Games at the VideoGame.Net Experience

Kids from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania Make Games in Summer Camps at Universities

PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 16, 2004 - VideoGame.Net announced today the VideoGame.Net Experience 2004, a series of interactive summer camps focused on teaching kids in 6th through 12th grades how to make video games.

The VideoGame.Net Experience was conceived by Ed Fleming, President and Founder of VideoGame.Net, as an educational and entertaining program designed to help kids get more from their academic learning experiences. Started as a summer camp at Penn State Great Valley in 2003, the VideoGame.Net Experience has grown into a year-round program at six university campuses.

The VideoGame.Net Experience provides gamers first-hand experience with the tools needed to develop video games. The courses teach gamers how to use Flash, Photoshop, Game Maker and other software for designing web-based games. Beginning in the fall of 2004, VideoGame.Net and the universities will expand the program to offer 3D game design courses, video game journalism and engineering.

While the VideoGame.Net Experience focuses on teaching students about video game development and design, it also provides a mechanism to teach kids additional skills. "In addition to teaching what is involved in making video games, the program also focuses on writing skills, critical thinking, presentations, sciences and math concepts," said Susan Fleming, Vice President of Curriculum Development. "When these traditional academic skills are presented in the program they are directly applied to the game, so it is fun and academic at the same time."

"The summer program focuses on game design and the history of game making," said David Kramer, VideoGame.Net's Director of Art Programs. "However, one of the other really cool things about our program is the Arcade at each campus. We offer the kids a chance to play some of the very best new and pre-released games as well as retro-classics for the old NES and Atari. Including these games within our lesson plans gives the kids a holistic perspective of where videogames came from and where they are going."

The 2003 VideoGame.Net summer camp was very successful and attracted hundreds of gamers from across the country. "To continue the success of the summer camp, we are teaming up with a number of campuses to deliver this year's program," said Susan Fleming. VideoGame.Net is working with five Penn State University campuses and Hofstra University to offer open enrollment for the VideoGame.Net Experience summer programs. Additionally, a number of other colleges and universities are preparing to offer courses in the fall or next year.

The VideoGame.Net Experience 2004 summer program is a series of two-week, 80 hour, summer camps. The first program starts on June 21, and new sessions follow every week thereafter, through August. Starting in September and October the universities will also offer after-school and Saturday programs. A complete schedule can be found in the 'Make Games' section at the VideoGame.Net website.

"I really love where VideoGame.Net is going with the Experience program because its win-win for the children and the parents" stated Ed Fleming, President and Founder of VideoGame.Net. "The kids love the program because we are able to provide them with skills to make games. The parents love the program because the skills we are teaching can also be used in other professions, such as the sciences, computing, medicine, the arts, bio-tech, management or any other 21st century profession."

For information on attending the VideoGame.Net Experience program visit the 'Make Games' section of the VideoGame.Net website. At the website you will find a complete schedule of the participating universities and links to their registration information.