Thursday, February 28, 2008

Show #5 J. Felix LaCroix on The State of the Video Gaming Industry (00:44)

Click to listen to The Curious Minds Podcast Show #5 with J. Felix LaCroix

Jean Felix LaCroix is an executive with Genuine Auto Parts. He lives and works in Atlanta. Felix is also an avid video gamer who has a lot of experience with different game platforms and knows a lot about the industry and current trends and future directions.

Felix and I also co-organize the Atlanta Mentors Leadership Group, a group of professional friends in the Atlanta area that help educate young people about the opportunities that life affords them.

Many young people are intensely interested in video games, and rightly so. Games can be challenging and stimulating. They feature exciting story lines, action play, and interaction with other players.

What many young people (of all ages!) don't know, however, is the tremendous reach that video games and video game technologies have upon all of modern technology. And this reach is growing larger and larger every day.

Listen to the interview as Felix and I discuss these topics and more!

In the interview, we discuss the following topics:

  • The growing revenue of games (44 billion eclipsing Hollywood)
  • The history of games and gaming platforms
  • Call of Duty 4
  • Star Wars
  • George Lucas
  • Joseph Campbell
  • How Darth Vader and the storm troopers were modeled on Hitler and the Nazi forces
  • The professionalizing of game storywriting
  • The use of video-game technology for homework problems
  • Video game development platforms like XNA and other open source projects
  • GA Tech's http://gamingworlds.gatech.edu symposium
  • GA Tech's experimental gaming lab at http://egl.gatech.edu/
  • Plans to develop a gaming development training program for young people
  • The merging of gaming technology with culture
  • The 100 Dollar PC
  • Second Life technology and virtual reality
  • Using gaming technology to preserve family history and artwork
  • The use of gaming technology in museums
  • Cartoon Network Lead Game Developer and Atlanta Gaming Development Meetup Group leader Brad Merritt's games on www.CartoonNetwork.com
  • How video game technology is used in other industries (Virtual Reality, Medical Imaging, Immersive Simulation systems, etc)

Enjoy! Happy gaming!

Finishing Super Mario Brothers in 5 Minutes

Obi-Wan never told you about your father...

Spot Felix LaCroix in The Specialist Bus Fight Scence!

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