Students at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne will soon find PlayStation development on the syllabus in a major way, thanks to a new partnership with Sony’s ‘PlayStation First Academic Partnership Programme’.
The institution will be given six Vita development kits, alongside all the required tools, documentation and support. The AIE is the first partner for the programme in Australia, which has been running since 2010 and already works with more than a dozen tertiary institutions in the UK and Europe, as well as in North America, Latin America and Singapore.
“The crux of it is fostering the next generation of PlayStation savvy developer,” says Dr Maria Stukoff, Head of Academic Development for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. “PlayStation First was established because the next generation – all the talent - are very much in education right now… and we want to work with that talent. We want to provide them with up to date, cutting edge technology so that they can get the right skillsets.”
AIE students have worked on Sony platforms before. PlayStation Mobile has been part of the curriculum in the past, while second year students have access to a PS3 dev kit, but this partnership formalises a high level of support, and welcomes AIE into a global network of students, lecturers and PlayStation employees.
AIE students getting a feel for the Vita.
It’s a smart move from Sony that reflects the importance of directly engaging with the next generation of developers – particularly those looking to go the indie route. PlayStation First ensures they’ll get valuable experience with one of Sony’s flagship systems, but it should also help demonstrate a clear path to being published on PlayStation platforms. After all, the majority of the development community in Australia is currently focused on iOS and Android, as the barrier to entry for publishing on those platforms is just so low. Sony knows it’s time for the walls around its garden to come down.
It’s not just about indies, however. Students looking to work with one of the handful of Australian studios developing for PlayStation platforms “will benefit from really good, high quality, trained PlayStation graduates coming into their studios already knowing the platforms,” says Dr Stukoff. Of course, the students are also part of a global PlayStation initiative, which means there will be opportunities for talented students within Sony’s first party studios – whether that’s access to internships or a full-time position.
Dr Stukoff at AIE's Sydney campus.
The AIE course will initially focus on Vita, partly because it’s a good, versatile platform, but also because it opens the door to the next generation. “PlayStation Vita is absolutely phenomenal for students to get their hands on,” says Dr Stukoff, “because there is a similarity in approach between PlayStation 4 and Vita based on the Visual Studio environment, which means the skills the students learn here - they’re cutting their teeth so to speak. They can see finished form games, and we can publish them, but as we then grow into PlayStation 4… they’ll know what they’re doing and can hopefully migrate much more smoothly onto PlayStation 4.”
Neil Boyd, Director of Business Development and Marketing at AIE, agrees: “A lot of the students are really excited about Vita because they see it as a pathway into PS4 development, and being part of the launch, or very close to the launch of new platforms, and potentially having their games available for the lifetime of those products.
"When they’re going through their two years," he continues, "we do try and expose them to as many platforms [as possible], so they do some iOS, they do some Android, they’ve done Xbox Live, they’ve sort of touched on everything. The great thing about PlayStation First is giving them those tools, as a developer would, and then they have the option to choose that as their development platform in their second year.
“If you want to stand out and actually make an impact, there’s a great opportunity on Vita,” Boyd says, as the Vita marketplace is nowhere near as crowded as iOS and other platforms. “It’s a great opportunity to give the students access to these tools, and also to have Sony involved – to get feedback from PlayStation First… if the guys have a problem, we can get it answered.”
“It’s very much about making it easier for this next generation, not only to develop, but to publish with us,” says Dr Stukoff, “this is about finishing games and [creating] IP and getting them published.”
Cam Shea is the Senior Editor at IGN Australia. Click these links and hit follow so we can be friends! Twitter | IGN | Facebook
Source : ign[dot]com
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