Sony awards prizes to university programming students

Sony Computer Entertainment has awarded prizes to three students studying at Abertay University, Scotland, in recognition of their outstanding work on console game development.

The university began teaching console game programming in 1998, focusing on the PlayStation console. The course was redesigned in 2002 to concentrate on the PS2 console, using PlayStation2-Linux development kits donated by Sony.

Students are introduced to console game programming during the second year of their course, and the module culminates with the creation of a computer game. The best three are awarded prizes by Sony.

First prize was awarded to James Bird for outstanding development work on a PlayStation 2 games console during academic year 2004/05. The prize consists of a PlayStation2-Linux games development kit, a cheque and a certificate signed by Sony's vice-president of technology Paul Holman.

Runner up prizes of cheques and signed certificates were awarded to Grant Norrie and Laurence Emms.

Computer games technology lecturer Dr Henry Fortuna commented: " These Sony prizes are a great accolade both for our students and for the course. They clearly demonstrate the value that the games industry puts on the calibre of our students and the material we are teaching."

"We have gone from strength to strength in this area and are now widely recognised as a world leader in the teaching of console game programming," he added.

SCEE's representative, Sarah Ewen presented the prizes today, treating the students to a masterclass on the new PlayStation3 games console and the company's new cell architecture.