The renowned Tisch School of the Arts is now offering a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in video game design. According to the New York Times, the NYU Game Center has just been green-lit by the New York State Education Department to provide the undergraduate degree this coming January.
Similar to how the school approaches film, television, music, and drama, N.Y.U. teaches game design as a hands-on activity, bolstered by an understanding of the scholarship that has examined games in history and culture.
"If you study history, if you study literature, if you study science and engineering, you’re not just studying for a job in that field, you’re using that as a structuring element to understand everything else," said Frank Lantz, the director of the Game Center.
The undergraduate degree, he said, would help students understand "the significance of game design as not only a potential career but as a way of thinking about the world."
NYU has offered a Masters program in video game design for several years, but the addition of the bachelors program offers further legitimacy to this growing art form and solidifies a career in the video game industry as a solid career choice in the entertainment industry.
The artistry and creativity represented in the latest generation of video games rivals many multi-million dollar feature films and the revenue generated from the fast-growing genre is now a critical revenue stream for film studios production companies.
Many universities have begun offering these degrees, but the addition of the renowned Tisch School of the Arts catapults game design to the big leagues. Tisch boasts alums such as Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, Woody Allen, James L. Brooks and Jeffrey Katzenberger.
And since the advent of breakthrough films such as 300 and The Matrix, both highly stylized films that borrowed heavily from the esthetics of the video game genre, the lines are quickly blurring between the artistry and creativity behind films and video games.
Just as music videos in the 90s were a training ground for feature film directors such as McG, Michael Bay, and Spike Jonze, the elaborate cinematic story-telling currently employed by video game creators should pave the way for a whole new generation of directors who cut their teeth on Xbox and PS2.
As too many narrow-minded entertainment critics look down their noses at video games as juvenile, purposeless diversions, the NYU imprimatur should help to elevate the incredible work being done by the artists to the level it deserves. And, hopefully, those critics will begin paying some long overdue respect not just to the creators of these epic creations, but to the consumers of the highly entertaining product as well.