Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Lousiana Attempting to Attract Game Industry

Posted by Zonk on from the head-south-for-creole-and-game-development dept.

Academomancer writes "Yahoo reports that Louisiana is trying to lure the game industry with tax incentives and a marketing campaign. From the article: Mark Smith, entertainment director for the state economic development department, said he aims to integrate video gaming into the state's entertainment industry, bringing together music, film and digital production.

43 comments

  1. I hope this starts a tech boom in LA by SpaFF · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I live in New Orleans right now and the tech market there is practically nothing. I hope if some gaming companies move down here perhaps some other tech companies will follow.

    --
    -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GIT d? s: a-- C++++ UL++++ P++ L+++ E- W++ N o-- K- w--- O- M+ V PS+ P
    1. Re:I hope this starts a tech boom in LA by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      I live next door in Mississippi. I'm in college here, and there's really not much for aspiring game developers anywhere near by except Full Sail in Florida. I wouldn't mind seeing game companies spreading out a little more, but personally... I can't wait to get away from the south!

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    2. Re:I hope this starts a tech boom in LA by LiENUS · · Score: 1

      you do know the story about SLU don't you? How some board member from ibm graduated there and now wasnt it to be some big tech school so he has begun pouring money into it so that people will be impressed when he says he went to SLU... the tech boom has begun more or less with that, try some comp sci courses at SLU.

    3. Re:I hope this starts a tech boom in LA by HFXPro · · Score: 1

      He was not complaining about the school. In fact there is a large number of schools which have very good technology related programs. However, the problem in New Orleans in jobs. There is only a very small amount of technology related jobs in New Orleans. When you graduate, you will usually have to look at jobs somewhere else. Your only way around this is to know someone in the few technology companies with local offices.

      --
      Reserved Word.
    4. Re:I hope this starts a tech boom in LA by LiENUS · · Score: 1

      My point is that this will begin to change, a lot of the people who goto SLU are going to stay in Louisiana as they do the demand for tech jobs will grow, which will mean tech jobs will begin to come in due to the cheaper wages they will be able to get away with, its supply and demand. There are actually quite a few tech jobs already here, did you know that the software many banks use is written in Baton Rouge?

    5. Re:I hope this starts a tech boom in LA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
      I grew up and lived in NOLA (many years ago...) and ended up involved tangentially in the city's economic development plans, so I'm reasonably familiar with the political players, &c. of the time.

      To make a long story short, NOLA shot itself in the foot by focusing on tourism at the expense of basic industry -- there was a concerted effort at the time by local development economists and corporations to capitalize upon the Michoud assembly area to lure more high-tech and manufacturing into the area, but the city leaders strangled that effort in the crib (as part of a larger City Hall coup, not on the merits). Of course, that was a drop in the ocean compared to what happened to the various attempts to improve local public schools (Ben Franklin aside) and basic services, but a lot of it trails back to a mid-eighties belief that, following the World's Fair, Nola could reinvent itself as a high-end, Vegas-style destination, and that efforts spent to actually provide jobs to the citizens would take away the "uniqueness" of the city.

      I love the city, but NOLA just gets worse every time I go back, and I don't expect the gloriously messy, hideous politics of the city will allow it to improve.

      It's still worth the flight to get to Marisol's, though.

  2. Hi. I'm Troy McClure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hi. I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from voiceovers in such Louisiana videogames as "Super Mardi Gras Brothers: Show Me Your Joystick" and "David Duke Nukem III".

    1. Re:Hi. I'm Troy McClure by Datamonstar · · Score: 1

      Oh, come on. Why the down mod? This is funny in an otherwise dead thread.

      --
      The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
  3. Lousiana? by spitzak · · Score: 1, Funny

    I heard it is pretty lousy in "Lousiana".

  4. Chickens and eggs by 2megs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Back when you needed one animator to put out a product, it made sense to have him on staff permanently. Now you might need twenty or more animators for a brief period on a product's development cycle. The only companies that can keep them around fulltime are those big enough (like EA) to have enough products in development that they can be moved around. Thus, the industry is moving towards contractors who move from company to company on a per-project basis, much as the film industry does now.

    For that to work, you need a critical mass of both people and companies in an area. If you don't have that, there's no pool of workers to hire when projects need to ramp up, and nowhere else for those workers to earn a paycheck when projects ramp down.

    Louisiana has neither right now. And there's no incentive for one to come unless the other is already there.

    1. Re:Chickens and eggs by LiENUS · · Score: 2, Informative

      Right now there is a LOT of graphics designers out of work, the largest advertising agency in louisiana (lamar) closed up its graphics division and layed off quite a few people. So the eggs are there, just need the chickens.

  5. Is it wrong by Donoho · · Score: 1

    ...that I have immediate flashes of this game

    Seriouisly though, I lived in New Orleans for 4 years (91-95) and it didn't really hit me as a tech receptive culture, though there's a party every night (that no one got the note to clean up after) and avg 100% Humidity. An excellent place to party, not so much to live.

    --
    Michalangelo Progr
  6. southern culture by Yonder+Way · · Score: 1

    The south has a hard enough time as it is attracting geeks. The east coast silicon valley, Research Triangle Park, is about the best thing going for geeks and yet many of the companies there complain that it is hard to lure talent in because so many geeks just don't want to live in the Old South.

    Austin, Texas seems to be about as close as you can get to being a geek magnet in the south, and it isn't even really part of the Old South.

    If North Carolina can't pull it off, Louisiana sure isn't.

    1. Re:southern culture by JavaLord · · Score: 1

      The south has a hard enough time as it is attracting geeks. The east coast silicon valley, Research Triangle Park, is about the best thing going for geeks and yet many of the companies there complain that it is hard to lure talent in because so many geeks just don't want to live in the Old South.

      Please, there are plenty of us geeks who are in the city who wouldn't mind taking a stab at living in the "Old South" if the right job opening came up.

      In your opinion, what exactly is it about "southern culture" that can not attract geeks?

    2. Re:southern culture by Yonder+Way · · Score: 1

      Having lived in both Philadelphia and the greater Raleigh area, I can say that the smaller cities of the south just don't provide enough to do for someone used to a busy city lifestyle. The cultural diversions are few and far between. There is an art museum in Raleigh but it is so small you can breeze through it in a couple of hours. Up in Philadelphia, there are huge museums all over and lots of small ones, too, that can take weeks to explore by someone who is determined to see them all. Big cities have zoos, most smaller southern cities do not. No public aquariums for the most part. No theme parks for the most part. The night clubs are small and hokey.

      On the upside, I think Raleigh has a much richer geek community than Philadelphia. And is a much nicer place to live if you are into outdoor activities.

    3. Re:southern culture by Iainuki · · Score: 1

      I'll propose something: religion. If you're not a certain type of Christian, much of the South can be incredibly stifling. (This isn't to say that being that type of Christian and a geek are mutually incompatible, but I'd propose that they're anticorrelated.

    4. Re:southern culture by DAldredge · · Score: 1

      And maybe some day them their plans will fly to our little town and we will be able to visit the big city! And maybe them their cars will come to town and let us drive them to a larger city...

    5. Re:southern culture by Peter+Cooper · · Score: 1

      It's not liberal enough. Most geeks, webloggers, and Internet users are more liberal than average. That's why Kerry aced nearly every single online poll. It's part of the demographic.

    6. Re:southern culture by JavaLord · · Score: 1

      It's not liberal enough. Most geeks, webloggers, and Internet users are more liberal than average. That's why Kerry aced nearly every single online poll. It's part of the demographic.

      I think that is overhyped a bit. Maybe most geeks on slashdot are liberal but I know plenty of conservative people who work in IT. As for "most internet users" I would bet a poll of internet users would favor conservatives more than democrats due to the demographics of the internet crowd nowadays.

      I'm not sure what online poll you are talking about, but any poll will be biased by what website it's on. A slashdot poll is surely biased to the left, a fox news poll to the right.

    7. Re:southern culture by JavaLord · · Score: 1

      Having lived in both Philadelphia and the greater Raleigh area, I can say that the smaller cities of the south just don't provide enough to do for someone used to a busy city lifestyle. The cultural diversions are few and far between. There is an art museum in Raleigh but it is so small you can breeze through it in a couple of hours.

      Most of the programmers/IT people I know could care less about art museums. I work in NYC, and I network with a lot of people who are in IT, and many of them like me plan on moving somewhere more rural one day if they can find jobs out there.

      I'd gladly trade NYC nightlife for fresh air, polite people and more personal space.

    8. Re:southern culture by Eric+S+Raymond · · Score: 1

      Kind of offtopic, but I propose that the reason New Orleans is so tawdry is the oppressiveness of Catholicism, the prime religion here. Other places in America are mainly Protestant, I'm told.

      Growing up, I always thought everywhere in America the Catholic interpretation of Christianity was the majority.

      --
      Bypass Compulsory Web Registration -- http://bugmenot.com/
    9. Re:southern culture by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 1

      They're trying to draw game development. Not only are game programmers more artistically/creatively inclined than other programmers, but much of the talent you need to make a game is art (in the more traditional sense) itself: musicians, 3d artists, voice actors, writers.

      For the most part, people not interested in red state culture. Many are gay, or non-Christian, or lefty, or some combination of the above.

    10. Re:southern culture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For the most part, people not interested in red state culture. Many are gay, or non-Christian, or lefty, or some combination of the above.

      Your assumptions about red state culture, and who would and wouldn't be interested in it is biogted. I'd hate to break it to you, but you don't have to be a gay hating right wing christian to be interested in living in the south. The fact that you associate those things with southern people is downright digusting and prejudiced.

    11. Re:southern culture by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 1

      I know the exceptions. I've lived in Texas and North Carolina, sometimes in places like Austin, sometimes in places that were more conservative.

      Trust me, it's an issue. Coastal metropoli are frankly more attractive to a lot of this demographic.

      And I'm sorry - there are very good reasons to associate social conservatism with the South (and Midwest and Mountain areas). I know a lot of people who've moved to the South for career reasons - and they too note the difference. Sometimes it's even a matter of legal differences - can an openly gay person teach elementray school there? Enjoy domestic partner benefits? Can an atheist get elected to public office?

  7. Orlando is the Shiznitz by JMandingo · · Score: 1

    EA is moving to Orlando soon. Orlando is already a major tech center, soon to be a major gaming center.

    --
    Vonnegut was right: Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been."
  8. The super secret plan for an Uber Game: by Smilin · · Score: 2, Funny

    All they need to do is get two game developers to go to Louisianna. Then they breed them to create two better developers. Then they breed those two and so on.

    Soon you'll have Super Game Developers and they will be unstoppable!

    1. Re:The super secret plan for an Uber Game: by Smilin · · Score: 1

      I guess if I imply inbreeding I get a +1 Funny, but if you actually say it you get a -1 Flamebait. Hm. Chaos theorists should be watching slashdot with more interest. If they can get the patterns figured out here, weather prediction should be a piece of cake.

  9. Then why did they cancel their programmingcontest? by macz · · Score: 1, Troll
    Refer this site
    Due to resource conflicts, we were not able to schedule this [programming] contest in late March or any Saturday in April. Based on feedback, May 1st is too late. Because of this, the 2004 High School Programming Contest is officially cancelled.
    Granted this is just LSU's high school but lets face it, LA is pretty much all high school, scoring 46th (out of 50, for those of you from LA) on their ACT's This is an alphabetical list, so you will need to... oh never mind.

    Don't get me wrong, I am not characterizing the whole state as slack jawed, cross burning, inbred, yokels, but saying that LA is a great state for gaming companies is rather like my state, Massachusetts, saying we are a tax haven. A cursory examination of prima facie evidence suggests otherwise.

    --
    ...But I digress. TREMBLE PUNY HUMANS!ONE DAY MY SPECIES WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!
  10. Re:Then why did they cancel their programmingconte by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    scoring 46th (out of 50, for those of you from LA) on their ACT's

    There are 50 states and Washington DC, so that was out of 51, though since DC scored the lowest, its exclusion doesn't change much.

  11. Re:Then why did they cancel their programmingconte by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    haha im from LA, your comments are pretty accurate.

  12. Re:Then why did they cancel their programmingconte by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Looks like someone from Massachusetts needs to take a course in basic statistics. Maybe prima facie evidence does point towards a certain conclusion, but labeling it as such means that you should probably take a closer look. When you do, pay close attention to sample sizes.


    Granted this is just LSU's high school but lets face it, LA is pretty much all high school

    What does that even mean? The programming contest is run by Louisiana State University for high school students. It was cancelled due to lack of resources during the months of March and April and a lack of interest in holding the competition in early May. How you can draw any evidence of the intelligence of Louisiana's students from that is far beyond me. Then again, I am from Louisiana (obviously) so maybe I am too much of a slack jawed, cross burning, inbred yokel to understand. It also prevents me from understanding how this was modded as insightful rather than troll or flamebait.
  13. coming in 2005 by muel · · Score: 1

    "The Guy Game II -- The Big Easy"

  14. Reading too much into it by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

    "Louisiana is trying to lure the game industry"

    Here, let me try to make this statement "more correct:"

    "Louisiana is trying to lure industry"

    There's oil, there's fishing, in New Orleans there's some tourism, and there's not much else. And of what there is, most of the work available is manual and the educational system makes sure it stays that way. On top of that, Baton Rouge has notoriously dropped the ball in recent years: the governor didn't see any point in going to "Japan" to talk to Hyundai (see previous note on educational system) to convince them to build their new plant in Louisiana (while Mississippi scored a Mercedes-Benz plant), but when the local NFL team started to talk about moving away...

    "Louisiana: Third world and proud of it."

  15. stuck right between... by space_jake · · Score: 0

    a hurricane and a tornado.... great place for a hi-tech facility if you ask me. Isn't New Orleans one of those locations that is techically below sea-level too? We built the first gaming company, and it sunk into the swamp.... *continue monty python joke at your own leisure*

  16. Niiiiice try... by bersl2 · · Score: 1

    I step away from the Internet for a week and a half, and things go to hell. Perfect.

    I love my state, and I love the city of New Orleans; but every time I read about a plan to modernize or to become relevant again, it somehow comes out as laughable at best. Especially when it comes to technological matters.

    Louisiana, in economic terms, has four major assets: farming (rice, sugar cane, etc...), proximity to oil (in Gulf of Mexico), tourism (in New Orleans), and the Mississippi River (shipping). Now, the oil companies had recently been downsizing locally (I non-specifically recall reports from a few years ago); and as for the River, it is merely by an Act of Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers that the River has not moved westward (for a very interesting read on this subject, see The Rising Tide).

    And that's all we got. The smart people leave for higher education, and few return on a permanent basis.

    1. Re:Niiiiice try... by Flyboy+Connor · · Score: 2, Funny
      Louisiana, in economic terms, has four major assets: farming (rice, sugar cane, etc...), proximity to oil (in Gulf of Mexico), tourism (in New Orleans), and the Mississippi River (shipping).

      That's a good place to build a city! It can produce a tank every other turn! Just make sure it has City Walls, and the Mongols and the Babylonians won't stand a chance!

  17. Re:Backwards swamp tech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    John Carmack worked theire Beeotch!

  18. GDC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know, Maryland has been slowly capturing my Mindshare, what with their booth at GDC each year and all. Don't they have, like... Firaxis there? Hmmm, maybe the booth hasn't been working that well...

  19. Remember... by The-Bus · · Score: 1

    John Carmack was working at SoftDisk in Shreveport, Louisiana when he started iD. At least they have somewhat of a claim, being home to the creation of one of the greater PC game developers of the last 20 years.

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.