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Crytek Giving Away CryEngine To UK Universities
GamesIndustry reports that German game developer Crytek will be making CryEngine, the game engine behind Far Cry and Aion, available to universities in the UK for free. They're doing so because they want new college grads to get hands-on experience with the technology that runs real games. Crytek's Karl Hilton said, "Universities are looking to foster creativity and send people out into the industry who have lots of ideas, but it's also about that practical hands-on training so that they know what the limitations are. It's very easy for students to come out of the academic world and not have a grasp on the realities of making a videogame. The more we can get involved with them and give them feedback and access to the tools involved, the more accurate the course will become in training people up."
Universities provide academic training that is in line with your prospective vocation.
Universities do not teach you how to be an Engineer or an archaeologist, they teach you engineering or archeology.
They teach you the academic side of the above, and then release you into the real world to make it your vocation.
Sure, many of the basic principles don't change, but even so... how do you get your head around writing multi-threaded code for a modern game, when the last thing you learned was Hello World in Fortran?
Completing the last 3 years of your degree would probably be a good place to start.