Starting about noon we started getting steady snow here in Atlanta and it’s still going around 3pm! We went walking about taking pictures: Atlanta Snow 2008. Being from the more southern South, this is a rare bit of Winter fun that we’ve seen only once or twice every ten years.
Brian Crecente, the night editor of Kotaku, says:
I received an interesting package from the State of Georgia over the weekend. It was from the Digital Entertainment Liaison for the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Film, Music and Video office.
Inside was a copy of the “Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual” and little pack of press releases singing the praises of Georgia and pointing out that the state has become “a hotbed for video game industry development.”
Hotbed you say? Read on…
Getting better all the time in Georgia:
In a modern Alpharetta office building, nearly 50 employees at Hi-Rez Studios have been working on a “spyfi” video game called “Global Agenda” for more than two years.
The effort has cost owner Erez Goren millions of dollars. But he’s hoping he’ll enjoy a huge payoff: 100,000 or more players worldwide paying $12-$15 a month for a taste of intrigue in a virtual world.
In the real world, the action centers on the game industry’s rapid growth and where the new jobs will go.
Georgia is eager to be a player.
At the first Southern Interactive and Game Expo — SIEGE — which opens today at the Crowne Plaza Perimeter Hotel in Atlanta, one of the sponsors is the Georgia Economic Development Department, which doled out $10,000 to impress the game enthusiasts.
SIEGE is expected to attract affluent game businessmen, cash-strapped students and hundreds of others over the weekend.
“It’s a big deal,” said Bill Thompson, deputy commissioner of Georgia’s Film, Video and Music Office, a division of the Economic Development Department.
SIEGE was organized by the 2-year-old Georgia Game Developers Association, which has about 60 member businesses and a mailing list of 350.
“We’re looking to make Georgia the new game mecca,” said Clinton Lowe, the association’s co-founder and chairman.
Read more: Georgia a player in booming video game industry | ajc.com
