Today marks the official start of CES or the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It’s a big deal for tech and gadget junkies, as companies big and small, new and old make major announcements at the show. In past years we’ve seen game changing products like the Compact Disc, HDTV, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the DVR, Blu-Ray Discs, and lots more introduced at CES. One of the early announcements that caught my attention came yesterday from Sifteo, a San Francisco, CA based gaming company (I originally heard about them from Brad Feld’s Blog—he’s a Venture Capitalist invested in Sifteo). They’ve finally opened up an “Early Access” program (it’s already sold out) for their “alternative game system.” We’ve seen iPhones, iPads, and other touch-based mobile devices open up gaming to the masses, while we’ve also see products like the Wii, Xbox Kinect, and Playstation Move change the way that we interact with console-based games. Sifteo has taken a little from both sides and created a completely new way to game that you’ll have to see to fully comprehend.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
design,
education,
engineering,
Internships,
software development,
toys,
video games,
web development
Because my business is almost entirely online, I’m always meeting new people through e-mail and social networks. Eventually, I end up meeting many of these people in real life. I guess that’s becoming more and more normal, but I know that plenty of people are still weirded out by people who meet online. Not the people who use Tagged, which is “social network where the focus is on meeting new people.” The company is based in San Francisco, CA, and they made the Inc. 500 with 637% three-year growth and $22.7 million in revenue. It may not be Facebook, but Tagged has 100 million users and gets 4 million daily unique visitors. By offering features like “social games, friend suggestions, browsing profiles, group interests and much more,” Tagged has created a unique online environment for making new friends. It seems to be paying off for them.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
customer service,
design,
game design,
information technology,
Internships,
operations,
paid,
social media,
social networking,
software development,
systems administration,
user experience,
video games,
web development
I don’t think there’s a gamer out there who hasn’t been hounded by a parent to turn off the video gaming system of choice and do his or her homework. I’m sure some gamers get the last laugh when they start a high-paying career in game development, but most parents still fail to see the educational value of video games. Maybe if they hear about GameDesk, they’ll change their tune. It’s a Los Angeles, CA based “non-profit research and outreach organization designed to help close the achievement gap and improve academic outcomes by reshaping models for learning through game-play and game development.” Yes, it may be hard to believe for some, but critical math, english, and science concepts can be tough through games.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
editing,
education,
Internships,
math,
non-profit,
paid,
research,
science,
software development,
teaching,
video games,
writing
Let me preface this post by saying that there is no way that I am going to do the topic justice. There’s just no way that I can properly bring to life the story of Lucasfilm when I’m just not all that into Star Wars. I’ve seen the trilogy, and I even saw the one or two of the movies from the prequel trilogy, but I’m not a fanatic. With that said, there are plenty of fanatical Star Wars fans and fans of George Lucas’ work. What he was able to do with late 70s/early 80s technology in the Star Wars movies is incredible, but what’s even more incredible is the excitement that Lucasfilm has been able to build around its franchises—mainly Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Lucasfilm is located in San Rafael, CA, while they also have a large presence in Singapore. They’re a monster name in the film and entertainment industry, and they also have businesses including Industrial Lights & Magic, Lucasarts, Lucasfilm Animation, Lucas Licensing, Lucas Online, and Skywalker Sound.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
animation,
arts,
California,
design,
editing,
engineering,
human resources,
information technology,
international,
Internships,
licensing,
marketing,
movies,
paid,
post production,
production,
recruiting,
research and development,
Singapore,
software development,
video,
video games,
web development
My family is in Colorado Springs this week, and we’re staying at an amazing ranch on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Yesterday we went back to civilization for the first time, and we decided to visit Cripple Creek—an old mining town that was home to “the last great Colorado gold rush” and more than half a billion dollars in gold ore. Unfortunately gold mining can only last so long, and Cripple Creek eventually became a ghost town. In 1991 voters legalized gambling in Cripple Creek, and the city was reinvigorated, albeit with most of the storefronts inhabited with gaming establishments. Our visit was interrupted by a massive hail storm, so we waited in the car until it let up a bit and ran into the first restaurant we could find. Turns out that it was a restaurant inside of a casino, and we had to walk past a bunch of slots and other machines to get a bite to eat. Of course, I couldn’t make it past the Game King video poker machine without playing, and luckily I came away from “lunch” 90 bucks richer. That gave me the idea to take a look at IGT (International Game Technology), the Reno, NV based gaming company that designs and manufactures the Game King machine among many other casino machines.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
administrative,
arts,
business development,
casino,
customer service,
design,
engineering,
human resources,
information technology,
Internships,
law,
Manufacturing,
marketing,
Nevada,
operations,
paid,
product management,
sales,
software development,
strategy,
training,
video games
I don’t play Facebook games with one exception—a game that a friend built. I guess this makes me unusual (I do play iPhone games though) because the stats on Facebook games are crazy. It’s hard to believe that anybody gets work done these days. If only there was a Facebook game where winning meant you’d landed an internship. That’s not going to happen, so if you insist on Facebook gaming your way through the internship search, then you better be looking to work for a company like Lolapps. They’re based in San Francisco, and they make Facebook games. They actually started with a user-generated quiz business, then they moved on to building games for well-known brands. Now, they’re focused on becoming their own gaming brand. Their current products include games like Garden Life, Band of Heroes, Diva Life, Yakuza Lords, and a few more. I’m sure they’re working on plenty more as they try to grow their name in the ultra-competitive world of Facebook games.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
arts,
California,
design,
flash,
Internships,
social media,
social networking,
software development,
user experience,
video games,
web development
Early in the recession it seemed as though the video game industry would never be affected. Traditional game publishers were busy selling their wares to the unemployed and hiring to keep churning out games—so there were plenty of internships in video games. Things seem to have slowed down over the past year, but I think it’s more about a change in the games that people play than macroeconomic conditions. Facebook and the iPhone have created new markets for cheap and free (ad-supported) games to gain a lot of traction. There are a ton of gaming upstarts entering the market, and traditional publishers are changing the platforms that they develop on. One of the upstarts is Watercooler, a Redwood City, CA based social games developer that has already reached “over 25 million application installations.” The company started as a network of online fan communities focused on sports and TV, but they’ve switched focus and used their “social product expertise to create innovative and engaging social games.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
analytics,
animation,
arts,
California,
design,
engineering,
flash,
Internships,
marketing,
social media,
social networking,
software development,
video games,
web development
The most common question that I get asked is “Where do you find all of the companies that you write about?” There’s no simple response to that; however, I consume a ton of information every day, and it usually leads me to some interesting companies—and often those companies are hiring. It’s funny because I was terrible at finding companies when I was a job seeker, and now I do it every day. One of my favorite sources for new ideas is blogs, and specifically blogs of venture capitalists (since it’s their job to identify and fund exciting new companies). The ones that I read most often are Brad Feld’s blog and Fred Wilson’s blog. Yesterday I learned about BigDoor Media from Brad Feld’s blog since his firm just gave them $5 million. They’re a Seattle, WA based startup that allows web publishers to add game-like mechanics and virtual currencies to their websites to promote loyalty.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
business development,
Internships,
marketing,
social media,
social networking,
software development,
video games,
Washington,
web development
Have you told your friends about One Day, One Internship? Share us on Facebook and Like Us too (apparently Facebook has moved away from Fans and now prefers “Liking”).
Yesterday I came across a New York Times article about how Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, recently donated money to a non-profit called Charter School Growth Fund so that they could acquire online education startup DreamBox Learning, which creates web-based games to teach elementary school students math skills. As far as I can tell, the Bellevue, WA based startup will remain a for-profit entity even though it will be owned by a non-profit fund. Along with the donation Reed Hastings also invested $10 million into DreamBox to help them expand the number of subjects that they cover and to reach more schools with their software. You have to think that a large portion of that investment will be spent on hiring new people in the not so distant future.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
animation,
arts,
education,
flash,
Internships,
math,
software development,
video games,
Washington,
web development
Apparently my parents and sister have engaged in a never-ending series of online Scrabble games played via iPhone. I’m with my parents in Florida right now, and every five minutes they’re bugging each other to make the next move. It’s crazy. Free online gaming has hit the masses, and it isn’t pretty. There are tons of new online gaming companies, and while some are focusing on bringing new gamers to the market, others are more focused on gaining ground with serious gamers. Culver City, CA based Riot Games is a perfect example of the latter. They are behind League of Legends, a free online role-playing game that is set in an imaginative world. The game has been downloaded more than a million times, and Riot Games has received $20 million in venture capital investment based on the game. $8 million of that investment came from a Chinese gaming company that has a huge user base, so this is very much an international play.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
animation,
arts,
California,
community management,
customer service,
design,
flash,
Internships,
paid,
production,
social media,
software development,
user experience,
video games,
web development
As a kid I wasn’t a total video/computer game junkie, but I certainly spent my fair share of time sitting in front of a screen playing games. One of my favorites was a game that I played on my Mac called The Secret of Monkey Island. I figured that the game series had been discontinued long ago, but it appears that a relatively new company called Telltale Games has resurrected the series while also developing some new story-based games. Telltale Games is based in San Rafael, CA, and, as they put it, they are “the first and only studio to release interactive episodic content on a monthly schedule.” They seem to have found an interesting niche in the gaming industry, and they’re having success across platforms that include Wii, Xbox360, and the PC.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
Internships,
marketing,
software development,
video games
After a second company used the term “rockstar” in their internship postings, it became clichéd. I know that I’ve said this before, but no matter how good your coding skills (or whatever other rockstar skills employers look for) are, you’re never going to be a rockstar. Unless, of course, you land a gig at Rockstar Games. If you work there, at least you’ll be a rockstar in name. You may not have a guitar, but you’ll be working for the company behind video game series like Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and Manhunt. And for those of you who have a different taste in games, they’ve got Table Tennis for the Wii. I keep harping on the fact that the video game industry is doing well, but it’s just so impressive. Other content producers like newspapers, magazines, record labels, and move producers are struggling with changes in how we consume content, but video game companies keep humming along—and Rockstar Games is no exception.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
arts,
California,
Canada,
design,
international,
Internships,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
New York,
software development,
united kingdom,
video games,
web development
I’ve already written posts about internships at Activision (Guitar Hero) and jobs at Harmonix (Rock Band) and Tapulous (Tap Tap Revenge), but can you ever really get enough of the music playing video game genre? Of course not! That’s why we’re looking at JamLegend today. How are they different from the other game makers that I just mentioned? First, JamLegend is free. Second, it offers more songs. Third, you can use your computer keyboard as a guitar. Fourth and most importantly, it’s social! You can play your friends, you can play the world, and you can even enter tournaments to win prizes. JamLegend isn’t just the name of the game, it’s also the name of the company, a small startup based out of San Francisco.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
flash,
Internships,
music,
social media,
social networking,
software development,
unpaid,
video games,
web development
As we noted when we featured Blizzard’s entry level jobs on One Day, One Job, video game sales tend to do really well when unemployment is high. Although looking for internships can be frustrating, and buying a Wii/Xbox 360/PS3 and camping out in your parents’ basement for the summer may seem like a good idea, it’s not. That’s why Jason Seiden and I are announcing our 21 day online job search training course today. It’s called Found Your Career, and it’s open for enrollment. We’re offering an introductory price to the first 100 students to sign up, so get in before the price goes up. It’s a great way to put all of that video gaming energy to good use (and it’s much more affordable). The course is intended for entry level job seekers, but all of the lessons apply just as much for interns. Another way to put that energy to use is by considering internships with Santa Monica, CA based Activision, the company that is behind Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and many more games. Video games are hot now, but now’s not the time to hone your expert level skills on Guitar Hero, it’s time to hone your internship search approach by developing new skills and focusing on industries that are still growing in tough times.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
animation,
arts,
California,
engineering,
information technology,
Internships,
investment,
Maine,
marketing,
paid,
software development,
video games
Public relations can be tough an industry to work in. As a PR professional, your job is to get people excited about your clients’ products, services, or news. That isn’t so easy when your client manufactures plungers or is laying off 10,000 workers. On the other hand, it can be a lot of fun when you have amazing clients who do things that you are genuinely excited about. Bender/Helper Impact is a PR and communications firm that works with some great clients in some pretty exciting industries. Their four areas of practice are: Entertainment Content, Entertainment Technology & Consumer Electronics, Interactive Entertainment, and Consumer Products. Just to give you a taste of what that means – they worked on the launches of video games like “Metal Gear Solid 2,” “Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex,” “Diablo II” and “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
communications,
Internships,
public relations,
unpaid,
video games
Sometimes we like to get a little creative when we look for internships. It almost becomes a game for us. We hear about something, start researching, and piece together enough information so that we can give you a good idea of what the internship is all about and how you can apply. For some reason some companies don’t think to post their internships on their own websites, which makes finding reliable information a lot harder. Our daily Tweetscanning for internships turned up a link to a closed forum post about Freeverse. That piqued our interest, so we kept researching the video game and software developer.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
animation,
design,
Internships,
quality assurance,
software development,
video games
Lately, we’ve seen a lot of search activity for internships in the video game industry, so we thought we’d deliver what many of you have been yearning for. We featured Insomniac Games’ entry-level jobs on One Day, One Job a couple months ago, and we were thoroughly impressed by their job offerings. When we decided to revisit them looking for internships, it was no big surprise to us that their offerings appear to be some of the best summer internships that we’ve seen.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
animation,
design,
Internships,
software development,
video games
