Archive for the ‘Gaming in the Triangle’ Category
Local technology drives mobile medical sim
Monday, March 14, 2011, 11:50 am No Comments | Post a Comment
Watch Virtual Heroes developer Juan Collado demonstrate HumanSim on an iPad. | Video by Tyler Dukes
As he piloted his Army Apache toward his landing zone, Jerry Heneghan knew he was in trouble.
Without warning, one of his helicopter’s twin engines began belching flame into the night sky, threatening to set the entire aircraft ablaze. Without thinking, he acted in the pitch black of the cockpit, flipping switches by feel and following procedures as he’d done hundreds of times before. There was no hesitation, no surge of adrenaline.
At least until he landed.
“It was only afterwards when I got the aircraft on the ground that I was like, ‘Oh my God, what just happened? I could have turned extra crispy up there,’” Heneghan said.
His survival had nothing to do with good fortune. Before ever stepping foot in a $20 million cockpit, he underwent an intensive training regimen that spanned a gamut of learning techniques from low-tech cockpit posters to full-motion flight simulators housed in gymnasium-sized facilities.
“I know that being in a simulator for thousands of hours over a 15-year career saved my life,” he said. “The time that I should have been most panicked, I was very calm.”
Heneghan, now the managing director of Raleigh-based game developer Virtual Heroes, is out to bring that simulated training approach to doctors, nurses and even combat medics. And he wants to put this training in their pockets. By building on local gaming technology and medical expertise, Virtual Heroes’ upcoming HumanSim aims to allow medical professionals at all levels to hone their skills almost anywhere — whether it’s on the iPad or the PC. Read more…
Triangle gaming hits the airwaves
Friday, February 25, 2011, 1:15 pm 2 Comments | Post a Comment
I had a great opportunity a few weeks ago to discuss gaming in the Triangle with Chris Perrien on WXDU, Duke University’s noncommercial radio station (Chris also runs Blue Pane Studio, which created this blog).
His show on Feb. 13, aptly named Science in the Triangle, was the first in a series of interviews he’ll be doing on science and technology in Research Triangle Park.
This has been an exciting field to cover over the last year or so, and I’ve definitely learned a lot about why the Triangle area is the gaming’s industry’s No. 2 spot for production. More than 40 companies and 1,000 employees calling the area home.
Check out the interview in three parts here:
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You can also subscribe to WXDU’s podcasts on iTunes.
I mentioned a few resources for people looking to get into the local game industry, including the Triangle Game Initiative. You can also find more information for the upcoming East Coast Game Conference, which runs April 13-14 at the Raleigh Convention Center. For job-seekers, there’s also the International Game Developers Association, a nonprofit professional organization with a Triangle chapter.
Know of more resources for discovering gaming in the Triangle? Add your thoughts in the comments!
