Audiokinetic Inc. announced its first educational partnership. As part of this partnership, the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Tempe, Ariz. is creating the first Manufacturer’s Certification curriculum for Audiokinetic’s Wwise audio solution for videogame creation.
The Conservatory offers a comprehensive audio production training curriculum and recently launched a three-week course on audio for videogames. In choosing Wwise to be at the center of this course, the Conservatory became the first academic institution to teach Wwise software. “For us, Wwise was a natural choice,” says Kevin Becka, director of education at the Conservatory and Mix magazine’s technical editor. “Prior to Wwise, making audio for videogames was very much like trying to make a movie by developing your own film stock and grinding your own lens.”
After teaching Wwise for a short time, the Conservatory decided to offer an extended version of the audio for games course to professionals working in the game development industry. “We believe that the opportunity for learning Wwise should not be limited to our students,” says Becka. “The entire industry could benefit from learning and using Wwise. With Audiokinetic’s agreement and support, we’re developing a Manufacturer’s Certification conceived for working professionals.” The curriculum, which will be based on Wwise 2007.1, will be a two-tier certification course designed to address the needs of two primary types of Wwise users: game studios and content providers.
“With more and more game studios adopting Wwise as their audio solution, there will be a growing demand for qualified users,” says Martin H. Klein, president and CEO of Audiokinetic. “Forming a partnership with an academic institution was the next logical step for Audiokinetic. The Conservatory is renowned in the industry, and people there are professional and passionate, so we consider it a huge opportunity to strengthen our relationship with them.”
The Conservatory and Audiokinetic will also jointly offer training sessions at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March 2007.
For more information, visit www.audiokinetic.com and http://cras.org.
