Dan Irish at Stanford
Press Release, 15th Jan o2
Relic Entertainment Announces Dan Irish as a Guest Lecturer at Stanford University
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - January 15, 2002 - Relic Entertainment announced today that Dan Irish, formerly of Mattel Interactive and Ubi Soft Entertainment, will be speaking at Stanford University on the topics of Game Design and Business Development on January 23, 2002. The class is entitled “the History of Computer Game Design: Technology, Culture, Business”.
Irish was the Producer responsible for the Myst franchise (from April 1999 until June 2001), which included its most recent chapter, Myst III: Exile, as well as Myst IV, still in development at Ubi Soft Entertainment. The Myst franchise has sold over ten million units worldwide and remains one of the top-selling product lines of all time. At Relic Entertainment, Irish is now responsible for the Homeworld 2, the sequel to the 1999 Game of the Year, Homeworld.
“We are very pleased have Dan Irish speak on the topic of Game Design and Business Management,” says Dr. Henry Lowood, Curator of History of Science & Technology for Stanford’s Green Library. “Dan’s involvement with the game industry for the past ten years at makes him an ideal choice to provide some hard answers to the questions our students have. The case study he provides takes the ‘theoretical’ to being ‘actual.’
“The game industry has taken some dramatic steps forward in recent years” said Dan Irish, Executive Producer at Relic. “The fact that Stanford University recognizes this industry as an art form is indicative of just how far it has come. I hope that this program continues to develop into an actual degree-level program with the credentials so many strive for and for which the industry is eager.”
“The History of Computer Game Design” is part of “How They Got Game: The History and Culture of Interactive Simulations and Videogames,” a project funded by the Stanford Humanities Laboratory. The principle investigators are Prof. Timothy Lenoir of the Program in History and Philosophy of Science and Dr. Henry Lowood, Curator for History of Science and Technology Collections, both at Stanford University.
Past speakers in the class have included industry veterans such as Al Alcorn, Luc Barthelet, Dennis Fong, Steve Russell, Scott Hamilton, Janese Swanson, and Matthew Ford, as well as academic speakers presenting the development of relevant computer science, artificial intelligence, and computer graphics work. This year’s lineup will add Will Wright, Kevin Toyama, and Rob Smith, and others.
About Relic Entertainment
Relic Entertainment Inc. is a developer of original content electronic entertainment located in Vancouver, Canada. Relic’s debut product, Homeworld, was Computer Gaming World’s Game of the Year for 1999. Relic currently has 50 employees with 2 titles under development. Relic’s founder, Alex Garden, was featured in “The New Game Gods” by PC Gamer Magazine and continues to lead Relic in pioneering new and innovative products. Myst is a registered trademark of Cyan, Inc. Homeworld is a registered trademark of Sierra Studios, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.