MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has teamed up with Sheffield Hallam to open the biggest PlayStation learning centre in the world.
The partnership is part of the platform holder’s academic programme PlayStation First and has seen the university invest significantly in games development equipment.
Specifically, Sheffield Hallam now has 34 PlayStation 4 dev kits for students on final-year undergraduate and postgraduate courses, according to the institute’s website. The university already has suites of PS3 and Vita dev kits.
The teaching facilities officially opened this week, with special guests Sumo Digital, the Sheffield-based studio behind SCEE’s LittleBigPlanet 3.
""Our students have been learning how to use SCEE’s cross-platform technology to make games for the PS3 and Vita for some years now," said course leader Dr Jake Habgood.
"PhyreEngine is a serious C++ game engine, and our final-year MComp students have already used it to create a PlayStation 4 version of our collaborative puzzler game Aspect, which we’re planning to release on the PlayStation Network in the New Year."
Dr Maria Stukoff, head of Playstation First, added: "We’re helping Sheffield Hallam develop the next generation of video game talent succeed with PlayStation development. The new PS4 teaching laboratory is another example of how the University is leading the way in video games education."
