AMD Foundation to Sponsor Game Design Workshop at 2010 Games for Change Festival

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the AMD Foundation, in support of AMD Changing the Game, has awarded a $100,000 grant to Games for Change. The funds will be used to sponsor a day-long game design workshop for educators at the upcoming 7^th annual Games for Change Festival.

“Each year, social issue games gain more prominence and visibility within the gaming and educational communities, as those communities increasingly recognize the potential of games to engage youth in meaningful ways on pressing global issues”

Games for Change (G4C) is a non-profit that promotes the extraordinary power of video games to address contemporary social issues, including poverty, education and climate change. As part of G4C’s signature event, the Games for Change Festival, AMD will sponsor a day-long workshop to help middle and high school teachers, non-profit leaders, and others develop social issue game design programs for their school curriculums or after-school programs. The workshop will be held on May 24, 2010, at Parsons The New School For Design in New York City, and is designed to accommodate up to 150 participants. The sponsorship supports AMD’s signature education initiative, AMD Changing the Game, which is designed to promote social issue game development as a tool to inspire teens to learn, improve their science, technology, education and math (STEM) skills, and become more attuned to global social issues.

“Our nation’s teachers are the most powerful resource we have to advance digital game creation as a learning tool for teens, and this workshop is geared specifically for those influential educators,” said Allyson Peerman, President, AMD Foundation. “AMD and Games for Change share a belief that through digital gaming and game development, we can help create an entire new generation of creative, critical and civic-minded thinkers, with a particular emphasis on enhancing important science, technology, engineering and math skills.”

“Each year, social issue games gain more prominence and visibility within the gaming and educational communities, as those communities increasingly recognize the potential of games to engage youth in meaningful ways on pressing global issues,” said Alex Quinn, Executive Director, Games for Change. “This workshop can have a valuable and lasting impact in this space by putting educational technology tools in the hands of a broad network of leaders who serve so many of these young people.”

The workshop will inspire and help educators by providing them with information on the software tools available for game design and will showcase past and present youth game development programs. The workshop will also feature presentations by youth game design experts and thought leaders. Workshop participants will receive discounted registration to the remainder of the Games for Change festival which will also feature a panel dedicated to the workshop’s subject matter. More information on the workshop can be found here.

AMD Changing the Game

AMD Changing the Game is designed to take gaming beyond entertainment and inspire youth to learn critical education and life skills by equipping them to create digital games with social content. The program’s purpose is to promote the use of youth game development as a tool to inspire learning and improve science, technology, education and math (STEM) skills. The initiative is rooted in AMD’s commitment to and experience in supporting education, and the company’s passion and expertise in the graphics processor and gaming industries.

Since its launch in June 2008, AMD Changing the Game has:

Funded 14 organizations that enable youth game development
Provided a grant to help fund the new video game design category for the 2010 and 2010 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Funded the development of a youth game development curriculum with PETLab and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA). Earlier this year, BGCA chapters in Larimer County, Colorado and Marlborough, Massachusetts kicked off new “Game Tech” programs that teach club members how to understand game design and create their own games.
Co-sponsored the Malaysian Cybergames Festival 2010, including the “Dare to Create” digital game design and development workshop
Co-sponsored the 2008 and 2009 Games for Change Festival
Funded an online toolkit to help nonprofits create games on social issues
Sponsored a video contest with the Learning Games Network that explored the intersection of education and gaming

About the AMD Foundation

The AMD Foundation connects and empowers individuals with knowledge, thereby opening doors to opportunity. The Foundation’s signature program, AMD Changing the Game, supports initiatives designed to help youth harness the power of digital games with social content, while learning critical Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills and life skills. The Foundation also funds the AMD Employee Giving Program which supports AMD employees’ community interests by matching their personal donations of time and money to local organizations and schools.

Supporting Resources

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and technology partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

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