Games on.

TAKE ATARI, HALO 2, AND DUNgeons and Dragons, and put them together in a big ballroom--that's a lot of gaming.

But it's also a lot of communicating, according to administrators at Creighton University, a Jesuit school of 6,000 students in Omaha, Neb. This month, Creighton is hosting its third annual GameFest, a 12-hour marathon of gaming for students, faculty, staff, admissions prospects, and K-12 students from the region.

GameFest, which takes place on campus with nearly 75 computers, up to 10 plasma televisions, and four projectors, is surely about recognizing the role of gaming in today's culture. But it's also about underscoring Creighton's mission, says Brian Young, vice president of Information Technology. "There's this kind of Jesuit approach to what we're doing," he says. "We sort of educate the whole person here."

Creighton has worked to make GameFest inclusive by adding older games such as Pong to the mix. Corporate sponsors make the event nearly cost-free by donating hardware and software supplies.

Gaming has received some official acknowledgement from IHEs in recent years. The University of Southern California offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in interactive entertainment as well as minors in 3D animation, video game design and management, and video game programming. --C.M.F.