VIDEO GAMES MAY BE HOMEWORK FOR CAREER.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

Seth Arnold recalls playing ``Super Mario Bros.'' and ``Duck Hunt'' for hours on end after getting his first Nintendo video-game system when he was 8 years old .

Now 20 and a college student, Arnold still spends hours hunched over a video-game console - not only entertaining himself, but training for his career.

Next year Arnold will drop his courses in business information systems at DeVry University and enroll in a degree program increasingly appearing in university catalogs: video-game design.

``It's the sum of everything I want to do,'' said Arnold, who dreams of one day creating the next X-Bbox - one of the most popular game systems. ``It combines my passion, my hobby, with what I want to do in the professional field.''

With video-game sales generating at least $31 billion a year globally, universities and colleges are starting to offer bachelor's and even master's degrees in programs to train the game designers of the future.

From DeVry to the University of Southern California, officials say it only makes sense to offer the high-tech degrees, which can be applied to the booming entertainment-software industry and also to other fields.

``It's a timely degree at this point,'' said Dan Wright, the DeVry dean of academic affairs for Southern California, who notes that starting salaries may range from $35,000 to $70,000 for game designers.

In March, DeVry will launch a bachelor of science degree in game and simulation programming at its campuses in West Hills, Long Beach and Pomona, with an online version set to debut this fall.

The DeVry program, which students can complete in just under three years, covers the math and physics of games, along with programming fundamentals, game design, modifications and what Wright calls ``massively multiplayer online game programming,'' as well as two- and three-dimensional graphics programming.

``It's not just the blood and guts'' of games like ``Halo'' or ``Doom,'' Wright said. ``There are medical-simulation applications, military applications - the whole aspect of how one goes about modeling real things in life and putting it on a computer.''

USC has offered game-design classes since the early 1990s, and demand is booming, with more than 700 students enrolled in the program in the last two years.

``I work closely with industry recruiters, and every recruiter has a lot of job openings in various areas: engineers, game designers, business opportunities,'' said Anthony Borquez, who teaches in USC's School of Engineering and formerly headed its Information Technology Program.

``It's not like the old days when it was just a programmer and an artist.''

USC has three minors - game design, game programming and game art and animation. It also offers a master's degree in interactive media through the School of Cinema and Television, and it is launching a bachelor's degree in interactive entertainment.

The School of Engineering, which plans to launch a master's degree in game development next spring, is also working on a bachelor's degree in game development.

Violence and sexual content in the games remain controversial. The American Psychological Association recently released a statement saying violence in video games is bad for children's health, leading to aggressive thoughts and behavior. Congress is moving to adopt stricter labeling standards on violent and sexually explicit games to make it hard for children to purchase them.

But the popularity of the ever-evolving entertainment systems continues to explode.

Degree programs are a natural evolution for an industry that has grown increasingly complex, said Carrie Oliff, director of human resources for Insomniac Games, a Burbank company that produces the ``Ratchet and Clank'' and ``Spyro the Dragon'' games for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 systems.

``In the past few years, I have seen what were short, seminar courses in game development turn into four-year degree programs, and that really did not exist in the past,'' Oliff said.

``We just hired a Ph.D. from Stanford as a special-effects programmer Not every position is a Ph.D., but we definitely seek out top-quality talent. The level of engineering, mathematics and physics is quite high.''

But the company still looks for employees who have a solid foundation in computer science, physics or mathematics, said Al Hastings, chief technology officer. The ability to work as part of a team is another crucial quality.

``Things change so quickly that people have to learn most of what they do on the job,'' Hastings said. ``Even for those of us who have been in the business for 10 years, it's constantly a learning process.''

The video-game industry is anything but child's play. Graphics that make players gasp are expected, but designers also are paying increasing attention to the story line and musical score - with the kind of critical acclaim once reserved for Hollywood blockbuster films.

``We're starting to see budgets that resemble motion-picture type budgets: game budgets of $10 million, $15 million, $20 million, $40 million,'' Borquez said.

But unlike movies, video games allow people to control the story line and change it with their choices, noted Ryan Schneider, director of marketing and communications for Insomniac.

``People like choices, and they like being empowered to control their own destiny,'' Schneider said. ``I like to go home and pop one in and just unwind for a while, either as an elite soldier or a bad-ass space alien. All of those things are really empowering.''

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

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(color) DeVry University student Seth Arnold, 20, is studying to be a video-game designer, turning his passion into a career.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer