Hardi Bhatt is a Diety, look what he did for the Philly GIGI...
Hi, guys!
Keeping you abreast of our progress for the Philly GIGI (Game Industry Growth Initiative)...
Umm... everyone in the Philly game industry owes Hardi a beer (or rum, Alex). He just got us a meeting with the STATE of PA dept. for economic development. They want to meet us this week to discuss incentives to make Philly friendly to video game studios. WHAT'S UP, HARDI! 
It's a step, but a HUGE step. PA may provide resources and incentives for studios to set up here, if Philly can't. W00t!
Cool stuff.
Fantastic work, Hardi!
This would probably be a good time to dial in support from the local universities. Penn has been working to set up the Penn Design Praxis, which would be something of a non-profit org affiliated with the university to allow students to organize and work collectively on projects for game and film studios. This concept would provide powerful synergy to a surge in local game studio startups and would provide an additional selling point to the politicians regarding keeping locally trained talent living and working in Philly.
Dude,
Way to go! It would definitely serve Philadelphia very well to get that sort of industry in the area.
Phil J
This is definitely great news for everyone in Philly, and the videogame industry as a whole. Thanks to Hardi and everyone else for working to make these things happen. And yes Mike, Rum it is!
- Alex
Hi, Dan!
In reply to your post, I've already contacted Steven Lane (UPenn CGGT Program) and Frank Lee (Drexel's Game Design Program). They're both totally on board, and want to provide resources to help draw talent to the Philly area. Thoughts I had for both of their programs include:
- providing honorarium's for heavy hitters to come down for lectures.
- Creating "intense" one-weekend "boot camps", run by a major East Coast pro, about one type of game dev or production (game design, pre-viz art, audio).
Both of these thoughts were enthusiastically supported by the two universities. So, they're both on board the initiative. Dan, if you have further thoughts on how to leverage their involvement, PM or call me. We need all the expertise we can get!
Colossal! Congrats! As a thank you to Hardi maybe Alex could promise to never utter another word about British sailors and their coconut rum? Good luck with the meeting Gigi'ers.