It almost seems impossible, considering the frequent reports of studio closings we've reported over the past twelve months, but the survey indicates a slight rise in U.S. game industry employment in 2009, with 44,806 industry professionals in the country as opposed to 2008's 44,400. The census indicates that while major publishers from EA to THQ were closing studios left and right, new casual and online gaming developers were popping up around the country, counterbalancing the rash of layoffs. Still, a difference of only 406 isn't much, and we've still got a week left of 2009.

Canada, on the other hand, saw an increase of nearly 30%, with 12,480 employees to the previous year's 9,500. While some of that growth can be attributed to a sharper focus on the country by census takers Game Developer Research, even more was due to the opening and announcement of new Canadian studios from Ubisoft, THQ, and Funcom.

For more stats and figures from the 2009 video game industry, check out Game Developer Research's full 2009 Game Developer Census, available for purchase via the Game Developer Store for a mere $2,500.

Michael Abbott talked to a voice actor who explains how the typical tools of an actor aren't just disused, they're a hindrance for many game developers.

The problem, it seems, is that to deliver a believable performance an actor has to be able to understand the character they are voicing. They need to know the story and how their character fits into it. But time is money, and most studios, according at least to the actor interviewed, value first-take, final take actors over actors who want to develop a little more depth for their characters.

The actor Abbott interviewed said they almost never receive the script prior to showing up.

When you arrive for the session you're handed a side [a script with one character's lines and lead-in cues]. You have some time to look it over, and the Voice Director and maybe a producer are there to discuss it with you. But basically, you get the script, you set some levels, and off you go.

Q: So you don't know the story or anything?

A: They'll explain the basic gist of it, but mostly you're concentrating on short snippets of dialogue. I like to know as much as I can, obviously, but you have to remember the clock is ticking, and every minute you're not recording costs money. And, no surprise, they like actors who work efficiently. If you're cooperative and you've got some flexibility, and if they get the sense that you're a first-take / best-take kind of guy, you're going to work with them again.

Q: How do you create a character with so little information?

A: You throw out all your training for one thing. (Laughs) If they know your work they might say they're looking for something similar to what you did on another gig, but maybe a little gruffer or more aggressive or whatever. It's very simple stuff. Inflections and modulation mostly. I'm not sure I would call it characterization.

As a solution, Abbott recommends that developers bring voice actors into the process much early, allowing them to help evolve the script and the characters. Also, allow them to rehearse, play the game and talk to the animators.

Wait, actors working with developers to create a more cohesive product? That's crazy talk.

Reading through the article, I couldn't agree more with Abbott. It sounds like the way some video games are created is more similar to mass producing cars than creating movies. It's no wonder that the results can be so all over the place.

Voice For Change [The Brainy Gamer]

The 30 scholarships represent a doubling of the foundations scholarship offerings over their first two years of operation, granting qualified applicants $3,000 towards their continued game development education. The scholarships are available to minority and female students who are either attending high school or studying development-related subjects at accredited four-year anniversaries.

"A growing number of students know that computer and video games are the premier entertainment medium for expressing their impressive creativity and innovative thinking," said Michael Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which represents U.S. computer and game publishers. "We are excited to provide these scholarships to help future game industry employees make the dreams that they have for themselves and our industry a reality."

To apply online for the scholarship, visit the ESA Foundation website and fill out the application before May 15th, 2009. Remember, you can only qualify if you are not a white male, unless of course you possess C. Thomas Howell-level dedication.

Our goal when we set out to make BioShock was very clear. We wanted to get to the next level, moving beyond our suite of critically acclaimed games to make a blockbuster. A lot of factors aligned to make this possible: the commercial backing of 2K; the game design knowledge we'd acquired from building System Shock 2; the technological familiarity with our Unreal-based engine that we'd built with previous games. But we still had to figure out how to make it all big-blockbuster big.

A lot of our problems came from underestimating how big the task of making a triple-A product for multiple platforms and multiple regions really is. And other problems came from over-estimating our capacity to solve those problems using our existing procedures and staffing levels.

If there's an over-arching theme of our development, it's that we, like many other developers, believe that ultimate success in this industry comes from iteration. You have to build, evaluate (and have others evaluate) and be prepared to throw things away and rebuild.

It's not terribly long, clocking in at 4 pages, and worth a read — even if you weren't a particular fan of the game.

Postmortem: 2K Boston/2K Australia's BioShock [Gamasutra]

So who the hell is Ultizen, you ask? Ultizen is one of those mysterious outsourcing companies, based out of China, that basically have their hands in many different gaming pies at once. They do everything from concept art to full-on programming to porting, providing services to everyone from small indie outfits to the big names in the industry. It helps to think of them as game development mercenaries. They're the A-Team of the gaming industry, and they love it when a financing plan comes together. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Ultizen Games Secures $6 Million in Series B Financing
— Funds Will Be Used for Continued Rapid Expansion Through Acquisitions—

SHANGHAI, China & LOS ANGELES—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Ultizen Games Ltd., a game development and outsourcing company, announced today that it has secured $6 million USD in a Series B funding round led by Taiwan-based venture capital firm PAC-LINK, with participation from Japan-based VC firm Japan Asia Investment Co. (JAIC) and CyberAgent, a leading on-line advertising agency and media representative company. The Series B funding will be used to support company’s continued rapid growth through acquisitions. Ultizen’s North American offices are located in Los Angeles.

Ultizen closed a $1.5 million USD Series A round of financing from Shanghai and Boston-based Dragonvest Partners in late June of 2007, and grew from 70 to 350 employees within the company’s first year of operation.

With the largest talent base in China, reliable security to protect client intellectual property (IP), excellent quality control and an outstanding record of on-time delivery, Ultizen provides the highest quality game art development outsourcing services to North American, European and Japanese clients ranging from “top 20” gaming and media companies to small and mid-size studios.

Ultizen Games’ 350-person studio provides game development services including game design, porting, programming and art. A certified Microsoft XBOX Live Arcade game developer, the company plans to launch its first title on the XBOX platform in the fall of 2008.

“China has become the biggest game development and art outsourcing market in recent years and we believe the market will continue to grow exponentially in the near future. With the advanced technology and more than 350 talented developers, Ultizen has the potential to become the market leader in the industry,” said PAC-LINK General Partner Allen Hsu. “In addition, the web-based casual game industry has shown tremendous growth. As an early mover in this segment, we believe that Ultizen will become a dominant player and, moreover, have great potential to expand from a developer into an influential publishing and operating company in this segment.”

Founded in January 2005 by gaming industry veterans Lan Haiwen and Wu Jun, now Ultizen’s CEO and Vice President, respectively, the company has achieved rapid success, and has grown to be one of the top three independent game studios in China, both organically and through the acquisition of Beijing-based Mo-Star Limited, a well-established game content provider on China Mobile’s game portal platform. The company maintains studios in Shanghai and Beijing, China and opened an office in Los Angeles in the fall of 2007.

“Ultizen’s leadership team, Lan Haiwen and Wu Jun, combines a deep knowledge of the gaming industry and the Chinese game development market with a sophisticated understanding of the needs of game development and media companies around the globe,” said Dragonvest Partners Co-Founder and Co-Managing General Partner Jesse Parker. “They have done an outstanding job of attracting and retaining the top talent needed to support rapid growth and address their clients skills and resource requirements while maintaining a high quality standard.”

Ming Hsu, General Partner, PAC-LINK and Tetsuya Tsuda, CEO of Japan Asia Investment (China) Co., Ltd. will join Dragonvest Partners’ Jesse Parker; Ultizen Vice President Wu Jun; and board chairman and Ultizen CEO Lan Haiwen on the company’s Board of Directors.

“Ultizen’s track record of profitable growth is a validation of our capabilities and the top- and bottom-line business benefit our clients derive from partnering with us,” said Lan Haiwen. “The addition of PAC-LINK, JAIC and Cyber Agent to our investment team provides us with the resources to aggressively expand our leadership position among China-based game development and outsourcing companies to address the huge market opportunity the thriving global gaming industry presents.”

One of the most intriguing pieces of this new battle is how it brings the developers into the fray. Developers must choose between having exclusivity on one portal, potentially limiting their distribution, or fully distributing on all portals, and missing out on the rewards that exclusivity can bring.

There are certainly arguments that can be made as to which is the financially better approach, and certainly there is no clear path that is always financially more viable, but regardless of what path is chosen, developers are choosing a path that aligns them with one portal's approach or another's.

Developers are being unwittingly recruited into the battle and are at the forefront of the current skirmish, and as it true of all battles, those on the front lines are the most likely to be injured by the fighting.

Carroll notes that while exclusivity may be a positive thing for individual portals, it's bad for the industry on the whole; the developers are still losing out, since they're treading on uncertain ground when weighing the potential benefits of exclusive titles versus wide ranging distribution.

'Coopetition' - Digital Distribution's Enemy? [Gamasutra]

Over at the Escapist, they're taking a look at the future of gaming — Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment Consumers Association, looks at a number of 'maybe, maybe not' predictions with his own take. Ranging from the mundane ('Game prices will go down!') to the political ('Things will get better once gamers become politicians!') to the industry-focused ('Publishing structure is stuck in a rut and won't change!'). It's a fun read with some good points on the present and future directions of the gaming industry. On the publishing structure, Halpin has this to say:

... Developers too often aspire to be CEOs and convince themselves that they have the acumen to handle it. They rarely do. Great developers are great artists, not suits. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but by and large rising developers would do far better to hire an experienced executive team and check their egos at the door. That, or merge with equally talented, like-minded firms where they should still hire the aforementioned suits. I foresee the consolidation in our business similar to that of the film industry. Several publishers will percolate up to be "the majors," a few will be "mini majors" and specialize in niche markets and genres, and there'll be a whole culture of indie developers - far more robust than today's landscape - many of whom will be inspired to their careers by user-created content. Timeline for paradigm shift: three to five years.

I'm not sure consolidation of the film industry is a good example, since it took some concerted effort on the part of the major studios and successfully stamped out the little whipper snappers for decades, but the idea of a more robust indie scene is a nice one. Not a terribly long essay, but worth a read through.

The Crystal Ball [The Escapist]

I mentioned the Games, Learning & Society Conference in Madison, Wisconsin back when a call for papers was put out. Michael Abbott of the Brainy Gamer has some interesting notes on the conference, which was held this past Thursday and Friday. The wrap up of the keynote speech, delivered by James Gee of Arizona State University, is an interesting meditation on the role of games (and not just 'edutainment') in education:

Gee sees broad implications for students in this regard. “Give students smart tools and let them use them and modify them to suit their purposes.” Such self-motivated learning moves students away from merely consuming knowledge and encourages them to produce knowledge and apply it in meaningful ways. Furthermore, Gee observed, when communities form around these activities, they are linked by a common endeavor, rather than by race, class, gender, or disability.

Gee clearly situates video games within an overall theory of learning and literacy with genuine power to transform students and equip them to address complex problems. If passion communities could be formed to solve real-world problems like hunger and environmental degradation, Gee believes we would be much better equipped to face these issues head-on. The challenge, according to Gee, isn't just about teaching our kids; it's about ensuring they have a viable world to live in.

Abbott's discussion of the environment of the conference — sounding quite different from your typical academic/professional gathering — is also worth a read.

GLS - Beyond Games and the Future of Learning [The Brainy Gamer]

Korean games (non-Japanese games in general, actually) tend to get a lot of flack — 'They're all the same!' 'They're so badly made!' 'Just look at them!' — but Brandon Sheffield cautions that we ought to be keeping a closer on eye on the Korean market. With different development strategies, different working environments, and different players, there is stuff to be learned from Korean companies taking steps to expand westward:

The fact is, Western developers have ignored, discounted, or simply not known about the South Korean market for far too long, and now we're face to face with reality. Aside from World of Warcraft, they've taken a genre we invented, and perfected it to the point where an online dance game like T3 Entertainment's Audition has tens of millions of subscribers worldwide.

That's rather a lot of people, and we're ignoring it. When I first noticed that company in 2002, they were making a game called Raphael that was so rudimentary as to almost be freeware.

Korea is starting to get more attention, but perhaps the most impressive thing is how well some Korean companies have done with their entrance into other markets — it'll be interesting to see how the gaming landscape changes over the next couple of years.

Why You Should Care About Korea [GameSetWatch]

This study investigated how fans and producers of media texts negotiate text integrity, which is defined as an ideal about the validity, wholeness, and truth of the text. An evaluation of previous research in fan studies revealed four essential issues underlying fan-producer interaction. These four issues led to the study’s four research questions, which centered on fan perceptions of ownership of a text, construction of status-relationship between fans and producers, construction of status-relationship among fans, and how fans envisioned their labor contribution to the game development process. Research questions were addressed using a discourse analysis of the forum interactions of fans of the digital-game series Fallout. The investigation focused on fan and producer interaction surrounding the release of the controversial next installment in the Fallout series, Fallout 3. Using previous literature and data gathered, the study proposed a model for fan-producer negotiation over text integrity that can be applied to fan-producer interaction in multiple contexts.

As noted at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, "Stay clear if you’re the sort of person who thinks it’s intrinsically funny if anyone calls a videogame a 'Text.'" Probably a wise consideration for many academic gaming works, but it's a thesis built on an interesting premise, and a hell of a lot shorter than a dissertation.

Fallout Fans: Negotiations Over Text Integrity In the Age of the Active Audience [Ryan Milner via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

It gives developers feedback, real insights into their game, so they can go back and improve their work. There simply isn’t a way for people to properly explain criticism in the current culture of “I’m not having fun” reviews. Nor is there a way to reward innovation or successful elements of games beyond gushing “I’m having fun” praise. It’s one thing to say you like a game, but figuring out a way to go beyond that gives developers a better understanding of their audiences reaction.

In any case, it's an interesting essay that ties in with a lot of other criticism of the gaming press at large; the other eight parts are also a good read, if you're not scared off by the "Zarathustran Analytics" in the title.

Zarathustran Analytics in Video Games, Part 9: Flaws in Criticism Today [PopMatters via The Brainy Gamer]

The report found that the city has more incentive to focus on the game industry than it's been given credit for:

According to local industry experts, the number of game development companies in New York City could be counted on one hand as recently as five years ago. But today, the city is home to more than 30 game development companies and another 55 firms involved in some aspect of games, from sound effects to distribution. Only a handful of other cities in North America have as many gaming firms.

The report recommends a number of strategies for the city's administration to bolster New York City's role in the industry, to create jobs and support economic health, and to develop "a framework for supporting the video game sector," including government liaisons, encouragement for trade shows, and expansion of city university programs for game development.

The report doesn't go as far as to encourage the Georgia-style tax breaks, however, which might at a further stage be a reasonable recommendation for the city with one of the highest costs of living in America.

Getting in the Game [New York City Center for an Urban Future] (Thanks, Mike!)

Qualifying productions spending at least $500,000 in the state will qualify for a 20% tax credit, with an additional 10% granted if said productions included an animated Georgia logo in the finished product.

As a member of the gaming press residing just minutes away from beautiful downtown Atlanta, I welcome any and all game developers to our lovely state. If you need crash space, give me a call.

Hit the jump for the full press release.

Georgia Boosts Incentives for Entertainment Industry

Monday, May 12, 2008

ATLANTA- Governor Sonny Perdue today signed into law the 2008 Entertainment Industry Investment Act (HB 1100), new legislation designed to encourage entertainment industry productions in Georgia. The signing ceremony took place at the studios of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.), where the Governor was joined by Phil Kent, chairman and CEO of TBS, Inc., and over 100 attendees including legislators, industry leaders and members of the entertainment industry.

"We know that our excellent talent base and outstanding locations make Georgia a very desirable place to film," said Governor Sonny Perdue. "This legislation puts in place the economic cornerstone that will encourage producers to convert that desire into action."

The 2008 Entertainment Industry Investment Act reinforces and strengthens Georgia's position within the entertainment industry. The new, more competitive incentives replace those currently in use by offering a 20 percent tax credit for qualified productions, which are then eligible for an additional 10 percent tax credit if they include an animated Georgia promotional logo within the finished product.

The incentives apply not only to qualified films, TV series, commercials and music videos, but also to video game productions. The economic impact of all these entertainment segments in Georgia was $413 million in 2007.

"We're proud of this legislation; alot of the credit goes to Governor Perdue for setting up the film commission," said Rep. Butch Parrish, a sponsor of the legislation. "I think this bill will jump start the Georgia film industry."

"This new incentive allows Georgia to once again compete for an industry we used to be famous for," said Sen. Mitch Seabaugh. "It will be a catalyst that will spur immediate economic investment and create jobs. Georgia will once again be on center stage where it belongs."

"The new incentives will put Georgia among the top five states in the U.S. in terms of financial competitiveness for entertainment projects," said Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD). "We expect to see an increase in the number of industry jobs and overall economic impact for the state in the coming years."

The state has seen success in the past with competitive incentives. The 2005 Entertainment Industry Investment Act (HB 539), signed by Governor Perdue in 2005, led to a record-setting economic impact in 2006 when film, television and video game companies contributed $475 million to Georgia's economy, up from $124 million in 2004. The total economic impact of entertainment productions from 2005 through 2007 has been over $1.17 billion, due in large part to Georgia's entertainment incentives. Since then, however, film activity in the state has decreased as other states, regions and nations boosted their competitive packages.

"The 2008 Entertainment Industry Investment Act (HB 1100) will return Georgia to its rightful place of prominence in all major entertainment industry segments," stated Bill Thompson, deputy commissioner of the Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office, a division of GDEcD. "We expect a significant increase in film and television projects, and Georgia will be the most competitive state in the country for video game productions.

Georgiais one of the few states whose entertainment incentives support the video game industry."

Governor Perdue was joined at the event by Sen.Greg Goggans, who carried the legislation in the Senate, Rep. Ron Stephens, and Rep. Rich Golick.

"House Bill 1100 is a key piece to the puzzle in sustaining Georgia's entertainment industry for the long haul," said Ric Reitz, an actor and producer from Atlanta. "It will provide many new jobs for Georgians, improve the state's entertainment infrastructure, and grow Georgia's indigenous companies."

The Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office, formerly known as the Film, Video and Music Office, conducts extensive business development, sales, marketing and promotional activities in order to attract entertainment projects and businesses to the state. The office also assists the local, national and international entertainment industries with information, expertise and resources. The staff points movie production companies to Georgia's highly-trained crews, state-of-the-art facilities, and diverse locations. Georgia's temperate climate and easy access afforded by Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport are also factors that attract the industry's interest.

Georgiahas been investing in the entertainment industry for over 35 years. Since the inception of the Georgia Film Commission in 1973, more than 575 major motion pictures, independent films, television series and pilots, and TV movies have filmed on location in the state. As a result, over $5 billion has been generated for the state's economy. Georgia's music industry continues to thrive with an economic impact of $1.97 billion in 2007. Movies were first produced in Georgia as early as 1912, and have continued without interruption during every decade since then.

Portal is a boutique studio project. Valve could have made it bigger, longer, and splashier and unveiled it as their NEXT BIG IP. Or they could have simply bought the team and plowed all those great ideas into the next edition of Half-Life. Instead, they made a game that was just the size it needed to be with just the amount of attention it required.

We need more boutique developers. I believe there is a vital market for such games and an enthusiastic community of gamers hungry for such experiences. Not every game requires a 3-year $100 million development and marketing effort. And there's something to be said for allowing gamers to discover a game and push it forward ourselves. This was a big part of Portal's success, in my view, packed as it was into The Orange Box with much bigger and more recognizable titles.

I'd venture a 'yes, that would be nice'; the question is, would more studios be willing to follow the Orange Box path?

Do we need boutique developers? [The Brainy Gamer]

There's a huge gap, actually. They're very advanced. I'm Japanese, and I think this is not just with Silent Hill but with the whole of the industry — I look at what American developers are doing and I think wow... Japan is in trouble."

Later he explains why he thinks his country is falling behind on the game development front, explaining that the nature of the publisher / developer relationship in Japan as well as low salaries contribute to games that need to be created fast and cheap, stifling innovation in the industry - much like we've feared would happen here for years.

So you've got pressure on these people to perform like they did when they were 20, and it's just not possible. I look at a game magazine, and I see interviews with the "important creators," like Mr. Sakaguchi. He's a great game creator, but he's not young. And I don't see many young game creators in Japan. Then I look at the west, and I see all these young guys coming up so fast, it's just amazing.

On top of that, Yamaoka explains that a lot of the tools and drivers they need to create more technologically advanced games are in English, adding translation problems even to games that are only seeing release in Japan.

Aside from shattering my ill-founded illusions about the state of Japanese game development, the interview also touches on working on the Silent Hill move, interactive music in video games, Yamaoka's CD iFuturelist, and his own musical tastes (woo PJ Harvey!)

Yamaoka Talks Silent Hill 5, Japanese Game Development 'In Trouble' [Gamasutra]

We chose the Crystal engine because we plan to help develop this engine more and then share it back with the rest of the company, the other Eidos studios. Having that technology from the start gives us a great advantage and foundation for our coders - there are no doubts about the approach, and we have few uncertainties.

Q&A: Stephane D'Astous, Eidos Montreal [Develop via CVG]

2008 IGF Student Showcase Competition

Who Is Eligible: Open to all student game developers worldwide, including student mod makers (see student-specific rules).
Competing For: 12 'Student Showcase' winners for top game ($500 travel stipend), and for the second year, an overall 'Best Student Game' ($2,500 cash prize).
Entry Fee: None.
Submissions Due: October 15th, 2007 at 11:59pm PDT - submit here.
The IGF's Student Showcase, for which the entry deadline is October 15th, 2007 at 11.59pm PDT, will highlight a total of twelve games this year.

IGF Student Showcase Winner ($500)

In addition, for the first time this year, there will be a prize for best overall IGF Student Game awarded as part of the IGF Awards, with the finalists comprising all of the Student Showcase winners:

Best Student Game ($2,500)

The jury for the IGF Student Showcase is headed by student-experienced game veterans, and consists of a number of indie experts committed to picking the best student games, given that games created for educative reasons often have a different emphasis than commercially released titles. [Please note that both games using middleware engines and mods of existing games are both eligible this year, but the judges will take whether the engine was coded from scratch into account when judging.]

It encourages a little bit more risk taking and allows you to fine tune things as you go along. At Telltale we tend to stay about 3 episodes ahead of what's on the market. That gives us a little time to course correct; we did that with Sam and Max, episode four was the first episode where we responded to consumer feedback.

So I think from a developers' perspective, since the risk and cost can be lowered up front, you have a little more control over your game. You can be a little bit more experimental. Then you've made the game you want to make and you can take it to more traditional channels.

A short interview that's worth a quick read through.

Telling Tales [gamesindustry.biz]

From this week's Escapist, a rather sobering look at the 'demise of Clover Studios.' Everyone claims they want new, different, innovative games, but somehow a studio like Clover that produced Viewtiful Joe 2, God Hand and Okami can't stay afloat. The author points out that for a "scrappy independent developer," selling hundreds of thousands of copies would be quite the achievement, but for a division of Capcom it was a "stinging disappointment."

In a post-shutdown interview, [Clover CEO Atsushi] Inaba reflected, "I think that it is becoming almost 'impossible' for an original game to succeed financially. This can't be blamed on anyone, but it's a simple fact that an original game doesn't appeal to the majority of gamers."

Despite tons of essays, blog posts, and whining to the contrary, it would seem that while people like the idea of new and innovative, when push comes to shove, they don't want to plunk down the cold, hard cash - which is the real shame about Clover, because they delivered on their mission of creating innovative and different games. While studios are a business, and in today's world if you don't make money you can expect to be shuttered, it is especially depressing when put next to all the high-minded talk of innovation and creativity. Maggie Greene

Vision Doesn't Sell Copies: The short life of Clover Studios [The Escapist]

Students at South Shore High School in New York have been passing up normal after school activities for video games...though not to play them. For the past year they've been meeting after school in order to develop meaningful video games with messages attached. It's all part of a program that melds game development with social awareness, and with the help of Global Kids and local developer Gamelab their first game has just been released online. Called "Ayiti: The Cost of Life," it puts the player in control of a family of five poor Haitians in what can best be described as a family management sim.

As you can imagine, the game is dreadfully depressing. You deal with bad weather, low income, hunger, etc. as you desperately try to keep the family alive. It's not fun, but I suppose that was the point. It shows a level of social awareness you certainly wouldn't expect in a group of American high school students. I think the program a brilliant way to mix gaming and learning with extremely positive results. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go borrow a Zoloft. Michael Fahey

Update: I originally mistook this for a school in North Carolina, when it is indeed in New York. I say thee whoops.

Ayiti: The Cost of Life
Creating games, learning lessons [News 14 Carolina]