Four months ago, EA Sports opened up applications for a four-month fellowship meant to invite former college athletes into video game design careers. Today, the label awarded its first two, to graduates who played football at Colorado State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Clint Oldenburg, an offensive lineman at Colorado State and a fifth-round selection in the 2007 NFL draft, joins Richard Mancuso, a three-year starter at quarterback for MIT, in accepting 16-week fellowships with the studio that creates the NCAA Football franchise.
"We put a premium on identifying individuals that combine real-world experience and knowledge of football with talent and passion for video game development," Cam Weber, EA Sports' general manager for football, said in a statement. "This first-ever fellowship program provides the fantastic opportunity to help us find experienced football student-athletes, such as Richard and Clint, to add to our development teams and help take our game to the next level."
Many members of the NCAA Football development team have direct experience with college football programs, either as walk-on athletes, high school players recruited by major programs, or as varsity competitors. Weber himself was a quarterback at Simon Fraser University, the only Canadian university with membership in the NCAA.
The fellowships are meant to contribute to engineering and design development to further enhance the authenticity of EA Sports' NCAA products. The positions are paid, postgraduate, full-time employment.