AMD Changing the Game Education Initiative Expands Beyond United States
AMD Changing the Game Education Initiative Expands Beyond United States
AMD’s co-sponsorship of Malaysian Cybergames Festival to bring power of digital game development to hundreds of students in first international deployment
SUNNYVALE, Calif. - 2/23/2010 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced it is expanding its signature education initiative, AMD Changing the Game, beyond North America, by co-sponsoring a digital game development and design workshop at the Malaysian Cybergames Festival.
The festival aims to expose primary school children across Malaysia to computing technology and potential careers in the IT industry. AMD Changing the Game, the flagship initiative of the AMD Foundation, is designed to help foster science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills for students through the development of games on important social issues such as the environment, energy consumption, public health and many others.
"AMD hopes to help transform digital games into powerful tools not only for nurturing critical skills in science, technology, engineering and math, but also for helping young people develop a global perspective and contribute solutions to the social issues most relevant to their lives," said Allyson Peerman, president, AMD Foundation.
AMD's participation in the festival is two-fold. AMD will sponsor the "Dare to Create" workshop, a seminar that encourages innovation and creativity by teaching students how to design and develop digital games. AMD also is providing 80 PCs featuring AMD Athlon™ II X2 processors and ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 graphics cards for use during the festival and for the festival's gaming competition. Today's event in Perak, Malaysia is the first of a series of state-level competitions under the Malaysian Cybergames Festival, and will culminate in the national finals in July. AMD's cash sponsorship and in-kind contributions total approximately $100,000 USD.
AMD Changing the Game
AMD Changing the Game is designed to take gaming beyond entertainment and inspire youth to learn critical education and life skills by equipping them to create digital games with social content. The program's purpose is to promote the use of youth game development as a tool to inspire learning and improve science, technology, education and math (STEM) skills. The initiative is rooted in AMD's commitment to and experience in supporting education and the company's passion and expertise in the graphics processor and gaming industries.
Since its launch in June 2008, AMD Changing the Game has:
- Funded seven non-profit organizations that enable youth game development
- Co-sponsored the 2008 and 2009 Games for Change Festival
- Funded an online toolkit to help nonprofits create games on social issues
- Sponsored a video contest exploring the intersection of education and gaming
- Funded the development of a youth game development curriculum with PETLab and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA). Earlier this month, BGCA chapters in Larimer County, Colorado and Marlborough, Massachusetts kicked off new "Game Tech" programs that teach club members how to understand game design and create their own games.
About the AMD Foundation
The AMD Foundation connects and empowers individuals with knowledge, thereby opening doors to opportunity. The Foundation's signature program, AMD Changing the Game, supports initiatives designed to help youth harness the power of digital games with social content, while learning critical education Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills and life skills. The Foundation also funds the AMD Employee Giving Program which supports AMD employees' community interests by matching their personal donations of time and money to local organizations and schools.
