The weekend of November 9th – 11th last, kicked off WOWZAPP 2012, latter a Worldwide ‘Hackathon’ for Windows, the first simultaneous global ‘Hackathon’ for students, start-up companies and professional developers in Microsoft’s history.
This event saw over some 15,000 developers, including four from here in Ireland, take part from over 120 countries worldwide. Students from Ireland, Canada, England, Italy, Estonia, and Bosnia descended on Thurles to devise and develop digital games for Windows 8.
During this 48 hour development marathon weekend, innovative games were produced, which should make it into the Windows 8 store in time for Christmas.
Tipperary is a fitting location to play a part in this global event as it can boast of a long historical association with the digital games industry. Prior to the invention of home consoles, Ireland working from a base in here in Tipperary, was Europe’s foremost manufacturer of arcade machines, producing gaming cabinets for Atari Inc. The arcade machines of the seventies were a favoured pastime of the very first gaming generation. Iconic games such as ‘Asteroids’ are an example of the many classics, manufactured and distributed from Ireland.
LIT Tipperary’s Thurles campus are renowned for supporting the game development industry in Ireland, including the hosting of the annual Games Fleadh showcase event.
Mr Seamus Hoyne, Head of the Department of Technology, Media and Science at LIT Tipperary stated “Our department has strong ties with industry and we’re delighted to support events like WOWZAPP where students learn new skills which will help prepare them for future careers in the technology sector.”
All the Games created as part of WOWZAPP will be exhibited to the public during the Thurles/Tipperary Games Fleadh Expo which will be held on the 13th and 14th of March 2013.
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