Wanted: Entrepreneurs to populate a `creative village' for digital media
BYLINE: Chris Cobbs, Sentinel Staff Writer
Orlando may be poised this year for a leap forward in digital media.
Mayor Buddy Dyer's vision of a "creative village," centered on a downtown digital-media-and-entertainment complex, could help the industry gain traction in Central Florida, local experts say.
The area is already home to an estimated 1,200 companies involved in interactive and immersive entertainment; film and TV production; theme-park ride and show design; and modeling, simulation and training, according to the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission.
It's time for the area to intensify its pursuit of digital-media business, said Bob Allen, principal executive of i.d.e.a.s., a digital-media company.
"I think we have been putting our toe in the water and pulling it out for the last couple of years," he said. "Now, we have waded in and committed to becoming a high performer. The creative village concept, whatever it eventually becomes, makes a statement: `OK, we will commit to this.' "
Orlando is moving ahead of other cities in making a concerted effort to foster digital-media companies, said Mary Spio, chief executive officer of Next Media Galaxy and a member of Dyer's creative-village task force.
"When you look at Silicon Valley, the reason there is so much innovation there is that, in the past, they decided to be on the forefront. And that's what Orlando is now doing," said Spio, who moved here from Los Angeles a year and half ago.
"We are going to attract new digital-media entrepreneurs because of the creative-village concept."
The video-game industry, led locally by Electronic Arts Inc.'s Tiburon studio in Maitland, represents a prime area of potential growth, said Mark Terry, another member of Dyer's task force.
"We already have some of the elements here, and we can see a unique asset building as we attract new companies," said Terry, who is also president of TKO Productions, an Orlando advertising agency that specializes in computer-generated content.
The local video-game business is expected to benefit from the nationwide introduction late last year of new video-game systems from Sony and Nintendo that brought with them new ways of interacting with companies' games, said Ben Noel, executive director of the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy.
For example, new wireless control devices let players engage in a swordfight or stiff-arm a tackler in a football game without having to press buttons on an old-fashioned controller, he said. That should create new opportunities for companies like EA Tiburon and n-Space Inc. to develop new products and adapt existing ones, Noel said.
Sales of Sony's new PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's new Wii were limited by product shortages during the just-ended holiday season, but supplies are expected to increase in the coming months. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has been available for a year and is selling well.
"We have products on all these systems, and older systems like the PlayStation 2," said Steve Chiang, EA Tiburon's general manager. "As penetration of the new consoles grows, it will be good for us and create new opportunities. We will have some cool new stuff to introduce this year."
Education will see some cool new stuff, too, said Sharon Wyly, a professor of digital media at Valencia Community College's East Campus.
"We will see a spilling out of gaming from just entertainment to a wider variety of areas," she said. "We are looking at teaching math through gaming, making it more fun for students to learn."
At Full Sail Real World Education in Winter Park, 2007 brings the continued expansion of the school's digital-media and entertainment facilities, said Ken Goldstone, chief operating officer.
Full Sail also will serve as primary sponsor this month for Otronicon, a 10-day celebration of the video game at the Orlando Science Center, and for the Florida Film Festival in March.
CONTACT: Chris Cobbs can be reached at 407-420-5447 or ccobbs@orlandosentinel.com.