WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Dream job for gamers

Dream job for gamers

By Tyana Williams - bio | email

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -Some LSU students are arriving right on schedule to play video games and get paid for it. For the past two months about 30 LSU gamers have been working to find any kinks in two EA sports video games that will hit stores next year. It was one "test" people did not mind signing up for in Baton Rouge.

You know the old saying - it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it?   "I'd say we had over 700 people apply so far," said project manager C.D. Wright. It seems to fit here! Hundreds applied for a part-time job that requires serious concentration, hand-eye coordination and 20 hours of job training. "People have asked us what kind of background do you need or what kind of training do you need. And there really isn't any," said Wright. 

To test two EA video games, Madden 10  and Tiger Woods 10 EA chose LSU to be it's first North American testing center because of Louisiana's passion for football. They say the parternship should position the state to become a leader in digital media and entertainment development.  Wright says their job is to play the game and find out if anything's wrong with it. For example while testing Tiger 10, one girl discovered the computer never takes its turn. Mistakes in the game are written down and sent back to the programmer  who fixes it and sends it back here, for more testing.

To get EA Sports, the city of Baton Rouge put up $100,000 and other incentives - totaling near the 14 million dollar mark. The state also offered the game company a 20 percent tax credit.