André LaMothe

André LaMothe
Born (1972-06-14) June 14, 1972
Silicon Valley
Occupation Computer Scientist, Author, Game Developer, Embedded Systems Engineer

André LaMothe is a computer scientist, author, embedded systems developer and game programmer.[1][2] He was responsible for the development of hardware and software for artificial intelligence research and worked specifically on the sparse distributed memory project at NASA's Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS).

LaMothe attended San Jose State University where he triple majored in mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering.

LaMothe is best known for his game development books in the 1990s and early 2000s and his indie game development company Xtreme Games LLC which in the 1990s was one of the only places for indie developers to get their games published and have serious distribution. He is an international best selling author[3] and his books on game programming have sold approximately 500 thousand copies in total. LaMothe has written and produced numerous video games including the first-person shooter 3D Rex-Blade series in the mid-1990s, Tetrimania Master, Tunnel Blaster, Blast Thru, and many others while CEO of Xtreme Games LLC.[4] Other projects he has pioneered in was the development of the first super computer virtual reality location-based games "Cybergate" while working at Vision of Reality[5] using the Sense8 API and SGI Onyx super computers.

LaMothe is the creator of the XGameStation,[6] the world's first DIY video game console development kits in 2004. Recently he added a new more powerful Parallax Propeller multi-core based system, called the HYDRA Game Development Kit, to the earlier systems that were based on the SX52 Processor and SX28 Processors. These were followed by the MACH64 Programmable Logic Starter Kit which teaches Complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs). Lamothe's latest next-generation gaming products are the XGS AVR 8-Bit and XGS PIC 16-Bit. These systems are designed to be used as AVR/PIC development kits targeting engineers, hobbyists, and students.[7]

[8] Recently, LaMothe released the Chameleon AVR 8-Bit as well as the Chameleon PIC 16-Bit. These systems are Arduino compatible to varying degrees, but rely on a multiprocessor, multicore architecture to leverage the strengths of the Arduino's philosophy while enabling simplified media generation such as NTSC VGA, audio, as well as interfacing to devices such as keyboard and mice with very little code.

He founded Xtreme Games LLC in 1994, which represented hundreds of small independent or amateur game companies "indies" and at the time was the "world's largest virtual game company." In its heyday, Xtreme Games licensed hundreds of Casual games to companies such as Expert Software, Activision, and eGames. LaMothe was the founder of the Xtreme Games Developer Conference (XGDC)[9] a grass roots game developer conference which ran from 1999 to 2002 and was licensed to Course PTR in 2002 and renamed the XGDX and ran until 2005.[10]

LaMothe developed the "Black Art Series" for Waite Group Press in the mid-1990s, which was recently brought back to life by Sams Publishing, and was the Series Editor and Creative Director of Premier Publishing's (now Cengage) Game Development Series which has published over 100+ titles in game development.

Currently, LaMothe is the CEO of Nurve Networks LLC which develops embedded systems catering to entertainment and educational hardware kits. He is also a board member and instructor at GameInstitute.com, and sits on the advisory board of TheMade.org (a digital / retro museum).

Abridged Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ http://dev.league.org/2005cit/bios/lamothe.html[]
  2. ↑ http://howtobecome.com/how-to-become-a-video-game-designer/
  3. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Andre-Lamothe/e/B000ARBG92
  4. ↑ http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,417585/
  5. ↑ http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/2.05/realies_pr.html
  6. ↑ http://oddbob.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/xgamestation-xgs-micro-edition-game-console-starter-kit/
  7. ↑ XGameStation
  8. ↑ HYDRA Game Development Kit
  9. ↑ http://www.digitalgamedeveloper.com/Htm/Stories/xtreme/resurrection.htm
  10. ↑ http://www.gamedev.net/page/resources/_/business/435/xgdx-2004-report-r2167
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