In Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo, a down-on-her-luck housewife looking for an escape (Mia Farrow) gets her wish when a dashing young archeologist (Jeff Daniels) leaps off the silver screen and into her life.

Allen’s story of Cecelia, Tom Baxter and Gil, the actor who plays him, challenges our notions of cinema, audience, imagination, and reality; and it does this by drawing on a common fantasy of moviegoers everywhere: the desire to break the fourth wall and take part in the world of the film.

Indeed, many of us live The Purple Rose of Cairo (in a far less literal way, of course) every time we watch a good movie. Characters seem to pop off the screen and run with us out of the theater. They inspire us, and their stories inform our own. But what if Woody Allen’s farcical take on the movie-going experience isn’t that far off? What if one day we really can interact with the film characters and stories we love? Believe it or not, advances in game technology may make that day come sooner than you think.

Six years ago, a program called Façade blurred the line between game and cinema. Described by its creators as a “one act interactive drama,” Façade put the user in the role of Adam, a dinner guest who finds himself awkwardly in the middle of a marital dispute. As Adam, a user could freely explore his hosts’ complicated relationship, making alliances, taking sides, and asking questions – all while enjoying a favorite (virtual) cocktail. To make the experience even more immersive, a player could enter questions and responses into a text box, as opposed to choosing them from a pre-determined set. The result was a highly effective, open-ended drama that challenged the very notion of game.

What’s important about Façade is that it managed to do something no other game had accomplished: it shared authorship freely with its audience. Whereas other games had allowed players to choose things such as weapons or paths as a means of facilitating game strategy, Façade gave the user the power of choice to facilitate the story itself. And because Façade offered no objective winning position (who’s to say how or even if Trip and Gloria should resolve their troubles?), story was the only thing that mattered.

Since then, game art and game technology have only gotten better. Compared to the cinematic heights of, say, the Bioshock series or Heavy Rain, the world of Façade looks two-dimensional in every sense of the phrase. With each passing year, games get more detailed, worlds more complex, characters richer. When coupled with an interesting story and engaging game play, today’s games can yield an extraordinarily immersive and rewarding experience for the player.

So what happens when we revisit the idea of interactive drama in the face of all this new technology? Can we begin to approach a truly interactive cinematic experience? I, for one, think we can.

Today, one game that is paving the way for such a future is L.A. Noire, which will be released by Rockstar Games in May 2011. An interactive crime drama set in Hollywood’s golden age, L.A. Noire is using truly innovative imaging techniques, including a facial mapping technology called MotionScan to bring a new level of realism to the game.

Not only does the technology make the game look better; it actually contributes to game play. By enabling the player to read facial features and explore an elaborate, eight-square-mile game world, he or she is able to judge a witness or suspect’s believability. The player can employ his or her own intuition, sleuthing skills, and interpersonal skills to navigate through the story. For Star Trek nerds like me, this is basically the holodeck realized.

Although it’s a stretch to believe that Tom Baxter is literally going to step out of movie screen in the near future, I do strongly believe that game technology is giving filmmakers a set of tools they’ve never had before. Talk about social media: tomorrow’s filmmakers may watch their movies take on a life of their own as audience members interact with characters and environments in never-before-seen ways. The interactive drama paved the way for the interactive crime mystery. Who’s to say this couldn’t pave the way to the interactive action movie? Or the interactive romantic comedy? As we continue to grow technologically, filmmakers will have an unprecedented opportunity to engage an audience in exciting, immersive ways. And if that’s not the very dream of filmmakers and audiences alike, I don’t know what is.

Competition was fierce, but with 5,091 votes, Tribeca Flashpoint Academy’s Team Bloom has won Microsoft’s Imagine Cup People’s Choice Award! Thank you to all who supported them with daily votes and texts!

Currently, the members of Team Bloom (Andrew Zurek, David Grund, Nathan Heyl, Nathan Moore, and faculty mentor Darryl Hughes) are in Seattle, Washington competing in the Imagine Cup US Finals. Stand by for more news on their progress!

See pictures of all the action on Microsoft’s Imagine Cup Flickr page.

Congratulations to Game & Interactive Media students Andrew Zurek, David Grund, Nathan Heyl, and Nathan Moore, also known as BLOOM STUDIOS, for being named national finalists in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup Game Design Competition!

Before they jet off to Washington for the national competition, you can help Bloom Studios and Spero win the People’s Choice Award on Facebook! There are two ways to vote:

Vote on Facebook – or – text BLOOM to 23000*

Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, now in its 8^th year, is the world’s premier student technology competition, encouraging students around the world to use technology to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems.

Bloom Studios’ winning game, SPERO, is about making a difference in your community one step at a time. Watch the video below for a closer look!

For more about Tribeca Flashpoint Academy’s Game & Interactive Media program, please visit http://www.tribecaflashpoint.com.

*Standard text messaging rates may apply

At our booth, attendees got to demo Duality, a game by Tribeca Flashpoint Game & Interactive Media students.

Duality, a 2D platformer, puts the playing in control of a small entity of light named Shen. After the destruction of the universe, Shen traverses the now empty void called the Sanguine Genesis in search for the purpose of his existence. Duality combines puzzle platforming and fast-paced, twitch gameplay to provide players a new a refreshing gaming experience.

When we weren’t deeply entrenched in the game, our team of faculty, staff and students got a chance to talk to dozens of gamers of all ages about the game development process.

(Missed us at C2E2? Try Duality at home on Indie Pub Games!)

In this blog post, alumnus Pete Stilwell (Game & Interactive Media, Class of 2010) talks about his experience.

When asked to write about my experience at this year’s [Global Game] Jam, a lot of options popped into my head.

There’s the epic, ‘baptism of game building fire,’ route. The humorous, ’smells only a group of 50 gamers in a room with very low ceilings can produce,’ route. Or the adrenaline fueled, ‘one more energy drink is going to A: cause a life ending aneurysm, B: get this game playable, or C: cause an aneurysm that raises me to a transcendent state and makes this game change the industry forever’ route.

Screw that. You wouldn’t remember it tomorrow, or worse, you’d only remember the story because it revolves around an old man, his broken hip, and 300 dpi.

Instead I’d like to tell you a story about what’s going on under the surface of the Jam. What – after the zombie state washes away – you hold on to. What will bring you back next year?

I’ll tell you, it’s not the games. We can, and we will continue to make those.

It’s the quality of everyone involved. Tribeca Flashpoint has brought something insanely good to the table, and the Jam is an experience that proves it.

It stems from the staff and faculty, then trickles down and infects each new generation of students. It’s that insatiable desire to be the best team in the room, but never denying a helping hand to those that falter.

It helped define my experience at Tribeca Flashpoint, and I was filled with pride to see it alive and well throughout the Jam.

Tribeca Flashpoint embodies the traits that make the game industry successful, and as a result the institution is successful.

The Global Game Jam is an event unlike any other I’ve experienced in a creative medium. It’s a combination of the sleepless camaraderie of the Marine Corps’ Hell Week, your dirty laundry, and what it probably feels like to be a bubble getting pitched about inside an energy drink.

If you’ve experienced it, you’ll get what I mean. If you haven’t, permanently clear your schedule for the last weekend of January, we’ll reserve you a spot on next year’s team.

We’re well-trained. We’re the nerds. We’re the quiet ones in the corners. We’re the goddamned outliers, but together, in that setting, we’re brilliant. See you next year Jammers…

This time, student game developers were challenged to create a game along any winter holiday theme.  Read Paul’s winning entry below!

Paul Otake, Flashpoint Academy, Revolution X-mas

It turns out the north pole is nothing like you heard about as a kid. The rustic little workshops bustling with jolly fairy gnomes are actually dirty, sprawling factories where elves are forced to work 18 hour days year in and year out. Starved, demoralized, and broken the elves work tirelessly beneath the despotism of Santa Claus.

But don’t worry kids, its not the real Santa Claus, its a clever impostor who usurped the throne almost one hundred years ago and changed the north pole into the industrialized hell it is today. Nez and Tiz are two elves determined to fight back, incite a revolution, and bring the tyrant down.

Standing in their way is an army of evil teddy-bears, giant toy soldiers, and traitorous elves. Players will need to utilize stealth, guerrilla tactics, and a small arsenal of gadgets and make-shift weapons to combat this army. Even then, it’ll be an uphill battle all the way, and they’ll need to free the elves and fight to save the real Santa in order to have any chance of success.

Revolution Xmas is a 3rd person, two player co-op game intended for current-gen consoles; gameplay is a mashup of Fable 3 and Assassins Creed with an emphasis on stealth, parkour, and fast, hit-and-run combat. The world of the north pole is actually a massive underground complex consisting of small, rundown villages set up around a sprawling hub of factories.

The player controls either Nez, a small yet vicious melee fighter, or Tiz, a slingshot sharpshooter who is noticeably taller than her male counterpart. You see, there are four races of elves populating the north pole. Well actually three and a half. There are the Ez, the Iz, the Az, and the Uz. The Ez, the Iz, and the Uz are all physically different from one another, and each have their own talents. The Az are the traitorous half-elves who work for the evil Santa and keep the other elves under his iron fist. They are the progeny of the impostor Santa and elves (naughty!).

Not only are our heroes just tiny little elves, they’re also vastly outnumbered. Because of this combat is mostly hit and run; slinking around in the shadows to viciously ambush an unsuspecting team of baddies before agilely slipping back into the darkness.

At your disposal are Nez’s twin knives and Tiz’s deadly slingshot, they share an assortment of homemade Christmas ornament explosives ranging from flashbangs and smoke to fragmentation grenades. Combine explosives with an army of evil toys, and you have blissful holiday destruction. The player can single-handedly stealth kill smaller enemies like teddy-bears but the larger, sentinel like Toy-Soldiers require strategy and teamwork to take down.

Free the Ez from the dangerous mines beneath the pole, fight to save the Iz from the textile factories, and the Uz from the assembly lines to fuel the revolution and progress the story. Most missions revolve around sabotage and causing general destructive chaos; these missions affect the game world and freeing elves rewards the player with different perks and gadgets. The Az are formidable opponents and serve not only as the evil Santa’s generals but bosses that each patrol a different section of the map.

Beat all of them, and uncover the location of the real Santa. Save old saint Nick and the game concludes with an epic sled chase. But remember, he’s been keeping a list and he’ll check it twice, all your good deeds and bad deeds throughout the game will be remembered and affect the ending in dramatic ways.

When you tour Tribeca Flashpoint’s campus, you’ll get to:

* Take a walking tour of our high-tech facilities
* Learn about the technology you’ll use as a student
* Hear from staff, faculty and/or students
* View examples of student work from your discipline
* Discuss housing and financial aid options
* Ask questions and get advice from our helpful team
* Schedule your student interview

To RSVP for this Saturday’s Group Tour,  please call or email Lindsay Drucker (312-506-0624).  And for a sneak peek at what you’ll see on the tour, check out the clip below!

CHICAGO, IL — KBooM! Games, a new Chicago-based gaming company created by gamers for gamers and Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, the nation’s leading digital media arts college specializing in computer game development and interactive media, announced their strategic partnership today, to bring together the best young minds in social gaming with the future leaders in game development.

“We’re excited about our partnership with Tribeca Flashpoint. We started open beta testing this week on our first game together, Club SuperStar, on the Facebook Platform. Watch closely — with so many game brains collaborating you’ll see new features roll out continually,” said Dan Amdur, President of KBooM! Games.

The partnership seems like a natural fit for Tribeca Flashpoint and KBooM! Games, both of which are at the apex of new technology and applications.

“KBooM! has the right culture for us,” said Howard A. Tullman, CEO of Tribeca Flashpoint. “They’re an innovative company with major resources and advanced technology intelligence.  Their development team is committed to our model of immersive, team-based and highly collaborative education, and they’re eager to teach and learn from the next generation of leaders in gaming. Our students are getting a great boost in their education and they will graduate from here with direct, hands-on experience and real game credits.”

For more information go to www.kboomgames.com, www.flashpointacademy.com or visit Club SuperStar on Facebook.

• Film Society

The Tribeca Flashpoint Academy Film Society allows students from all disciplines to come together and explore a wide variety of films, meeting new people in the process. The Film Society organizes feature film screenings and sponsors a number of IMAX outings throughout the year.

• Women in Media

Women in Media connects women in all fields of media arts to create opportunities for future collaborative projects and act as a support group to motivate more women to enter the field.

• GSA (Gay Straight Alliance)

• Old People’s Club

Whether you are aging like fine wine or like milk, you are welcome to walker it on over to the The Old Peoples’ Club. The goal of The Old Peoples’ Club is to raise the comfort level of those who are above the average college age (21 and up), whether they’re in their first year of college or are going back to school.

• AES (Audio Engineering Society)The Audio Engineering Society – now in its sixth decade – is the only professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology. Its membership of leading engineers, scientists, academics and other authorities has grown dramatically throughout the world, boosting the stature of the society and that of its members. The AES serves its members, the audio industry and the public by stimulating and facilitating advances in the field of audio. It encourages and disseminates new developments through annual technical meetings and exhibitions of professional equipment, and through its many publications including Convention Papers, Conference Proceedings, Tutorials, online publications and The Journal of the Audio Engineering Society.

• Tabletop Gaming Club

The Table Top Gaming Club provides a place and community for non-electronic indoor games. The club is open to miniature games, card games, pen-and-paper games and whatever else players want to bring to the table (no pun intended).

• Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance connects game developers with game testers who will help improve the user experience across the full range of game genres.

• Scratch Paper

Scratch Paper is Tribeca Flashpoint’s online student magazine. Here, students showcase their work, ranging from various kinds of writing to visual art. Browse Scratch Paper here.

• Student Government

Student Government represents the student voice and aims to build a liaison between students, faculty staff, and administration to ensure the welfare of our community. Through strong leadership, Student Government strives to provide all students with opportunities to grow academically, artistically, professionally and personally.

Scott Case, President & CEO of Malaria no more, presented over 100 Tribeca Flashpoint students with a unique JumpStart this morning: instead of the usual speaker presentation and Q&A, he presented a challenge: Come up with an innovative, fresh way to persuade the public to join the fight to end malaria by 2015.

Nine student groups were each presented with a different audience – from tweens to African parents to the United States Congress – and a specific message targeting how that group can help. Groups were given 30 minutes to brainstorm and storyboard one or more concepts for how they would spread the message.

With only 30 minutes, our Flashpoint students’ creativity really shined – the concepts ranged from a Facebook game where users could “Swat the mosquitoes” to virtually save their Facebook friends from malaria to powerful PSA’s using chalk drawings of children to show that small donations could save a child – but our Congress can save thousands more.

Case told the group that in just 30 minutes they had developed more new concepts and ideas than Malaria No More had been able to develop in the last year, and that all of the ideas would be taken back to the home office for further development.