Hey y'all,
I am sure when I post this I will be the only one reading this. But I am going to post it any way so I can get into the habit. Most of us that are active in ACM@USC are going to be leaving soon and I am afraid that we do not have much to show. I was pleased with our first semester last year and with the effort put in by the small group of us in the second semester. The fear that I have, is there will be no one to take over. This summer I have be planning and talking with two ACM presidents that I was able to meet. I think our main goal in the fall should be to get 1st and 2nd year students involved. This is the only way our chapter will be able to remain on campus.

Speaking of campus. It is finished. Yes, yes, I finished the bylaws. All we need to do is get them approved by our chair, sponsor and the chapter. We will also have to type out a first year activity plan (which I am drafting this summer). After a few other sheets of paper get signed, we can request full active status. This is only a big deal if we want to utilize other resources...which we do. The department has been very kind to us this past year and a half, but it is time for us to step up a make this chapter known.

For this fall (my thoughts):
Bring attendance up to 10-15 per meeting
Elect four new officers early!!!!
have 50% of our attendance come from underclassmen (as many as we can get)
have at least two guest(outside the university) talk to us

These are some big goals, but I feel they are do able.

I am going to keep a running blog until I graduate this May and I hope by then members will be doing the same, and as always...GO COCKS!

Our newspaper reported on the live pac-man:

Yellow pellets, blue energizers, ghosts and the three-quarter dot we've all come to love. Wakka, wakka, wakka. Here comes Pac-Man.

If you were anywhere around the West Quad courtyard Saturday afternoon, you'd initially notice the song "Pac-Man Fever" by Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia on repeat. But then you'd ask yourself, "Why are people dressed as shiny ghosts chasing a guy wearing a Pac-Man helmet through a maze?"

Because it's fun!

Hosted by the university's chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Pac-Man Competition may have been the first that the school has ever seen of a live recreation of a classic arcade video game.

ACM chapter president Ben Fine said this event that he and the group have been advertising for about three weeks - by handing out fliers all around campus while wearing a crafty homemade Pac-Man head - was a chance for them to get the word out about their newly reformed club.

"You could hold talks, but this (holding a Pac-Man Competition) brings the people out," said the fourth-year computer science student.

Fine is also a photographer for The Daily Gamecock.

The competition started out as an idea by one of the ACM members to do a live-action video game - one that is universally recognized. Last semester, the chapter hosted a Halo 3 tournament (on Xbox 360) among other small events.

Other people have held live Pac-Man games, particularly a group of college students from New York University who have a site called pacmanhattan.com and plays on a larger scale around the blocks of Washington Square Park with slightly different rules.

The rules that the ACM has adopted to its interpretation of the video game are almost similar to the actual game. Pac-Man must collect all the pellets (yellow-taped plastic balls) he can without being caught by a ghost. Blue power-up pellets are worth 10 points and allow Pac-Man to tag the ghosts for a limited amount of time.

The game is a true test of one's "ghost avoidance skills." While some people came pre-registered and ready to test those skills, there were some passersby that joined in the fun, too.

Sarah Fuentes, 20, was walking by to do her laundry and finally just stopped to see what was going on, she said. She was persuaded to play and ended up racking up more than 100 points.

With the Pac-Man helmet on, "you cannot see. There's no peripheral vision," the second-year marketing student said. "But it's funny, and it's a brilliant idea."

Michael Tyson, 28, a graduate student studying higher education and student affairs, said he had a lot of fun playing even though he was tagged pretty early on by a ghost.

"I wish had a better strategy," Tyson said. "But it's definitely a creative idea."

Fine said the competition may become an annual event for ACM.

"It is fun, lots of fun," he said. "Where else are you going to be able to act out a video game?"

Interested in joining ACM? Anyone is welcome to the weekly meetings Tuesday at 5 p.m. in the Swearingen Engineering Center room 2A17 or contact Ben Fine at fineb@mailbox.sc.edu.

Saturday March 29 at 1pm in Swearingen.

We have an invited talk coming up:

How to Prepare Yourself for a Job in the Games Industry

Things I Wish I Had Learned In College Because I Use Them Now

The talk will be on Thursday, January 31 at 11am in Swearingen Room 2A31.

Dan Amerson is the Technical Director for Emergent Game Technologies' Gamebryo Element, a cross-platform Game engine used in over 200 titles to date. Since joining the company in 2001, he has worked primarily on console rendering technologies for GameCube and Xbox 360 as well as multithreaded execution models. Prior to Emergent, Dan graduated from NC State University where he worked on the Mimesis project developing intelligent camera controller technology for virtual worlds and interactive narratives.

There are a few companies that would like to come give a talk to the ACM group. Our last official meeting as a group for the year was on last Monday, November 26. Because of exams coming up, not many people will be able to show their faces to any kind of special event for the ACM. It was already suggested that 1 of the companies come in January when everyone's back to classes.

Any other suggestions or inputs would be welcomed.

Microsoft XNA presentation (a toolkit for writing games) on Monday Nov 4 at 5:30pm.

From the Gamecock

ACM, Microsoft sponsor 'Halo 3' party, tournament

Association for Computing Machinery hopes to attract new members through speakers, demonstrations of gaming prowess

Sean Gruber

The Daily Gamecock

Andrew Bartlett, a second-year Nursing student, reloads his shotgun. The bodies of his opponents are scattered around him.

He starts to run down the corridors of the docking station he is fighting in. He's seeking other opponents. His one point lead over his closest competitor is fragile. And to stay still in Halo 3 is to die.

On October 1 at 5:30pm in the ACM room. Free food and prizes.

Hey,
Our next meeting is tomorrow at 5:00pm in 2A17. Please bring along a friend or two. Also please e-mail me with your hours for tutoring. Thanks.

Ben

Date: 8/31/07
Time: 2:00-3:00p.m
Food: Lots of pizza! mmm... lol

The first meeting was a success as Vidal previously stated. There were 30 or more in attendance (some came near the end) as we started off our very first meeting of the semester. Some IEEE members were present as well. Here are the topics that were covered at the meeting:

1. ACM-IEEE collaboration: it was discussed amongst the two groups that individual as well as group projects were encouraged between the two groups.
2. Tutoring Hours: We would like volunteers who would like to help tutoring for CSCE145 & 146 classes. Please contact Ben Fine (fineb at mailbox.sc.edu) or Andrell Shaw (shawaa2 at mailbox.sc.edu) for more information and signing up. Your name & tutoring hours will be placed on a chart outside of the ACM room (2A17) and other places in Swearingen.
3. Computers for ACM: one very important topic was getting computers setup in the ACM room. This would be great for students getting tutored and they may have access to nearby computers.
4. DEFCON: this hacker's competition was brought up during the meeting. Anybody interested should visit the website (http://www.defcon.org) for more information. This competition should be great for all the hackers out there.
5. Imagine Cup: The time is coming again for users to participate in the Imagine Cup France '08 competition. This competition is encouraged amongst all members so we can represent our school. Please visit the website for more information (http://imaginecup.com) or contact Ben Fine.
6. Pie Your Professor: this is a fund raiser event. Whichever professor raises the most money, receives a pie in the face. It would be great to give pie the winning professor with one they like (i.e. cherry pie). Heh!
7. Linux Group @ACM: We would like to have a the Linux Group come out and have fun with us during one of our meetings. I contacted the group already and they would be glad to come down and give a talk at an ACM meeting.
8. SCRA intern: The company SCRA is looking for an intern who is skillful in web development. Contact Dr. Buell and he can supply more information to all who are interested.
9. Game Night: It is not decided yet when we'll be having our first Game Night. But we would like to have several throughout the school year. Dr. Tang has an XBOX 360 and he is giving the ACM permission to use it at our events. We would like to thank him for the offer. Anybody who wouldn't mind bringing their game system/s in is invited so we can all have fun playing.

ACM meetings will be weekly starting Sept. 10. We would like to see as many faces as possible so we can all have a great time while being a constructive to the school and surrounding environment. Also, IEEE is willing to work with the ACM and hopefully we could aid each other.