I would suggest XNA Game Studio: http://creators.xna.com/en-US/

There are plenty of examples for you to tear apart and modify with the class. Everyone could create their own alien ships to destroy or something.

Programming, however, might be a but much for art students. If I were you, I'd go for texture implementations like model skinning (both world objects and character animation), 2d textures for menus, and sprite effects - how transparency comes into play, 3D space and z-order, and post processing effects like lights and such.

They you go.

-Mike

The computer itself is the simulation and so there is no need for an additional 'outside our universe' computer, but rather a platform of rules for the computer to operate. Also, keep in mind that a computer doesn't need hardware, just 1's and 0's.

The human mind cannot comprehend infinite time or space and so we should inherently know that much of the reason and functionality of our existence is incomprehensible and even unfathomable to our small human minds.

Everyone should read God's Debris by Scott Adams.

I've studied AI stuff for a few years now and my view on reality is constantly evolving the more I learn...

I am under the impression that everything in our existence, broken down to its simplest form, is nothing but a series of facts (observed or otherwise unknown to us) in specific patterns. These patterns of facts, glued together to form data trees, comprise all of reality.

Its like all of matter is one giant glob of putty, constantly churning, forming new random facts and data patterns. Much like how matter is neither destroyed or created; it is recycled.

Reminds me of a recent article about Horizontal Gene Transfer.

We are all just subsystems of a bigger dataset and there is no real individualism.

Well, first off, I can't store incoming/outgoing email messages in a database. Second, what if I had an image gallery containing more than 50k images? They do not want you storing that in a mySQL database. The load caused by that would also get your account suspended. They don't even like you using "dynamic" pages. Meaning no PHP of CGI, just static HTML. Going on vacation and not checking email for a day or two would bring my websites down, especially since BlueHost's spam protection is minimal at best.

CAPTCHA is to Broken as The Economy is to:

a) Cowboy Neal

b) f*ked

c) RickRolled!

Everybody has a degree nowadays and a degree means nothing compared to experience. Instead of racking up student loans, you could have been applying yourself to actual work experience.

Go for internships and specialized training in whatever you plan on doing for the rest of your life.

A degree in computer engineering is nice, but you'll find that you still have to start from the very bottom and work your way up. Computer degrees are obsolete before you finish your textbooks.

The ONLY difference between a high school grad and a college grad is that once they enter the workforce, the college graduate still has to pay back loans for another 20 - 30 years.

Same thing with certifications - most employers will say they are a requirement on the job posting, but unless you can show solid real world experience, you are out of luck.