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Texas gunnin’ for video games
LOS ANGELES - Speaking at the E3 video game industry conference here today, Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he will seek new state incentives to try and recruit more gaming companies to the Lone Star State.
Perry wasn’t specific, but said would ask the state legislature to boost the current incentives, which give game developers up to $250,000 if they develop a game in the state, using state talent. In doing so, he hopes to compete even more with states like Georgia and Louisiana, which also have big incentives for game makers, and industry leaders California and Washington state.
“Texas is the third-biggest game-producing state in the country … and I’m gunning to be No. 1,” Perry told a sparse crowd at E3 this morning.
Perry is the only state governor to ever give a keynote at E3, and this year he was the biggest non-industry name on the agenda. In the past, the gaming conference has attracted rock and movie stars and a wide variety of state and local dignitaries, but show organizers have dramatically scaled back the event and limited attendance.
Though there were only about 40 people in attendance at his morning speech, Perry didn’t hesitate to play to the crowd.
In his somewhat rambling half-hour talk, he characterized the gaming industry as the answer for nothing less than the nation’s widespread economic problems and its poor physical fitness and said virtual worlds could someday even inspire a better real-world.
Following a short video showing Austin-area gaming companies, Perry - in true Texas spirit - even went as far as to say the industry’s competitive sprit was not unlike that of “Davy Crockett … and those guys at the Alamo.”
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