Animation/Gaming : Buzz

The June 6 opening of Maryland Live at Arundel Mills mall got plenty of attention in local newspapers and TV outlets. 

It also caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal, which found the 4,750-slot machine venue unusual for its being on the site of a suburban shopping mall.

"Malls have become popular additions to casino complexes in Atlantic City and Las Vegas ever since Simon Property Group, which owns Arundel Mills, opened The Forum Shops as an extension to Caesars Palace on the Last Vegas Strip in 1992," the Journal writes in the article. 

The opening of Maryland's third slots parlor was marked by traffic backups on Interstate 295, celebrity-chef Bobby Flay -- on hand for Bobby's Burger Palace -- and feuding between executives in Anne Arundel and Prince George's Counties amid talks of a casino at National Harbor.

Baltimore County Schools students will soon have their game faces on -- their game developers' face, that is. Baltimore County Schools says it will add the new curriculum using serious games.

Here's an excerpt:

"Along with Learning Port strategies, the public school district has developed a program called L.i.V.E., or Learning in a Virtual Environment, which includes a "virtual high school" and a game development contest that will encourage students to create games based around topics related to science, technology, engineering, and math.

Baltimore, Maryland-area schools hope that the program will both generate interest in the sciences and prepare students for technical careers later in their lives."

Read the entire article here.