As the video game industry continues its exponential growth, software and game platform developers like Sim Ops Studios, a startup by former Carnegie Mellon students, are thriving in Pennsylvania. In fact, the state's thriving entertainment technology industry is manifest in CMU's Entertainment Technology Center, where faculty and students are working on projects ranging from Wii-centered workout games for children, to virtual reality interfaces and social networks in science centers, to helping the Australian National Railway Museum develop interactive exhibits. In the capitol city, the newly created Center for Advanced Entertainment & Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University is working with CMU on a patented speech recognition software project.

In September 2008, the ETC hosted the prestigious 7th International Conference on Entertainment Computing at CMU, where the industry's top researchers and developers gathered from across the globe to commiserate on the future of entertainment technology--a future that is indeed looking bright in Pennsylvania.