Now in its third year, the National STEM Video Game Challenge is a competition among middle school and high school kids who design their own video games.

FORBES: Sesame Workshop Wants Your Kid to Design Video Games

Now, eight years later, New Orleans is at the forefront of video game development, putting the fun-loving city in competition with major gaming hotspots like Austin, San Francisco, Toronto, and Quebec.

FORBES: Gameloft Studio Settles in New Orleans, Fuels A Growing Industry

While 2K Sports dominates the NBA basketball video game space with its NBA 2K11, it has faced serious competition from Sony Computer Entertainment on the virtual baseball diamond over the years.

FORBES: Connect