Village Gamer

VANCOUVER – Fit Brains today announced a new strategic partnership with Prevention.com, the top online health magazine site. The partnership will expand Prevention’s game offerings to include the engaging and scientifically developed brain fitness games by Fit Brains.

With more than 1.7 million unique visitors, Prevention.com is one of the top online destinations for women seeking health, fitness and beauty tips and advice. The new partnership will add to the brain training games channel of Prevention.com, offering a greater variety. Users can access the online brain exercise routine by visiting www.prevention.com/braingames.
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Latest addition will create one of Canada’s leading video game companies

Toronto – SilverBirch Inc. (TSX-V: SVB), a leading digital media company, today announced that it has signed its merger agreement with Red Mile Entertainment, Inc. Red Mile is a California-based video game publisher with worldwide rights to established brands and intellectual properties including the “Heroes” flight combat franchise. Heroes of the Pacific sold over 600,000 copies and the sequel, Heroes Over Europe is expected to ship in March of 2009.

“We are on track in building a multi-platform world-wide video game publishing presence,” commented Derek van der Plaat, CEO of SilverBirch. “Red Mile is expected to contribute meaningful revenues and cashflow in this fiscal year.”

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Casual games designed and produced for “Happiness Factory” digital campaign perform well in inaugural competition

Shift Control Media’s original branded games for the Coca-Cola “Happiness Factory” online environment won a Silver Pencil in the gaming category at Tuesday night’s first-ever One Show Entertainment Awards.
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Toronto – Guitar Hype is the new Web 2.0 Guitar website which provides guitar enthusiasts with a more effective, interactive interface, designed to increase their exposure to the world of guitars.

The development of a new guitar website based on Web 2.0 model with video upload capabilities has been underway since September 16, 2008. The website, called Guitar Hype, will provide guitar enthusiasts with a platform to showcase their talents and increase their exposure to the media and the general public. It will also provide both the up loaders and the audience with an attractive way to watch unique, user-produced guitar videos and songs without the hassle of actively searching for the content.

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This past Saturday we had the pleasure of attending Rock For A Cause, a Rock Band tournament hosted by the EA Canada campus in Burnaby. Approximately 50 teams paid

Juicy

$100.00 each to participate in the tournament which saw them compete in any one of four categories – Corporate, Competitive, Social and Under 18 – with proceeds going to support local Make A Wish programmes.

The top teams from the Corporate, Competitive and Social categories will be going head to head in the event finals which will take place November 6 at The Roxy on Granville Street. Judging from the calibre of true Rock Band talent we witnessed on Saturday, the competition will be fierce.

Bull

I think that without a doubt the most lively and hotly contested category was Corporate, with teams from Bull, Houser & Tupper LLP, Electronic Arts, Active Networks, Next Level Games, The Flight Centre, Blender Media and Club Vibes. On November 6th, we’ll see who the better gamers are – the media geeks or the legal geeks as Team Bull takes on Blender Media’s Laser Hawks.

The entire event was great – from the volunteers who worked long hours and soothed star-powered egos to the gamers in their often clever – often outrageous – costumes. So many teams put so much effort into their whole competition effort that they all deserve some type of recognition. I do have to

Mr. Goulet

say that one of my favourite performers of the day was “Robert Goulet” who gave the audience some entirely original renditions of more than a few rock classics. Another favourite was the all-female group “Juicy” – a few friends who enjoy getting together and playing Rock Band.

It will be a real experience to see how far the tournament’s finalists are willing to push their performances when they take the stage at The Roxy next month. How much more cowbell can Ridonkahyooj put into a song? How much more charismatic can Prizmatick get? Are Bull’s practice hours billable? We’ll just have to wait and see, but in the meantime take a look at our gallery of event photos – with more to be added. We did shoot some live video as well, which we will be adding soon.

All-New Cops and Robbers Mode Highlights Online Multiplayer Experience

Vancouver’s Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today unveiled the online modes in Need for Speed™ Undercover, including the all-new multiplayer mode, Cops and Robbers. This visceral team-based mode pits two teams of four players against each other in the ultimate battle-royale.

Robbers must pick up the package and take it to the drop-off point while the cops attempt to prevent the delivery. Each game consists of two rounds giving the players the chance to play as cops and robbers. Up to eight players will also be able to prove their driving prowess in sprint and circuit multiplayer race modes.*

“High-intensity police chases are a signature component of Undercover and this extends to the multiplayer experience as well,” said Bill Harrison, Executive Producer at Black Box. “The cops and robbers mode will thrust players into adrenaline-pumping battles as they utilize the Heroic Driving Engine to deliver or prevent the delivery of the package to the safe house.”

Need for Speed Undercover also features a diverse soundtrack of over 30 songs from artists like The Prodigy, Tricky and Justice. To hear samplings of each song please visit www.ea.com/eatrax/.

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KOEI, recognized worldwide as the premier brand of strategy and action games, today announced that Prey the Stars™ for Nintendo DS is available at retailers throughout North America.

Prey the Stars serves up an incredible world where nearly anything from food to whole buildings can be devoured. Players must bite, lick, and suck their way to victory as one of the game’s four insatiable and customizable creatures: GABU, BARI, CHUCHU, and PERO. The more the characters eat, the bigger and more voracious their stomachs become. It’s an engaging and addictive game for anyone with a taste for fun!

About Prey the Stars
Prey the Stars lets players indulge without the guilt as they try to eat everything in sight. Each of the games colorfully-themed stages are cleared by devouring as much as possible before time runs out. The player with the highest score at the end of the stage is the winner. Each player scores points by eating and by sucking in “spirits” which are hidden in some objects. The bigger the item, the higher the score!

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The US Attorney’s office for California, Eastern District today announced the official sentencing of Gregory C. King, who had pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of transmitting code to cause damage to a protected computer. The charges were laid against Mr. King after four years of investigation in regards to his repeated attacks against KillaNet Technology Ltd.’s web servers as well as for a shorter attack period against the web site known as Castle Cops. KillaNet Technology Ltd. is the parent company of Village Gamer and Digital Storm LAN. Along with Mr. King’s two year Federal prison sentence is a restitution order of over $69 000.00 USD for damages. Mr. King does have a 60 day period in which to address the restitution order with the Court, after which time it will become an official order. The Assistant US Attorney in charge of the case, Matthew Segal, thanked KillaNet’s staff for the amount of work which was done in providing evidence and documentation to support the case.

Everyone here at KillaNet Technology is very grateful to those who worked so hard to see this case through – the FBI agents in Sacramento, and of course Matthew Segal and his team in the US Attorney’s office, also in Sacramento.

Official Press Release (PDF)

The Rock Out For a Cause first ever Rock Band Tournament takes the stage today at Electronic Arts’ Burnaby Campus. According to Event Chair Amir Novin, a full house of competitors is expected. This means that approximately 400 Rock Band hopefuls will be competing for the coveted Best Rock Band In B.C. Trophy (and $5 000.00 worth of other prizes).

Teams will play three songs each, in order to build up their base score, which will be followed by head-to-head competition between the groups. Each group will choose a song for the round, the winners of each round advancing until the finalists are decided. There are four different categories: Competitive, Social, Corporate and Under 18. Competitors in the first three categories must be 19 years of age and up, as the Championship Finals will be taking place on November 6 at The Roxy nightclub on Granville Street.

Each team has paid a $100.00 entry fee to compete, and proceeds from this event will be going to support the BC & Yukon Make A Wish Foundation Chapter. Tournament prizes include:

• 2 tickets for an all inclusive 7 day trip to your choice of Cuba, Dominican Republic or Mexico from Flight Center.
• Tom Lee’s complete Rock Band Ensemble (Mic & stand vocal practice amp, Electric Guitar & Amp, Electric Bass Guitar & Amp and Drum Kit.)
• 2 tickets to a Canucks game, night at the Comfort Inn, dinner at Doolins, a Gift Certificate and VIP night at the Roxy after the Game. (If you’re lucky, a few of the Canucks will party with you).
• State of the art Steve Nash Health Club 3 month membership passes including personal training and other Steve Nash Sports Club merchandise.

Village Gamer will be attending this Tournament, so watch for a full Preliminaries report later this weekend.

Creative forces behind the highest rated strategy game* of all time reveal new private funding investment

Vancouver – Smoking Gun Interactive Inc., an independent premier video game studio announced today that it has recently finalized a multi-year, multi-million dollar financing agreement with private investors to expand the studio and the development of an as-of-yet undisclosed new property.

“This injection of private capital allows us to continue to control our own destiny, and deliver on our vision of taking interactive entertainment in new directions, and redefining what tomorrow’s games can be”, said John Johnson CEO and Creative Director of Smoking Gun Interactive, “We’ve expanded our core team with some exceptional talent, and with this financial expansion we’re now looking forward to welcoming new faces to our team and new partners to our business, as we become a leading force in independent games development”.
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