Village Gamer

Kelowna – Children who visit the snow-covered virtual world of Club Penguin™ can put the time they spend online to better use than ever this holiday season thanks to a unique giving program that launches this week.

The third annual Coins for Change Campaign, which runs from December 11-21, 2009, allows the children who visit Club Penguin to donate the virtual coins they earn playing games in the virtual world to support a cause that matters to them.

Players can choose to support kids who are sick, kids who are poor or the environment. At the end of the campaign, the players’ donations serve as votes to determine how a $1M contribution will be divided to fund projects being conducted by charitable organizations selected by Disney Online Studios Canada.

“Since we launched Coins for Change in 2007, we’ve been blown away by the passion our players display for getting involved and doing their part to affect change and make the world a better place,” says Lane Merrifield, one of Club Penguin’s co-founders and executive vice president of Disney Online Studios Canada and Disney Online. “With millions of children and families in more than 190 countries now enjoying Club Penguin in English, Portuguese, French and Spanish, I think our audience will embrace the opportunity to make a difference through Coins for Change this year like never before.”

Players can donate virtual coins at multiple locations around the island of Club Penguin. For the first time this year they can also place a personal donation booth in their virtual igloo and host fundraising parties for their penguin friends, or attend benefit concerts at the Lighthouse. In addition, this year’s campaign will include suggestions on things children can do in their own communities to help others.

“With so many kids from around the world playing on Club Penguin, we want to continue to encourage that sense of community online and offline, and really get them thinking about their role as true global citizens who have the power to help others both where they live and around the world,” adds Merrifield.

Club Penguin is one of the largest and fastest-growing virtual worlds for children with a reputation for providing fun for kids and peace of mind for parents. Word filters and live moderators monitor chat and activity on the site and work to prevent the sharing of inappropriate or personally identifiable information.

Club Penguin is free to play, however special features such as front-of-the-line access to game features, exclusive parties and opportunities to customize your penguin and igloo require a membership.

The Salvation Army Keeps Up With The Times

Toronto – This past weekend, at Santa Shuffle Runs in 35 cities nationwide, The Salvation Army announced the launch of a new text message giving program, offering donors a cash-free way to contribute to this year’s Christmas Campaign. For the first-time ever, Canadians can contribute a $5.00 donation to The Salvation Army by texting the word HOPE to 45678 from any Rogers Wireless or Bell Mobility phone. The proceeds of each text donation will support The Salvation Army’s year-round work to serve more than 1.5 million people with critical living needs.

“As the largest non-governmental direct provider of social services in Canada, we are thrilled to introduce text message donations as a way to give back,” said Graham Moore, Territorial Secretary for Public Relations and Development for The Salvation Army in Canada. “The mobile giving program was launched at our annual Santa Shuffle, in 35 cities across Canada.”

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Edmonton – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., today announced Gift of the Yeti, a fun and fast-paced social game for people of all ages. Available now as a free Facebook app (Facebook account required, free to play on Facebook only), the game has been developed at BioWare by the studio’s new R&D group, BioWare Labs™. Gamers who play Gift of the Yeti will receive a $10 discount* off the purchase of the dark, heroic fantasy Dragon Age™: Origins. Additionally, BioWare will donate up to $10,000 to the Child’s Play charity, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing holiday gifts to children in need.

In the Gift of the Yeti game, players have a chance to help a sick Santa by delivering gifts on his behalf. Facebook friends can compete to beat each others’ high scores. The backstory of the Yeti will unfold through a clever Advent day calendar, with each day revealing a new piece of the storyline. Gift of the Yeti also allows players to choose from a variety of different gifts that they can send to their friends to invite them to save the day for Santa, and support the Child’s Play organization.

“Gift of the Yeti is BioWare’s digital holiday card to its fans. We use social networking as a powerful tool to connect meaningfully with our tremendous fan community,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare and the Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group at EA. “Gift of the Yeti is a fun, engaging holiday present from BioWare to our fans, the first in a series of compelling social experiences from BioWare Labs.”

“Child’s Play draws the bulk of our support from video gamers and the games industry, and we are honored to be part of BioWare’s Gift of the Yeti campaign,” said Kristin Lindsay, Program Coordinator, Child’s Play. “Now gamers can help support pediatric hospitals in the US, Canada and worldwide simply by playing the game and having fun! When gamers give back, it makes a big difference.”

For every play of Gift of the Yeti, BioWare will donate a minimum of a penny, up to $10,000 to the Child’s Play charity. Child’s Play is a community-based charity grown and nurtured from the video game culture and industry, distributing toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals worldwide. Originally supported by Penny Arcade, more information about Child’s Play can be found online at the Child’s Play website.

* Value of discount will be deducted from total order at time of purchase. Valid for new purchases of Dragon Age: Origins of equal or greater value only. Discount is valid only on purchases from the EA Store. This offer expires on January 1, 2010, and cannot be combined with any other offer, Gift Card, rebate or other discount coupons. Valid only in the U.S. and CANADA. Limit one offer per person. Subject to availability. Customers are responsible for shipping, handling and applicable sales tax. Offer may not be substituted, exchanged, sold or redeemed for cash or other goods or services. Void where prohibited, taxed or restricted by law.

The Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) has released five new videos which explain step-by-step how to utilize the built-in safety and parental controls for the PC, Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360. Danielle Parr and Marc Saltzman take parents through a quick and easy step-by-step interactive guide on how to use the built-in features to ensure your children enjoy a safe and fun gaming experience. In the Introduction video, Danielle and Marc discuss console placement and choosing appropriate games for your kids and family.

Vancouver Event Reminders For This Week:

ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver and the National Film Board present an Evening with Chris Landreth tonight (and this afternoon) at the VanCity Theatre. Tickets are free, and there are still some available at the door.

There will also be a Get Animated event this Sunday at the Vancouver Public Library main branch:

NFB Co-presentation with Reel to Real Film Festival
Vancouver Public Library 350 West Georgia Street
Info: 604 331-3663

Sunday · November 1, 2009
1:00 pm: Family Program — Kids & Youth Program
2:00 pm: Kids’ Animation Workshop — Scott Kiborn
3:30 pm: Family Program — Kids & Youth Program

Ghoulash Bash takes place tomorrow night (October 29) at the Metropole Pub on Abbott Street. Come out and enjoy the Halloween fun as the Game Industry Gives Back – dress up as your favourite retro game character and help raise funds for the Vancouver Regional Food Bank Society. Take part in a silent auction, buy tickets to win passes to events such as Game Design Expo 2010, Casual Connect Conferences and Games For Change, plus much more. Admission is by donation – either non-perishable food or cash. See the Ghoulash Bash web site for more information.

The Masters of Digital Media programme is holding an open house at the Great Northern Way Campus, also on October 29th, from 5-7pm. You are invited to mix and mingle with current faculty, students and soon-to-be graduates at the Open House. There will be samples of student work, facility tours and information about the program, scholarships and program admission requirements.

Thursday night is apparently a very busy night in Vancouver. There will be a Drupal meet-up at Appnovation Technologies ( L200-560 Beatty Street) for the Vancouver League of Drupalers beginning at 6:30pm. This month’s feature presentation: Information Architecture for Drupal – A User Based Approach with Vanessa Turke. Implementing a fresh design or new CMS without giving some significant thought to the organization of the actual content of the site can be a costly mistake “ a new look or a new system is not a fix for a poorly-structured website with boring content!” Vanessa discuss hows how some careful planning at the beginning of the process can help. There will also be a case study on the newly relaunched Vancouver Observer by Dave Egan and discussion regarding holding a Vancouver Drupal Camp in 2010.

Vancouver – This just in from New Media BC – Fusion Forum organizers New Media BC are pleased to announce that with the support of the National Research Council Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) and Bootup Entrepreneurial Society, all entrepreneurs can participate at the Fusion Forum for no additional cost above the regular attendee price of $100. All companies attending the Fusion Entrepreneur Boot Camp held on November 5 as well as the twenty selected to pitch to top tier investors during the Fusion Venture Forum on November 12, will pay this same affordable rate as conference attendees.

“Our community has a history of producing some of the most notable digital media companies in the world,” says Maura Rodgers, Executive Director of Bootup Entrepreneurial Society. “We challenge our best entrepreneurs to step forward and show the international investors what our community is made of.”

The package includes full access to the event, including networking lunch and reception. Presenting companies will also have free access to “Entrepreneur Bootcamp” training sessions, presentation coaching, and a chance to pitch at the Forum on November 12th and potentially have one-on-one meetings with visiting investors from Silicon Valley.

“New Media BC is thrilled to have the support of NRC-IRAP and Bootup Entrepreneurial Society to provide such great value to BC and Canadian entrepreneurs.” said Rochelle Grayson, Interim President at New Media BC. “We have lined up first-class investors and industry experts, and we are looking forward to showcasing the best digital media talent and opportunities BC and Canada has to offer.”

The deadline for registrations has been extended to Friday, October 30th to allow entrepreneurs to take advantage of this special rate. Reimbursements will be made for companies who have already signed up at the full rate.

New Media BC also announced that Fusion’s “Best in Show” judges will be Tom Duterme, Corporate Development Manager at Google Inc., Saeed Amidi, CEO/President and Founder of Plug and Play Tech Center and Steve Hnatiuk, Founder and Partner at Yaletown Venture Partners. The “Best in Show” presenter will receive paid airfare to San Francisco and three month placement at the prestigious Plug and Play Tech Centre accelerator in Sunnyvale, California.

Studio staff at Rockstar Vancouver will be taking part in the local Movember movement, as Rockstar Games is proud to be a major sponsor of Movember, the annual month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer. Grow a rugged moustache and send us a photo by the end of November for a chance to be immortalized as a character in Rockstar’s next epic – Red Dead Redemption (in development at Rockstar San Diego).

Historically men have been very poor at looking after their health, especially when compared with the efforts of women. Men still access health services less frequently and when they do visit the doctor, they typically present late, thereby denying themselves the chance of early detection and treatment of common diseases.

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Vancouver – The producers of Ghoulash Bash have announced a change to ticket prices. Guests are now required to bring a donation of two essential food items to the venue, and no longer need to purchase a ticket for admission.

Additional contributions of cash or food items can be made at the event, with prizes awarded to high donors. Prizes include tickets to Casual Connect (both local and international), Vancouver GDX, and the Games 4 Change conferences. A list of acceptable food donations can be found at on the Ghoulash Bash web site.

“We eliminated ticket prices in order to reduce overhead and increase the amount of donated food,” said the head organizer of the event, Ryan Arndt. “Ghoulash Bash will still include video game and costume contests and provide guests with the chance to network with members of the Vancouver Game industry.”

The event is scheduled for Thursday, October 29 and the Metropole Pub (320 Abbott at Hastings).

For more information about Ghoulash Bash, contact Ryan Arndt at 778.988.7780.

Xbox Canada will be in Montreal this weekend (October 17) at Parc Jean-Drapeau and in Toronto on October 24 at The Better Living Centre on the CNE Grounds. Why? For the Forza Motor Sport 3 Drive Your Dreams promotional event, of course.

Event Details:

Be one of the first to experience the thrill of the world’s most exotic and exquisite cars as you take the wheel of more than 400 automobiles on over 100 renowned real-world tracks and exotic road courses from around the globe.

You’ll play right next to the most beloved cars featured in the game, watch car artists bring design to life before your very eyes, check out the gallery of performance upgrades, and even have your own shot at learning the ropes on the Autocross Demonstration, Instruction, & Ride Experience* with the Canadian Automobile Sports Club and Club Auto-sport Des Laurentides.

Come escape into the world of car culture and you could win** the ultimate DRIVE YOUR DREAMS experience that could get you behind the wheel for an exhilarating full day on the track, plus the ultimate Xbox 360 Racing Package.**

*Must have valid Driver’s License and sign applicable waivers to participate in the Autocross
** NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Contest is open to all legal residents of Canada. There is one (1) grand prize (ARV $3,660) and ten (10) secondary prizes (ARV $89.99) available to be won. Skill testing question required. Contest closes at 11:59pm on October 24th, 2009.

DIGS has announced another Keynote Speaker. Last week the event announced that Victor Lucas would be the Keynote Speaker for the November 3rd Dinner, and today they have announced that Ubisoft Toronto and Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat will be the Keynote Speaker at the conference proper. DIGS takes place this November 3rd and 4th in London, Ontario.

If you are a student and have been sitting on a game design, you can enter the DIGS Game Competition and vie for $10 000.00 and more in prizing. The entry deadline has been extended to October 26th, so register now!

If you are in Vancouver, don’t forget about Ghoulash Bash, our local fundraiser for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society. Ghoulash Bash is happening at the Metropole on Abbott this coming October 29th. The theme is Retro-Reanimated, ticket prices are very reasonable, and it’s a chance to get your ghoul on. Ghoulash Bash is an approved Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society event, so tax receipts can be issued for qualified donations. The event is still looking for swag and sponsorship. Please see the Bash site for more details.

Don’t forget that the Taco Bell Fill Up On Game Gear tour will be in Kelowna tonight, Surrey on Friday night and then in Coquitlam on Saturday. Get your entries in for all of the awesome game gear that Taco Bell is giving away, including the Emporer game chair. Gotta have it. We’ll be meeting up with Craig and Ryan this weekend to check out the Tour Truck and the prizes – hopefully this west coast weather will improve some before they arrive.

The Montreal Game Summit is gearing up for November 16th and 17th, and now you can customize your agenda. You can even post it on Facebook, email it to yourself and others, or just print it for easy reference.

On Day 1, Yoichi Wada, President and CEO of Square Enix will be presenting a Keynote Address about Fostering Cultural Diversity in Game Development, while Heather Chaplin, Professor of Journalism at The New School will be delivering a Keynote Address on The Guy Culture. Keynotes for Day 2 include Tools and Testing in LittleBigPlanet: Consequences of a user-generated world which will be presented by Paul Holden, Lead Architect for Media Molecule and Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve will present on Games Entertainment in the Age of Connectivity.

Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Flickr, reportedly the most popular photo sharing site in the world, will be the Keynote Speaker at the 3rd Fusion Venture Forum 2009, presented by New Media BC on November 12 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Butterfield is a firm supporter of Vancouver’s Digital Media industry and was part of the original team that grew Flickr from a tiny Vancouver based operation to a worldwide phenomenon. He and his co-founder Catherine Fake sold Flickr to Yahoo reportedly for more than $30 million, barely a year after launching it in February 2004. The original plan had been to create an online game that never quite took off. Flickr remains one of the most noted digital media success stories from this region.

Butterfield will open Fusion ’09, the only Venture Forum devoted to Digital Media in Western Canada, by sharing his success story with some 150-200 attendees, mostly Canadian founders with early to growth stage ventures. Twenty of Canada’s hottest digital media companies will present their latest ventures to top tier investors from North America, including heavyweights Google Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and SoftTech VC. Deadline to register for Fusion’s Bootcamp and Conference is Oct 20, 2009.

Gaming Gives Back: Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society and Vancouver Video Game Industry Team Up to Hold Halloween Fundraiser Ghoulash Bash

Vancouver – This October 29th from 7 PM to midnight, the Metropole Pub at 320 Abbott Street will be hosting Vancouver’s first annual “Ghoulash Bash“, a Halloween fundraiser to
benefit Vancouver’s hungry.

The event is organized by a group of game industry volunteers on behalf of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society (GVFBS) and is sponsored by corporate donations from members of Vancouver’s video game industry. It is being promoted as an opportunity to raise money for and awareness of the GVFBS, as a chance for Vancouver’s game industry to give back to the community, and as an opportunity for members of industry and interested parties to network with others in Vancouver’s diverse video game industry.

The theme of this year’s Ghoulash Bash is “Retro ReAnimated”. Guests are encouraged to come dressed up as their favourite “retro” video game character – zombified. Activities will include a retro game costume contest, prize giveaways, retro game competitions and
networking opportunities. Party-goers will have opportunities to win prizes contributed by video game companies, including 1-hour mentorship sessions donated by influential members of the game industry, such as Genius Factor Games‘ Ted Nugent and Ross Young,
Cowbell Games‘ James Johnson as well as Industry veteran Adrian Crook.

Guests will be able to buy tickets at their desired level of contribution. Higher-priced tickets will come with prizes, special offers, or additional drink tickets. Corporate sponsorship will also be graded, with higher contributors being offered special billing and
other benefits. Participating companies are encouraged to form employee teams to compete with each other to see who is able to raise the most money.

For more information about the Ghoulash Bash, contact Ryan Arndt at 778.988.7780, email at ryan@ghoulashbash.com or visit the event’s web site. More details will be announced soon!

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of Canada’s National Digital Media Day, when those Canadians who work in the Digital Media industry celebrate the innovation and importance of our contributions to the Canadian and Global economy. No other industry is able to touch so many people in such a wide variety of fields as that of Digital Media. From gaming to education to every day technology, Canadians around the world can be proud of the levels of creativity and success achieved by our Digital Media industry.

If you are in Vancouver, you can join local industry members at Appy Hour which is taking place at The Diamond in Gastown. Following Appy Hour will be the6pm flash mob dance party at the corner of Powell and Carrall Streets. Remember to wear your favourite red shirt!

Another upcoming event which is still searching for an affordable and appropriate venue is Ghoulash Bash. We are currently investigating a few possibilities, but so far nothing has been confirmed. Who would’ve thought that trying to find a cool place for a Hallowe’en fund raiser for the Greater Vancouver Regional Food Banks would’ve been such a challenge. We are also looking for sponsorships, swag and twitter auction items. This Hallowe’en be a part of the first Ghoulash Bash – because everybody hungers.

Don’t forget to grab your ticket for next Tuesday’s Aliens Among Us – the Visual Effects Behind District 9 speaker session, presented by the ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver Chapter and sponsored by Vancouver Film School and Annex|Pro. Double up on your savings for local SIGGRAPH events by becoming a member – you will get incredible value for your membership.

Congratulations are also due to our WCG Team Canada members who earned 1 gold and 3 silver medals out of a possibility of 5 medals at the WCG 2009 Pan-American Championship, which was held September 12-13 in Guadalajara, Mexico. This incredible performance put Canada in 2nd place in the overall standings just ahead of Brazil. Mexico finished on top, taking advantage of their large team and fielding about three times the number of participants than the other invited countries.

Canada’s gold came after a brilliant performance by Max Rawal and Kevin Garcia in Halo 3. Despite not having played together since their victory in Germany at the WCG 2008 Grand Finals last November, the current WCG world champions had no difficulty adding another gold medal to their collection. They each received $1000 USD for their win.

Daniel Piacampo (Guitar Hero), Alan Joseph (Virtua Fighter 5), and Brandon Schlichting (Warcraft 3) each received $700 USD for their silver medals. It was Schlichting’s first appearance in a WCG major tournament.

In the list of oddly cool web sites I’ve visited lately is the Candy Wrapper Museum. For those who want to take a nostalgic walk down Candy Lane, this site offers a look back at both the mundane and totally weird products which have been marketed to satisfy the sweet tooth everywhere. Although the site is not Canadian, there are even some Canadian candies featured.

I speak to this from my own experience, and hope that it may be helpful to other audio designers and game aficionados all around.

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Audio is an integral part of a video game. In fact, even a simple score can create a very large impact. Take the classic: Space Invaders. The music is 4 tones, but is considered by many to have one of the most successful scores.

1978
Space Invaders
Midway imports Space Invaders from Taito. A great example of simple, effective sound design, Space Invaders owes a large part of its appeal to its menacing, paranoia-inducing soundtrack. Not music per se, the thumping audio track actually accelerates in tempo as the enemy invaders draw nearer (and move faster). The effect: sweat, panic, and increased blood pressure in a generation of gamers.
From “A History of Video Game Music” on http://www.gamespot.com/features/6092391/p-2.html
As the music speeds up, so too does the heart rate of the player; this is so much so, that if one plays Space Invaders with the TV on mute,  s/he will find the game to be much easier. (give it a try! PLAY HERE).
Clearly audio has a great role to play, even on the most basic levels. Audio plays a very visceral role in game immersion and great audio will enhance your game, bringing it to the next level.

So now that the WHY is covered, we will move on to the HOW.

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Using an in-house audio provider will surely create a tighter product as the audio designer is involved in and surrounded by all aspects of the game. Of course, budgets do not always allow for in-house audio, and so many game companies choose to farm out the audio to a wide slew of providers of which I am one.

From environmental sound design and SFX to custom compositions and interactive scores, there are many types of audio assets that will add to a game. What all these types of audio have in common is they are all best approached through the five guidelines below.

1) Bring the audio designer into the game development cycle early.

Audio is often thought of as something that can be dropped in last minute, and as an audio person myself, I can often tell this to be the case when playing the finalized game. If the audio provider was brought in early, s/he can give many creative ideas of how to use the audio in a game to not only react to the game, but even advance the story (such as interactive music that gives feedback to the player letting them know they are moving in the right direction). If the audio designer is made aware of the story and game mechanics nearer to the beginning of the production cycle, a more interactive, interesting, and polished sound track can be created.

2) Relate some examples of what you like via links/samples.

Producers, programmers, artists and audio designers are not always speaking the same “language.” If a producer is looking for a sound to be more “sad“, I can easily modify the sound to be so; yet, descriptions are not often that simple. The complications arise when words of more depth are thrown around, or

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Toronto – In an extraordinary example of the power of self-organizing online groups, the Toronto technology, digital marketing and social media communities have come together once again through their Twitter streams to create what looks set to be one of the biggest and most exciting summer gatherings of 2009.

hoHOTo, a party in support of Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, takes place Tuesday, August 18, from 7pm until late at the Suite 106 & WetBar in downtown Toronto. More than 300 people have signed up to attend so far, drawn by the appeal of a night of DJs, interactive media, summer festivities, and the chance to meet the real world friends behind their online avatars. Pulled together over the course of a few weeks, with all organization and promotion being run via Twitter and email messages, hoHOTo was inspired by a small group of volunteer organizers who wanted to do something to help the hungry.

“It all began on Twitter. One tweet started it all,” commented Corey Reid, one of the hoHOTo organizers. “The thing that strikes me is that it is a community project with no one leading the charge. It happened in December organically with the right people with the right skills and passion to make it happen. And the same can be said for the summer edition.”

On average, there are over 85,000 monthly client visits to food banks in the GTA, 35% of whom are children. The money and food generated from this project will help Daily Bread continue the fight against hunger by providing food and resources to those in need, mobilizing greater support, and creating social change to reduce poverty through research, education and advocacy. Read the rest of this entry »