Village Gamer

A very special starring role has been played in the upcoming tween detective web series, Ruby Skye P.I. The esteemed Dragon Academy joined forces with one of Canada’s most innovative online storytellers – Jill Golick of Story2.OH – to become the first member of the local education community to embrace direct sponsorship of original, responsible and engaging online entertainment for Tweens; one of the world-wide web’s most under-served audiences. Principal Dr. Meg Fox declares the partnership “a wonderful opportunity”, noting the shared sensibilities between the school, and the digital series concept: “Our principal educational goals are to encourage all the things that Ruby Skye cares about too: creativity, freedom of expression, collaboration and commitment to social justice.”

Founded in Toronto’s Yorkville district in 2001, The Dragon Academy is a socratic, museum-based, integrated school revered for valuing rich, challenging and unusual content in its curriculum via lively connections with Toronto’s key cultural institutions. This made it the ideal local sponsor for the equally inspired new form of storytelling featured in the pending, locally created & produced web series, Ruby Skye P.I. The Dragon Academy is heavily featured as a principle location for the series’ action: it is just the sort of school environment to promote the curious, inquisitive and often hilarious sleuthing adventures of the quick-witted, impulsive mystery devotee, sixteen-year old Ruby Skye — a very young would-be detective bent on getting to the bottom of a mysterious email scam which has defrauded a well-meaning but eccentrically naive neighbour.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXn2xsrzot4]

Ruby Skye P.I. is a tween web mystery aimed at kids ages 8 through 14 and is one element of an impressive cross-platform project intended to entertain, engage and educate kids online around the world. Ruby Skye P.I. is the brain-child of Canada’s pioneering transmedia creator, Story2.OH’s Jill Golick (Hailey Hacks, Crushing It, BoyMeetsGrrl) and already represents a dazzling collaboration among community, corporate, and creative partners — all keen to see Canada reach the cutting edge of excellent online content for young people.

The first Ruby Skye P.I. mystery began principal photography at The Dragon Academy and on location around Toronto on August 16th and continues shooting its first mystery, The Spam Scam until September 2nd. Ruby Skye P.I. is one of nine digital web series projects selected for investment by the highly-competitive Canadian Independent Production Fund’s new web series program. Ruby Skye P.I. continues to seek local, national and international partners to fully realize its exciting vision. Interested potential sponsors can contact creator Jill Golick at 416.414.8539.

We’re back after a break over the BC Day long weekend and trying to get back into the swing of things. News out of Toronto this morning is that Virgin Gaming has partnered with Ubisoft to be the online tournament provider for some of the publisher’s most anticipated multiplayer console releases. Leading the charge is Tom Clancy”s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier™, the latest chapter in the award-winning franchise.

“Ubisoft is one of the leading video game publishers in the world and we are thrilled to offer our members the opportunity to compete in some of their best multiplayer console games,” said Rob Segal, CEO of Virgin Gaming. “Virgin Gaming is a unique convergence of social networking, video games and competitive gaming, and we are excited that Ubisoft shares our vision for the platform and its potential.”

“Ubisoft is thrilled to be partnering with Virgin Gaming on its new venture. We have an exciting lineup of multiplayer titles this year that we believe will be a perfect fit for gamers to play and compete against each other in a tournament setting,” said Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America.

Sir Richard Branson unveiled Virgin Gaming to an enthusiastic reception at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The overwhelmingly positive response helped Virgin Gaming to quickly take the industry by storm, being the first online platform for gamers of all skill levels to compete in some of the best games for the biggest prizes. In true Virgin style, Branson kicked things off with dramatic flair, announcing that Virgin Gaming would give away over $1 million in cash and prizes over its first 12 months. Ubisoft headlines a slate of industry partnerships with key publishers and retailers to be announced by Virgin Gaming in the coming months. Additional details on these partnerships will be announced soon.

nextMEDIA has just opened up for 2010 Design Exchange early-bird registration. The conference, which will be held in Toronto this November 29th and 30th, will help you create opportunities for your business by bringing together the highest growth areas of the converging next-generation entertainment marketplace.

Highlights for this fall’s conference include:

* 2 days of learning, strategizing and collaborating across all areas of digital entertainment, including advertising, gaming, TV, mobile, music and publishing.
* Facilitated meetings and networking between established industry leaders and emerging new talent from multiple sectors.
* Sessions, discussions and workshops designed to drive your business forward and provide you with the connections and info you need to stay ahead of your competition.
* Insight into emerging technologies and platforms that can change your business.

Don’t forget that Digital Leisure’s Match Up!, designed exclusively for Nintendo’s DSiWare™ game service is available as of today for only 200 Nintendo points.

Flip, match and…kaboom! – How fast can you find the right set in Match Up!? Whether you’re 4 or 40, Match Up! will have you captive for hours. Reveal shapes, colors and even hidden bonuses with a new take on a childhood favorite. Quick hands and a sharp mind are the only way to beat the clock and disarm the explosive cards riddled throughout. Not quite ready for the explosive action? Then start with the absolutely addictive classic concentration play, and see if you can level up. So come on – get matching! Read the rest of this entry »

Gamer
95 minutes
Rated R
Lionsgate

We went. We saw. We were not disappointed. We weren’t in awe either, but it was still some decent escapist entertainment – just like a video game. It’s not a movie I would recommend for someone who has absolutely no involvement in video games, because much of the movie plot would be lost on them. The good points include the fact that I think they cast their lead characters well. Gerard Butler makes a very good video game hero and Michael C. Hall played a convincing digital media mogul evil end-game boss while Logan Lerman did very well as the tech-geek-MMO-FPS player.

This was a movie which was definitely meant to cater to the typical male gamer crowd as its audience, but the storyline was at least somewhat redeeming. Game world cliches were bountiful in both visual and audio moments, some very subtle, some not so subtle. I’m not sure I like that the token girl gamer got her head blown off so early in one of the levels, either.  At least there was at least one other tepidly strong female character in the movie – and I’m not talking about the female characters portrayed “in game” either.

The writers crammed as much about the gaming world into this movie as they could, and it would be very easy to miss many of the references if one wasn’t paying attention, such as the tea-bagging which occurs early in the movie or the Blade Runner costume which appears later. Then again it’s hard to miss the parallels drawn between what can go on in the gaming world and the real world, such as the waffle eating mega-sized apartment-dwelling male who overly enjoyed controlling a female character in the movie’s parody of Second Life with a “real life” game called Society.

There were many similarities between Gamer and Death Race, and even possibly Condemned. There were some excellent explosions and vehicle wrecks, but the weaponry was fairly basic with one or two upgrades. The story also brought in some interesting concepts in order to flesh out the evil digital media mogul’s dastardly plan. Without spoiling the end of the movie for those who may not yet have seen it, there is one final subtle message soon after the “boss battle” which involves some of the boss’ henchies but before the hero drives off into Game Over land with his rescued damsels in distress.

Gamer isn’t a movie which we’ll be rushing out to purchase when it’s released on DVD, but I’m sure it will take its place in gamer lore along with Hackers and War Games. We will probably catch it when it hits the small screen on Movie Central, just to see what other subleties we missed.