Village Gamer

Voice over personality extraordinaire, Marc Graue of Marc Graue Voice Over Recording Studios in Burbank, never disappoints when he lectures on the industry renowned Voice Over Experts Podcast presented by Voices.com. As the owner of the oldest voice over studios in Burbank, CA, Graue knows more than a thing or two about the business of voice acting and how to prepare for success, giving his clients the “best of both worlds”.

In Marc Graue’s most recent podcast episode, “How To Get a Callback From an Audition“, listeners learn how to nail an audition by thinking fast on their feet. Graue encourages voice over talent to visualize their characters and to come as close as possible to the description of what’s being asked of them in an audition situation, even if the description provided doesn’t make much sense.

Braintracks Audio owner, voice over coach and business advisor, Nancy Wolfson, dispenses some choice tips promoting self-esteem for voice actors and creative professionals in need of affirmation and hearing the simple reality spoken aloud that they are indeed, enough. An excerpt from one of Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino’s teleseminars in their Break Into VoiceOver series, Wolfson’s “You Are Enough” focuses on how training and self-discovery will help people to realize that through proper training, their gifts, style and unique voice will see them through. Wolfson empowers and helps to verbally banish the “fear voice” that often holds people back, encouraging her listeners to get some game on, be true to their sound and remain authentic to achieve success.

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Waterloo – Research in Motion has announced an agreement to acquire Chalk Media Corp. (TSXV:CKM) for $23.1 million in cash. RIM also said Thursday it is lending the Vancouver-based mobile-media software maker $2.2 million to provide working capital until the deal is completed. Chalk Media developed Mobile Chalkboard, which creates and deploys media-rich content delivery to RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones. The technology has been “embraced by large corporate and government organizations that have deployed the BlackBerry platform and will provide a powerful addition to RIM’s portfolio of products and services for enterprise customers,” Research In Motion stated.

RIM is offering 14.2 cents per share for Chalk Media, which last traded at 4.5 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange, with a 52-week range between 24.5 cents and two cents. RIM, whose latest quarterly balance sheet included a cash hoard of US$1.1 billion, said the takeover offer has been accepted by Chalk Media insiders owning 20.9 per cent of the company.
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Halifax – Leading kids and family entertainment specialist DECODE Entertainment, a production subsidiary of DHX Media, is bringing two new series with its Singapore partner, Scrawl
Studios, to the Asia Television Forum. Launching to buyers at the ATF is Clang Invasion. The (26×22’ or 52×11’) animated series is a fast-paced sci-fi comedy about the adventures of a dysfunctional crew of alien robots who crash-land in the backyard of siblings Daisy and Robin.

The series has been developed by Scrawl Studios and in co-production with DECODE Entertainment, YTV, Hong Kong’s Agogo Entertainment Ltd. and the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA). Making its debut at the ATF is a new animated series in development, RPG High (working title), the second Canadian-Singapore collaboration between the two companies. Aimed at 8-12 year olds, RPG High (52×11’) is a new action comedy series with a visual style inspired by video gaming. The show is about high school life for video game characters and centres on the growing pains of four friends as they try to be the greatest game characters ever.

Beth Stevenson, Executive Producer at DECODE Entertainment said, “We are excited to be working with these renowned companies for a second series. We think RPG High’s mix of action and comedy partnered with the universal appeal of video game characters will resonate with all audiences.”
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Vancouver – Movisphere, a virtual world games arcade developed by students of the Masters of Digital Media (MDM) Program in collaboration with Telefonica, won top honours in the “Best New Business Opportunity” Category at Telefonica’s Second Annual Research Fair, held in November. More than 60 entries were received from Telefonica’s Research and Development Centres around the world.

Movisphere earned the award for its multiplatform virtual world arcade. Based on a microtransactional model, the platform will enable third party developers to upload multi-player games to an environment where users can play them on either PC or mobile device.

Based in Spain, Telefonica is a leading telecommunications provider with more than 245 million customers in 25 countries. Telefonica actively encourages and supports innovation through initiatives such as the Research Fair where the best new ideas in Internet, mobile technology, videoconferencing, P2P, TV, 3D Visualization, e-Health and other technologies are presented and judged. More than 800 of its top executives, directors and senior managers participated in this year’s event.
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Toronto – Are you an Innovator? Profile your innovative technology-based product or service with key companies, investors and other market participants at CIX – The Canadian Innovation Exchange.

CIX 2009 returns March 3 & 4, 2009 in Toronto. Entrepreneurs, innovators, investors from Canada and the US, strategists and key market participants will come together to help innovation and entrepreneurship thrive, and to propel the economy into its next growth cycle.

20 carefully selected finalists will deliver a presentation live at CIX and receive feedback and guidance from recognized experts.The winning company will be awarded the prestigious CIX Award for “Canadian Innovation Leader”. Registration for CIX opens in January 2009. Deadline for submission applications is February 4th 2009.

Schedule:

TUESDAY, MARCH 3rd 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Pre-Event Cocktail Reception & Networking – Join us as we set the backdrop for the opening of CIX 2009. Investors, entrepreneurs and strategics come together for an evening of drinks, and discussion on the forces that will shape the industry in the turbulent year to come.
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Halifax – DHX Media Ltd, a leading independent international producer and distributor of television programming and interactive content is pleased to announce several significant international sales of its television series’.
DECODE Enterprises, DHX Media’s distribution subsidiary, has announced that Martha Speaks, a 40 x 1/2 hrs children’s animated series produced by Vancouver’s Studio B Productions, a DHX Media company, and WGBH Boston, has been licensed to the BBC’s children’s channel, CBBC. DECODE has also announced several sales of the hit preschool series Animal Mechanicals, and the recent licensing of Bo on the GO! to the largest commercial broadcaster in the UK, ITV Network.

Animal Mechanics

Animal Mechanicals and Bo on the GO! are produced by DHX subsidiary, Halifax Film. Neil Court, President of DECODE Enterprises said: “We believe that Martha Speaks will be an ideal fit for CBBC’s roster and are delighted to have concluded this major broadcast deal for the series following a strong
international sales launch this fall.”
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Toronto – G4BOX Inc., a North American publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment media, announced today that it is celebrating the holiday season with a special Holiday Present promotion and a special Mystery Holiday Gift Box sale price for its popular free to play MMORPG, Metin2. Hidden amongst these magical holiday gift boxes is a special Grand Prize that includes every item in the entire Metin2 Q Shop (item mall).

Beginning in mid-December, U.S. players of Metin2 will receive a Free Holiday Present which is a gift box containing a random mystery item. No purchase is required for players to participate. Players simply need to login to the in-game Item Mall. Once there, players will automatically receive a Free Holiday Present. Players must be at least level 35 or higher in order to qualify to receive the Free Holiday Present. The presents are also available to low level players who reach level 35 before mid of January 2009.
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Toronto – QuickPlay Media, the premier provider of mobile TV and video solutions, today unveiled the findings of its first quarterly consumer consumption analysis. The results—aggregate usage statistics from 15 representative QuickPlay-powered services over the third quarter of 2008—demonstrate that demand for mobile TV and video content is increasing steadily.

The results, compiled from July 1 through September 30, 2008, show mounting consumer usage of both mobile video on demand (VoD) and linear TV. Further, the increase in streaming video and video downloads per unique user shows consumers are becoming more engaged with this medium. Key findings include:

Video Downloads

* Total video downloads increased by more than 87% over the previous quarter*
* Average download per user increased by 42%, to 4 per user/month
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Kelowna, BC – Club Penguin is encouraging its players to embrace the spirit of giving this holiday season with a unique online giving opportunity that allows children to donate the virtual coins they accumulate playing games in the popular virtual world to real world causes that matter to them.

The second annual Coins for Change campaign runs from December 12, 2008 through December 22, 2008. During that 10-day period, the kids who play Club Penguin can choose to donate their virtual coins to one of three causes dedicated to helping children. At the end of the campaign, the donations will serve as votes which will help the New Horizon Foundation, an organization started by the founders of Club Penguin, determine what portion of a $1 million donation will go to charities selected by the Foundation to represent those causes.

“Our hope is that Coins for Change helps children in the Club Penguin community understand there is more to life than just earning coins, and encourages them to make a difference in the lives of kids throughout the world,” says Lane Merrifield. “Last year more than 2.5 million players donated in excess of two billion virtual coins. They’ve been asking us for another opportunity to give ever since and we can’t wait to see the results!”
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Ottawa – Corel Corporation today announced that the company will participate alongside members of its Corel® Painter™ Master program as part of a Macworld 2009 Conference & Expo® panel entitled “Digital Art Pioneers and Trendsetters.” The panel will feature noted artists including Andrew Jones and Jason Manley of Massive Black, Jeremy Sutton, Fay Sirkis, and Bruce Dorn, as well as Corel Painter Product Manager, Rob MacDonald. It is part of the show’s Users Conference “Inspire” sessions and will take place on Thursday, January 8, 2009 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. in Room 2002, West Hall.

The “Digital Art Pioneers and Trendsetters” session will explore the new trends and technologies that will push digital art to new heights, and how this will impact traditional art tools and techniques. The panel will also explore how their industries have evolved with the medium and offer their predictions as to where the market is headed. Attendees will learn about the latest digital art tools, techniques and technologies affecting a wide variety of professional artists including photographers, concept artists and graphic designers.
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