Village Gamer

Montreal – In conjunction with Festival Arcadia, a Virtually Fashionable evening will be held at 9 p.m. on Saturday, November 8, at the Society for Arts and Technology [SAT]. For this world first event that merges the fashion and videogame industries, ten of Quebec’s best-known fashion designers are creating costumes for famed videogame icon Lara Croft. Two of these outfits will be incorporated into Lara’s official wardrobe as downloadable content for Tomb Raider: Underworld post launch. At the show, Bodybag by Jude, Complexgeometries by Clayton Evans, Denis Gagnon, Helmer, Marie Saint Pierre, Philippe Dubuc, Tavân & Mitto, Travis Taddeo, Valérie Dumaine and Yso will unveil designs that have been made specifically for the heroine’s upcoming new adventure.

Attendees of Virtually Fashionable will get to see the designs on real life and virtual models as they strut down the catwalk to music mixed by event sound designer Frigid. After the show, a jury that includes Cynthia Cooper, Curator of the McCord Museum, Herby Moreau, host and journalist, Stephane Le Duc, Editor of Dress to Kill Magazine, and Sandrine Belleteste, fashion consultant, will decide on one outfit that will be incorporated into Lara’s official wardrobe, with the designer taking home a $3,000 purse. A second outfit will be chosen by the public and both will be made available for download via Xbox LIVE® (Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®) so gamers will have the chance to play through the entire Tomb Raider: Underworld experience in a new award-winning outfit.

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World War III is only a mouse click away… Supreme Ruler 2020 expansion – Global Crisis announced

Ontario – Paradox Interactive today announced a new expansion pack for the Geo-Political, Military Strategy game Supreme Ruler 2020, developed by BattleGoat Studios.

“This is the first time we’ve developed an expansion pack and we wanted to ensure that we had significant new content for our dedicated players to enjoy,” remarked David Thompson, BattleGoat’s Lead Designer and Co-Founder.
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Website Platform Enables Designers To Boost Revenue and Reach New Markets

VANCOUVER – Press Release –Sitemasher’s new online website platform puts the focus on the website and not the programming and IT development needed to create it. Today, Sitemasher goes one step further in letting professional web designers be web designers and not IT people by launching a partner program aimed squarely at firms focusing on website design, development, and brand marketing and consulting. With Sitemasher’s website building platform, partners will be able to earn more revenue by speeding the design and development process and to access new markets by maximizing the skills of the entire team.

Sitemasher changes the game in building and managing websites. Traditionally a sophisticated, interactive site requires several people, including a designer, developer, back-end IT administrator and a project owner, to implement a full project. But the Sitemasher website platform enables designers to create pixel-perfect, full-featured custom sites that can be implemented easily without programming and IT integration.

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Greenhouse Interactive today announced that the Nitrogen Software Development Kit (SDK) is now available free of charge to independent developers seeking to enhance their games selected for the Greenhouse digital distribution service. Major tools offered in Nitrogen include the social networking functionalities of ‘triumphs’ and ‘standings,’ which will allow developers to reward players for their in-game accomplishments and then display them for the rest of the Greenhouse gaming community.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two, scheduled to launch this Wednesday for Windows®, Mac® and Linux®, will be the first title on the service to implement the new Nitrogen SDK and offer gamers triumphs and standings to enhance their gameplay and Greenhouse community experience.

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Ottawa – The Copyright Board of Canada issued a decision dealing with the second part of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) Tariff 22 with respect to the communication of musical works on the Internet.
The first part of that tariff was issued on October 18, 2007 and dealt exclusively with online music services. This second part sets rates for other music uses over the Internet such as the websites of radio and television stations as well as other sites that use musical works as part of their Internet activities. As was the case for the first part, this second part of the tariff sets the rates to be paid to SOCAN for the period 1996 to 2006.

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Today’s Answer to Delivering Hyper-Personal News Content

VICTORIA – Seeker Solutions announced today its official release of Sprout 1.0, a free, online, personalized news aggregator software that allows users to obtain the latest top news stories and blogs tailored to their unique and individual preferences. Seeker Solutions created Sprout to solve the challenges of trying to sift through mass amounts of information online. As Internet users become more pressed for time, Sprout enables every user to effortlessly find news articles or blogs that are relevant to them.

Seeker Solutions’ unique relationship-based software engine that powers Sprout allows users to easily access a wide-range of content from thousands of news sources and blogs. Once Sprout is conveniently downloaded to the user’s computer, users are able to immediately begin training their Sprout interface with their individual interests.

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As police continue their investigation into the disappearance of Barrie, Ontario teen Brandon Crisp, Microsoft doubled the reward money for information leading to the location of the 15 year old. Microsoft donated $25 000.00, bringing the reward to $50 000.00. As previously reported in mainstream media, Brandon disappeared from home after his parents took away his Xbox 360 as

Missing Teen Brandon Crisp

the amount of time he spent playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was interfering with Brandon’s school attendance and grades. At last report, police officers were concentrating their search in the Shanty Bay area, as that was the last place where anyone can confirm seeing Brandon, who left home on October 13th. A woman out walking on a trail spoke with Brandon, who was having problems with his bike, which he left in a ditch along the trail.

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Creativeworks Productions, a Toronto-based agency wins three awards for their excellence in video animation work in this year’s Crystal Vision Awards competition.

Toronto – Creativeworks Productions Inc. is proud to announce that they have won two gold and one silver award for their excellence in video animation work in this year’s Crystal Vision Awards competition. This impressive win brings Creativeworks Productions award tally to six since 2005.

The Crystal Vision Awards, an International video contest honoring the best in television and film productions hosted annually in the U.S., gives thousands of creative artists from around the world the opportunity to receive recognition for their productions. The members of the CVA judging panel are selected from a vast cross-section of broadcasting, film and video disciplines. Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal, Quebec, Canada – October 24, 2008 – The boys at Meridian4 are packing their bags and making their way to Lyon to attend the Game Connection event being held from November 5th to the 7th. They are seeking out developers with unique, fun and addictive titles to publish in North America and around the world.

“The Game Connection in Lyon last year helped us obtain several titles that may have never seen the light of day. We are always amazed at the amount of talent and imagination that exists around the world in the form of small and independent developers.” said Andy Sher, CEO at Meridian4. “It’s a shame that some really exciting games never get published and never get into gamers’ hands. We hope to seek out those titles and make them available to the gaming community.”

Leading Videogame Publisher Electronic Arts and Universal Pictures Join Forces to Bring EA’s Top-Selling New Franchise “ARMY OF TWO™” to the Big Screen

Scott Stuber to Produce Film With EA; Scott Z. Burns to Write Screenplay

Montreal – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that the company has closed a deal with Universal Pictures to bring EA’s new franchise and top-selling videogame, ARMY OF TWO™, to the big screen.

Scott Stuber, through his Stuber Productions shingle, will produce the film along with EA, and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, who recently co-wrote the blockbuster THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, has signed on to adapt the game for the screen. Universal Pictures, Stuber Productions and EA are planning to begin production of the film in 2009.

ARMY OF TWO, which has grossed over $100 million(a) in sales since its release in March 2008, is the second film project that EA has set in motion as part of an aggressive strategy to move its IP across more entertainment platforms. The company is also currently developing THE SIMS at 20^th Century Fox with producer John Davis.

“ARMY OF TWO is a great project that has already attracted top name talent, and we’re glad to be working with Electronic Arts on making this hit game into a film franchise,” said Donna Langley, President of Production at Universal Pictures.

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