Village Gamer

Toronto – The Adventure Company has released a trailer for Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper, a Windows® adventure title releasing in North America on May 12, 2009. Click here to view the trailer.

Sherlock Holmes, one of the world’s best known detectives is matched up with the most dangerous serial killer in England’s history, Jack the Ripper. The Year is 1888, London has been overtaken by a series of gruesome murders and police are left baffled, with no leads. The murders continue and Sherlock Holmes steps up to the case, setting out on a terrifying adventure to seek out the identity of Jack the Ripper.
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Vancouver –  Clio is officially “Best in Show” according to the world of legal technology. The web-based practice management software-as-a-service (SaaS) product took home top honors at both New York LegalTech in February as one of Bob Ambrogi’s LegalTalkNetwork’s “Ten Tech Stars”, and more recently, the ABA TECHSHOW in April by landing on TechnoLawyer’s “Best in Show” list.

Clio’s meteoric rise began on October 1, 2008 when the product was launched at the ABA’s Solo/Small Firm Fall Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The product, created by Themis Solutions out of Vancouver, BC in Canada, was developed as a web-based alternative to traditional desktop practice management software packages such as Time Matters and Amicus Attorney. With Clio, Themis Solutions quickly developed traction among its target market – solo and small firm attorneys – a segment that had been vastly under-served by existing legal technology offerings.
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Burnaby – Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that EA SPORTS™ Complex launched on PlayStation®Home for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the 3D social gaming community that allows users to interact, communicate and share gaming experiences online. This newly created EA SPORTS space offers users a place to play a variety of unique, casual multiplayer games with friends in PlayStation Home, as well as view exclusive game trailers and videos, to learn more about their favorite EA SPORTS games. At launch, EA SPORTS Complex will feature a tournament-style Texas Hold ‘Em Poker game and EA SPORTS Racing featuring formula-style cars.

“We are extremely proud of the compelling and immersive online offerings that are available at launch for EA SPORTS Complex,” said Rob Burnett, senior producer. “EA SPORTS Complex is a dynamic space and was specifically designed to appeal to not only the hardcore sports fan but casual gamers alike.”
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Ottawa – Connect2Media, the multi-platform entertainment company, has signed a deal with world-leading mobile entertainment publisher Magmic Games to distribute its products in all territories outside of North America. The Magmic Games catalogue of more than 20 games includes titles such as Big Kahuna Words, Boulder Dash Rocks! and Daytona USA.

“Connect2Media impressed us with both their knowledge of the global market and their approach to our games,” said Nicholas Reichenbach EVP of Publishing at Magmic Games.”Through this exclusive distribution deal with Connect2Media, we will have a global distribution footprint allowing us to reach all the major carriers for our Blackberry, Windows Mobile and J2ME mobile games.”
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Kelowna – Okanagan College business graduate Andrew Roberts has announced the launch of Cosmic Logic Inc., a Kelowna-based video game development company planning to open doors into the video game industry and provide opportunities within the Okanagan. The company will produce and sell video games on digital distribution platforms such as Xbox Live Arcade, Sony Playstation Network, WiiWare, and iPhone.

The implementation of networking features on current video game systems has created an indie-revolution in the video game industry, allowing small teams to reach a global market.

“Smaller, independently funded companies previously had to find a publisher to produce and distribute their games,” says Roberts. “With platforms such as Xbox Live Arcade, consumers can simply download these games directly to their system’s hard drive. This allows indie-developers to bypass the costs involved in producing and distributing discs, and gives them more creative control in terms of content and pricing.”
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Sault Ste. Marie – Four Algoma University students have won the approval of critical judges and qualified for the Dare to be Digital video game design competition being held this June to August in the United Kingdom. Sunny Atwal, Eric Stock, Pedro Melendez, and Chris Iaconis from Algoma University and one student from the University of Abertay Dundee in Scotland have been accepted to take part as a team in the annual competition.

Dare to be Digital bills itself as the United Kingdom’s premier video game design competition for students. Now in its tenth year of operation, Dare to be Digital is an annual summer event that allots teams of students ten weeks to design and build a video game prototype. At the conclusion of the ten weeks, the teams are brought together at a showcase event where their games are evaluated by industry experts. The competition is open to all university students across the UK and also regularly attracts international competitors from nations such as China, India, Japan and Malaysia.
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Waterloo – SuperMegaUltraGroovy today introduced Capo, a remarkable new Mac OS X application that helps aspiring musicians learn to play their favorite tracks. Capo slows down songs from iTunes without changing the pitch, letting users hear every note and chord and play along at their own pace.

“Capo helps you become a better musician,” said Chris Liscio, founder of SuperMegaUltraGroovy. “By slowing down your favorite music, and learning to play songs clearly at a rate you’re comfortable with, your playing technique will improve as you work your way up to full speed.”

Capo allows users to adjust the speed and pitch of audio, independent of one another. Pitch adjustments can be made finely, to match an instrument’s tuning, or coarsely, to change the song’s key. In addition, users can set markers, and create loops, to aid their learning. All these settings can be saved in Capo documents, so that users can later return to where they left off.
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Montreal – Bandzoogle.com, the leading website builder tool for musicians, has announced its member artists have exceeded $1 million in music and merchandise sales direct from their websites–a milestone made sweeter for members by the fact that Bandzoogle doesn’t charge fees or commissions on those sales.

“The fact that Bandzoogle lets artists keep 100 percent of their sales sets us apart from the vast majority of e-commerce solutions for musicians,” says Chris Vinson, president of Bandzoogle. “And our team is proud to have helped our members reach this million-dollar milestone,” he says. “It demonstrates how our tools are helping musicians succeed on the web.”
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Toronto – LyricFind, the world’s leading provider of legal lyrics services, is today excited to announce the release of the first-ever legal lyrics applications for both the iPhone and Facebook.

Both applications provide access to LyricFind’s massive database of over one million lyrics, representing over 40,000 artists and 200,000 albums, which is the largest legal collection available today. Users can also access artist images and bios, discographies, and album art, plus see charts of the top lyrics and artists across LyricFind’s entire network of hundreds of sites. Lyrics are searchable by artist, song name, and even the lyrics themselves (for those times when you’ve got a song running through your head and have no idea what it is!).
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Toronto – Shortcovers by Indigo Books & Music, Inc. , a digital destination that enables people to discover and experience their next great read on the mobile device they already own, today released user metrics from its first two months. Additionally, Shortcovers announced product updates, new publisher content and its developer program for mobile device manufacturers.

“We’re pleased with the response to Shortcovers in just the first two months, and are learning more every day about what our users want out of a mobile destination for ebooks, magazines and newspapers,” said Michael Serbinis, CIO & EVP of Indigo Books & Music. “Far and away, our biggest successes are our global reach and platform diversity. We thought iPhone would dominate downloads, but we’re very popular on Blackberry and Android. Readers tell us again and again how much they appreciate that our service is available on devices they already own.”
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