Village Gamer

Banff – In our interconnected, globalized economy, information is critical. Get a solid grasp on our new knowledge economy with a three-day workshop at the Banff Centre. Join Digital Alberta and the Banff New Media Institute to explore technology-enhanced learning as a valuable economic resource.

This eLearning workshop is designed specifically for professionals working in elearning, education, human resources and knowledge-based digital media. Stimulate learning opportunities and expand your knowledge in this dynamic field. From open source platforms to game-based learning, you will be exposed to capturing, retaining and transferring knowledge in a digital medium. So if knowledge and information is part of your responsibility, this workshop is for you.

The workshop features:

Lance Dublin, Dublin Consulting – Keynote
Dan Rickard, Okaki Health – Open source eLearning
Lou Russell – eLearning Project Management and SMEs
Kevin McNulty, Coole Immersive – Game-based learning
Dr. Jim Parker – Game-based learning
Martha Burkle, Cisco Chair of e-Learning – Training in virtual worlds

The workshop will be presented at The Banff Centre on December 3 – 6, 2009.

Rates: (all prices subject to GST)

$320.00 Digital Alberta Members or Affiliates
$350.00 Non-Member Early Bird (on or before November 18)
$260.00 Student Early Bird (before November 18)
$400.00 Non-Member after November 18
$300.00 Students Non-Member after November 18

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Toronto – The Canadian New Media Awards recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of individuals and companies in the Canadian digital media industry, in 19 prestigious award categories. Winners will be announced on December 1, 2009 at a gala ceremony at The Design Exchange in Toronto. This is the night our community really comes together to showcase excellence in interactive, and celebrate the promising future of Canada’s new media industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system owners, the wait is almost over! Soon you too can run, jump and bend time, as Hothead Games announced today that it will be digitally delivering Jonathan Blow’s Braid to the PlayStation®Network in North America on Nov. 12 with a European version to be announced shortly thereafter.

Explore the human condition and manipulate time as our hero Tim leaps onto the PlayStation®Network in the lush, painterly world of Braid, a puzzle-platformer that takes you from a house in the city on a journey through a series of worlds to solve puzzles and rescue the princess. In each world, you have a different power to affect the way time behaves, including the ability to rewind, create parallel realities and utilize time dilation to overcome the many obstacles in your path. There is no filler in this game; every puzzle shows you something new and interesting about the game world.

Key Features:

• Untraditional platforming – You can never die and never lose, but challenge is always present and focused on solving puzzles, rather than forcing you to play and replay tricky jumps.
• Puzzle-rich environment – Travel through a series of worlds, searching for puzzle pieces and solving puzzles by manipulating time: rewinding, creating parallel universes and setting up pockets of dilated time. The game play is always fresh and new and the puzzles inspire new ways of thinking.
• Aesthetic design – A painterly art style and lush, organic soundtrack complement the unique game play.
• Nonlinear story – A nonlinear fiction links the various worlds and provides real-world metaphors for your time manipulations; act out these themes at your own pace, exploring playful “what if” universes.
• Forgiving game play – The game doesn’t force you to solve puzzles in order to proceed. If you can’t figure something out, just play onward and return to that puzzle later.

Braid has been rated “E 10+” for Everyone 10 and older by the Entertainment Software Rating Board for all platforms.

Montreal – CBS Consumer Products, a unit of CBS Entertainment, announced today that eight new video games based on television’s top-rated and most beloved series will soon become available for fans. The rights holder to some of the most popular shows on television, CBS has teamed up with the industry’s most renowned casual games developers and video game publishers, including Montreal’s Ludia,  – to ensure that fans will be able to extend their experiences with their favorite shows in a fun and compelling way.

“These deals are perfect examples of our strategy to mine CBS’s deep portfolio of iconic television series across multiple platforms,” said Liz Kalodner, Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Consumer Products. “We understand how passionate the fans of these programs are and how they are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to interact with them. Whether on console, handheld or the PC, we are working with some of the most innovative publishers and developers to ensure that we meet fans’ expectations.”

Ludia will be developing the following two properties for CBS:

The Amazing Race – 2010
Get ready for around-the-world competition with the video game based on the eight-time Emmy® award-winning television series The Amazing Race where team players split up in pairs for a remarkable journey across exotic locations in a race against time. Players will face frantic challenges and tasks as they navigate through detours, roadblocks and other unpredictable game elements from the show. Working together strategically throughout the game is essential as each team tries to discover hidden clues that are crucial to getting them to the Pit Stop first – and one step closer to ultimate victory at the check-in mat. This video game will be launched throughout North America across multiple platforms in tandem with the show’s 16th season.

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