Village Gamer

Montreal – Alliance numérique has just announced the resignation of Alain Lachapelle, Director of International Game Summit Montreal. In the official announcement, Alliance numérique CEO Peter Proulx stated that “Alain was a real force within the team. He led Summit to a new level and I want to thank him for his work and wish him the best in his future endeavors.” Alain has left the organization to pursue new professional challenges. His replacement will be announced shortly by the Alliance numérique Board of Directors.

Vancouver – Our friends at AnnexPro invite you to attend their upcoming series of events:

Nov 18 – From Art to Animation Webcast– The latest in a series, in this Autodesk webcast you’ll learn how to layout animation storyboards using Autodesk’s modeling workflow and UV layout tools. Then detail the finalized concept, and rig, animate and render your design.

Dec 5 – ZBrush Vancouver User Goup Meeting – Sponsored by Annex Pro, this is an exciting opportunity for students, hobbyists and professionals to rub elbows with fellow ZBrushers, as well as learn from some of the very best ZBrush artists around, including Pierre Bourgeot, Jeff Feligno and Chris Nichols. Attendees will also be the first to see some exciting new features that are on the way for ZBrush and take advantage of attendee-only special discounts. Live demonstrations will be followed by a mix + mingle reception! . Registration opens Nov 20

Dec 9 – Autodesk Softimage 2010 Vancouver Event – 3D Evangelist Mark Schoennagel from Autodesk will take you on a “deep dive” to unlock secrets of Softimage 2010. Learn tips and tricks, best practices and get your questions answered live. Save the date, registration opens soon

Dec 10 – Autodesk Maya 2010 Vancouver Event – Games specialist Steven Rosellle from Autodesk will demonstrate secrets of using Maya 2010 in game development. Learn tips and tricks, best practices and get your questions answered live. Save the date, registration opens soon

Calgary – Digital Alberta will be holding a networking night in Edmonton on Tuesday, November 24th with free entry, free bevvies and free food. We will also delve into the world of digital media and web video, and learn about Statusfirm – an Edmonton-based technology company – as they officially unveil their new Core Catalyst digital media communications platform. Speakers include Kieron Quigley, Statusfirm’s Chief Technology Officer, who will explain how Core Catalyst makes it easy for organizations to use web video and rich media in every facet of their daily business; and David Nedohin, Statusfirm’s EVP of Government Relations – explaining how Core Catalyst can be used within various industries, including business, government and health.

Digital Alberta will be holding their Christmas Shaker event on December 1 with event partner the Canadian Marketing Association – Calgary Chapter as the marketing world and the digital media worlds collide. Enjoy a panel presentation from some of Calgary’s top branding dogs while we wet out whistles with libations and tantalize our palettes with an amazing spread of Chef Rusty’s cuisine at Seven Restolounge. There will also be a Silent Auction to raise money for HYTES.

Victoria – VIATeC would like to remind members of the tech industry that their annual Food Bank Challenge was launched at Island Tech on November 13th where $3100 in donations was collected. Running until Dec 11, 2009, the Challenge involves more than 50 high-tech companies who will strive to see who can donate the most to needy families with all proceeds going to the Mustard Seed Food Bank. To the victors go the bragging rights!

The VIATeC Food Bank Challenge is entering its 7th year running. Each year more local technology companies are showing that they care and are committed to giving back to their local community. In order to heat up the competition there are going to be a number of awards presented at the VIATeC Christmas Party. VIATeC will be recognizing the company that donates the most food overall as well as the company that donates the most per employee.

There is still time to join the fun! If you would like to participate in the challenge, then all you need to do is nominate someone from your office to coordinate the efforts. For more information please contact Michelle Gaetz.

Vancouver – Wired Woman will be holding a network social at Moxie’s Classic Grill (800 Bute Street Vancouver) on Monday November 23rd, where you are invited to connect, network and mingle with other women working in the local technology sector.

Toronto – GamerCamp v1.0 will be taking place at the Lower Ossington Theatre at 100A Ossington Avenue in Toronto. This one-day event celebrates the creativity, art, and history of video games with guest speakers, demos, and a free-play arcade filled with rare and classic games.

Raigan Burns and Mare Sheppard of Metanet Software Inc. will be delivering the event’s keynote, and will be discussing the rock band approach to game development. Michael Todd will also be delivering an address and speaking about his game-a-week experiment and Broken Brothers Deluxe.

Between sessions, work from the Toronto indie community will be showcased. These include demos, early builds, and various pixel art. The event organizers have teamed up with the Replay Arcade Museum (which will open to the public soon) for the closing party, 1UP, which will feature unlimited free play of 25 classic arcade cabinets. Tickets for Gamercamp are $15 and can be purchased online and includes both dinner and the unlimited arcade free play.

Vancouver – The first Vancouver Interactive Night Out (VINO) will be held at Yagger’s (423 W. Pender Vancouver) on Friday November 27th. Come out and socialize with others who work in the interactive digital media industry at this informal networking evening. VINO’s second event will be held on Friday December 18th, also at Yagger’s.

Montreal – AutoDesk invites you to join them for 3December™ – their annual worldwide celebration of 3D computer graphics and the artists who create them. On its 11th anniversary, 3December aims to unite thousands of artists across three continents at live venues and through 3December Online. Please check the event page for details on how you can get involved either online or in person at their Montreal event.

Gormley ON – Digital Leisure has released new screenshots for their upcoming DSiWare titles Sudoku Challenge and Word Searcher. With Sudoku Challenge, players have access to over 100,000,000 unique Sudoku puzzles, never seeing the same puzzle twice in Sudoku Challenge! Get started by selecting the classic nine-by-nine Sukodu gameboard or really take up a challenge with Grand Sudoku by completing five intersecting Sudoku boards simultaneously – A first for the Nintendo DSi! With three difficulty options even the most novice player to complete a Sudoku with ease. It’s time to get your thinking cap on and see how many Sudoku puzzles you can conquer!

With Word Searcher, a sharp eye and a quick mind will be needed to complete the 100 themed word search puzzles. Word Searcher contains fun words from multiple categories including anatomy, world cities and U.S Presidents. Packed with a huge assortment of subjects to choose from, there’s sure to be a puzzle anyone will enjoy. Help improve your vocabulary, memory and problem-solving skills with these addicting puzzles. Keep track of, and try to beat your own play through times again and again as words are scrambled every time you play.

Toronto – Parents are discovering the iPhone is a terrific platform for preschoolers because of its simple touch interface and its play anytime, anywhere convenience. But it’s hard to find high-quality, age-appropriate apps that are engaging and rewarding. With this in mind, zinc Roe created Tickle Tap Apps, a new app series developed by child gaming experts, vetted by educational researchers and tested by kids.

Tickle Tap Apps are designed to help children ages three to five practice key skills and learn about sounds, numbers, colors, patterns and shapes. These apps help children improve concentration and motor skills via simple tap and touch controls. This tactile element is what gives the iPhone an educational advantage over TV.

“Developmental research shows the iPhone is an excellent platform for preschool learning,” says Jason Krogh, zinc Roe’s founder and director. “Children need easy-to-use apps that take advantage of the unique features of the iPhone. Tickle Tap Apps address the need for simple, attractive and entertaining educational apps for this age range.”

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Tickle Tap Apps feature four adorable characters—Jinja the cat, Harvey the dog, Robin the bird and Fins the fish—for humor and encouragement. The games, including the first three apps in the series below, inspire preschoolers to learn and laugh at the same time!

Sound Shaker is a delightful and hilarious sound-making game. Children create and play with chime, whistle, drum, barnyard animal and mystery sounds simply by tapping and tilting. Robin the bird makes a special guest appearance.

Count Caddy makes counting rewarding. Children count by ones with Jinja the cat and quickly progress to counting by twos with Robin the bird and counting by threes with Harvey the dog.

Sort Slider is a mesmerizing shape matching game. Children tilt the device to match objects with silhouettes while Harvey the dog pops up for plenty of encouragement.

Tickle Tap Apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch retail for $1.99 each on the iTunes App Store.

Vancouver – Today, ActiveState, the dynamic languages company, launched Firefly, a hosted project management and collaboration solution for managing commercial software development projects. As a turn-key solution, Firefly comes pre-configured with integrated source code revision control and code hosting, project management, issue and time tracking, and collaboration tools like wikis, blogs and forums. Firefly eases administrative pain that goes hand-in-hand with software development and makes it easy to share information between team members and customers.

With Firefly, software and web development teams in large enterprises and small-to-medium sized businesses can become more productive, more efficient and deliver higher quality software projects on time. Firefly simplifies project management with built-in systems to track and manage features, bugs and team tasks. Managers can set clear priorities, understand dependencies and gain visibility into project status and progress.

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“Putting a project management system in place can be challenging for small development teams,” said Shane Caraveo, Firefly Product Manager. “Nearly 20% of small development teams report they do not use a solution for source code hosting, project management or collaboration according to a recent survey. Free solutions can take significant time, knowledge and effort to install and configure while commercial solutions may lock you in. As a commercial solution built on the open source Trac system, Firefly gives you the best of both worlds providing you with a reliable, easy to use solution without any contract.”

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