Village Gamer

Edmonton – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. announced today the highly anticipated details of all six Origin Stories featured in the upcoming dark, heroic fantasy Dragon Age™: Origins. Each Origin Story starts the player off with a unique series of locations, characters and events that establish their motivations and lay the groundwork for the adventure to come.

With each Origin Story boasting several hours of unique game play, as well as challenging strategic combat and exploration, these 6 distinct preludes make Dragon Age: Origins the first BioWare game to offer not only multiple endings, but also multiple beginnings. Players will start their adventure in one of the following roles:

Dalish Elf

As one of the last “true elves”, you were content to spend your life wandering with your clan…until a chance encounter with a relic of your people’s past threatens to tear you away from everything you’ve known.
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Vancouver – Sierra Wireless today introduced the new AirLink Helix line of integrated 3G wireless routers. The Helix line is built on an exceptionally intelligent 3G platform that leveragesproven ALEOS(TM) technology to provide reliable connectivity, extensive routing features, and comprehensive remote management capabilities. The firstrouter in the Helix family will feature two Ethernet ports, two USB ports, andan optional 802.11 b/g access point. The Helix product line is ideal for fixed, portable and mobile applications including point of sale, wireline replacement and backup, surveillance, public safety, and transportation.

By leveraging field proven ALEOS intelligence, Helix routers combine extensive routing capabilities and security features with an easy-to-use interface and comprehensive remote management. ALEOS intelligence, coupled with AceWare(TM) remote management, lowers the total cost of ownership by simplifying device setup, provisioning, control, and maintenance through extensive remote configuration and diagnostic capabilities. Helix routers will be commercially available later this year, offering a choice of HSPA or EV-DO Rev A network technologies.
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Edmonton – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. announced today the highly anticipated details of all six Origin Stories featured in the upcoming dark, heroic fantasy Dragon Age™: Origins. Each Origin Story starts the player off with a unique series of locations, characters and events that establish their motivations and lay the groundwork for the adventure to come.

With each Origin Story boasting several hours of unique game play, as well as challenging strategic combat and exploration, these 6 distinct preludes make Dragon Age: Origins the first BioWare game to offer not only multiple endings, but also multiple beginnings. Players will start their adventure in one of the following roles:

Dalish Elf
As one of the last “true elves”, you were content to spend your life wandering with your clan… until a chance encounter with a relic of your people’s past threatens to tear you away from everything you’ve known.

City Elf
You have always lived under the heavy thumb of your human overlords, but when a local lord claiming his “privilege” with the bride shatters your wedding day, the simmering racial tensions explode in a rain of vengeance.
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St. Catherine’s ON – Cerebral Vortex Games Inc., a St. Catharines, Ontario-based developer of casual videogames, is pleased to announce that they have been granted funding from the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Screen-based Content Initiative.

The funding will be used to develop a prototype iPhone/iPod Touch game, codenamed “Ghost Breaker.” More details on this action-horror title will be revealed at a later date.

“The Screen-based Content Initiative is funding 60 projects chosen from over 330 proposed projects by 167 different companies. Our game is one of the lucky 60, and one of only six videogame concepts approved,” said Keith Makse, President of Cerebral Vortex Games. “Once again, our games stand out from the crowd.”

“The iPhone offers many opportunities for innovative gameplay,” said Jason MacIsaac, Design Director with Cerebral Vortex Games. “That’s why Ghost Breaker is a natural fit.”

FIFA 09 Ultimate Team Enables Gamers to Create and Collect Their Fantasy Soccer Team to Compete Online

Burnaby – Electronic Arts Inc. today announced the development of a unique, downloadable game mode called FIFA 09 Ultimate Team that will deliver a strategic new online experience to the award-winning EA SPORTS™ FIFA Soccer 09 on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system. FIFA 09 Ultimate Team challenges gamers to collect or create the most talented soccer players in the world, develop them into a fantasy team and then compete online against a legion of challengers to be crowned the ultimate team.

Winner of 25 international game quality awards, FIFA Soccer 09 is the most popular EA SPORTS game played online*. Over 141 million games of FIFA Soccer 09 have been played on the PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360 by gamers connected online since the game’s European launch on Sept. 25, 2008. An average of 1.25 million games are played online daily, which is a 321 percent increase over FIFA Soccer 08. FIFA 09 Ultimate Team expands the FIFA Soccer 09 online experience by delivering the ultimate fantasy in club soccer to the record number of individuals playing while connected online.

“Online is the next great frontier in sports gaming. We are seeing a record number of individuals globally playing FIFA Soccer 09 online so we are focused on developing games that maximize the online experience,” said Andrew Wilson, Vice President & Executive Producer for the franchise. “A dedicated team developed FIFA 09 Ultimate Team and they have created a game within the game, delivering a strategic new way to play FIFA Soccer 09 that will create hundreds of additional hours of playing time.”

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Tokyo – SEGA® Corporation today announced a worldwide agreement with International Sports Multimedia (ISM), exclusive licensee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to once again become the sole approved video game publisher of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. After an extremely successful series of video games from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, this exclusive license will allow SEGA to once more publish the only official interactive entertainment software titles of the world’s most famous sporting event.

Through this agreement, SEGA secures the sole rights to publish console, PC/Macintosh, handheld, arcade, and mobile games worldwide. Under this exclusive license, SEGA will publish a wide variety of games with winter sports and events including skiing, skating, and snowboard bearing the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games emblem.
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Korea – World Cyber Games (WCG), the premier international video game competition, has announced the first five Official Game Titles for the WCG 2009 season. The lineup includes Counter-Strike™ 1.6 (PC), Starcraft®: Brood War™ (PC), WarCraft® III: The Frozen Throne™ (PC), and Guitar Hero®: World Tour (Xbox 360), and Virtua Fighter® 5 (Xbox 360).

All five games have been a staple at past WCG competitions. Counter-Strike 1.6™ and Starcraft®: Brood War™ have been Official Tournament Games since 2001 while WarCraft® III: The Frozen Throne™ has been part of the WCG since 2003. Guitar Hero®, which marked WCG’s first foray into music games, and Virtua Fighter® 5 Online will be in their second consecutive year as Official Game Titles.

”As interest in WCG continues to grow around the world, we have become much more discerning in selecting the official games for this year,” said Hyeong Seok Kim, president and CEO of World Cyber Games, Inc., organizer of WCG. ”This year we decided to unveil the games in two separate announcements to pique the interest and anticipation for the official game lineup. These first five titles constitute the best and most popular games in a wide variety of genres including real-time strategy, first-person shooter, fighting, and music. In March, fans can look forward to another group of elite titles that will certainly satisfy every type of gamer around the world.”

Vancouver – Wednesday night was Game Presentation Night at Vancouver Film School, with three teams presenting their projects. Before going any further, I would like to say that the instructors at Vancouver Film School have every reason to be proud of this term’s students.

All three projects were built on the Unreal 3 engine, and followed a platform puzzler format. Each project was original in its concept, with some very unique elements. The teams each presented their games, with all team members taking a turn in the project’s moratorium with support from visual slides and a game trailer. Going from concept to finished levels, the teams had to work through every step of the development process, just as if they were creating a title for a real game studio. The growth of the project included extensive focus testing and feedback, then working towards a game which met not only the team’s vision but also the expectations of the player.

The first game presented was Apex. The purpose of this game is to use a hi-tech futuristic grappling hook to navigate through several industrial-styled levels built inside of a large tower. The game is played in the first person, and the player needs to solve various puzzles to work through each level, all the while evading and destroying the evil robotic hunters. Once the player reaches the top of the tower, he must defeat the mechanized villains by pushing three buttons.
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Quebec – The fate of the earth and the survival of the human race hang in the balance in the Transformers™: Revenge of the Fallen video game from Activision Publishing, Inc. Based on Hasbro’s legendary TRANSFORMERS property and the most anticipated blockbuster film of 2009 from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures in association with Hasbro, the game propels players straight into an adrenaline-pumping battle for supremacy across the globe where every second and every choice makes the difference between mankind’s salvation and annihilation.

“The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game will give fans the chance to experience their favorite AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS in an all-new, movie inspired adventure packed with the thrilling and explosive action that only the TRANSFORMERS universe can deliver,” said Rob Kostich, vice president of global brand management, Activision, Inc. “We are thrilled to announce that after experiencing the rush of commanding colossal robots on their own, players can challenge their friends for the first time ever in full-featured, blistering multiplayer action as their favorite characters.”
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Introduces “Master” Membership Level for Advanced MSPs

Ottawa – MSP Partners, an alliance founded by Cisco, Ingram Micro, Intel, Level Platforms and Microsoft, with the active participation of over 20 leading IT vendors and thousands of solution providers and MSPs, today announced the launch of its comprehensive all new 2009 education program.

Based on demand from the large number of solution providers now moving to more advanced Managed Services, MSP Partners is today introducing a “Master” membership. Master members will benefit from a series of professional courses and live events addressing the challenges and opportunities they face in moving their business to the next level.

“Our new Master membership level demonstrates the vendor community’s ongoing commitment to help solution providers grow and prosper in their business transformation to managed services. Our 2009 content provides the research and education solution providers need as they launch and evolve their Managed Services businesses,” said Jim Hamilton, Executive Director of MSP Partners.

New 2009 content includes:

* A comprehensive suite of on-demand courses covering both foundational Managed Services concepts as well as advanced concepts dealing with marketing, sales, operations and best in class Managed Services practices, all based on extensive and exclusive new 2009 research.
* Eight 2009 live web events describing new Managed Services opportunities in networking, security, business continuity and much more.
* An MSP Benchmark tool that evaluates a solution provider’s Managed Services business and provides a detailed best in class analysis.
* An “Ask an Expert” feature, where industry thought leaders answer members’ Managed Services questions.
* Monthly analysis of current trends in the Managed Services market.