Village Gamer

A reminder that there is a number of upcoming Autodesk events across the country. First up is “Seize the Opportunity” with Autodesk 2011 Digital Entertainment Creation Software for Games and Post Production presented on April 27th by our friends over at AnnexPro. There are three additional events being hosted by 3vis. Their P.I.M.P. My Pipeline events will be held in Toronto (May 11), Montreal (May 13) and Vancouver on May 4th.

Congratulations to KrabbitSoft Studios for their signing with Mac Games France, who will be distributing Krabbit World Origins to European Mac gamers. It’s always good to hear about the successes of our small indie studios – keep up the awesome work!

The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada has released a paper on their views in regards to online advertising tracking practices and the PIPEDA. The Bureau raises several points in this 10 page PDF, and I feel it is well worth the read as Canada moves forward in dealing with many of the important issues surrounding technology, content, access and privacy in today’s technological society.

Toronto’s DreamCatcher Games and JoWooD Entertainment have released new screenshots from the up-coming RPG Adventure “ArcaniA: Gothic 4” which will be released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The latest installment in the renowned Gothic series is set about 12 years after the events shown in “Gothic 3”, and again invites the player to a fantastic journey through a war-torn world. The ancient, nameless hero, who by now has been crowned King Robar the Third, commands a rigorous regiment over Myrtana and the Southern Islands. Luckily, not all subordinates live in fear and submission to the King and a new hero emerges, with the intention to settle an old score: A seemingly unimposing shepherd from the Isle of Feshyr sets out on the long and perilous journey to the King’s Palace.

If you are a wireless or new media early stage or start-up in the Vancouver area, you will be interested on two offerings from WaveFront AC – With financial contribution support from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), Wavefront is able to provide a program that offers cost-effective access to the following Wavefront wireless commercialization services:

Strategic Assessment: Utilize experienced wireless experts to assess and refine business strategy and determine actions for market entry

Technical Preparation and Consulting: Prepare and confirm mobile application/technology is commercially ready utilizing Wavefront’s testing resources (usability testing, handset rentals) and test engineers

Business Development Support: Foster company growth and global expansion by leveraging Wavefront’s existing mobile ecosystem connections and distribution channels

Each company will have different requirements depending on their product, distribution channels, funding, business maturity and business strategy. We encourage you to come in for an introductory meeting to customize your personal “Wavefront Accelerated Program”. If you qualify, NRC-IRAP will provide funds to support 50% of the program cost.

Wavefront also offers a unique wireless incubator environment where you have the opportunity to collaborate, learn and grow with other mobile developer entrepreneurs. Going beyond standard office space, Wavefront provides easy on-site access to a suite of services and shared resources that are critical to accelerating the development of your mobile applications, devices and content, including:

Advisory services from seasoned industry experts
Handset library containing 300+ phones for application testing
Fully equipped demo meeting rooms and usability test lab
Carrier-grade 3G network test bed and advanced test equipment
Global connections to key mobile ecosystem stakeholders
Waveguide executive and technical training sessions

Currently available are a variety of rental packages ranging from shared desk space ($350/month) to private offices for 4-5 people. We’re looking for the best and brightest new wireless companies to join our in-house community.

Humber has partnered with the Toronto District School Board to lease the former Lakeshore Lions Arena for 20 years. The 53,000 square foot facility was renovated to house programs in the School of Creative & Performing Arts and the School of Media Studies & Information Technology, including the new four-year Film and Media Production bachelor’s degree program. Students will study in leading-edge studios centred by a “black box” theatre. The building will include acting, cabaret, dance, film, media and television studios, rehearsal rooms, technical labs, a scene shop, a carpentry shop, a lecture hall and offices. The facility will serve more than 700 students, and also includes a gymnasium, funded by Humber, which will be used by the college and the local community.

Humber received federal and provincial funding totalling $35 million for projects at its Lakeshore Campus through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program and Ontario’s 2009 Budget. In addition to the construction of the Humber Arts & Media Studios, the funding supported construction of Humber’s Centre for Justice Leadership which opened in November 2009.

In total, the governments of Canada and Ontario are investing $1.5 billion in 49 projects at Ontario’s colleges and universities, through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP) and the Ontario 2009 Budget.

“Our government has invested in innovation and infrastructure to improve the quality of life for Canadians and set the foundation for economic prosperity,” said Lois Brown, MP for Newmarket-Aurora. “This investment created jobs for people at a critical period, while enhancing the infrastructure that Humber College needs for years to come.”

The Knowledge Infrastructure Program, a two-year, $2 billion economic stimulus measure to support infrastructure enhancement at Canadian post-secondary institutions is part of the $12 billion in new infrastructure investment allocated under Canada’s Economic Action Plan. The program is providing real economic stimulus and employment by creating local jobs for engineers, architects, trades people and technicians. It is also helping to generate the advanced technological infrastructure needed to keep Canada’s research and educational facilities at the forefront of scientific advancement.

“This investment to revitalize Humber College is part of our Open Ontario plan to create jobs, support the local economy and our students. At the same time it is providing much-needed recreational space for community use,” said Laurel Broten, MPP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore. “Today’s opening marks the beginning of a future where students will learn in a modern facility and our entire community benefits with a new gymnasium.”

The Government of Ontario, in its 2009 budget – Confronting the Challenge: Building Ontario’s Economic Future, is committed to investing in infrastructure and has designated $780 million to colleges and universities to modernize facilities and boost long-term research and skills training capacity over the next two years.

“The Humber Arts & Media Studios will continue the college’s tradition of developing award winning actors, comedians, designers, filmmakers and writers who go on to become part of local, national and international arts and entertainment communities,” said John Davies, president, Humber College. “We are grateful to the Ontario government for providing $30 million and the federal government for giving $5 million in funding for new building and revitalization projects that allow us to provide students with a quality educational experience and prepare them for the jobs of the future.”

Montreal’s iPerceptions Inc. has launched WASP 2.0, which means WASP users can now view and analyze the results of their analytics scans in an intuitive new dashboard. The latest WASP version also features SEO functionality and detection of over 200 analytics tools on any website; it reports missing and duplicate tagging from both traditional and mobile web pages.

Enhancing the award winning product line developed by Stéphane Hamel, a leading web analytics innovator, iPerceptions has delivered a more comprehensive and powerful analytics profiler with WASP 2.0.

“WASP 2.0 is the version I had always envisioned but never had the man-power to deliver,” said Hamel. “I am very happy to see iPerceptions continue to innovate and invest in the tool I created.”

Designed for web analytics quality assurance (QA), WASP 2.0 detects and reports on the state of analytics tagging and data collection on any site in real-time. Its automatic scanner, new dashboard view and new data browser enable faster quality assurance.

“The launch of WASP 2.0 re-affirms our commitment to deliver the most effective and affordable web analytics QA tools to our clients,” said Claude Guay, President and CEO of iPerceptions. “Web analytics quality assurance has traditionally been a key, yet time-consuming task. With WASP 2.0, we are providing analytics experts with a more efficient and convenient tool to optimize their quality assurance.”

WASP 2.0 significantly enhances its predecessor with the introduction of the new dashboard and data browser. The new product also features:

* Page-by-page or site-wide crawl and report functionality
* Mobile site tag detection
* Flash based analytics detection
* Convenient sidebar with as-you-browse information
* Missing and duplicate tag detection
* Flash event capture capabilities
* SEO functionality
* Easy data export
* Enhanced tag views and more for over 200 top web analytics solutions