Village Gamer

Now you can compete against your Facebook and Twitter friends in the latest release of ApeZone’s SoliScare card game for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. The new version adds 11 leaderboards and 18 achievements to this already addictive little card game.

SoliScare lets you embark on a fantastic journey through graveyards, haunted houses, and spooky castles. Put the beat down on ghosts, zombies, and classic movie monsters in 100 levels of play.

Game play follows one simple rule: move monster cards to your hero pile by choosing cards that are one higher or lower than your current hero card. As you make longer card runs, you’ll capture these creatures and add them to your jailhouse. Capture all 37 ghosts, zombies, and monsters to become the new Van Helsing.

Ludia Inc., and Sony Pictures Consumer Products announced today that Ludia will create video games based on the hugely popular Pyramid series of television game shows. The licensing deal will result in games across major console platforms, PC/Mac, iPhone/iPod touch and iPad, the first of which games is slated for release in Q1 2011.

“Pyramid is a classic TV game show favorite, and we are thrilled to create games around the property so that fans of the show and broader audiences alike are able to feel the thrill of reaching ‘Winner’s Circle’ from home,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “This deal serves to further expand Ludia’s prominence across platforms in the game show video game category, which has been a successful growth strategy for us.”

Pyramid will feature all the favorite elements from the show as the game pits pair against pair in a bid to reach the coveted ‘Winner’s Circle’. Players pick from six categories on the pyramid-shaped game board, and guess a series of words or phrases as described by their team mate. The duo that scores more points than their opposing team wins the match, and gets a shot at the grand prize. Additionally, the Pyramid video games will incorporate thousands of questions, connected gaming elements, single and multiplayer game modes, as well as reward systems to fuel the competitive fun between players.

“Pyramid has been a long-standing and successful game show franchise, and we are delighted to work with Ludia to create new opportunities that will bring an engaging entertainment experience to fans of the show,” added Mark Caplan, Vice President Licensing, Sony Pictures Consumer Products.

Three of EA Sports’ titles are vying for the top spot in the Golden Joystick Awards. FIFA 10, Skate 3 and 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa are all in the final run to the top. Ubisoft Canada is also competing against itself in the Action Title category, with both Assassin’s Creed 2 and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction in the running.

Assassin’s Creed 2: Bonfire of the Vanities and FIFA 10 are finalists for Downloadable Game of the Year while Next Level’s Punch Out!! and EA Sports’ Fight Night Round 4 have entered the ring for Fighting Game of the Year. EA Blackbox is trying to be first over the finish line in the Online Game of the Year with Need For Speed World while franchise twins Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines and Assassin’s Creed Discovery are both in the running for Portable Game of the Year. We have a cross-country showdown going between EA Montreal’s NFS Shift and United Front’s Modnation Racers in the Racing Game of the Year category.

Bioware fans will have a real problem voting in the Role Playing Game of The Year category as Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age Origins Awakening have all made it to the final list. In the soundtrack category, we have Mass Effect 2 competing against Assassin’s Creed 2, and in the RTS category we have household favourite Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising from Relic. The voting for Ultimate Game of the Year is going to be hot and heavy with Assassin’s Creed 2, Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins all hoping to take the podium. Read the rest of this entry »

A very special starring role has been played in the upcoming tween detective web series, Ruby Skye P.I. The esteemed Dragon Academy joined forces with one of Canada’s most innovative online storytellers – Jill Golick of Story2.OH – to become the first member of the local education community to embrace direct sponsorship of original, responsible and engaging online entertainment for Tweens; one of the world-wide web’s most under-served audiences. Principal Dr. Meg Fox declares the partnership “a wonderful opportunity”, noting the shared sensibilities between the school, and the digital series concept: “Our principal educational goals are to encourage all the things that Ruby Skye cares about too: creativity, freedom of expression, collaboration and commitment to social justice.”

Founded in Toronto’s Yorkville district in 2001, The Dragon Academy is a socratic, museum-based, integrated school revered for valuing rich, challenging and unusual content in its curriculum via lively connections with Toronto’s key cultural institutions. This made it the ideal local sponsor for the equally inspired new form of storytelling featured in the pending, locally created & produced web series, Ruby Skye P.I. The Dragon Academy is heavily featured as a principle location for the series’ action: it is just the sort of school environment to promote the curious, inquisitive and often hilarious sleuthing adventures of the quick-witted, impulsive mystery devotee, sixteen-year old Ruby Skye — a very young would-be detective bent on getting to the bottom of a mysterious email scam which has defrauded a well-meaning but eccentrically naive neighbour.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXn2xsrzot4]

Ruby Skye P.I. is a tween web mystery aimed at kids ages 8 through 14 and is one element of an impressive cross-platform project intended to entertain, engage and educate kids online around the world. Ruby Skye P.I. is the brain-child of Canada’s pioneering transmedia creator, Story2.OH’s Jill Golick (Hailey Hacks, Crushing It, BoyMeetsGrrl) and already represents a dazzling collaboration among community, corporate, and creative partners — all keen to see Canada reach the cutting edge of excellent online content for young people.

The first Ruby Skye P.I. mystery began principal photography at The Dragon Academy and on location around Toronto on August 16th and continues shooting its first mystery, The Spam Scam until September 2nd. Ruby Skye P.I. is one of nine digital web series projects selected for investment by the highly-competitive Canadian Independent Production Fund’s new web series program. Ruby Skye P.I. continues to seek local, national and international partners to fully realize its exciting vision. Interested potential sponsors can contact creator Jill Golick at 416.414.8539.