Village Gamer

The call for submissions to present lectures, roundtables and panel sessions at the 2012 Game Developers Conference® (GDC) is now open through Tuesday, September 6^th. Organized by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, GDC 2012 is the game industry’s most comprehensive and longest running professionals-only event where game developers converge for a week of learning, networking and inspiration. GDC 2012 will take place March 5-9 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Session proposals can be submitted via the official GDC website.

The GDC 2012 advisory board welcomes a slate of new members primarily aiding in the content planning for the Business, Marketing & Management, Production, and Visual Arts tracks including:

Chris Charla, Portfolio Director for XBLA, Microsoft Game Studios
Prior to joining Microsoft, Charla served as VP of business development at Foundation 9 Entertainment as well as editor-in-chief of Next Generation Magazine and launch editor of IGN.com.  In his new role at Microsoft Game Studios, Charla helps to shape Microsoft’s first party digital games portfolio.

Rod Fergusson, Executive Producer, Epic Games
As executive producer for Epic Games’ blockbuster Gears of War franchise,
Fergusson led the production of Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) and the 2006 Game of the Year, Gears of War (Xbox 360, PC), in addition to collaborating with creative talent on the Gears of War novels, comic books and film. During his 10 year tenure at Microsoft, Fergusson also produced a number of game projects including Train Simulator, Blood Wake and Counter-Strike (Xbox).

Lee Petty, Project Lead & Art Director, Double Fine Productions
Since 1996, Petty has worked in the game industry in a wide variety of art production and leadership roles.  Petty has shipped numerous console and PC titles at companies such as Accolade, Infogrames, and Crystal Dynamics. Petty is currently at Double Fine Productions, where he serves as art director and project lead; his work includes 2009’s Brutal Legend and 2011’s Stacking.

Justin Thavirat , Senior Art Director, Blizzard
Thavirat is a senior art director at Blizzard Entertainment and has been working in the video game industry since 1994. He has contributed game art, concept art, cinematics art and marketing illustrations for many of Blizzard’s games in the Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and World of Warcraft series. Most recently, Thavirat served as lead artist on World of Warcraft, art director on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, and is currently art directing Blizzard’s unannounced massively multiplayer online game.

Ru Weerasuriya, Art and Creative Director and Co-Founder, Ready at Dawn Studios
Weerasuriya is the art and creative director and co-founder of Ready at Dawn Studios. 2006 saw the release of their first game, Daxter, to critical and commercial acclaim, earning them a nomination for the BAFTA awards. Formerly a senior artist with Blizzard Entertainment, Weerasuriya initially worked on Starcraft: Brood War and then contributed to the blockbuster Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Weerasuriya’s work has been published in several books and magazines, including The Art of Warcraft, The Art of World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons books and Monster Manuals.

“The GDC Advisory Board has made improving the quality of presented talks its number one goal,” said Meggan Scavio, GM, Game Developers Conference Events. “With our new board members and the introduction of a new submissions system, we are able to continue to present talks that are representative of interesting and current work happening in game development each year.”

DHX Media has concluded a worldwide administration deal for more than 40 titles from DHX Media’s extensive library of television and film content with ole, one of the world’s largest independent music publishers. The deal includes a significant advance payment to DHX Media and gives ole music publishing administration rights for the entire DHX Media group of companies, including recently acquired W!LDBRAIN Entertainment. Under the deal, ole will collect and retain all music publishing revenue and, once it has recouped its advance, remit to DHX these revenues net of an administration fee.

DHX Media CEO Michael Donovan commented: “We are very happy to partner with ole on this venture. This deal again highlights the additional revenue streams we are able to access, unlocking the potential of our library of high-quality, enduring content.”

DHX Media maintains a library of over 2,300 hours of television productions that covers both live action and animated programming. The internationally popular titles in the company’s catalog include That’s So Weird, How To Be Indie, Bo on the GO!, Being Ian, Animal Mechanicals, Naturally Sadie, Franny’s Feet, Kid vs Kat, Angela Anaconda, dirtgirlworld, and Yo Gabba Gabba!, the successful live version of which will be back on the road this fall for a 50-city North American tour under the banner YO GABBA GABBA! LIVE!: It’s Time To Dance.

Digital publisher Mygazines has launched On-Page Widgets and the Library App. On-Page Widgets are an HTML5-powered mobile publishing tool for creating true app-like experiences on any device browser, including iPad, Playbook, iPhone, Android phones and desktops. Content creators can now easily offer readers web-apps with Twitter feeds, Facebook “Like” buttons, annotations, Youtube videos and other enhanced interactivity on any page of their digital editions.

“Enhancements are easily added via Mygazines’ Page Editor, where users predefine zones for desired interactive elements. Other uses include embedding forms, games or any type of HTML-based element. The possibilities are endless and the software is extremely natural to use”, explained Mygazines Chief Marketing Officer Randy Frisch.

Mygazines’ digital publishing software also offers tools like links, location-based rules and analytics. “The process converts magazines, brochures, flyers and beyond from a PDF format to an enhanced digital edition viewable on any web-enabled device. Content is distributed via a branded URL, Mygazines’ system automatically detects the device and shows a unique experience”, Frisch added.

Mygazines also announced the Library App, which gives readers the flexibility to discover, browse and navigate through content online or offline via a downloadable App. Powered by Mstand, it is a hybrid of web-app and native-app technologies and is available for iOS (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch), Android (phones and tablets) and desktops.

“The Library App is a cutting edge and still affordable way to offer content on popular app storefronts,” explained Frisch. “Combining the Library App with On Page-Widgets allows any sized organization to present an experience that is sure to attract audience engagement.”

Absolute® Software Corporation has announced the general availability of Absolute Manage 5.4.2, allowing for customer upgrades to Apple’s newest operating system without any interruption to the endpoint management processes they depend on to effectively manage their cross-platform deployments. In addition, Apple Open Directory integration means organizations can now better manage users’ access to resources used on iOS 4 devices.

“Absolute Manage is truly cross-platform and provides endpoint management capabilities for PC, Mac®, and iOS devices,” said John Livingston, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Absolute Software. “Our customers expect us to keep pace with the market and we do, ensuring our solutions support the most current operating systems and form factors on the market today.”

Absolute Manage allows organizations to efficiently manage all their assets by automating time-consuming IT processes such as software distribution, patch management, asset inventory and imaging. Additionally, it helps organizations save money by allowing them to track installed applications and licenses, redeploy under-used licenses and hardware to optimize inventory, and avoid non-compliance fines.

Manitoba’s Small Fun Games has released Hammer Penguins, a new Windows tile-matching game for children and adults. Similar to the Mahjonng Solitaire genre of computer games, Hammer Penguins lets you help two penguins save their animal friends who have been trapped in the ice.

At the easiest levels, children of all ages will be able to pair matching tiles and release the trapped cows, puppies, and dozens of other animals from the ice. Parents can use the middle levels to play Hammer Penguins with their children, and teach them the principles of logic, strategy, and planning ahead. And a game at the high difficulty level will provide ten or twenty minutes of fun for even the most savvy gamer.

Each game board is a randomly shuffled set of 140 animal tiles that you need to match, two by two, until the entire board is cleared. The theory that determines the matching rules is simple and intuitive. But the game can be extremely challenging and complex. Hammer Penguins’ infinite variety of game boards keeps you looking forward to the next game.

Players can enjoy a relaxed, untimed game or the more difficult set of Challenge Games. The Hint button will reveal one move that is available immediately, even though it might not be the best strategic move to help you clear the entire board. You can even toggle the sound off if you prefer to play a quiet game.

Whether you’re a home computer user who wants to spend hours of relaxing fun playing a thoughtful, non-violent game, a businessperson who needs a way to take a challenging work break to relax and unwind, or a parent who wants to teach your kids to think logically and plan ahead, Hammer Penguins can provide years of entertainment.

Hammer Penguins runs under Windows 7/Vista/XP, costs $14.95(US), and may be purchased securely online. Hammer Penguins comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. One dollar of every sale is donated to the Winnipeg Humane Society.

Hothead Games is pleased to introduce Bob from Marketing, DeathSpank’s new co-op character in the upcoming action RPG, The Baconing, and I’ve come all the way from Spanktopia to impart a marketing message or two about my good friend’s almighty armaments – The Weapons of Justice.

Of course, these are no ordinary weapons – they are fueled by justice itself! When DeathSpank fills his Justice Meter, the weapons are capable of unleashing destruction like none the world has ever seen. You will not be disappointed as the game’s battle component improvements and all the expected USPs will deliver the added value as per the creator’s blue-sky vision!

The latest and greatest is the Drill of Justice, the ultimate in drilling technology. With a five-speed all metal transmission generating over 10,000 rpm, this baby is guaranteed to screw your enemies full of justice and major injury.

For long-range killing nothing can beat the Mobile Nuker, weapon of the future. Besides being able to bash evil in its smirking evil face, the Mobile Nuker has the ability to call in air support, raining destruction down upon DeathSpank’s enemies.

To keep you all on the hook, I also have some other armor images and Hero poses just to whet your media appetite! Exciting, extravagant, fierce, and full of synergy, DeathSpank will be ready for evil as he struts his stuff in confidence.

The Technocrat Armor is a high-tech armor set for your high-tech life. This is one of DeathSpank’s twenty armor sets, but remains of my favorites. Inspired from robotic policemen and 1950s cars, the Technocrat Armor set is truly remarkable at protecting your valued inside from the harsh outside.

The Pinstripe Platemail Armor outfits a protected hero in the latest gangster fashion. This set is complete with a fully functional felt fedora and fool’s gold coated in real gold and then another layer of fool’s gold. His accessories are the Perfectly Legal Bat and the Lucky Crossbow, which can shoot seven rapid-fire shots when fully charged.

With these trusty Weapons of Justice (and five spectacular others) plus an extensive wardrobe of armor, you can help DeathSpank and I vanquish the evil AntiSpank, and bring harmony back to Spanktopia!

The Baconing will be released on PC, Mac, and other platforms this summer.

Square Enix® interactive entertainment products and Eidos-Montreal are proud to announce that Deus Ex®: Human Revolution™ has “gone gold” and will be available in North American retail stores on August 23, 2011 (according to GameStop Canada). Deus Ex®: Human Revolution is the exciting debut title release for Eidos-Montreal. The game will be available for the PlayStation®3, the Xbox 360®  and Windows® PC, Steam® and OnLive®.

“We couldn’t be more excited that Deus Ex: Human Revolution has gone gold and will soon be in the hands of expectant gamers,” said Stephane D’Astous, general manager of Eidos-Montreal. “As the first release for Eidos-Montreal, it’s impossible to express how extremely proud we are of the final product and all of the hard work that went into its creation.”

The return to one of the most critically acclaimed video game franchises of all time, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an action RPG that offers open-ended, hybrid gameplay.

Telling the story of Adam Jensen, a man cybernetically augmented against his choice who finds himself in the middle of a global conspiracy to which he holds the key, Deus Ex®: Human Revolution is set in a near-future world where humanity is at a turning point.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIqhx9B8HYA]

By offering players the chance to play the game in multiple and vastly different ways, Deus Ex: Human Revolution challenges the foundations of gaming and provides an immersive experience where every choice has a lasting consequence.

OpenText™ has announced delivery of its comprehensive vision for Customer Experience Management that addresses the needs of marketers and the challenges of managing major global brands. To complete this vision, the company has formed an alliance with US-based digital marketing agency VML, bringing together the full range of OpenText Customer Experience Management technologies with VML’s creative and implementation capabilities.

Customer Experience Management (often referred to as CEM or CXM) addresses the key business transformations marketing teams are embarking upon today: embracing a social business strategy, driving customer-centric mobile and online marketing, managing their brands globally, raising customer satisfaction for online service, and delivering tailored customer communications online and offline.

Over the past two years, OpenText has delivered and integrated a robust set of Web content management, semantic search, analytics, media management, social, mobile, portal, campaign management, and customer communication management technologies. As a result of this concerted focus on Customer Experience Management, OpenText now offers the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions that marketers need for rich, interactive campaigns, managing brand consistency and adopting a social business culture that enables the agile, adaptive enterprise.

By joining forces, OpenText and VML give marketers a one-stop option for developing Customer Experience Management solutions spanning both the technical and the creative sides of marketing. The agreement formalizes an already strong working relationship between the two companies – one that already includes many mutual customers, encompassing business development, consulting, development, implementation, technical training and customer support. VML brings impressive credentials as a member of the WPP Group and the proven ability to bridge the worlds of marketing and technology.

“As a marketer, the only way to succeed in the face of rapid and constant change and disruption is to create deep and lasting connections to customers,” said James Latham, Chief Marketing Officer, OpenText. “This requires comprehensive integration of customer information across engagement platforms, portals and mobile, together with cohesive creative concepts. This level of integration is extremely difficult to create and maintain on an ad hoc basis, but without it the customer experience is fractured. We are delivering this today.”

“We share OpenText’s vision of integrating Web, social and mobile together with community and collaboration portals in order to create the type of personalized experience customers expect online,” said Martin Coady, Director of Technical Strategy of VML. “By working more closely with OpenText, we significantly enhance our ability to help some of the world’s top brands develop a digital roadmap to move toward a smoother, more sophisticated and effective relationship with their customers.”

To help organizations design their Customer Experience Management strategies, OpenText recently launched a Customer Experience Management website that features numerous videos and stories of how marketing innovators have applied online technologies to strengthen connections with their customers.  It also features an ongoing conversation fueled by the new blog titled Engage U authored by OpenText experts and guests.  Core subsections include Online Marketing, Global Brand Management and Adaptive Enterprise with Customer Self-Service and Customer Communications Management on the horizon.  Finally to round out its vision, the OpenText Value Engineering team can help customers, analyze, document, and quantify the positive impact to strategic business processes that could result from the

D-BOX Technologies Inc. has signed its first agreement with Paragon Theatres to equip the Paragon Odyssey 15 in Burnsville, Minn. with 32 D-BOX MFX Seats.

“On the heels of a record-breaking week with the release of Harry Potter, we are delighted to name Paragon as our newest exhibitor,” said President and CEO of D-BOX Technologies, Claude Mc Master.

The Paragon Odyssey 15 will unveil its D-BOX MFX Seats July 29^th, with the recently released epic motion picture, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

“At Paragon we are committed to providing the highest quality entertainment experience utilizing the greatest digital and audio technologies,” said CEO of Paragon Theatres, Michael Whalen. “Now that we offer D-BOX motion technology, our guests will not only see an incredible picture complemented by exceptional sound, but feel the onscreen action directly from their D-BOX seats.”

MaRS Discovery District has announced today that construction of MaRS Centre Phase 2 will proceed. This 20-storey state-of-the-art convergence centre, a substantial expansion of the facility, will enable MaRS to accelerate its role as a catalyst of innovation in the launching and growth of new science and technology businesses. To complete the development of MaRS Centre Phase 2, MaRS is partnering with the Province of Ontario and continuing its strategic relationship with Alexandria, the world’s leading life science developer and owner.

The current MaRS Centre is at full occupancy, and cannot meet the increasing demand for space from both institutional and business tenants. MaRS Centre Phase 2, directly adjacent to the existing facility, will offer tenants co-located technologically advanced laboratory and office space; award-winning communications and information technology capabilities; access to a large multi-function conference centre; and collaboration opportunities with other MaRS tenants and partners across Canada and around the globe.

“The MaRS Centre has been at capacity since it opened six years ago, when we first started working with entrepreneurs building new growth companies. Today the MaRS community has tremendous momentum, and our facility is bursting at the seams! This expansion of the MaRS platform offers a huge opportunity to accelerate that momentum and further strengthen our innovation economy for future generations.”— Ilse Treurnicht, CEO, MaRS Discovery District.

In the heart of downtown Toronto, the MaRS Centre is an architecturally inspiring space that has become the undisputed hub of Toronto’s renowned Discovery District. The MaRS Centre is at the heart of a vibrant and creative urban environment known for its highly skilled and diverse talent pool. Among globally recognized universities, academic teaching hospitals and research institutes and in close proximity to Toronto’s Financial District, business community, and government offices, its location provides a strong, sustainable innovation pipeline.

“Every day, the innovators and entrepreneurs at MaRS work on ideas that will save lives, invent whole new industries and create jobs we can’t even imagine today,” said Glen Murray, Minister of Research and Innovation and MPP for Toronto Centre.  “Our government is proud to help meet the demand for state-of-the-art space that will help bring these projects to life.”

Founded in 2000 and opened in 2005, the MaRS Centre brings companies of all sizes, researchers and innovators from different disciplines, investors, professional service firms, community organizations, and policymakers together in a thriving urban facility. This collaborative, interdisciplinary and cross-industry approach is the cornerstone of the MaRS model.

Phase 2 of the MaRS Centre will double the size of the facility to over 1.5 million sq. ft., making it one of the largest innovation hubs in the world. Today more than 2,300 researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs and professionals representing 80+ tenants come to work at MaRS every day. Every year thousands more come to attend seminars, workshops and conferences.  MaRS Centre Phase 2, by more than doubling this vibrant and creative core, will dramatically enhance the capacity of the MaRS community as an innovation engine, creating the jobs of the future economy.

Two prominent tenants have already committed to leasing space in the new building. The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, with its exceptional translational cancer research and commercialization programs, presently in the south tower, will expand into MaRS Centre Phase 2. Public Health Ontario, a central player in public health research and policy and in infectious diseases management, will anchor its provincial network in MaRS Centre Phase 2.

To finance the project, Infrastructure Ontario is providing a fully repayable loan to MaRS, which, with investments by MaRS and the existing investment of Alexandria, will enable MaRS to complete the project. MaRS Centre Phase 2 will be developed and operated by MaRS and has an anticipated completion date of September 2013.