Village Gamer

A new report by UK-based Ovum Consulting reveals that Canada’s wireless industry contributed $41.2 billion to the Canadian economy in 2009. Commissioned by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), the study determined the wireless sector contributed more than $17.2 billion in terms of direct contribution to the GDP through the sale of goods and services; an additional $14.98 billion due to the economic flow through to contributing suppliers in the supply chain; and more than $9 billion in consumer surplus – the additional benefit or satisfaction that consumers receive from wireless services, above and beyond what they pay for the services.

Ovum also examined the investments made by the wireless industry. In 2009, the industry invested an unprecedented $2.95 billion in capital expenditures. Despite the generally negative economic conditions at that time, the wireless industry increased network capital expenditure by 60% over the previous year.

“Canada’s wireless industry has always been a strong performer in providing economic value to the wider economy of the country,” said Bernard Lord, CWTA President & CEO. “The industry’s benefits to Canada are even further validated by the fact that in 2009, when the economy as a whole contracted by 2.8%, the wireless sector was setting record levels of investment.”

From a historical perspective, the industry invested between $1.1 billion and $1.9 billion each year in capitalized equipment and services from 1996 to 2007. In 2008, the industry deployed $1.84 billion in equipment and invested $4.26 billion in Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum.

The Ovum study also reveals the industry is a major contributor to employment, with more than 261,200 people employed as a result of the wireless industry. The wireless sector was also found to offer high value employment, with an average salary of $60,031, compared to a Canadian average salary of $43,895. The value added per employee in the wireless sector is estimated at $166,000 per year, compared to $71,000 per year for the average Canadian employee.

“The Benefit of the Wireless Telecommunications Industry to the Canadian Economy” study is based on empirical data from the year 2009. Data was provided by a number of CWTA members, and obtained from publicly available sources including the CRTC, Statistics Canada, Industry Canada and annual reports of wireless operators, terminal suppliers and network equipment manufacturers. Ovum forecasts for revenues and services in the wireless sector have also been used in the modeling. A complete copy of the report is available on the CWTA Web site.

RBC and the Toronto International Film Festival® today announced the finalists for the RBC Emerging Filmmakers Competition. Reviewed by a jury comprised of esteemed producers, directors and executives from Canada’s film industry, the following five finalists have been selected out of 20 “Family” themed submissions:

• ESTHER AND LEIB – Sean Wainsteim – (Toronto)
  A raw portrait of Esther and Leib, a couple who met when escaping Europe, as they reflect on the passing years and each other.
• MY FIRST MOVIE – Gabriel Taraboulsy – (Montréal)
  Tasked with making a video portrait of her family, a young filmmaker plants a hidden camera, capturing a vision of her family that is far different from anything she imagined.
• NEXT OF KIN – Kara Blake – (Montréal)
  Documenting the parallel lives of two sisters surviving a long, cold winter in Montreal.
• THE REVENGE PLOT – Jared Raab – (Toronto)
  After Matt and his friends are dissed in the schoolyard by a group of girls, they set to work on an elaborate and merciless plan for revenge.
• SATURDAY NIGHT – Kaveh Nabatian – (Montréal)
  New Year’s Eve. Boy meets girl. A film about unprotected sex, destiny and soul music.

From these top five films, the jury will decide the National Winner and an Honourable Mention, each receiving $15,000 and $10,000 respectively. Canadians from coast to coast can support the emerging filmmakers by voting for the film they like, to help decide the Fan Favourite Award which comes with a $5,000 cash prize. The public can vote from June 1 to June 30, 2011 until 11:59 p.m. EST and have the chance to win an all expenses paid trip for two to the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

“This year’s submissions are an exceptional representation of the talented crop of emerging filmmakers in Canada – the jury was faced with a challenge, narrowing down the competition to just five films,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO, TIFF. “TIFF congratulates these high-calibre talents who interpreted the Family theme brilliantly.”

“We are thrilled to be involved in such an important arts initiative that gives emerging filmmakers the opportunity to learn and grow,” said Jennifer Tory, RBC’s Regional President for Greater Toronto. “For many years, RBC has been working with talented filmmakers and industry professionals to help them create their vision and achieve success in the film business. We are particularly proud to recognize and celebrate these rising new talents.”

The RBC Emerging Filmmakers Competition is part of Talent Lab, a four-day intensive program at the Toronto International Film Festival that offers artistic development opportunities to a select group of emerging Canadian and international filmmakers. Each filmmaker is provided with a portable camera, $500 cash and challenged to develop a one to five minute short film for the competition. Each year the films will focus on one topic – this year’s theme is Family. Winners of the RBC Emerging Filmmakers Competition will be announced prior to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Hot Wheels® is excited to announce that it will be the primary sponsor of Canadian racing superstar, Alex Tagliani as he races in three Canadian NASCAR events this summer as part of the Canadian Tire 2011 NASCAR Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Tagliani will be showing off his “hot wheels”, literally, this summer in his one-of-a-kind #12 Hot Wheels® car, customized with a unique and edgy branded design.

“Hot Wheels is so excited to be working with Alex as we share the same passion for speed, power and performance,” says Melissa Chau, Hot Wheels® Brand Manager at Mattel Canada. “We look forward to watching him roar past the competition in his specially-designed vehicle that embodies a look only Hot Wheels can create”.

Racing professionally for 15 years, Montreal-born Tagliani recently became the first Canadian ever to earn the Pole at the Indianapolis 500 that took place this past weekend. This summer, Tagliani will race his Hot Wheels® car in three NASCAR events. On June 4-5, Tagliani will race the Circuit ICAR NASCAR Canada Series in Montreal; on August 19, he will race the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve NASCAR Canada Series in Montreal; and on August 20, he will race the Circuit Gilles Villenuse NASCAR Nationwide Series in Montreal.

For the NASCAR nationwide race taking place August 20, Tagliani’s custom Dodge Hot Wheels® #12 NASCAR is a newly designed black car weighing in at 3,500 lbs.  The Dodge dealers of Québec have secured the Nationwide series #12 Penske/Dodge Challenger for Tagliani. The car will be branded with the iconic flames of the Hot Wheels brand toy cars, vehicles that helped fuel Tagliani’s love for car racing as a young boy.

“Hot Wheels® has defined racing for a generation, so working with this legendary brand again is a great honour for me” says Tagliani. “Hot Wheels® has given my Dodge Hot Wheels® car a look any Hot Wheels® fan could only dream of, and I’m thrilled to be racing it in my home town.”

Tagliani’s racecar, fire suit and his pit crew shirts will all be designed by the Hot Wheels creative team with a customized design that reflects Alex’s fearless and competitive driving style on the racetrack.

Montreal’s CGI Group Inc., a provider of information technology and business process services, today announced that BMO Financial Group has chosen CGI’s cloud computing services to help launch a comprehensive social media Hub.

The site will feature a comprehensive set of multimedia tools such as blogs, games and YouTube integration, a content management system for quickly and easily updating content on the site, customer relationship management tools, including e-mail registration and updates, and the capacity to rapidly activate new services.

In addition, CGI is providing BMO Financial Group with cloud services to support the launch of new mobile applications for its customers.

“Working with CGI, we developed the BMO SmartSteps for Parents, an interactive, online hub to help parents educate children about money management.  The resource is free and available to all Canadians and part of our commitment to Making money make sense^®,” said Bal Sahjpaul, Head of eChannel, BMO Financial Group. “We’re excited about our move to the cloud and how it will help us deliver exciting new services to our customers faster.”

“As a leading cloud computing provider, CGI delivers enterprise cloud solutions that address the performance, security and governance challenges large organizations face,” said Eva Maglis, President, Global Infrastructure Services, CGI. “Our value is in integrating cloud computing capabilities with more traditional services to provide clients with robust solutions customized to meet their specific business needs and enhance their business performance,” added Doug McCuaig, President, Canada, CGI.

As a follow-up to the hit entertainment property and cultural phenomenon Bakugan, Spin Master Ltd. is thrilled to announce the launch of Redakai™, an all-new boys action property, which features fresh new strategic gameplay, amazing Blast3D™ technology and a televised series on Cartoon Network.

Launching at Hobby/Specialty stores on June 4^th, followed by mass retailers nationwide in August, Redakai™ is a ground-breaking innovation in gaming, taking trading cards to the next level with amazing Blast3D™ technology.  Never before have trading cards contained 3D and animation effects like Redakai™.  A new  “stack to battle” gaming advancement automatically tracks your progress and allows you to see the damaging effects of your attacks.

“We are very excited about Redakai and I think our gaming customers will be too,” says Ed Evans of All Things Fun!, a prominent hobby and gaming retailer in New Jersey.  “The cards themselves are revolutionary and the game play is fantastic.  Redakai literally has the potential to be a game changer for the trading card game category.”

“Everyone who has seen Redakai – from hobby store owners and mass retailers, trading card game experts to kids in focus groups – has had an amazing response,” says Johnny O’Neal, Sr. Brand Manager of Redakai for Spin Master. “We’ll be building momentum all summer, with the animated series in July and the toy launch in August, so we’re poised to make the jump to full-blown craze this fall.”

Redakai: Conquer the Kairu is an animated kids adventure series on Cartoon Network starring Ky, a 15-year-old student of ancient martial arts who embarks on an incredible quest to find the Kairu, a primordial alien energy force. Helped by his friends Maya and Boomer, Ky travels the globe looking for the Kairu to protect it from his extraterrestrial teenage opponents, with the hope that one day he will become the greatest Kairu warrior of them all – a Redakai.

Additionally, starting on launch day, June 4^th, kids will be able to play Redakai™ through Official Redakai™ Organized Play programs.  Organized Play kits will contain everything needed to run league events and tournaments: prize cards, training materials, and game accessories. Redakai™ Organized Play will be fully supported at Redakai.com, including nationwide leaderboards and achievements.

Interactive entertainment company Ludia Inc. has announced that the studio has sold over 10 million games across digital and console platforms since the release of its first title The Price Is Right three years ago. This figure equates to a Ludia game being sold on average every 10 seconds across mobile, PC, and consoles. As of today, four Ludia games have risen to the desirable top 10 Paid Apps spot on the Apple App Store and over seven million Facebook users have installed Ludia’s The Price Is Right and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

“I am very proud of the Ludia team and all we have achieved together to propel us to this exciting milestone today,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “Our expanded Facebook and mobile strategy combined with our multi-platform console releases will continue to foster years of future growth.”

The second half of Ludia’s 2011 slate includes the release of 11 new games. The company will also expand its Facebook offering to feature a broad range of titles including five new TV game shows, a major film franchise, and an original IP.

To fuel Ludia’s ongoing growth, the company plans to hire 50 new employees by the end of the year.

Every so often I run across an interesting site – sometimes led there by Twitter, as I was today – I followed a link tweeted by Corwin Hiebert of Creative Mix. Today’s discovery is Creative Couples Network, founded by creative Vancouver couple and Creativitality proprietors Igor Terzic and Slava Micic, and Megan Williams – who also puts on game day events for the Vancouver Canucks. I bet she’s very busy right now. 😉

According to the site’s information, “Creative Couples is a global network connecting and featuring couples successfully balancing work, love and lifestyle. More often than not, we hear about couples who are either splitting up, cheating on their partner or living a ‘single’ life while in a relationship. With all that attention on tumultuous relationships, where and when is it ‘cool’ to be in love?”

Being one half of a creative couple myself, I thought that I would pass along this great resource to all of the other creatives who read this site – many of whom are also part of a creative duo. The site has many articles that are educational, inspiring and meaningful, as well as a global directory of sites and special feature areas such as Cooking for Two, Music Mondays and Historic Couples. There is also a wealth of video and photographic content for viewing.

By the way, Creative Couples is hiring as well as looking for interns.

The Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP) aims to promote innovation and support the development of small and medium enterprises (SME) in Canada. The goal of CICP is to help bridge the pre-commercialization gap by purchasing innovations through a Call for Proposals. The Program targets innovations in four priority areas: environment, health, safety & security, and enabling technologies.

There are 19 pre-qualified innovation proposals from the first round of the program, and now The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME) invites you to attend the Spring 2011 Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP) Forums taking place from 9:00 – noon on:

• June 20, 2011 Kelowna – Delta Grand Okanagan – 1310 Water St. in Kelowna
• June 21, 2011 Kamloops – Kamloops Convention Centre – 1250 Rogers Way in Kamloops
• June 27, 2011 Vancouver – Marriott Pinnacle – 1128 West Hastings St. in Vancouver
• June 28, 2011 Victoria – Hotel Grand Pacific – 463 Belleville St. in Victoria

Come out for a free coffee and learn more about the program – register today, it’s free.

By attending the CICP Innovation Forum, you will have the opportunity to:

• Learn about the CICP and other Government of Canada programs that support innovation
• Meet face to face with Government of Canada representatives
• Find out what new innovations local businesses are working on

Forum Agenda

9:00am – 10:30am (Information session)

The agenda for each Forum is similar – there will be information sessions for businesses on CICP as well as on the Scientific Research & Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program, the Industrial Research Assistance Program, Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade and Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada Programs during the first portion of the event from 9:00am – 10:30am.

10:30am – Noon (Networking and Tradeshow)

The second portion of the event runs from 10:30am – noon and during this portion businesses are invited to showcase their innovative goods and services to government. (Please note that there will be no tradeshow at the Kamloops event.)

If you have any questions about CICP, please do not hesitate to contact Scarlett Chan, Regional CICP Coordinator, at 1-866-602-0403 or visit the CICP web site.

Nightingale Informatix Corporation, an application service provider (ASP) of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software and related services today announced it has partnered with ExpeData LLC, an innovative software company and global leader in digital writing based in Ohio, to launch “Clinipen”, a potentially game-changing technology within the North American EMR market. Clinipen will enable EMR software providers to deliver an integrated digital writing solution with which healthcare providers can input structured data into a patient’s EMR directly from paper.

“Through this partnership with Nightingale, we will be making the adoption of EMR technology much more appealing to a large segment of North American healthcare providers, which is very exciting,” said Brandon Major, Vice President and COO, ExpeData. “We are looking forward to a successful launch of Clinipen.”

The EDW® digital writing platform from ExpeData leverages Anoto® digital pen and paper technology and Vision Objects’ industry-leading handwriting recognition technologies. ExpeData has demonstrated the effective use of its platform solution in a number of industries, including financial services and certain segments of the healthcare industry. Via the partnership, Nightingale and ExpeData will expand the deployment of the EDW® digital writing platform to the EMR market.

Nightingale and ExpeData have entered into a joint venture agreement for exclusive distribution rights for the Clinipen technology products for the EMR industry in North America. Each company will maintain 50% ownership.

Nightingale On Demand, Nightingale’s leading, web-based EMR, will be the first solution seamlessly integrated with Clinipen. The Clinipen-enabled solution for Nightingale On Demand is expected to become commercially available to physicians in Canada and the United States during the fourth quarter of this calendar year.

“Nightingale is committed to innovation and making the transition from paper records to EMR as seamless as possible for physicians,” said Sam Chebib, President and CEO of Nightingale. “Clinipen will be a major breakthrough in EMR data entry as it will allow healthcare providers to continue using their current paper forms to document patient encounters and write prescriptions. We believe integrating ExpeData’s digital writing technology with Nightingale On Demand will position both companies as leaders in the North American EMR market.”

According to the 2009  study Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians, it is estimated that more than 60% of Canadian physicians are still using paper-based records. A recent independent survey conducted in the US by CompTIA indicated that only 34% of healthcare providers use a comprehensive EMR system, while 16% indicated using a partial system. 29% of respondents indicated that they are evaluating solutions, while 20% indicated that they have not yet started the adoption process. (2nd Annual Healthcare IT Market: Insights and Opportunities Study)

ExpeData and Vision Objects are part of the digital writing investment portfolio held by Myrian Capital, a private equity firm focused on emerging technology businesses.

“Clinipen is a strategic opportunity and provides a natural way to expand our digital writing investment portfolio into the EMR market,” said Paddy Padmanabhan, Managing Director, Myrian Capital. “The advanced input technologies in this joint venture allow physicians to use handwriting, the most natural and flexible data capture method available, to easily transition to electronic records. This provides groundbreaking potential to accelerate EMR adoption.”

Co-founder of Ubisoft Montréal and founder of EA Montréal Alain Tascan has opened the doors to his next large-scale project in Québec’s video game industry: SAVA Transmedia. The new venture is one of the first entirely independent gaming companies specializing in games for social and mobile platforms.

SAVA Transmedia aims to redefine the future of social games so that players can “connect and play on every screen”. The company’s mission is to offer gamers an unparalleled entertainment experience by combining cutting edge technology and design with the artistic vision of the best creative minds in the business. SAVA is devoted to developing innovative, quality social games for new and fast-growing platforms, including Facebook, iOS,  Android and Windows Mobile.

With the establishment of the new studio, SAVA Transmedia plans to create 50 jobs within its first year of operation and aims to add a total of 200 new jobs over the next five years. SAVA Transmedia is not only a great addition to the video game industry, but to Montréal’s economic development as well.

“It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I announce the official opening of SAVA Transmedia, located in the heart of Montréal,” said Alain Tascan, President and CEO of SAVA Transmedia.  “Québec is my adopted home where I have lived and built my career in the video game industry over the last 14 years. I can think of no better place to embark on this exciting new journey than in Montréal with its incredible opportunity and support for entrepreneurship and technology innovation.”

Tascan added, “The combination of social media and new mobile devices has led to the creation of a new market segment for the video game industry. The province of Québec, and Montréal in particular, rank among the world’s best in terms of video game production, and our goal at SAVA is to now make it the global hub for social gaming.”

“The opening of a new video game development studio in Montréal demonstrates once again that this city is a key global player in the entertainment software industry,” noted Raymond Bachand, Minister of Finance, Minister of Revenue and the Minister responsible for the Montreal region. “SAVA Transmedia will immediately create jobs and will also contribute to the development of local expertise in this continuously growing industry, namely in social media.”

The President of the Montréal Board of Trade Mr. Michel Leblanc was also in attendance to mark the occasion. “We welcome SAVA Transmedia to our city with a great sense of enthusiasm and today’s announcement is another example that Montréal is a global leader in the gaming industry, and in particular in this new rapidly growing social media category” said Mr. Leblanc. “Efforts to ensure our next generation of workers are generating encouraging results, with an ever growing number of graduates.”

SAVA Transmedia will start recruiting and hiring immediately. As part of its search it will be seeking talented programmers, designers and graphic artists to build the foundation of the company for the future.

“We plan to hire employees that are ready for a new adventure in the gaming industry,” stated Tascan.  “I want to bring together a passionate team composed of industry veterans and young, promising talent. I encourage potential candidates to visit www.sava.com or to email us at info@sava.com for more information.”

The global social games market is estimated at nine billion dollars and should double over the next five years, reaching 20 billion dollars by 2015. From 2010 to 2015, the social games markets of China and the United States should expect annual growth of 20% and 15%, respectively, according to a study on the Future in Digital Media conducted by William & Blair Company. (The Future in Digital Media. Chicago, 2011. p.1)

Currently, there are just under 300 million previous generation gaming consoles in the market. In comparison, there are 1.6 billion social network accounts, 150 million games for Apple devices and approximately 20 million Android devices. The combination of social media and new mobile devices led to the creation of a new market segment for the video game industry, and this segment will continue to grow, again according the Future in Digital Media report.

Online gaming is increasing in popularity, specifically after the arrival of games in social networks. In 2010, 30% of Québecers online took part in games on the Internet during a given month, as compared to 21% in 2009. Gaming ranks third overall in terms of most popular entertainment sources on the Internet, behind watching videos and watching TV / listening to the radio. ⁽CEFRIO. Divertissement en ligne : place au jeux sociaux. Montréal, 2010. p.5)

Online Québecers enjoy different types of games: 21% entertain themselves on sites dedicated to games, 11% do it on social networking sites and 9% play over a network on consoles over the Internet. ⁽CEFRIO. Divertissement en ligne : place au jeux sociaux. Montréal, 2010. p.5)