Village Gamer

One month from today, Mario Kart 8 will be driving players wild with anti-gravity racing action. To get people revved up for the Wii U game, Nintendo released a new Nintendo Direct video that announced some additional news nuggets, including a Mario Kart 8 Wii U bundle, a free downloadable game offer for Wii U owners who buy Mario Kart 8, details about online features, cool new characters and devastating new items. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) will conduct a cross-country Outreach in spring 2014 to present changes to the 2014-2015 Guidelines, 2013-2014 funding results, the application process and to answer questions. The meetings will be moderated by Nathalie Clermont, CMF Director of Program Management. She will be joined by representatives of the CMF Program Administrator|Telefilm Canada, Melissa Amer for the English market, and Dominique Lapierre for the French market. All stakeholders are invited to register to take part in the outreach tour. Read the rest of this entry »

On May 15th, BC’s tech community will gather to celebrate BC Technology innovation. The 25 companies listed below will showcase at NextBC, with a chance to be chosen as a Top 5 finalist. These 5 companies will be interviewed live by Paul Kedrosky of Bloomberg West. NextBC: The Showcase for Technology Innovation in BC that will Shape our Future, presented by DigiBC, will be held at Telus World of Science on Thursday May 15th from 6:00pm – 9:30pm. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the last few years, Nintendo has repeatedly reinvented its approach to E3 by creating unique ways to break news and get fans at home involved in the fun, while also offering great experiences for on-site attendees. That mission continues in 2014 as Nintendo offers a series of new channels to communicate news directly to its key audiences, including fans, media, analysts, investors and business partners. This includes a new format for unveiling news: the Nintendo Digital Event; a Super Smash Bros. tournament; a full slate of live, in-depth game demos from the Nintendo booth; and an opportunity for fans to play Super Smash Bros. for Wii U for the first time at their local Best Buy. Read the rest of this entry »

The ship is slowly starting to turn in the global branded entertainment marketplace as content is better integrated into entertainment platforms that consumers want to watch. And, according to The Future of Branded Entertainment, released today by the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), this shift is driven by recurring themes of convergence, the blurring of the lines between brand marketing and storytelling, an increased use of video and an emphasis on experiential, authentic content. Read the rest of this entry »

Telefilm Canada advises all members of the industry that, due to technical difficulties, the opening date of its Development Program has been pushed from April 30th 2014, to May 8th, 2014. The organization appreciates your patience and assures you that this delay will ensure smooth processing of your application. Closing date will remain six (6) months following the opening date, now pushing it to Monday, November 10th, 2014. No further changes to the program have been made since the advisory communicated on April 17th. Visit the Telefilm Canada Development Program page for more information and full details on the program.

Telefilm Canada is pleased to announce the finalists of its 2014-2015 Micro-Budget Production Program. The 15 emerging talents, including three Aboriginal filmmakers, come from all regions of the country. This is the second edition of filmmakers selected as finalists of this initiative created in June 2012. Telefilm will contribute up to $1.5 million to this year’s program. The Micro-Budget Production Program supports new filmmakers seeking to produce their first feature-length films, with an emphasis on the use of digital platforms for distribution and marketing. Candidates for this year’s program were recommended to Telefilm through a network of 32 institutional partners from the film education and training community across Canada. Read the rest of this entry »

At the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which takes place from June 9 to 14, 2014, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will present a rich selection of innovative films showcasing the talents of animation filmmakers from here and elsewhere. This year’s program boasts no less than nine short films produced or co-produced by the NFB: seven of them are in competition, six are receiving world-premiere screenings, and four are international co-productions. The NFB is extremely pleased to play a part in the worldwide renown of Canadian animated films. Animation has always had pride of place at the NFB, and is the genre par excellence through which audiences can discover the daring creativity of some of today’s finest filmmakers. Read the rest of this entry »

Ludia Inc. has announced the launch of Pako King™: DreamWorks Adventures on the Facebook platform. Pako King™ is a never before seen blend of game favorites like pachinko, pinball and breakout, all seamlessly fused with your favorite characters and worlds from DreamWorks Animation. Read the rest of this entry »

Alternate reality games, or ARGs, have always been an important part of ‘The Secret World‘, Funcom‘s modern-day massively multiplayer game of myths, legends and conspiracies. Ever since the game was initially announced through puzzles, clues and mysteries, the community following the game have had the opportunity to put their investigational skills to the test through a series of these alternate reality games tied to ‘The Secret World’ in a variety of ways. The keenly aware (which is always a good thing to be if you are planning on solving these things), have most likely already noticed the murmurings of a new ARG taking shape.  Read the rest of this entry »