Village Gamer

On March 8th, the Internet will go dark for hundreds, possibly even thousands of users.  And it will be the FBI’s fault.

Not really though, but that grabbed your attention, didn’t it?  Here’s the deal.  Back in November, the FBI took down a malware website that was infecting computers around the World and changing the infected user’s DNS settings to point to hacker-controlled networks.  If you were one of the unlucky, you would suddenly find your computer no longer gave you proper search results, and you would be seeing ads pop up on sites that shouldn’t have any (making money for the hackers in the process), and, most serious, you would find that your antivirus would no longer update. Read the rest of this entry »

This article first appeared on Kiwi Commons, and was written by Deborah Chantson on January 30, 2012. It is re-published here with full permission. It has been slightly altered in appearance only to fit with our format.

Ah … prepare yourself for entertainment … at my expense. Read the rest of this entry »

Last weekend we spent a very enjoyable and informative time at the 6th Game Design Expo presented by Vancouver Film School. As in previous years, we were treated to some very inspiring and informative talks – some that make us wish we were game developers or trying to figure out a way to apply the processes covered to our own project endeavours.

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Organized by Interactive Ontario, GameON: Finance connects the games industry’s leading players to new business opportunities in the interactive entertainment industries.

The final day of the two-day event wrapped on a recurring discussion of relationships and the importance of building and nurturing the right ones for both your studio and your games. Read the rest of this entry »

As many of our readers have probably noticed by now, today is the SOPA Blackout day across the Internet.  What is that?  Well, in simple terms, it’s a day (or 12 hours for some sites) where the web admin essentially pulls their website off the Internet in protest of 2 bills currently sitting before U.S. Congress: The SOPA (or Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act).  While these bills are sitting before the American Government, they have the power to forever change the Internet for the entire World. Read the rest of this entry »

Title: Little Bets – How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries
Author: Peter Sims
Publisher: Free Press (April 19, 2011)
Pages: 224
Cover Price: $28.99 _{Disclaimer: Clicking the cover graphic or the book title will link you to Amazon.ca through our Associate account. Purchasing the book through this link will help us earn money for the site.}

I picked this book up on our way home from Merging Media 2011 in Vancouver, having heard one of the speakers recommend it during his presentation. Through the wonders of the internet and cell phone technology, I was able to ascertain that our local Chapters outlet had one copy, and called ahead to have it held for me. Read the rest of this entry »

Am I the only one who finds the Top Ten ratings list released yesterday by Global TV to be more than a little disheartening? While I admit I do watch some of the shows on that list, why is it that not one Canadian-produced TV show other than Hockey Night In Canada made the Top Ten? Where is Flashpoint? Once Upon A Time? What about Endgame? Oh wait, Showcase cancelled that one – and as specialty channels don’t seem to enter into this ratings game, you could argue that Endgame doesn’t count – but it was a really good show and I still hold a grudge against Showcase for shutting it down. Human Target and Rookie Blue would’ve looked nice on that list too – if they hadn’t been cancelled. Read the rest of this entry »

With the success of book-to-screen adaptations, particularly on the young adult side (Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga, now The Hunger Games), it’s no wonder that HBO smelled a hit in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series when it bought the rights seven years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

Ubisoft Toronto is the “start-up in disguise,” as Jade Raymond calls it. The studio head and managing director of the year-and-a-half-old studio now houses almost 200 employees, and is well on its way to hitting the planned 800 over the next 10 years. We caught up with Raymond at WIFT-T’s inaugural International Women in Digital Media Summit in Stratford, ON to talk about the people she wants to bring on board at the growing AAA game company, her strategic goals for the next few years and how Ubisoft has handled its IP across different platforms. Read the rest of this entry »

Bullying is older than mankind. It’s been around since the first animal was forced to leave the pack, pushed away from home and family in what has become a seemingly natural animalistic practice. This instinct, so ingrained in the world of animals, has become part and parcel of the human world. The difference is that as time has moved forward, many of us have come to no longer accept bullying as an okay part of our daily lives.  What follows is a look at bullying and how the system has let down friends of our family. Read the rest of this entry »