Village Gamer

Game development studio Ludia has released Planet Fish™ on WiiWare for 500 Wii Points. In this game, which is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB, invites you to fire suction bubbles from your underwater craft to trap fish that you can then display in your personal aquarium. Catch and collect exotic fish in colorful deep-sea environments such as the Gulf of Mexico, the Ryukyu Islands and the spectacular Great Barrier Reef. Try to avoid obstacles and dangerous species lurking in the depths. Grow your aquatic collection with beautiful marine life from around the world. Navigate through 30 unique levels of play, each with its own challenges and obstacles. Watch out for jagged surfaces, dangerous jellyfish and paralyzing algae. Win bonus collectible fish as you advance in the game. Unlock animated Trophies with each region that you successfully complete.

Toronto’s Max the Mutt Animation School and Daemen College in Amherst, New York have signed an articulation agreement that may provide some Max the Mutt graduates with the opportunity to obtain advanced standing in Daemen College’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program subject to meeting Daemen College’s requirements.

“This is exciting news for Max the Mutt diploma holders who apply and are accepted as they can earn a BFA degree in one academic year!” explains Maxine Schacker, the Founder and Director of Max the Mutt.  “They will have the ability to round out their education with academic studies, and attain credentials that may be necessary for some job opportunities abroad.”

Max the Mutt and Daemen first entered into a partnership in May, 2010. Max the Mutt was able to assist Daemen in founding their new animation degree program. In the future, both schools will support and enhance each other’s programs and plan to cooperate in developing innovative educational strategies that will enhance the development of students at both schools.

Max the Mutt and Daemen are well matched as both stress small class size, foster skills and creativity, and seek to develop knowledge and skills that will make their graduates  a positive addition to their fields and to the world. Max the Mutt and Daemen will also offer relevant workshops to each other’s students.

“We were amazed and delighted to find a school that has the same basic philosophy as Max the Mutt,” says Schacker.  “We believe our graduates who apply for this and are accepted will have an easy transition into Daemen’s environment.”

Max the Mutt Animation School is devoted to the study of drawing, classical and computer animation, illustration for sequential arts and concept art for animation and video games.

Frima Studio says that size does matter, and  in conjunction with SFO-based Bolt Creative, the studio has announced that the Pygmies of Pocket God on Facebook are moving to bigger and better things with Episode V: Archipela-Go-Go. This latest addition to the Pocket God world introduces a brand new island, a first for the popular online title, and features a fun new way to reward the Pygmies for their undying loyalty. The latest update also adds customization for a 6th tribe member.

Since its debut in December 2010, the Facebook version of Pocket God has grown exponentially and is attracting more players every month. More than 40 million loyal, unquestioning Pygmies have met their demise over that time—that’s approximately the same amount of people who have had the fortune of being Rick-Rolled over the years. Don’t worry, we’re never gonna give you up (or let you down). Another two million sacrifices can be attributed to friends on Facebook sacrificing other friends in a host of brutal and irreverent ways, including electrocution, shark attack, venus fly traps, tornados, tar pits, and more! Nothing says moral support like a good smiting.

The new updates for Archipela-Go-Go include:

• Movin’ on up to a larger coastline: The Pygmies have finally found their deluxe island in the sky. Errr—water…you know what we meant! Players can now unlock or purchase a larger BIG island for Pocket God on Facebook, a third land mass in the archipelago, and will give deities the opportunity to stretch their Pygmies’ legs so they don’t feel too claustrophobic. More so, the new BIG island can be utilized for larger-scale Pygmy torment as there is now more space to invoke different, simultaneous acts of torture, as well as additional room to conveniently handle quests.

• More Pygmies, more customization: Six is bigger than five so it must be better! With the BIG island available, players can now add and customize a sixth member of their tribe, allowing players to expand their roster of endless torture victims, complete with all the trimmings such as grass skirts, t-shirts, life jackets (that still don’t work), and more!

• Relax with a nice hot spring bath: Put a hot spring in a Pygmy’s step with the all new Hot Spring! See what we did there with a classic expression and some word play? Zing! With the Hot Spring environment now enabled, players can pamper their subjects with a much needed and deserved bath, which will also award deities with additional devotion points if Pygmies are asking for a dip in nature’s hot tub.

• Win a trip to Uranus: April Fool’s (unless you’re into that sort of thing)! Jokes aside, players who log in today will have a chance to participate in a global event where users from around the world will cooperatively work towards unlocking a new special item. Also, for a limited time, players can feed their Pygmies and watch as the results of said feeding become more “explosive” than normal. What’s the secret item to be won and what kind of “explosive” do we mean? You’ll have to log in and find out!

Today, gamers on PC and Mac finally get their hands on Big Sandwich Games’ innovative dragon-themed game of gathering treasure.  HOARD™ is available for purchase on Steam.  Purchasers who act now can take advantage of a limited time discount off the retail price of $9.99USD.  4-packs are also available for a deeper discount, encouraging friends to take advantage of HOARD™’s unique and compelling multiplayer action. HOARD™ is also available for play on PS3 and PSP.

HOARD™ is packed full of content and features for both solo and group-minded gamers.  Aspiring dragons can compete for high scores on over 35 different maps and 4 modes, ranging from single player score-attack to co-op to intense head-to-head matches.  The gameplay is an innovative and addictive mix of action and strategy, creating a deceptively deep arcade experience.  Joystiq raves, “HOARD™’s gameplay shines.”  IGN agrees, having awarded HOARD™ “Best Quick Fix” honors, and nominating it for “Best Competitive Multiplayer.”  Despite the game’s quickplay nature, Big Sandwich assures gamers will find dozens of hours of gameplay in the package.  Ars Technica concurs that “HOARD will keep you scorching villages for hours on end.”

All popular Steam features are employed, including over 100 achievements, leaderboards, multiplayer matching, friend invites, stats, and Steam cloud saving.  Steam Play is also supported, meaning users who own both a PC and Mac only need buy the game once.  Several impressive new features are also making their appearance in the Steam version, including graphical boosts like Night mode and a crisp winter tileset.

“If you like dragons, gold, princesses, knights, burglars, giants, medieval villages, wizard towers, gems, or fire, you’ll probably like HOARD™,” says Tyler Sigman, Executive Producer. “But if you like great games and great value, you’ll definitely like it.”

Gamers Heart Japan will be airing this weekend, with its premiere on April 3rd at 4pm in all CityTV markets, G4 at 6pm in all markets and on SPACE at 7pm ET (4pm PT).

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRZz5mAQtgM]

Watch, Enjoy, Donate.

Reminder: Battle of the Apps Round 2 is open for submissions until April 15th.
Tickets: Canadian Video Game Awards tickets are on sale now at TicketMaster.
Just In: Seth Green will reprising his role as Joker in the upcoming Mass Effect 3.

FACTOR is now accepting applications for the 2011-2012 fiscal year through FACTOR’s Online Application System. Visit onlineapp.factor.ca to create an account, review new program guidelines, as well as create, save and submit online applications for all FACTOR programs. New Program Guidelines are available online. 

Apparently the Eastern Arctic region of our country has entered into a thaw, because Big Blue Bubble is celebrating Spring. Starting tonight at 5PM ET a large selection of the studio’s iOS titles will be on sale for 24 hours, so if you’ve been meaning to download some of their games and haven’t gotten around to it, now is the time for action.  Big Blue Bubble’s Administrative Assistant Amanda Thorpe hinted that the studio has some great things coming up for their iOS games in the next few weeks, so she suggested that you stock up now while they are at a reduced price.

These iPhone and iPod Touch Titles will be available for 99 cents USD:

• Thumpies (regular price 2.99)
• Burn The Rope (regular price 1.99)
• Home Sweet Home 2 – Kitchens (regular price 2.99)
• Home Sweet Home (regular price 2.99)

The following universal titles (they work on all iOS mobile devices) will also be available for only 99 cents USD:

• Fighting Fantasy: Warlock Of Firetop Mountain (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: Deathtrap Dungeon (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: City Of Thieves (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: Citadel Of Chaos (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: Creature Of Havoc (regular price 2.99)

The following iPad titles are also on sale:

• Burn The Rope HD – sale price 2.99 (regular price: 4.99)
• Home Sweet Home HD – sale price 0.99 (regular price: 3.99)
• Thumpies XL – sale price 0.99(regular price: 2.99)

Three of Big Blue Bubble’s 99¢ games will now be free permanently:

• Rooster Punch
• Invaders From Uranus
• Snow Ballistic

Henning Software Solutions property Kidobi has added several children’s series to its growing library of videos for preschoolers, which are part of new distribution partnerships with top children’s content producers, including Organa LLC and Toronto’s CCI Entertainment.

“These additional series bring us one step closer to our ultimate goal, which is to provide videos that entertain young minds while showing them their imagination and potential is limitless,” said Eric Sorenson, Director of Research & Content, Kidobi.

New Additions Include:

“The Adventures of Mouse and Mole” about the everyday adventures of these lovable companions as they help each other to navigate through both good times and bad, from Los Angeles-based Organa LLC.

“The Longhouse Tales” (26×30’) about the fantasy and fun adventures of a young coyote and his animal friends, and “Farzzles World” (130×3’), which shows the real world seen from a baby’s point of view, CCI Entertainment.

A subscription to Kidobi provides a personalized playlist for each child based on their skills, interests, educational needs and more. By creating playlists for individual children, Kidobi ensures a unique and engaging experience for each viewer. Parents can rest assured that while their children watch videos from Kidobi’s current library they are surfing on a site that is entirely age appropriate and free of advertising.

Kidobi, which is currently seeking Beta testers, was developed with experts in child development, education, psychology and children’s media. Kidobi creates personalized video playlists based on the educational needs and entertainment tastes of individual children.

Big Sandwich Games announced today that their award-winning strategy-arcade title HOARD™ now has a demo version immediately available for download on Steam.  The full version can be purchased at a “dragonfire sale” discount of 25% off the normal retail mark of $9.99. The full version unlocks (releases) on April 4^th on Steam for both PC and Mac.  4-packs are also available for a discount, so gamers can take on their friends as well as participate in the Hoard Steam Community and follow the game on Facebook.

Big Sandwich Games expects HOARD^TM to be a big hit with PC and Mac users who want an addictive combination of action and strategy. The game offers bite-sized chunks of single and multiplayer play that includes a co-op mode for up to 4 dragons working together.  “HOARD^TM is a rare game that was created for both core and casual gamers,” says Tyler Sigman, the game’s designer. “Whether they prefer solitary play, competitive multiplayer, friendly co-op, or arcade-style score-attack challenges, HOARD^TM is a great fit. At under $10, that’s a lot of fire-breathing destruction and fun for very little money.”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca2-riOgdO0]

All popular Steamworks features are employed in HOARD™, including over 100 achievements, leaderboards, multiplayer matching, friend invites, stats, and Steam cloud saving.  Steam Play is also supported, meaning users who want to play on both PC and Mac only need to buy the game once.  Several new features are also making their appearance in the Steam version, including graphical boosts like night mode and a crisp winter tile set.

Audiokinetic Inc. has released the latest version of Wwise. Wwise 2011.1 introduces new features and enhancements, including support of portable systems such as iOS (iPhone and iPad) and previously announced Nintendo 3DS™.

“The video game industry is evolving, casual and social games are becoming a focus for more partners. This also implies making games available on a wider range of media and devices.” said Simon Ashby, VP of Product Strategy at Audiokinetic Inc.

In an effort to make Wwise accessible to a wide range of developers, Audiokinetic confirms a new pricing model for iOS projects. Developers will be able to license Wwise for $500 US. New public discussion forums will be made available to the community. Approved Nintendo 3DS developers that want to license Wwise will be able to purchase a license at $5,000 US. Additional details on our pricing are available on Audiokinetic’s web site.

Funcom and NVIDIA have announced that Funcom’s proprietary game engine Dreamworld 2.5 has been launched within Age of Conan, which  is the first game to incorporate server-side NVIDIA® PhysX®. This unique implementation into the Dreamworld engine  results in more than a doubling in the speed-of in-game physics processing vs. traditional client-side PhysX technology, delivering realistic collision effects within the online gaming environments.

Dreamworld currently powers two of the world’s most popular massively multiplayer online games,  Age of Conan and Anarchy Online, and the launch of the new engine is a major milestone towards the high requirements for visual performance in virtual adventures for The Secret World, which is currently in development at Funcom Montreal.

“We are excited to be working closely with NVIDIA to integrate PhysX technology into our Dreamworld 2.5 engine,” said Rui Casais, Chief Technology Officer at Funcom. “Server-side collision using PhysX will allow us to add a new level of realism to our online worlds, and we look forward to implementing other enhancements as well, including NVIDIA APEX clothing and destruction, to make our games even more interactive and immersive.”

“We are also proud to have launched  a fully rewritten render engine for Age of Conan, yielding major performance increase on high-end systems and enabling several new visual features for lower end machines”, said Casias. “We have been collaborating closely with NVIDIA in continuously improving the quality of the Dreamworld Render engine, resulting in fully new effects such as shader-based anti-aliasing techniques now being implemented in Age of Conan.

Open: Online Registration for SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver – Make It Home.
Reminder: Early Bird pricing for the Canada 3.0 Forum ends today.
Nominate: The Ingenious Awards Program celebrates and showcases the achievements of Canadian organizations that have accomplished significant business transformation or outcomes through the innovative use of ICT.
Develop: Flash in The Peg March 31st meeting looks at WordPress Design and Development with Dreamweaver
Luncheon Learning: CanWIT BC presents A Career in Project Management signature event, taking place in Vancouver on April 30th and featuring an expert panel of women in technology who will discuss their careers and experiences in Project Management.
Islanders: Next Viatec networking event is April 28th. Don’t forget to submit your VIATeC Award nominations!
Call For Speakers: Get your proposals in for the Montreal International Game Summit before April 11th.
Just Announced: Gamification workshop in Toronto on May 27th.

Vancouver studio Silicon Sisters has submitted its debut title, School 26, to the iTunes store for approval. Official launch is imminent. Designed for girls ages 12 to 16, School 26 is a unique casual game built around the complex social hierarchy of high school. Versions for iPad ($4.99) and iPhone or  iPod Touch ($2.99) are expected to arrive in the App Store in April, with PC, Mac and Android versions coming soon after.

School 26 follows Kate, a student whose nomadic family has made it difficult for her to maintain long-term friendships. As she enrolls at her 26th new school, she and her parents strike a deal: if Kate makes good friends here, the family will stay put. Now the player must help Kate use intuition, empathy, and strategy to build friendships and navigate the moral dilemmas of high school. These dilemmas range from power struggles to peer pressure, from romance to betrayal, from alienation to acceptance — real and relevant situations teens face every day.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6IJU34Oc3U]

School 26 is inspired by academic research that identifies social engineering as a prominent element in the lives of teenaged girls. In the game, Kate must get to know her new classmates’ personalities, resolve their issues, and strengthen her connections to them. These objectives are met through various types of gameplay including dialogues during which players pick up on social cues and select appropriate emotional responses, quizzes that provide insights into other characters’ (and the player’s) personalities, and a card matching game with shifting rules that reflect the evolving social dynamic among the School 26 crew.

While Silicon Sisters ultimately plans to develop games for all age ranges and demographics, the company decided to lead with School 26 after considering where they could make the biggest impact. “With the workplace shifting to knowledge-based industries and women leading in university enrollments and professional degrees, today’s teen girls are poised for better success than any other generation,” says Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, Silicon Sisters’ CEO. “By highlighting and rewarding the social activities girls engage in every day, School 26 legitimizes ‘soft skills’ such as communication, empathy, and networking. Girls need to understand that these skills will give them a competitive advantage not only in high school, but also later in life.”

Capcom and Slant Six Games have released the debut trailer for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. As I mentioned yesterday, this game is scheduled  for release in Winter 2011, and players can expect the return of familiar faces, including police rookie Leon S. Kennedy, iconic landmarks and classic enemies as the Umbrella Security Service battles to destroy all evidence of the deadly T-Virus.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1xgbNr_8kg]

Coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, Resident Evil™: Operation Raccoon City is expected to deliver a true third person team based shooter experience set within the dark and sinister Resident Evil universe and a reinterpretation of the events depicted in Resident Evil™ 2 and Resident Evil™ 3. The setting of the Resident Evil universe not only provides a rich backdrop to the action but delivers a unique and thrilling triple threat battle. Zombies and Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W’s) add to the mix as players not only compete against an opposing squad but also tackle this third unpredictable element, creating a brand new style of gameplay and breaking the conventions of traditional team based shooters.

Decapod has released another app to the WP7 Marketplace.  According to the information available for Emergency Alerts Free, it provides extended information and useful tips for survival in case of various natural and man-made disasters. Along with the provision of emergency phone number for various countries, this app allows you to tapp into the live feed of nationwide FEMA alerts. The Emergency Alerts app shows location, status, time of occurrence and detailed description of most calamities known to mankind.

Probably the most tweeted-about news today is the acquisition of Radian6 by American-based SalesForce. SalesForce is an enterprise cloud computing company with offices around the globe – including a Canadian corporate presence in Toronto. The 5 year old Radian6, which is based in New Brunswick, is a leader in the social media monitoring platform. SalesForce will be assimilating the Radian6 for approximately $276 million in cash and $50 million in stock, net of cash acquired, with the expectation that the transaction will be completed during SalesForce’s fiscal second quarter ending July 31, 2011, and it is subject to customary closing conditions.

Earlier this month Radian6 had announced that it was releasing a new platform for SalesForce clients, connecting social capabilities within both the Salesforce Service Cloud and the Radian6 platform, enabling enhanced social customer service for SalesForce Clients. Apparently SalesForce liked it so much, they bought the company. Radian6 had also done a little acquiring of its own this month, welcoming the UK’s 6Consulting into the fold. The London company provided social media monitoring services to corporations in the UK, and had been a Radian6 platform reseller for the past two years.

And as one startup is acquired, another makes its official launch. Vancouver’s Summify, a new company founded by former Google and Microsoft interns and backed by its first round of seed funding. Investors include Accel Partners, Rob Glaser (RealNetworks), Stewart Butterfield (Flickr, Tiny Speck), Steve Olechowski (Google, FeedBurner), and Canadian super angel Boris Wertz. Company founders Mircea Pa?oi and Cristian Strat have been programming together since high school in Romania. They built two successful services there, connecting programmers to competitions and jobs, and were pursued for full-time jobs by Google and Facebook. Opting for entrepreneurship, they relocated to Vancouver to start up Summify.

For connected people with hundreds of friends and followers, it’s impossible to keep up with relevant news, and what friends are saying, sharing and posting. Summify analyzes and filters your streams, so you can read less but get more out of it. Summify distills the social web, boiling down the torrent of daily information from Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader into a summary of the top five or ten most important and relevant stories that day. An easily consumable summary arrives in email or on the web, with mobile coming soon. Summify is based on a highly refined algorithm that analyzes, among other things, what people you interact with most, what stories your friends are sharing most, and global reaction in social media to important stories worldwide.

To celebrate the launch of the new Nintendo 3DS™, Best Buy Canada is offering hot deals to help Canadians get the most out of their portable 3D entertainment device. With 18 Nintendo 3DS game titles to choose from, a wide selection of accessories to protect your device and hot offers to trade in your old DS systems, Best Buy is making it easy for customers to maximize their Nintendo 3DS experience.

Best Buy is offering two trade in promotions with the Nintendo 3DS until March 31:

• Trade in your Nintendo DS and save $50 off of your 3DS
• Trade in your Nintendo DSi XL and save $100 off 3DS
• Trade in three Nintendo DS games and receive a $10 credit

Until April 7, purchase any two Nintendo 3DS games from the selection of 18 game titles Best Buy is carrying and save $10.

Google wants Canadian businesses to get a web site – the upside is that it’s free – for one year. The downside is that they are not using Canadian web hosts or designers. For business owners who aren’t internet or design-capable, this is a good initiative on Google’s part. It’s also an easy way to serve ads, and to help businesses get started with Adwords, Google is also offering a Get Your Business Online badge, a listing and a $200.00 for an Adwords account. Google has been trying very hard to get Canadian businesses using Adwords – I’ve received at least a half dozen snail-mail gift cards from them – some of them with the right mailing address, but the names they were addressed to weren’t even close. Don’t know who Killian is, but apparently he works for us.

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) has launched a new social media campaign aimed at making education and student voting a cornerstone of the 2011 federal election.

“Students live on social networks and media, and this campaign and website engages students and politicians online,” said Zach Dayler, National Director of CASA. “This might be the first ‘Twitter election’, which means that the conversation will be taking place on our doorsteps.”

The campaign features key information about parties’ post-secondary education policy, important voter information for students, a student blog. It will also feature a video vault, and throughout the campaign students and others will be asked to contribute their own videos on the importance of student and youth voting.

Kicking off the collection is a video from comedian and CBC Host Rick Mercer. “Rick Mercer’s message on student voting speaks directly to the important role that we can and should play during an election,” said Dayler. “It is ready-made viral, and we expect to see many more like it between now and May 2^nd.”

CASA is calling on politicians to make a firm commitment to post-secondary education this campaign, calling on them to introduce policies that improve access to and enhance the quality of Canada’s university and college system. CASA has also invited all party leaders to help encourage youth participation by posting videos on education and join the online dialogue with students.

PARTA Dialogue Inc. has announced that its social media hubs, including ecomobility, energy 2.0 and alternativechannel have been white-listed by Facebook as video-serving sites that can embed their players directly into Facebook pages. This status places Parta’s web-video sites on par with recognized leaders such as Youtube, Dailymotion and Blip.tv, whose video players can also appear directly through Facebook. An expert in social media engagement, Parta’s strategies for generating online conversation involve the building of a central debate hub and active outreach and participation in the social networks where publics congregate. The company has already created and deployed DialogGenerator^tm , a Facebook application which allows for two-way penetration between discussions happening on the social network and those on Parta’s proprietary sites.

Reminder: Early Bird Registration for Partnerships in Learning close on March 31st. Conference is being held at Dalhousie University this April 26th – 28th.

On Sale: Tickets for HackWaterloo, taking place on April 9th at the Post Rank office in Waterloo.

Panel Event: BCTIA TechForum Series presents Accelerator Programs…Do they really work? on April 19th at the Sutton Place Hotel, featuring speakers Jim Maynard, Wavefront President, Tim Jackson, Waterloo Accelerator Centre CEO, and Iain Klugman, Communitech Hub President and CEO.

Election 41: The Polaris Institute has re-launched TarNation, a popular political video game aimed at highlighting Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff’s unwillingness to take action on the environmentally destructive tar sands. Players spray oil at Conservative and Liberal party leaders to get them out of the tar sands.

Last evening the EA Canada Campus in Burnaby played host to the relaunch of IGDA Vancouver, with pizza supplied by Slant Six Games and beer provided by Granville Island Brewery. There was a pretty good turnout of people from the local development community, which to me says that there is interest in breathing new life into our long-dormant local chapter. IGDA Executive Director Gordon Bellamy and IGDA Community Manager Ryan Arndt were on-hand to answer questions and bring everyone up to speed on what’s been going on with the global association, and it looks like there are some very good initiatives on the horizon.

Work Life Balance, Outsourcing and Collaboration were but some of the topics pursued throughout the course of the meeting, and I hope that as our local industry revamps itself and moves forward, the discussions will continue. As one who is unable to attend events such as GDC San Francisco or the Leadership Forum, due travel and ticket costs being rather prohibitive, I look forward to more localized and affordable events as outlined in Gordon’s preamble to the meeting. What stood out the most for me was the willingness of the IGDA to work with other groups and events, including the BC Interactive Task Force, Women In Games Vancouver, ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver, the Canadian Games Conference and Full Indie for the betterment of all aspects of the digital media industry – not just those who are artists and coders – because not all of us are talented enough to create outstanding artwork or code more than a Hello World function. I hope that the next iteration of DigiBC will also see the opportunity for collaboration, thereby adding even more strength to our local community.

For those unable to attend, Scott videotaped the information and open mic session that took place in the EA theatre, and we’ll be posting that to our YouTube channel as soon as he has a chance to process it. If you would like to find out more about our local IGDA chapter and (hopefully) get involved, please visit the IGDA Vancouver Facebook page and jump into the conversation. There are future events being planned, two of which will be hosted by Next Level Games and Radical Entertainment – I believe there was also mention of Relic Entertainment hosting an event as well.

Vancouver’s Decapod Studios has updated its Slash Effect WP7 app, which is a news reader for  the Slash Dot website. The studio has also released Photo Search Free to the WP7 marketplace. With fully customizable search parametres, you will be able to search the internet from your phone to find anything from regular photos to clip art and design elements to new wallpaper backgrounds and even faces. Search results can be shared with your friends as well as saved to your phone’s Photo Library.

The final chapter of Mass Effect 2 has now landed on my Xbox 360 – and it can land on yours too, as it’s available in the XBL Marketplace today for 560 MS Points. The DLC is also available for PC (560 Bioware Points) and for the PS3 (approx. $9-10) and gives gamers the opportunity to earn three new achievements (or trophies, whichever applies to your chosen platform).  In this new game add-on, Commander Shepard is sent to the edge of the galaxy to rescue an undercover operative who may have evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion that has been looming since the very beginning of the series. Returning and playing a prominent role in Mass Effect: Arrival is fan favorite Admiral Hackett, who is voiced by legendary science-fiction actor Lance Henriksen of Alien and Terminator fame.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VivkbgLgwc]

So ends the current adventures of Commander Shepard. Now I can go back and try to earn 100% on the first two titles while awaiting news bits about Mass Effect 3, which Bioware will start releasing in the near future – perhaps in May.

Netflix Canada has begun offering three different viewing options to its Canadian subscribers, which is very timely for those who are concerned about User Based Billing and data transfer caps. Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer for Netflix, announced on the company’s blog today that the new options are designed to enable a 2/3 reduction in transfer usage. In short, these new options are:

DHX Media has signed a deal with Discovery Communication’s The Hub for the second season of its hit preschool series Animal Mechanicals. Originally commissioned by CBC in Canada, where it is one of the highest-rating preschool shows, Animal Mechanicals is produced and distributed by DHX Media. It airs around the globe on channels including the Disney Channels in the UK, Italy and Asia; Radio-Canada, Discovery Latin America, Romania’s HOP, EBS in Korea; Al-Jazeera Children Channel and Prava I Prevodi, which acquired the title for Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro.

Josh Scherba, SVP Distribution at DHX Media, said: “Animal Mechanicals has really engaged with young audiences on The Hub since its launch last Fall; success underscored by this commitment to the second season. We continue to build the licensing programme for the show including the launch of the Animal Mechanicals app which offers a new interactive element for children and their parents.”

DHX Media has also recently launched a new iOS app based on the show. Animal Mechanicals: Beetle Buggy Race, is priced at $1.99, and available on all iTunes stores worldwide. In licensing deals, Producciones Publiexpress have been signed up for colouring and activity books in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

D-BOX Technologies Inc. has really been on the move this week (pun intended) – the company has just announced two more Motion Seating agreements with American movie theatres.  Emagine Entertainment will equip two screens at its new Royal Oak, Michigan theatre with a total of 29 D-BOX MFX Seats when the theatre opens in May. D-Box has also signed its first agreement with RC Theatres to equip two of that company’s Pennsylvania complexes. The Hanover Movies 16 will feature 18 D-Box MFX Seats and the Wilkes Barre Movies 14 will feature 22 D-Box MFX seats. These two RC locations will soon be the first in the state to feature the immersive motion technology that completely transforms the movie viewing experience with seats that move in perfect sync with the onscreen action.

Note: the Canada Media Fund has extended the first closing date for the Aboriginal Program – Production to April 4th 2011.

Reminder: Round 2 of Battle of The Apps is open for submissions until April 15th 2011.
Reminder: Microsoft Blue Sky Innovation Excellence Awards are open for submissions until April 25th 2011.

Game Production Studios has a new title on the WP7 Marketplace. Crescer is a unique Windows Phone 7 game challenges you to become the best gardener in the mobile world. Use your green thumb skills to grow the perfect plant across eight different environments while purchasing tools, upgrading your plants, earning money and expanding your bounty with new plants. Bloom supremacy is not as simple as tossing a seed in the ground and hoping for the best though, because Mother Nature is not feeling overly co-operative. You must use an assortment of tools and gardening secrets to protect your plant from all manner of environmental hazards which range from weather fronts and bug infestations to volcanic eruptions.

If you manage to make your blooms flourish, and unlock all of the game’s regular achievements, you will unlock an arcade style bonus level, where you play as Sunny “The Sunflower” and defend The Moon against evil bug invaders.

Bar Star HD time management game from Ottawa dev studio Glitchsoft has expanded to the Mac App Store. Released last summer to iTunes for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, Bar Star HD puts players in the action packed role of a new bar owner, mixing high fashion drinks, serving celebrity guests, and stylizing their bar with upgrades and improvements.

Bar Star HD is a true pick-up and play game that features stunning full screen graphics, intuitive controls, and super addictive gameplay featuring dynamic player characters, Chase and Artie, a brother and sister who need your help transforming their run down bar into the best upscale lounge. They earn valuable tips as they mix, serve, and upgrade their way through 50 exciting levels. Tips are then used to hire new staff including bouncers and DJs, as well as to improve the style of their bar including drink selection, the dance floor, and decor. Players will experience up to 16 different customers plus 4 celebrity guests who will visit their bar, and like any entertainment and service venue, players need to impress the clientele in order to earn the maximum amount of tips.

Bar Star HD for the Mac features:

* 50 exciting levels including a Zombie Takeover
* 16 unique customers and 4 guest stars
* Mix and pour all types of delicious drinks
* Upgrades for you’re bar including a dance floor, disco ball, plants, and drinks
* Grow your staff
* Serve customers different types of draft beer, wines and mixed cocktails
* Earn points to enhance your bartending skills
* True HD graphics
* Multiple player profiles, time attack Mode and replayable missions

Netflix, Inc. and Paramount Pictures (Viacom Inc.) have reached a new multi-year licensing agreement, adding hundreds of new movie titles, including the exclusive subscription television rights to all first-run films, for Canadian Netflix members to watch instantly on their computers and TVs.

Netflix members in Canada can enjoy theatrical hits from Paramount in the coming months starting with “The Last Airbender” and Marvel’s “Iron Man 2.” The five year agreement will add over 350 new movies available to watch instantly from Netflix in Canada, including epics like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Titanic,” and “Defiance,” great comedies like “Zoolander” and “Wayne’s World,” and beloved classics like “The African Queen,” “Sabrina” (1954) and “Terms of Endearment.”

Monster Math Squad, a new CG animated series for kids has been announced by DHX Media Ltd. The series will star loveable monsters who help children develop formative math-related skills. The preschool show has been commissioned by CBC and SRC in Canada and will be produced by DHX Media’s Halifax-based studio, further boosting DHX’s library of standout preschool properties.

“We all know that preschoolers love to learn,” says Kim Wilson, Creative Head for Children’s and Youth Programming at CBC, “so taking a concept like early numeracy and pairing it with a fantastic monster world of fun is a winning combination. DHX has a history of creating wonderful user-focused programs of the highest quality so we are thrilled. ”

D-BOX Technologies Inc. will be expanding its presence in Chicago, Florida and Utah with the addition of four more theatre locations installing D-BOX motion technology seating. In Utah, the newly expanded Megaplex 17 at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi and the brand new Megaplex 14 at Legacy Crossing in Centerville will each be equipped with 30 D-BOX MFX Seats that offer moviegoers access to a completely immersive movie experience. Meanwhile, over in the Chicago area, the Rosemont 18 theatre will soon feature 36 D-BOX MFX Seats while the Parisian 20 theatre in West Palm Beach FL will install a total of 30 seats, both scheduled to be unveiled in the coming months. Additionally, Muvico Entertainment’s Thousand Oaks movie theatre in California, which introduced D-BOX in February, is preparing to install an additional 12 D-BOX MFX Seats to keep up with the demand.

Intertainment Media Inc.’s social media translation interface Ortsbo has seen a 47% growth in User Engagement Minutes since the end of February, growing from 82.3 Million minutes to 121.3 Million minutes of total engagement. Other key indicators have also grown substantially with active monthly unique users, month over month, now at 8.6 Million, a 37% increase since the end of February. In the past week, Ortsbo has generated over 10.8 Million minutes of User Engagement, 6.4 Million Page Views, 3.1 Million Online Sessions and 2.2 Million Unique Users. Ortsbo, at just over 9 months since launch is at the same levels achieved by Facebook in its first 29 months.

With over 79% of Ortsbo users coming direct to www.ortsbo.com and www.ortsboqq.com, Ortsbo continues to experience strong viral growth as the vast majority of users are coming direct to the web sites, not using search engines or third party referrals. If you’ve never heard of Ortsbo, it supports global communications with instant translation capability, real time multi- lingual social media chat and instant Twitter translation allowing users to communicate with family, friends and colleagues around the world. Ortsbo provides users with the ability to break down language and cultural barriers through its easy to use, language centric interface. User demographics have continued to favor the BRIC countries with China remaining the number 1 usage country for Ortsbo followed by Brazil, the US, South Korea, Canada, Taiwan, Germany, Argentina, Russia and India. Ortsbo’s Top 10 user countries have a combined population of over 3.4 Billion people.

Capcom® has offiically announced that Resident Evil®: Operation Raccoon City, is in development at Vancouver’s Slant Six Games for the PlayStation®3, Xbox 360® and PC with a scheduled Winter 2011 release. In addition it was also confirmed that the forthcoming Nintendo 3DS™ title, Resident Evil®: The Mercenaries 3D,will ship with a playable demo of Resident Evil® Revelations.

Since the launch of the first title 15 years ago the Resident Evil® series has enjoyed phenomenal success, selling over 45 million units worldwide to date. This latest offering will take the series in a completely new direction and offer a style of gameplay yet to be seen from the franchise.

Resident Evil Outbreak Zone

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City delivers a true third person team based shooter experience set within the dark and sinister Resident Evil universe and a reinterpretation of the events depicted in Resident Evil® 2 and Resident Evil® 3. The setting of the Resident Evil universe not only provides a rich backdrop to the action but delivers a unique and thrilling triple threat battle. Zombies and Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W’s) add to the mix as players not only compete against an opposing squad but also tackle this third unpredictable element, creating a brand new style of gameplay and breaking the conventions of traditional team based shooters.

It is September 1998 and the action centers once more on the ill-fated Raccoon City and the horrific consequences of the deadly T-virus outbreak from the Umbrella facility. With a cover up required, Umbrella orders an elite team into Raccoon City to destroy all evidence of the outbreak and eliminate any survivors. Hearing of this plan, the US Government dispatches its own special forces to uncover any evidence that exposes the cause of the viral infection and Umbrella’s actions. Players take on the role of an Umbrella Security Services soldier (U.S.S.), competing alone or in four player co-op in a battle against all the competing forces at play in Raccoon City.

Expect the return of original Resident Evil enemies, iconic landmarks such as the Raccoon City Police Department and fan favorite characters, including Leon S. Kennedy, who as a rookie police officer in Raccoon City is on your hit list to eliminate. Players will experience a retelling of classic moments from past titles Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 and watch the events unfolding from the menacing perspective of the Umbrella Security Service, giving fans the chance to rewrite the history of the Raccoon City outbreak. Read the rest of this entry »