Village Gamer

Calgary – There’s a new playmate in town, and it comes in the form of Mom or Dad’s iPhone with the release of Mantaray Creative Lab’s newest app, iBabyBuddy. Designed to keep babies and toddlers entertained when there’s not a toy box in sight, the first release of iBabyBuddy features iconic animal characters that make noises and vibrate in response to baby’s movement and interaction.

“Busy parents often find themselves juggling fussy babies and a long list of errands and there’s rarely enough time to pack a bunch of toys for the road,” said Tamara Rosenblum, principal and creative director of Mantaray Creative Labs. “Most people have their phone at their disposal regardless of where they are so with that in mind we developed iBabyBuddy to be a traveling playmate that never leaves your side,” she said.

Designed to work with both the iPhone and iPod Touch, iBabyBuddy entertains, stimulates and teaches through interaction and discovery. The first release includes three must-have themes: animals, musical instruments and whimsical toy sounds. Combined with a Shake-n-Change feature, iBabyBuddy guarantees an endless array of non-stop, educational fun…and an opportunity for Mom or Dad to take a quick break from being the constant entertainer.

New themes will be added regularly (free of charge) to ensure iBabyBuddy grows alongside its earliest fans. iBabyBuddy is available in the iTunes App Store for $1.99 usd.

After 4 days of seminars and networking events, I was beat. But, boy was it worth it.

Day 1

The first day was devoted almost entirely to the Casual Connect Leadership Conference organized and supported by Women In Games International (WIGI) and Women In Games Vancouver (WIGeh). Numerous speakers presented a variety of topics, each with a particular interest in the role that women play in games, games play in the lives of women, and the portrayal of women in games.

As a person interested in the breakdown of stereotypes, thus allowing everyone’s true potential to shine, I was very engaged in the presentations of the day, which in the end left me feeling very hopeful and empowered about the potential of gaming.

Not long after, a set of roundtable discussions were set up with a variety of topics ranging from working as a contract vs employed worker, owning a small business, and moving up in the games industry.

A networking event followed with the inclusion of other folks from a more general Casual Connect audience, and it was a great night!

Highlight of my day: Megan Gaiser of Her Interactive’s presentation on “The Importance of Leadership”

Day 2 (Day 1 of Casual Connect officially)

Audio day! The entire day had an option to hear speakers who are professionals in the audio for casual games environment. Great ideas were shared including a glimpse into how other professionals create their sound design assets. It was entertaining, welcoming, and I learned a great deal. Speakers covered a wide range of aspects including the creation of stings, sfx, composition, recording, and producing. I would recommend this to any person interested in the audio for casual games arena. A very cohesive day in the audio stream.

Highlight of my day: Barry Dowsett of Sound Rangers on “The Birth and Life of a Sound Effect”
Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Ludia Inc. today announced a deal to create and distribute videogames based on the hit reality TV dating shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, from Warner Horizon Television and created by Mike Fleiss. The worldwide licensing and distribution arrangement will launch the videogames across multiple platforms following the conclusion of The Bachelor’s 14th season in 2010 on the ABC Television Network.

“The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are extremely popular on television and we are looking forward to bringing the properties into the videogame space,” said John Quinn, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Operations, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “These games are meant to engage fans of the show and the wider public beyond television, enriching the overall entertainment experience around the brand.”

“The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are first-rate licenses in reality TV’s dating genre, which is a hugely popular category with television viewers,” said Alex Thabet, Ludia’s founder and CEO. “We see great potential for the segment within the context of video games, and look forward to our collaboration with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to deliver a true-to-show game experience on a wide variety of platforms.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal – Ubisoft® has announced the development of a video game based on Universal Pictures’ upcoming action-comedy, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Co-written and directed by genre-smashing filmmaker Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead), the film stars some of Hollywood’s leading young talent, including Michael Cera (Juno, Superbad), Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Live Free or Die Hard), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four series), Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Mae Whitman (Nights in Rodanthe), and Jason Schwartzman (upcoming Funny People). The game is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal through a licensing agreement with Universal Partnerships & Licensing and is expected to launch worldwide with the film’s 2010 release.

The live-action Scott Pilgrim vs. the World film is based on a series of award-winning graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley. The series has earned numerous awards including: Entertainment Weekly’s Independent Comic of the Year, Wizard’s Indie Book of the Year and the Harvey Award for Humor in Comics. Published by Oni Press, the sixth and final volume in the series is set to debut in 2010—also timed to the film release. In the film, Scott Pilgrim (Cera) has just met the girl of his dreams (Winstead), but the only catch to winning her is that her seven evil exes are coming to kill him.
Read the rest of this entry »

Burnaby – Electronic Arts Inc. today unveiled the full soundtracks for Madden NFL 10, FIFA 10, NHL®10 and NBA LIVE 10. This first-ever quadruple announcement represents the sounds of this fall’s four sports franchises and affirms EA’s standing as the leaders in worldwide videogame music and marketing.

“Each EA SPORTS game is unique to every gamer that picks up the controller, we wanted to make sure the music matched each of those unique experiences,” said Steve Schnur, Electronic Arts’ Worldwide Executive for Music and Marketing. “With the big songs and huge bands in Madden NFL, bringing back the Soul of the Game to NBA LIVE, tapping into the hard hitting metal tracks of NHL and the international flavor of FIFA, this year’s EA SPORTS soundtrack line up aligns with each of the game’s unique styles.”

NBA Live 10 Trax

NBA LIVE 10

Long recognized as the premiere showcase for diverse and innovative new music, NBA LIVE 10 features more than 80% exclusive tracks, including reinvented classics from Afrika Bambaataa, Dead Prez and Snoop Dogg, along with ground-breaking collaborations by indie-rockers Matt & Kim with the legendary De La Soul, and newcomers Mickey Factz & B.o.B. The soundtrack also spotlights never-before-heard songs from Beastie Boys and Wyclef Jean.
Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal – Ubisoft has announced that Hollywood actress Sigourney Weaver will voice the role of Dr. Grace Augustine for Ubisoft’s video game, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game. Weaver’s character will be featured in the versions of the game released on Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Wii™ system from Nintendo and PC. Other actors from the film that will appear in the game include Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi and Stephen Lang.

Yannis Mallat, Sigourney Weaver & Stephen Lang

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game is the official video game based on the highly anticipated film James Cameron’s Avatar. The video game will take you deep into the heart of Pandora, an alien planet that is beyond imagination. Gamers will encounter the Na’vi, Pandora’s indigenous people and discover other life forms the likes of which have never been seen in the world of video games before. When conflict erupts between the RDA Corporation, a space-faring consortium in search of valuable resources, and the Na’vi, gamers will find themselves thrust into a fight for the heart of a planet and the fate of a civilization.
Read the rest of this entry »

August 21st will be the day when everyone will get to have a first look at James Cameron’s Avatar. Twentieth Century Fox and Cameron debut the film’s trailer everywhere – while select cinemas and IMAX® theaters will screen extended footage prepared by the renowned filmmaker for this global “Avatar Day” event. The movie’s official site went live this morning, allowing viewers to sign up for Avatar updates.

Avatar The Game Screenshot

In addition on the 21st, Ubisoft® will unveil the trailer for their videogame James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game. Ubisoft is at this weekend’s Comic Con in San Diego – make sure you stop by and say “hi” to Avatar Community Manager Gabe if you’re there. A Flickr account was opened yesterday, and fans are encouraged to upload their photos from Comic Con and the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo.  Avatar the Game will be available for the 360, PS3, PSP, DS, and Wii with a release date of November 24 2009. Pre-orders are being taken at most game stores.

The worldwide trailer launch will be presented in all formats, including IMAX® 3-D, IMAX® 2-D, digital 3-D, digital 2-D, and 35mm 2-D. The trailer will also be available online. In addition to these events, Mattel will reveal the action figures for the film’s Avatar and alien Na’vi characters.
Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal – Today marks the first day of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2 Twitter Assassination Experience (Beta). I’ve seen several tweets about the game, and it appears that the Frag Dolls are in on the experience as well. This real time game allows participants to assassinate other players via Twitter, SMS or other Twitter client. Twitter assassins are assigned random targets throughout the day via Tweets from the Assasin’s Network. Players need to carry out their assassinations within a set amount of time. For those who wish to the rogue, players can enter “aggressive mode” and directly attack other players. Targets are able to launch counter attacks, but again, only within a certain amount of time.

As players move through their list of targets, they gain skills and weapons as well as increased rank on the leader board. Watching the game through the Visualizer can be mesmerizing. At last glance, there had been 7441 matches,  4369 assassinations and 56 escapes made by 349 players. Ademdevincent was in the lead with 2270 points when I checked the leader board.

Skills & Weapons Visible On Profile Page

The Twitter mode is played exclusively in Twitter, using “reply tweets” to respond match assignments from the Assassin’s Network. The Aggro Mode, for you rogue assassins, is played exclusively on the Assassination Experience web page. Here you can attack up to five opponents as once – or, conversely, you can be attacked by up to five opponents. When you attack someone in Aggro Mode, their Twitter icon will be added to the victims’ column, along with the time remaining for them to respond to an attack. Players also have the option of turning the assignment mode “off”, meaning that they will not receive Tweeted assignments until they switch their mode back to “on”.

Players are given 100 points for a successful assassination, 150 points for a successful counter attack, and 50 points can be earned by escaping. Level one weapons include a dagger, axe and sword, but more weapons become available as skills are improved. In keeping with the ESRB rating for Assassin’s Creed, players must be 18 years of age and over; logging in with your Twitter account is required in order to participate in the Assassination Experience game.

Montreal – Ubisoft will lead a detailed panel featuring Assassin’s Creed II today from 1:45–2:45 p.m. in Room 6A at Comic-Con in San Diego. The panel entitled “Assassin’s Creed II: Video Games and Hollywood Converge” will touch on the evolution of entertainment creation and distribution while highlighting the bridge between video games and film. Panel hosts will be Yannis Mallat, chief executive officer at Ubisoft Montreal and Pierre Raymond, founder and chief executive officer of Hybride Technologies, the visual effects studio behind 300 and Sin City, along with special guest Corey May, Assassin’s Creed II video game scriptwriter.

Recently, during the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, Ubisoft announced production at Hybride Technologies on a series of short films based on the upcoming Assassin’s Creed II video game. The Comic-Con panel will include a discussion of the production of these short films, a viewing of a teaser video showing new shots from the filming and development of the short film series, as well as the first public demonstration of the Assassin’s Creed II video game.

“Ubisoft has detailed our vision for convergence over the past two years. Now, at Comic-con, we are exclusively revealing one of the first building blocks to this strategy: Assassin’s Creed II: Lineage,” said Yannis Mallat. “We’ll be discussing the links between the game and the short film series with some of the key players of the project. We are thrilled to be able to share the results of our efforts with the Comic-com audience.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal – EA Montreal has announced that renowned comic artists, Chris Bachalo and Jock have lent their artistic talents to Army of Two™: The 40th Day. The sequel to the 2008 multi-platinum co-op shooter, Army of Two: The 40th Day sees the return of the ultimate two-man private military team, Salem and Rios. As the action heroes fight for survival in a city under siege, the soldiers must make moral choices cooperatively that affect the pair as a team. Each moral decision sets players on a course that affects the gameplay and direction of the storyline. Bachalo and Jock have been enlisted to illustrate the long term impacts of these ‘morality moments’.

On July 24 and 25 from 2pm – 4pm PST during San Diego Comic-con, Chris Bachalo will be signing original Army of Two: The 40th Day artwork at EA’s booth (# 5213).

“Chris and Jock are amazingly talented artists. We’re excited that they have been able to contribute these evocative illustrations to depict the long-term consequences of the players’ key moral decisions,” says Reid Schneider, Executive Producer, EA Montreal.

“These new morality choices are an innovative new feature that we believe will give a new layer to the cooperative experience in the game. Chris and Jock’s work give players’ decisions real weight and resonance,” added Alex Hutchinson, Creative Director EA Montreal.
Read the rest of this entry »