Village Gamer

Ladies, are you looking for a fun way to spice up your night? Then grab your iPhone / iPod Touch and get ready for a new type of Girls’ Night Out courtesy of new Vancouver studio Wee Black Sheep Entertainment. Part scavenger hunt, part “Truth or Dare,” this entertaining mobile game is the perfect addition to a bachelorette party, a birthday celebration, or a night out with your girlfriends.

Girls Night Out, available now in the App Store for $0.99 USD, turns a night at the bar into a wild game of chance encounters and cheeky challenges. With more than 175 virtual cards in six categories including “Truth Be Told,” “The Hunter,” and “Naughty Girl,” the app sends players on hilarious missions around the bar and awards points to those who rack up the most wins. Highly customizable, this digital party game lets you complete individual or team challenges, race against friends, and even create custom cards to personalize the game for your special occasion.

Girls Night Out is the first release from Wee Black Sheep Entertainment, a Vancouver-based company that creates entertaining apps for a variety of life’s events and celebrations. “If you’re a woman with an iPhone or iPod Touch and you like having fun with your girlfriends, then Girls Night Out is for you,” says Jenny Ramsay, Wee Black Sheep’s founder and CEO. “This app is an instant party—it turns an otherwise ordinary night out with the girls into a wild experience you’ll be laughing about for a long time afterward!”

Florida-based Accel Networks and Vancouver’s Sierra Wireless have announced a joint marketing agreement to promote secure, reliable cellular solutions for customers deploying retail transaction and networking applications. This agreement formalizes a relationship that has already enabled Accel to deploy PCI-compliant cellular fixed wireless solutions for primary and back-up connectivity. Accel Networks, utilizing Sierra Wireless AirLink™ intelligent gateways and routers, has provided reliable and secure solutions for several major national retail customers and food service chains.

By standardizing on the Sierra Wireless AirLink line of devices, Accel Networks confidently deploys business critical solutions for its customers. The combination of Accel’s proprietary antenna technology and monitoring platforms with Sierra Wireless’s best-in-class intelligent wireless gateways and routers makes cellular fixed wireless an effective enterprise-wide solution for mission-critical applications and enables enterprise customers to expand into areas where wired broadband connections are not available or not practical. Powered by ALEOS™ embedded intelligence and managed by AirLink management software, AirLink devices provide a persistent, secure data connection and can be easily configured and controlled from any location with an internet connection.

“We are extremely pleased to have been selected by Accel Networks as the preferred connectivity device for its managed network solution,” said Justin Schmid, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Solutions and Services for Sierra Wireless. “This relationship facilitates a turn-key solution for wireless payment and business continuity applications, which is vital for the growth of the M2M business.”

According to Elaine Healy, President and Chief Operating Officer of Accel Networks, “The reliability and ease of integration offered by the Sierra Wireless devices made AirLink an easy choice for our standard connectivity platform. Formalizing and announcing our JMA with Sierra Wireless at the Customer Engagement Technology World (CETW) show is particularly timely since there is no better connectivity solution for kiosks and digital signage than Accel’s fixed cellular solution.”

Sierra Wireless provides a broad portfolio of high performance mobile computing and M2M solutions, including mobile broadband modems, embedded wireless modules, intelligent gateways and routers, as well as extensive software platforms that enable its customers and partners to deploy powerful solutions. By leveraging the AirLink line of intelligent gateways and routers from Sierra Wireless, Accel Networks is able to provide its customers a consistent and robust fixed cellular broadband experience across all sites, facilitating asset tracking as well as real-time traffic utilization and management, leveraging a private PCI-compliant gateway. In addition, Accel offers a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to its customers, providing peace of mind for those concerned about continuity of mission-critical business functions.

Accel’s approach to connectivity is unique with its primary focus on the “last mile.” Accel’s innovative family of proprietary antennas and monitoring platforms was developed with the deep understanding that RF is dynamic and local. With this combined solution, customers no longer have to choose between the quality of a wireline service and the flexibility of wireless. Furthermore, the AccelView™ portal provides customers access to real-time information about the quality of each link in addition to data utilization and asset tracking.

Accel Networks and Sierra Wireless will be co-exhibiting at Customer Engagement Technology World in New York City from Nov 10 – 11. Visit them in booths # 237 and 336.

Today at Content World 2010, Open Text Corporation showcased a new release of Open Text Everywhere with native client applications for Apple iPhone and iPad. With a growing library of business applications, Apple’s popular smartphones and tablets are quickly gaining momentum as an enterprise client platform. With client applications from Open Text, business users gain access to critical content and processes from their iPhones and iPads.

The new applications were revealed for the first time at Open Text’s annual Content World user conference where attendees were able to experience Open Text Everywhere in action on iPads and iPhones.

“By themselves, the iPhone and iPad are fantastic devices. But it’s not until you add content that they become truly transformative,” said Eugene Roman, Chief Technology Officer, Open Text. “With Open Text Everywhere, we are putting the content and business applications on these devices that will absolutely change the way people work, and result in big gains in productivity across the board.”

In today’s fast moving, globally connected work environment, business doesn’t stop when users walk away from their desks. According to a recent Forrester Research survey (Workforce Technographics US, Canada, and UK Benchmark Survey, Q3 2009), workers are much more likely to use their smartphone – or instant-on tablets like iPads – while travelling, commuting, in coffee shops or even in different buildings than laptops. While the productivity benefits of delivering enterprise content to smartphones can be substantial, information technology managers face steep challenges to maintain security, control costs and deliver sophisticated applications.

Open Text Everywhere lets users natively and securely access a full set of Open Text ECM Suite 2010 capabilities from both RIM BlackBerry and Apple iPhone and iPad devices. It provides secure end-to-end communication between the ECM Suite and mobile devices, and pushes the permission model and audit capabilities of the ECM Suite right to the device.

Open Text Everywhere provides a comprehensive view of business processes, content and social collaboration tools. On the device side, it gives users a native application that delivers a rich, intuitive and fast user experience. On the server side, Open Text Everywhere is fully integrated with Open Text Content Server, the heart of the ECM Suite, for rapid deployment and minimal impact on IT, with low ongoing maintenance and support requirements.

By marrying mobility to content management, Open Text makes it possible for employees to access and act on the information they need in a variety of scenarios. It provides them not only with core content, but provides search and workflow that enables them to complete tasks using only their smartphones.

In the coming months, Open Text will be adding more features, capabilities and mobile platform support to the Open Text Everywhere offering. This will include:

* A mobile email management application that lets customers manage email for legal, regulatory or corporate governance rules.
* A new social interface for smartphone devices that incorporates access controls, auditing, and other ECM Suite capabilities while enabling new levels of collaboration.
* Integration with Web Experience Management (formerly Vignette) that will provide an on-demand mobile application platform enabling organizations to deliver fast and reliable mobile solutions that are as rich and interactive as advanced Web solutions found on the fixed internet.

The Canada Media Fund would like to remind the development community that there are only four days left to tell them what you think about their programs and services. Your comments will help the Fund’s review for the 2010–2011 CMF program guidelines, scheduled to be published in December. You can offer your input in one of three methods:

* Comment on the CMF Forum
* Download a Word version for comments and submit it via email
* Take the short CMF survey

The CMF has also announced the latest round of funding awards, totaling $1 million for eight Television and Digital Media project applications in the Diverse Languages Program. The projects are to be produced in Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Punjabi, and Tamil languages, and will receive $898,000 for the television components and $102,000 for the Digital Media components. Of the total, seven are television components and four are digital media components. The successful projects include one children and youth show, five documentaries and two dramas. Of the projects approved for CMF funding, five originate in Toronto, two in Montreal, and one in Vancouver.

Cineplex Entertainment, Canada’s largest and most successful motion picture theatre exhibitor, and D-BOX Technologies Inc. have signed an agreement to add approximately 250 D-BOX MFX Seats to be installed in 10 theatres across Canada over the next 12 months with an option for 10 additional locations on the same terms.

“We are very proud of this agreement with Canada’s leading theatre circuit, which will provide movie-goers across the country with the opportunity to experience our unique technology,” said Claude Mc Master, President & CEO, D-BOX Technologies Inc. “This Canadian expansion will complement D-BOX’s foray into foreign markets while increasing visibility at home. More so, this significant milestone clearly demonstrates the attractiveness of our business model driven by the growing worldwide acceptance of our technology.”

As of November 19th, three Cineplex theatres will feature D-BOX Motion Systems and will feature Warner Bros. Pictures’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Disney’s Tron Legacy (3D), which opens December 17th will be the next movie available utilizing D-BOX Motion technology.

Scotiabank Theatre Montreal, 977 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal
Cineplex Odeon Beauport Cinemas, 825 Clemenceau Street, Beauport
Cineplex Odeon Queensway Cinemas, 1025 The Queensway, Toronto

Rogers Media has announced that it is the exclusive digital media sales agent for NBA Canada. Through this partnership, Rogers will sell advertising across NBA.com platforms including display ads, video content and mobile applications.

Rogers Digital Media, known for creating innovative advertising solutions, will leverage the NBA’s strong sports and lifestyle brand to develop customized programs for Canadian advertisers looking to connect with the NBA’s growing fan base in the country.

Poynt Corporation announced yesterday that their Poynt Local Search application is available for Windows Phone 7 and was selected as a launch partner in Canada. Poynt for Windows Phone 7 is now available in Canada and the United States.

Poynt harnesses the power of multiple applications in one intuitive package. Users can view search results, call businesses and get driving directions, as well as view restaurant information and even make dinner reservations. The movie section provides showtimes, trailers and the ability to book movie tickets through the application. Poynt for Windows Phone 7 also features movie ratings, giving users an overall ranking of how critics feel about the latest movies. The App also provides local weather forecasts and has an integrated weather screen.

Poynt is a free application that connects Windows Phone 7 users to business, movie, retailer, restaurant, and local weather information. The App integrates with the device using click-to-call, click-to-browse, map location and email results to friend in addition to using including some of the unique features of the device including the pivot feature to facilitate toggling between different features and screens.

Angoss Software Corporation has acquired the mobile solutions assets of Hitgroup.ca, formerly operated as “The Hornby Solution”.

The Hornby Solution reflects more than a decade of domain expertise in the Canadian loyalty and rewards space. Hitgroup founders Blair Calder and Stevi Hanson are assisting Angoss with transitional support and collaboration on sales and business development for existing opportunities after closing.

The Hornby system provides a robust mobile marketing platform that enables marketers and their agencies to provide mobile loyalty and rewards programs including offers, coupons, and other location based services. It is especially well positioned to help retailers and other high frequency consumer services providers extend existing loyalty and rewards programs to create mobile marketing and rewards opportunities.

Angoss will be integrating the Hornby capabilities into its Intellimaxx™ integrated marketing solutions platform as Intellimaxx™ Mobile and extending its data capture, communications, promotions, loyalty and customer intelligence capabilities across Blackberry, iPhone and Android mobile platforms.

“By extending Intellimaxx™ with these exciting mobile capabilities, Angoss will be able to provide our customers with a comprehensive suite of customer management, insight, engagement and loyalty” said Eric Apps, President of Angoss. “In addition, this solution will provide us with valuable opportunities to provide more advanced analytics and measurement than currently exist in the mobile space to help marketers better understand the dynamics of the mobile marketplace”.

Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, and the Canadian War Museum have officially announced a collaborative agreement for the delivery of Lest We Forget workshops across Canada. These workshops allow students to consult and research primary source documents by looking through the military service files of Canadian soldiers, doctors or nurses who served in the First World War or who were killed in action in the Second World War.

Under the terms of the collaboration, librarians and other trained individuals across Canada will be able to organize and deliver Lest We Forget workshops using the online tools provided by Library and Archives Canada.

The workshops will be held in four libraries across the country as well as at the Canadian War Museum. Current collaborating libraries include the Burlington Public Library, the Fraser Valley Regional Library, the Winnipeg Public Library, and the Toronto Public Library.

“We are delighted to see that our Lest We Forget project is being expanded,” said Dr. Daniel J. Caron, Librarian and Archivist of Canada. “This new collaboration with the Canadian Urban Libraries Council and the Canadian War Museum will allow students from across Canada to experience a Lest We Forget workshop with a trained facilitator.” Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto’s Longbow Games, one of the few selected for this year’s PAX 10 showcase winners, is proud to announce that their strategy wargame, Hegemony: Philip of Macedon, is now available on Steam. In addition, they have lowered the price to only $19.99.

“As an independent developer, it’s always a struggle to gain the attention of your audience,” said Jim McNally, president of Longbow Games. “We’re very excited to be launching Hegemony: Philip of Macedon on Steam, where we can share our game with a much wider audience.”

Longbow Games is currently working on their next title, Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece, which will soon be in beta testing. Customers of Hegemony: Philip of Macedon can help test the new game for free at www.LongbowGames.com.

Hegemony: Philip of Macedon lets you conquer the ancient Greek world in this PC RTS war game that follows the rise of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. Players campaign across a continuous satellite-accurate map of ancient Greece encountering the full range of warfare from reconnaissance to raids to field battles to mountain blockades. The game also features:

* Innovative supply system – Siege and starve the enemy by cutting their supply lines or burning their crops, all the while building and protecting your own supply network to support your growing empire.
* Steeped in history – In-game pedia and 100+ historical objectives recreate the rise of the Macedonian empire.
* Detailed and stylized world and map – Transition smoothly between the detailed 3D world and the stylized board-game map while maintaining complete control over your empire. Read the rest of this entry »

Wow – one day away and so much went on yesterday! Of course, catching up with yesterday has put me behind for today, but I’ll get all caught up eventually – even on all those games I’ve been trying to get to for reviews. I had a non-digital project to complete and ended up in a very demanding crunch time, because my time line for delivery did not match the deadline that my Mother implemented, and we all know that Mom’s always right…

For those who aren’t already aware, Ubisoft has acquired Longtail Studios’ Quebec City location, and will absorb most of its staff into their own studio. Longtail had contributed to Ubisoft’s Michael Jackson: The Experience, and while this means that Longtail Quebec is no longer in operation, both of Longtail’s maritime studios – Charlottetown and Halifax are still open for business. The Halifax studio recently launched its latest title, Dance on Broadway. By the way, the Halifax studio is currently looking to fill four career positions, including that of Game Tester.

EA Mobile put several of its titles on sale for 99 cents yesterday – if you live in the USA. The only exemption to the USA location restriction is Reckless Racing, which was put on sale worldwide. The other titles currently on sale in the US App Store are:

Tiger Woods PGA Tour – Skate It by EA – Command & Conquer Red Alert – Yahtzee Adventures – Trivial Pursuit – Boggle – Clue – Spore Creatures – Boggle for iPad – Snood – EA Sudoku – Spore Origins – Star Trek – Lemonade Tycoon Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to Bioware, EA Sports and Ubisoft Montreal for a triumphant run in the 28th Annual Golden Joystick Awards:

Action Game of the Year sponsored by Nuts – Assassin’s Creed II
RPG of the Year in association with GamesRadar – Mass Effect 2
Ultimate Game of the Year in association with GamesMaster – Mass Effect 2
Sports Game Of The Year in association with Mousebreaker – FIFA 10

Two Canadians have been named to the IGF Nuovo Award jury for the 2011 competition. Clint Hocking, formerly of Ubisoft Montreal now settled in at LucasArts, and independent developer Justin Smith, creator of 2010 Nuovo finalist Enviro-Bear 2000. The Nuovo Award is dedicated to honoring abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games. Now in its third year, the Nuovo Award allows more esoteric ‘art games’ from among the almost 400 IGF entries to compete on their own terms alongside longer-form indie titles, and has been newly expanded to include eight finalists.

Media Awareness Network (MNet) has released e-Parenting Tutorial: Keeping Up With Your Kids’ Online Activities, an online resource to help parents better understand and become actively involved in their children’s online lives.

Made possible through financial contributions from Inukshuk Learning Plan Fund and Bell, this engaging interactive tool helps parents increase their awareness of the ways that children and teens are using the Internet for learning, entertainment and socializing, and the issues they may be encountering along the way. Through the exploration of five key themes – homework, cyberbullying, marketing, online relationships and excessive use – parents can develop the knowledge and skills they need to help their children navigate the Internet safely, wisely and responsibly.

“Parents often feel unprepared when it comes to helping their children manage their online lives,” said Jane Tallim, Co-Executive Director of MNet. “e-Parenting Tutorial is designed to instill the confidence they need to help their kids become thoughtful cybercitizens.”

This practical resource takes a light-hearted approach while tackling serious issues, with downloadable tip sheets and links to further resources to help parents out. The key message throughout is that parents need to talk with their kids about their online explorations and work together to develop ground rules that everyone can live with.

e-Parenting Tutorial is available for free on Media Awareness Network’s Web site. It is also available on Be Web Aware, an Internet safety Web site for parents developed by MNet in partnership with Bell. The e-Parenting Tutorial development and promotion partners are the Alberta School Councils’ Association, The Alberta Library and the Canadian Home and School Federation.

webcom is coming to Toronto next month, bringing decision makers together for a collaborative conference focused on empowering professionals from across industries to integrate digital communications into business planning. webcom-Toronto follows in the footsteps of internationally recognized webcom-Montreal, which is approaching its ninth edition. webcom-Toronto features a keynote address delivered by Don Tapscott, international best-selling author and chairman of nGenera Insight, focused on content from his new book Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World. He will examine how the evolution of new technologies, combined with the recent crises that have swept across industries have brought the world to a turning point.

webcom-Toronto will take place on November 3rd at the Chestnut Convention Centre. The conference opens at 8:00a.m. and runs until 6:00p.m., with the public welcome to visit free of charge after 3:00p.m.

The people at Project Education Technologies ask, “Have you ever worked on a group project from hell?” They claim many of us have been there at some point and asked if there was a better way to do things. This was their motivation in launching their new site, EntertheGroup.com.

Winnipeg-based EntertheGroup.com provides students and teachers with project management tools such as the ability to create their own group pages, event calendars, task management, project outlines, polls, checklists, file sharing and more. There are also important social networking features like blogging, instant messaging, a Q & A forum and Twitter feed.

The site enable teachers to create virtual classrooms which enable them to interact with students online, share handouts, post events (like exams) to a shared calendar, conduct polls and much more.

“Students typically complain about their group projects. Their biggest problems are free riders and group members who try to take over the group. Also, getting everyone organized and on the same page is problematic,” says Sal Pellettieri, CEO of Project Education Technologies, creator of the website.

“I built this site so that students could learn project management techniques and integrate them into the classroom. I think that many students are overwhelmed by their work and I think that the tools and advice the site offers will help a lot,” says Mr. Pellettieri.

An important feature of the site is that it’s free. Users simply have to register and they will gain access to all of the tools and the library of articles at no charge.

“I wanted students to be able to make use of this site and it’s unlikely they could pay for this service, so I made it free,” says Mr. Pellettieri.

Vancouver’s Aftercad is pleased to announce that the very first game of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft has been played on the new Google TV, using the GameString Adrenalin service.

“Using GameString Adrenalin, you can now play high quality game titles using the new Google TV.” said Chris Boothroyd, CEO of Aftercad. “The Google TV is pretty cool and we thought it could also serve as a great game console for people who would want to play games they already have on the big screen right along side all of the other great content available on the Google TV. Now you can have it all!”

Aftercad has recently expanded its 3D web publishing efforts to include GameString for game developers and Renderjam v2 for CAD and GIS 3D broadcasting and remote access. As cloud computing continues its assimilation of other verticals, developers are looking to cash in on the new cloud gaming methods being touted by the current crop of cloud gaming services. The technology used by Aftercad GameString is different than other cloud gaming efforts and delivers the ability to leverage the full power of Flash or HTML5 on the client’s computer or mobile device. This improves game performance and offers Game Publishers more options when designing and deploying games for the web.

“World of Warcraft is a popular game here with the staff at Aftercad so we felt it was appropriate that it should be the first 3D game played on the Google TV.” said Boothroyd. “It works really well and you can watch the YouTube Video here.”

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

“Our GameString technology represents the next generation in cloud gaming as it doesn’t rely on downloads, plugins, java or obscure codecs to work. The proof is in the fact it works with the Google TV right out of the box while other cloud gaming services will have to write an app to run it on. For Game Publishers looking to leverage the cloud to spice up the production values for Flash based social games, it is clear our approach is the way of the future and the way to go.”

Waterloo’s Open Text Corporation today announced that it has acquired Burlington, Massachusetts company StreamServe Inc., a leading provider of business communication solutions. The acquisition will add complementary document output and customer communication management software to the Open Text ECM Suite, while enhancing Open Text’s SAP partnership and extending its reach in the Nordic market. The transaction is valued at approximately USD $71 million, subject to customary purchase price and holdback adjustments.

StreamServe offers enterprise business communication solutions that help organizations process and deliver highly personalized documents in any paper or electronic format. The company’s powerful solutions enhance the customer interaction capabilities of the Open Text ECM Suite by enabling the automation of business processes for B2B and B2C markets, including financial services, the public sector, telecommunications and utilities.

Designed to address the “last mile” of communication between an organization and its customers, StreamServe’s solutions excel at improving and expanding business relationships. With StreamServe’s software, companies can automatically create documents through rules-based dynamic assembly and present them to customers, partners, and suppliers, in multiple formats and through whichever channel they prefer.

StreamServe offers solutions that scale across a company’s document-driven business processes. The company’s solutions are designed for easy integration with ERP and supply-chain systems and applications, including SAP. Open Text and SAP have a 20-year partner relationship, and SAP resells a wide range of Open Text ECM solutions. Like Open Text, StreamServe has an established reseller partnership with SAP making it a natural fit with Open Text’s SAP partner strategy.
Read the rest of this entry »

BAFTA award-winning composer Jesper Kyd has composed an original music soundtrack for Ubisoft®’s Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, the next iteration of the critically acclaimed, multi-million selling video game franchise. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is inspired by historical events during the occupation of Rome by The Borgias in 1503. Kyd’s new music score for Brotherhood draws influence and authentic instrumentation from this Renaissance period, immersing players in Ezio’s adventures to liberate Rome from a corrupt and tyrant regime. The Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Original Soundtrack will be available for digital download from iTunes on November 16, 2010, to coincide with the North American release of the game on Microsoft Xbox 360® and the Sony PlayStation®3.

“Researching the history of the Borgia Family it became clear early on that Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood would require a very dark score in order to match the Borgias’ aspirations to become the rulers of Italy. The music reflects the compelling story of Ezio as a Master Assassin going up against the Borgias,” said Kyd.

Kyd’s globally acclaimed score for Assassin’s Creed® 2 continues to receive top honors for Best Original Music including the Gold Spirit Awards, Hollywood Music In Media Awards, GameSpot Readers’ Choice, GameSpy Editors’ Choice, Game Audio Network Guild Awards as well as recognition from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, International Film Music Critics Association, Golden Joystick Awards and Spike TV VGAs.

In Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood the critically acclaimed single player experience of Assassin’s Creed is back and better than ever as Ezio returns in an enduring struggle against the powerful Templar Order. Now a legendary Master Assassin, he must journey to Rome, center of power, greed and corruption to strike at the heart of the enemy. Defeating the corrupt tyrants entrenched there will require not only strength, but leadership, as Ezio commands an entire Brotherhood that will rally to his side. Only by working together can the Assassins defeat their mortal enemies. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is also the first time the franchise has featured a multiplayer gameplay experience, which has already received numerous industry awards.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is a worldwide production effort led by the Ubisoft Montreal development studio in collaboration with Ubisoft studios in Singapore, Bucharest, Québec City and Annecy.