Village Gamer

The Charity App Challenge, a joint initiative with the Calgary Herald, Digital Alberta and Place2Give.com, is bringing Calgary’s technology and non-profit sectors together for a raucous hack-a- thon challenge. Competing for the chance to win a $30,000 contract, local developers will work in teams over 48 hours from Feb 1-3 building a mobile solution for this year’s Calgary Herald Christmas Fund Charities. Read the rest of this entry »

Surveys about surveys, late fees for on-time payments and application overkill. If it makes absolutely no sense, then it must be red tape. Today, as part of Canada’s Red Tape Awareness Week, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) released its real-life stories of ridiculous government rules from across the country, along with an online petition to reduce government red tape. Read the rest of this entry »

The Independent Games Festival has announced the eight Student Showcase winners for the fifteenth annual presentation of its prestigious awards, celebrating the brightest and most innovative creations to come out of universities and games programs from around the world in the past year. This year’s showcase of top student talent include the first-person meta-videogame ATUM, from the Netherlands’ NHTV IGAD, the similarly meta-game-ified pen & paper RPG Knights of Pen & Paper, from Brazil’s Instituto de Ensino Superior de Brasilia & Universidade de Brasilia, and the  Jet Set Radio-esque Zineth, a game which “celebrates speed, movement & Twitter”, from students of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Read the rest of this entry »

Two weeks remain before registration closes for the 2013 Privacy and Security Conference, which is being held this February 6th through 8th at the Victoria Conference Centre. This is a must-attend conference for anyone in the Privacy or Information Security field – this is your chance to hear internationally acclaimed experts address the issues that matter most in your world: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s great to see all of the nominations already listed on the Canadian Videogame Awards site, but I know there are more of you out there, and you have only ten days remaining to get your nominations in for the 4th Annual Canadian Videogame Awards, to be held at the Vancouver Convention Centre on April 20th, 2013. This year’s show, sponsored by Future Shop, will once again celebrate the best and brightest of the Canadian videogame industry. Developers, publishers and industry leaders from across Canada will gather in beautiful Vancouver to recognize the outstanding achievements of 2012.    Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Internet Forum (CIF) is the place for Canadians to share their thoughts on the development, deployment and governance of the Internet in Canada. Consisting of an annual event and an online discussion forum, the CIF brings together leading thinkers and experts to discuss a variety of Internet-related topics. The next CIF will begin on February 28, 2013 with a national event in Ottawa, and registration is now open. This year the CIF national event will be kicking off an online discussion forum, as Canadians can further explore the topics being discussed at the national event online. Read the rest of this entry »

Through an initiative of Telefilm Canada in partnership with Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), the Government of Canada and its partners are supporting Canada’s leading game development industry at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco with prestigious meeting space, a networking event and a matchmaking program. In line with its new strategic vision Fostering Cultural Success, Telefilm Canada will select a contingent of 20 export-ready independent Canadian game development companies to support and showcase during GDC 2013. This initiative is aimed at the promotion of Canadian talent in the interactive digital media industry. Read the rest of this entry »

More than 380 game professionals and aspiring game designers turned out for the seventh annual Game Design Expo and Open House. The two-day event kicked off with a sold-out Industry Speaker Day on Saturday featuring the leading minds behind Halo 4 and the Assassin’s Creed franchise. On Sunday, Vancouver Film School (VFS) opened its doors with sample classes to over 200 aspiring game designers. As always, the speaker sessions were informative with more than a few touches of humour thrown in for good measure. Patrick Plourde (Creative Director, Ubisoft) is one of my favourite speakers, and his session on New Horizons For Game Design was one of my top picks for the day, along with Tuomas Pirinen (Game Director, Slant Six Games) and his presentation on The Bowling Dead. Read the rest of this entry »

Bell Media announced today its designation as an official lead partner of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television‘s inaugural Canadian Screen Awards. Canadian Screen Week, the annual celebration of excellence in Canadian film, television, and digital media productions, begins in Toronto on February 27 and culminates in a televised award broadcast on March 3, 2013. Nominations will be announced tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »

Just before Christmas Global Game Jam Inc.™ (GGJ) organizers announced that character creation and animation innovator Mixamo will be a sponsor of the upcoming Global Game Jam 2013. Mixamo will support GGJ13 participants by enabling them to leverage the company’s massive collection of animation services and assets.  Read the rest of this entry »