Village Gamer

Big Blue Bubble Inc. has released an Apple-exclusive 3D follow-up to their smash hit iPhone game Burn the Rope. Burn the Rope 3D literally adds a whole new dimension to the Burn the Rope franchise, featuring 3D environments and a wide range of new puzzles. Wickman’s world comes alive as you navigate your way through the various locations in 3D. Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal-based startup game studio Jellyfish Games has announced their new game, Astrobase Command. The game uses groundbreaking AI to treat characters within the game world as people. You can go anywhere and do anything, and the choices you make have real consequences because everything is controlled by the AI-Storyteller. The game encourages attachment and emotional investment in personality driven characters, an Astrobase Command, you feel like you’re inside your favorite sci-fi TV shows. Read the rest of this entry »

The Banff Centre has issued a call for applications for WIDC Aspects of Camera and Post Production, a mini master class led by award-winning cinematographer and senior picture editor (TBA)Roger Vernon. Beginning with the end picture in mind, this class is facilitated by Women in the Director’s Chair producer Carol Whiteman and will be run January 15th through 19th, 2014 – the application deadline is December 11th. This program is open to up to eight Canadian women directors. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver Film School (VFS) is pleased to announce that it will be adding a brand-new, one-year program to its educational roster. Starting March 2014, VFS will offer Programming for Games, Web & Mobile, a course that is all about becoming a better, smarter, more versatile and hireable developer. This one-of-a-kind program teaches individuals how to create and bend programs; to develop software that is impressive, innovative, and entertaining. Students graduate with a high-powered portfolio along with the skills to impress professionals and recruiters from an incredible range of industries. Read the rest of this entry »

The next generation of game developers are here – and they’re already hard at work on the next big thing. Today, Mind Pirate and the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) announced the four participants selected to participate in the ideaBOOST/Mind Pirate Production Lab: a three-month boot camp that gives developers the resources to create games and apps for wearable technology devices.  The four winners selected to participate in the ideaBOOST/Mind Pirate Production Lab consist of high caliber developer talent from both the United States and Canada. The winners are: Read the rest of this entry »

As an indicator of the continued growth of messaging apps as a platform across music and brand interaction, IPG Media Lab and Sony/Columbia Records have announced a partnership for One Direction (1D) on Kik, a mobile messaging tool with over 95 million users. The first-of-its-kind campaign will introduce a 1D Kik Card – a shareable mobile experience built on Kik’s HTML5 platform. Today, fans from around the globe will be able to chat with each other on Kik and unlock exclusive One Direction content through a unique group “unlocking” program centered on the band’s new album Midnight Memories.  Read the rest of this entry »

Cowichan Valley author Teresa Schapansky has announced the release of the first five books in her fun-filled, engaging Along the Way series. Published by Eye Wonder Studios Inc., the series is aimed toward children between the ages of five and twelve years, and has been created with a multi-faceted goal: to entertain, broaden horizons, and encourage young readers. Along the Way books introduces readers to facts, history, geography and cultures which can be found throughout North America. Short stories included in each book feature children who, together with their families, face and learn to resolve real life issues. Read the rest of this entry »

MaRS Innovation (MI), a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, has announced a new collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation and its affiliate Janssen, Inc., in Canada to advance early-stage technologies related to human health in therapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostics. Through the collaboration, MaRS Innovation and technical experts from the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in Boston will jointly identify and fund high-potential opportunities emerging from well-validated scientific research discoveries within MaRS Innovation’s 16 member institutions, which include the University of Toronto and its affiliated teaching hospitals. Read the rest of this entry »

More than 50 leading Canadian art historians, curators, and museum professionals have come together to launch the Art Canada Institute (ACI), a non-profit organization that is redefining, compiling, digitizing, and distributing Canadian art and its history for free, in both English and French. The institute is a non-governmental initiative, made possible through private and corporate donations. The inaugural program of the Art Canada Institute is the “Canadian Online Art Book Project.” The project launches this Thursday, November 28th, with the release of Jack Chambers: Life & Work, the first title in a series of 50 free online art books. Read the rest of this entry »

Rogers Communications has released the results of a new poll that shows the broadcasting industry needs to evolve to meet changing customer demand – something we consumers already know and are waiting for.  Results reveal that a majority of Canadians value their TV subscriptions, including the channels and packages available to them, but want the opportunity to further customize those packages. I know that in our house, we are forced to have a plethora of channels we simply do not watch to get one or two channels that we do want, or simply don’t get them because we don’t want any of the other channels in the package. I still don’t understand why the “documentary” style channels – Bio, Book, Investigation Discovery, Investigation Science, National Geographic, etc. can’t be bundled together in a “Knowledge Bundle” instead of with channels like Much or Spike. Anyhow – back to the story…. Read the rest of this entry »