Village Gamer

Nintendo Canada is dropping the suggested retail price of its Wii™ system to $149.99 and including a Mario™ game with the Wii hardware. Starting May 15 at many stores across Canada, the newly priced Wii system will come in either black or white with the Mario Kart™ Wii game and a matching coloured Wii Wheel™ accessory, replacing the previously included Wii Sports™ and Wii Sports Resort™ games.

Also on May 15, Nintendo launches the new Nintendo® Selects collection of Wii games, a set of popular games that millions of people have already experienced, at a suggested retail price of $19.99. The four must-own games in this collection are The Legend of Zelda™: Twilight Princess, Animal Crossing™: City Folk, Mario™ Super Sluggers and Wii Sports, which is available for the first time as a separate software purchase. Parents and video game fans can now easily expand their library of fun, family-friendly Wii games. I’ll be keeping my eyes out for any Canadian-made titles that are designated as Nintendo Selects – if you see any, let me know.

“From the day it launched, Wii has let players of all ages and experience levels have fun with one another,” said Ron Bertram, Nintendo of Canada’s vice-president and general manager. “The new suggested retail pricing for both the hardware and select games will help create more of these magical moments for even greater numbers of people.”

With Mario Kart Wii now included with the Wii hardware, players will be able to enjoy fun go-kart racing with Mario and all his Mushroom Kingdom pals right out of the box. The Wii Remote™ Plus controller, Nunchuk™ controller and Wii Wheel included in the package will all match the hardware, meaning they will be either black or white. The new black Wii Wheel will also be available separately at a suggested retail price of $9.99.

After teasing fans on its Facebook Fan Page, Ubisoft has released a few details about Assassin’s Creed^® Revelations, the fourth installment in the critically acclaimed and immensely popular video game franchise. Developed and led by Ubisoft Montreal with the support and expertise of Ubisoft studios Annecy, Massive Entertainment, Quebec, Singapore and Bucharest, Assassin’s Creed Revelations presents the most immersive experience available in the series to date and the culmination of Ezio’s adventure. The game is set to release on the Xbox 360^®, the PlayStation^®3 and Windows PC this November.

In Assassin’s Creed Revelations, master assassin Ezio Auditore walks in the footsteps of his legendary mentor, Altaïr, on a journey of discovery and revelation. It is a perilous path – one that will take Ezio to Constantinople, the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where a growing army of Templars threatens to destabilize the region.

In addition to Ezio’s award-winning story, the acclaimed online multiplayer experience returns, refined and expanded, with more modes, more maps and more characters that allow players to test their assassin skills against others from around the world. The latest chapter in the Assassin’s Creed saga also includes revolutionary gameplay, allowing players to manipulate the construct of Desmond’s memories and the Animus to decipher the mysteries of his past and gain insight into the future.

“Delivering the final chapter of the Ezio trilogy is an important milestone in the Assassin’s Creed franchise for us and for our fans,” said Alexandre Amancio, Creative Director at Ubisoft Montreal. “Assassin’s Creed Revelations includes lots of new features and some significant surprises. We can’t wait to show our fans what we have in store at E3 this year.”

Initially launched in 2007, the first three Assassin’s Creed^® games have sold more than 28 million units worldwide, and the franchise is now established as one of the best-selling series on next generation consoles. Recognized for having some of the richest, most engrossing storytelling in the industry, Assassin’s Creed has transcended video games, branching out into other entertainment experiences such as comic books, Facebook, novels, short films and more. Additional details on Assassin’s Creed Revelations can be found in an exclusive feature in the June issue of Game Informer Magazine, available this month.

Frima Studios and Zombie Tycoon: Icefield Demo have won the FITC award for ‘Best 3D Flash’. Built using a combination of Adobe’s Molehill technology and Frima’s proprietary IceField 3D engine, Zombie Tycoon is one of the most advanced Flash games to be released. The honor was given at the FITC Awards in Toronto on May 3rd, 2011.

“We’re thrilled to have been recognized for our achievements in 3D Flash,” said Steve Couture, CEO of Frima. “Luc Beaulieu, our CTO, and our entire R&D team did an exceptional job working with the 3D technology to create the Zombie Tycoon: Icefield Demo. Frima has always focused on new and cutting edge technology, and this award inspires us to continue to be a leading edge video game developer.”

In Zombie Tycoon, players control their very own horde of ravenous zombies! Developed in just a few months by Frima Studios’ R&D team, the Zombie Tycoon: IceField Demo offers three levels of zombie madness. Two game modes are available to try; mild, which offers players a chance to explore and conquer the game world, and chunky mode which offers players the chance to see the full power of the new technology with over a hundred zombies moving on the screen at the same time. Zombie Tycoon: IceField Demo was also nominated for the ‘Technical Excellence in Flash’ award.

Rock Hippo Productions Ltd is pleased to announce that its new Zombie Mode for the anime inspired,cartoon-style third person MMO shooter MicroVolts is now live…or … undead. The highly-anticipated new mode allows players to become “Zombified” and take on the role of a Zombie Toy in this popular third-person-shooter currently in open beta.  In addition, the company has launched a new trailer that depicts the new Zombie mode in action.

With the introduction of Zombie Mode even toys can become zombies as infected players take on the role of a Zombie Toy with unique abilities to hunt players with uninfected toys.  Uninfected players will have all weapons available but may not have as much ammo as they are accustomed to playing with which may leave them vulnerable to a “Zombie Toy.”

“The new Zombie mode is great because not only does it introduce zombies into gameplay, but it also forces uninfected players to strategize with new weapons and less ammo than they are used to,” said Howard He, President of Rock Hippo Productions. “As players dive into the new Zombie mode they should also keep an eye out for news of some exciting upcoming events we have this month in celebration of the addictive new mode!”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ghvEHEfTg]

In order to fight off the hordes of toy zombies, players will have access to special Zombie Mode weapons. These will come in drop boxes randomly in the middle of a match, so players need to make sure to be the first to get to the box! There will be 4 new Zombie Mode weapons in total, each with their own unique ability.  Two of the new weapons to make their debut include the Firestorm and Blizzard; which both live up to their names!  The Firestorm lights up the competition in a blazing storm of fire, burning pesky zombies to a fine ash and zombies will freeze in fear at the chilly cold whirlwind of ice that the Blizzard dishes out!

MicroVolts features fast paced, third person shooter action and pits players against each other in a secret battle that has been waged and going unnoticed right in our own backyard for years.  No one knows for sure when or where the first toy declared war but rumor has it that the uprising began with four original limited edition figures, code named MicroVolts. Battle lines were drawn when Naomi, Knox, Pandora, and C.H.I.P. -the prototypes A -were soon joined by an endless number of modified versions. Now, toy figures around the world are engaged in an all-out war for valuable battery resources and supremacy of the Micro World.  All we can do now is stay out of their way and wait for a champion to be declared!

With a ton of weapons, inventive character designs, and a huge list of customization features, MicroVolts is destined to invigorate and re-energize the Free2play space. Intuitive controls and a third person view make the game easy to play and fun for both newcomers and veterans of shooter games.  Game modes include the brand new Zombie Mode, Free for ALL, Team Deathmatch, Item Match, Capture the Battery, and many more featuring various maps designed by toy concept.

Ahead of the release of its final report later this month, Pixel To Product’s Justin Kozuch will be making an appearance on the Nat&Marie show tonight at 9pm EST.

Justin will be Wikileaks-ing a handful of new results from the company’s recent research study, and I encourage you to tune in and catch the segment. On deck are some interesting insights into the types of skill-sets companies are hiring for this year, hiring projections, perceptions of bias (ageism, sexism, etc), and some other very interesting findings the study has uncovered.

If you’ve got a question for Justin about the findings, tweet them to @49pixels or post your question on their Facebook fan page, or call into the show via Skype (add “NatAndMarieShow” to your Skype contact list), and they’ll do their best to answer it on the air.

They’re also giving away a copy of Scott Stratten’s “UnMarketing” for the best question; so think one up, tune in and you could be the lucky winner of a book I personally highly recommend.

More than 100 years ago, Horace Greeley popularized the expression “Go West, young man”. Taking his advice to heart, the mesh group has decided to go west, and now one of Canada’s leading Web conferences will be holding a one-day event in Calgary on June 8 at the MacEwan Conference & Event Centre at the University of Calgary.

The move into Western Canada is the latest extension of the vision the five co-founders of mesh had when they decided in 2006 that Canada needed a conference to talk about the exciting things happening on the Web.

From those humble roots, mesh has grown into an event that has attracted a long series of great speakers and – just as important – thousands of enthusiastic and engaged attendees. Calgary is the first stop on a Western swing that will see meshwest also happen in Edmonton and Vancouver.

“meshwest was something that we’ve been exploring for the last few years,” said mesh co-founder Mark Evans. “After the successful launching of meshmarketing two years ago, the time was finally right to take mesh into Western Canada.”

Like mesh, meshwest will feature a line-up of keynotes and panels focused on four streams – media, society, business and marketing – with an emphasis on exploring what’s over the horizon in the digital world. Speakers include Tobias Lutke, Keith Bilous, Mark MacLeod, Danny Robinson, Mark Evans, Mathew Ingram, Rob Hyndman and Stuart MacDonald.

The “eastern” mesh conference takes place in Toronto on May 25th and 26th.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today updated its satellite distribution policy to require Bell TV and Shaw Direct to carry all local television stations supported by the Local Programming Improvement Fund.

“Canadians in all markets should have access to their local television stations, regardless of how they receive their programming,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC. “The carriage of additional local stations will put satellite distributors on the same footing as cable companies and provide their subscribers with more choice in local news and information.”

Under the existing policy, satellite distributors must offer, as of September 1, 2011, the following local stations:

• an affiliate of each national television network
• five English- and five French-language CBC stations; or as many CBC stations as are distributed from a private broadcasting group in either official language
• one television station per province from each major Canadian broadcasting ownership group, and
• two stations from each of the other Canadian broadcasting ownership groups.

As a result of recent CRTC proceedings, Bell TV and Shaw Direct must now distribute a broader range of local television stations.

Given the forthcoming conversion of its satellite service from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 technology, Bell TV will now have to carry at least 43 additional television services, including local and regional stations and independent community stations, by August 31, 2012.

Similarly, given that Shaw will be launching a new satellite in late 2012, Shaw Direct will have to distribute by January 1, 2013, the 80 stations that receive funding from the Local Programming Improvement Fund.

The CRTC’s satellite distribution policy has been changed to reflect the new obligations that will apply to both companies.

Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2011-295

An alarming trend of ever-bigger data breaches is prompting Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart to call for substantial fines against major corporations that fail to adequately protect Canadians’ personal information from preventable breaches.

“I am deeply troubled by the large number of major breaches we are seeing, including serious incidents in recent weeks that have affected hundreds of thousands of Canadians,” says Commissioner Stoddart.

Jennifer Stoddart

During a speech today at the Canada 3.0 forum in Stratford, Ontario, the Commissioner stated:   “Too many companies are collecting more personal information than they are able to effectively protect…. It seems to me that it’s time to begin imposing fines – significant, attention-getting fines – on companies when poor privacy and security practices lead to breaches.”

Before the federal election campaign, the Canadian Parliament was considering legislation to create a requirement for private-sector organizations to report significant data breaches to the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals.

Commissioner Stoddart said the new session of Parliament creates the opportunity to strengthen the legislation to give the Privacy Commissioner the power to impose substantial fines in appropriate cases.

“I have come to the conclusion that the only way to get some corporations to pay adequate attention to their privacy obligations is by introducing the potential for large fines that would serve as an incentive for compliance,” she said, noting that her counterparts in a number of other countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Spain, have already moved to impose hefty fines following breaches.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada is mandated by Parliament to act as an ombudsman and guardian of privacy in Canada.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has released a report on the findings from its national consultation on how the Internet is run. The report will be presented to the United Nations coordinated Internet Governance Forum, a venue for nations to discuss the future of the Internet.

The Canadian Internet Forum (CIF) was a national consultation hosted by CIRA, along with its partners, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Media Awareness Network (MNet). It consisted of face-to-face consultations that took place across Canada along with input received from an online discussion forum, and culminated at a national event held in Ottawa and webcast across the country in February 2011.

The consultations were broadly themed under two topics: the digital economy and digital literacy, and Canadians identified numerous issues that are important to them. These issues included online safety and security, the development of a ‘Canadian vision’ for the Internet and the cost and speed of broadband.

Digifest 2011 is Toronto’s international festival celebrating innovation and digital creativity. From October 26-30 established and emerging designers, technologists and artists will learn about the latest trends and experience innovations firsthand through panel discussions and presentations, demos, interactive exhibitions, workshops, art installations, “doors open” academic tours, creative showcases and parties.

Digifest will showcase digital media creativity in Toronto, bringing together academic, industry and the public to experience the convergence of interactive & mobile media, gaming, art and design, architecture, simulation and more.

Digifest will celebrate the latest achievements in visualization, simulation and interaction in many fields, inspiring and connecting all involved.  The festival’s long-term vision is to globally brand Toronto as a leading digital media and technology centre based on the unique breadth and depth of its digital sectors.

Digifest has been renewed and updated by the School of Design at George Brown College in partnership with the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFF), Applied Arts Inc., Meet The Media Guru (Italy), TOJam, Gamercamp, OCAD University, Ryerson University, Seneca College and various media and venue partners.

Innovation Days

(Wednesday October 26 – Thursday October 27, daytime)

This exciting portion of Digifest will showcase results of industry/school research partnerships to a crowd made up of industry members, academics and students. The content will be selected by Digifest and its academic partners. Each morning / afternoon will be devoted to one of the four Digifest streams: play, touch, build, watch.

Talks will be delivered by industry “thought leaders” followed by shorter presentations from various innovators in related fields.

Tiff.nexus Innovation Day

(Friday October 28)

TIFF.nexus is the connection of the existing and emerging media sectors of Film, Gaming and New Media, designed as a catalyst for collaboration between them.  This innovation day will feature emerging technology talks and presentations as well as the results of the 2011 Gaming Peripherals Jam – putting game developers together with hardware hackers to innovate in areas of interface – which will be showcased in an evening reception at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Meet The Media Guru

(Wednesday October 26 – Friday October 28, evening)

Meet The Media Guru (MMG) is a Social Network and an Open Community of Digital Culture that organizes local Events in Italy to meet the world famous protagonists of Innovation. Digifest is bringing MMG events to Ontario by making them a key component of the DF schedule. These evening speaker events will bring innovators from across the globe for thought-provoking presentations that will inspire and challenge attendees.

Exhibits and Activities

(Saturday October 29 – Sunday October 30)

The Digifest weekend activities will feature an array of exhibits, interactive displays, presentations and more, with many free events open to the general public. Events include:

• TOJam: featuring a day of talks by local game makers and industry thinkers, exclusive in-progress demos, and an arcade installation of over 20 games from TOjam.
• Art by Gamercamp exhibition, displaying digital art and design installations.
• Ziris™ wall: an on-going display of Digifest Ziris™ competition entries to be featured on the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts Ziris™ wall throughout the week and into the weekend. The Ziris Competition is open for entries until May 27th – get yours in now.