Village Gamer

The National Film Board of Canada has officially launched its new service, which offers full-length NFB documentaries, animations and dramas. Delivered using an open source platform and the new JW Media Player, the NFB offerings can be viewed at beta.nfb.ca

The National Film Board has recognized that the majority of Canadians will be active Internet users and that approximately 95% of Canadian households will access the Internet through broadband services. To that end, the NFB believes that Canadians will expect a full range of offerings in the digital world to be available on their computers and mobile devices.

Recognizing that the ability to watch programmes whenever and wherever they want is becoming a driving force among Canadian viewership, the NFB believes that content should be available in both English and French, as well as Aboriginal languages wherever possible.

Read the rest of this entry »

July 8, 2008 – Today Ubisoft announced the acquisition of Hybride Technologies, a Montreal-based studio renowned for its expertise in the creation of visual effects for cinema, television and advertising.

Created over 15 years ago, Hybride employs 80 team members. The studio’s many projects include such innovative films as 300, Frank Miller’s Sin City and the Spy Kids series.

Ubisoft will work closely with Hybride to share technology and to develop tools in order to optimize the creation of both video games and visual effects and to offer gamers visual experiences that rival those of the cinema. At the same time, Hybride will continue to work with its film partners while also bringing its expertise to leverage Ubisoft’s intellectual properties for the movie industry.

Read the rest of this entry »

Little Boy Games, a new Vancouver game development studio headed by Ivan Tung and Usman Khalid will be releasing their first game on XBLA this month. Go! Go! Break Steady is rated E for Everyone and features six break dancing characters who dance their way through twenty musical numbers as the player matches buttons and blasts their way through match-three puzzle levels.

Go! Go! Break Steady offers single player, co-op, versus and multi-player modes, along with an XBLA Leaderboard and Gamer Achievements. Gamers can choose to play as Hydro, Sparx, Slim, Granny, Go Go or Mighty Mite and choose their level of difficulty. The object of the game is to take on DJ Scruffy and the Beatniks and win the “All City Break Steady Tournament” by defeating each level and taking home the prizes.

Go! Go! Break Steady will be available exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 owners who have either a Silver or Gold membership. Those who are also on FaceBook can check out the Go! Go! Break Steady fan page for further information. Best of luck to Little Boy Games on their inaugural game release – we look forward to seeing more games from Ivan and Usman in the future.

Vancouver-developed Need for Speed ProStreet has become the second EA title to achieve Diamond status on GameTrailers. According to GT’s Stream Stats, the ProStreet trailer has been viewed more than 10 million times. Shane Satterfield, Editor in Chief for GameTrailers said “We are proud to present EA with a GT Diamond Award for their incredible work on Need for Speed ProStreet. With quality titles like Crysis and Need for Speed ProStreet, it is no surprise that EA was the first publisher to have two titles that really resonated with our hardcore gaming audience.”

Black Box Vice President Larry LaPierre said that “Receiving the GT Diamond Award is a real accomplishment; GameTrailers visitors represent our core fan base and ten million views illustrates why Need for Speed is one of the world’s most successful videogame franchises.”

Our congratulations to the team at Black Box.

The Impromptu Film Festival will be taking place at the Vancouver International Film Centre, Vancity Theatre on Seymour Street this coming weekend. The Festival will run from noon until 5pm, with tickets costing $15.00 for either Session A or Session B, or $20.00 for both sessions. You can purchase advance tickets at Biz Books, which is located at 302 West Cordova Street.

According to the event’s website, “featuring films from around the world, in this one day celebration of getting films seen and off the ground. This festival aims to promote filmmakers with future projects in development, showcasing what they’ve created in the past.” To date, 3 films have been added to the Festival’s schedule, 2008 Leo Award Winner Centigrade, 2007 Academy Award Winner The Danish Poet, and 2008 Academy Award nominee Madame Tutli-Putli, with more to be announced very soon.

Proceeds from the Festival will go in part to help with pre-production costs (up to $2 500.00) for independent films. One quarter of the proceeds will also go to assist in the creation of the UBC Film Production Scholarship.

The Impromptu Film Festival is sponsored in part by The Vancouver International Film Centre, Video Openhouse Tours, Spread Media Inc., Silverlight Films, Steven Nash Sports Club, Biz Books, The Celluloid Social Club, Telescopic Camera Cranes Ltd, and PS.

Electronic Arts (Canada) Inc., located in Burnaby BC is looking for gamers who are interested in becoming Play Testers. They run approximately five focus groups per week, and are always looking for new play testers of all ages and skill levels. This position is unpaid, but testers do receive food while they at the EA Campus, as well as free EA games. You will be able to test games such as Need for Speed, FaceBreaker, Dead Space, Skate, NHL, FIFA, NBA and more. You can fill in their online application here or if you are under 18 years of age, download the PDF file, get it signed by a parent or guardian, and then mail it in to EA Game Ops.

Last night we attended the final ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver Chapter seminar for the season, and what a treat it was. Guest speaker Sharon Calahan, Director of Photography/Lighting for Pixar Animation Studios gave a presentation on the lighting processes used in Pixar’s animated film Ratatouille, which was followed with a special screening of a 35mm print of Ratatouille.

Beginning with the research and philosophies that went into the development of Ratatouille and walking the audience through the processes she and her team implemented to achieve the rich appearance of the film, Sharon lead us on a wonderful journey of passion and challenges. Having the ability to learn from the masters in the industry always lends to more appreciation for the talent and processes behind the scenes of any digital media piece which many of the general public never get a chance to learn about.

Read the rest of this entry »

This summer, Nintendo Canada has teamed up with smart® canada for the Key To Summer Fun Tour, which is taking place across Canada from June 18th through to September 1. You can test out your skills for chances to win a smart fortwo coupe and a Wii or one of five Family Game Night Packs which include Wii and Nintendo DS hardware, a games library and more. The special Wii and DS equipped cars will be at the following locations this summer:

Golden Spike Days – Port Moody – June 27 – 30

Steveston Salmon Festival – Steveston – July 1

Pacific National Exhibition – August 16 – September 1

Please visit the Get Up And Play Key to Summer Fun Tour official site for full information and contest rules.

The organizers of Digital Storm 2008 are very pleased to announce that TRENDnet will be providing several items for use as prizes at this year’s LAN tournament event. Please be sure to stop by their site and check out their award-winning products.

TRENDnet is a global provider of award winning networking solutions to small and medium size business and home users. Building networking solutions since 1990, TRENDnet enables users to share broadband access, multimedia content and networked peripherals for true anywhere connectivity. TRENDnet’s diverse product line includes Wireless, Fiber, Switch, Gigabit, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM), Internet Camera, Print Server, Powerline, Bluetooth, Storage Server, Power over Ethernet (PoE), and Multimedia Accessories.

Based in Torrance, California, TRENDnet maintains branch offices in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Central America, South America, and Asia. TRENDnet’s 250-plus product portfolio is distributed in over 125 countries. The TRENDnet brand is consistently recognized for high quality, exceptional performance and professional support.

The International Game Developers’ Association (of which this writer is a member) will be launching a project to remember those game pioneers who came before, as well as those who have become an important part of today’s industry. Begun by the IGDA’s Game Preservation SIG , the Memorial Project will ” contain biographies of professionals from around the world, and is welcome to anyone who worked on a game or with the Industry in the past.”

There will also be memorial areas for those who designed paper-based games, as well as “notable individuals from the toy industry, critical game studies, and computer science, whose work has greatly affected the ways in which we understand, play, and design our games.”

Read the rest of this entry »