Village Gamer

Today marks the first day that HOARD™ by Big Sandwich Games will be available for purchase on Steam this afternoon.  It will be listed for a “fire sale” discount of 25% off the normal retail mark of $9.99.  The presale period and discount lasts until the game releases for both PC and Mac on April 4^th.

The Steam release finally brings this innovative dragon-themed game about hoarding treasure to millions of PC and Mac gamers.  All popular Steam features are employed, including over 100 achievements, leaderboards, multiplayer matching, friend invites, stats, and Steam cloud saving.  Steam Play is also supported, meaning users who own both a PC and Mac only need buy the game once.  Several new features are also making their appearance in the Steam version, including graphical boosts like Night mode and a crisp winter tileset.

“With the pre-sale on, you can pick up HOARD™ for a mere $7.50,” observes Tyler Sigman from Big Sandwich.  “That’s enormous value for a game that will give you dozens of hours of award-winning gameplay, single player challenges, multiplayer co-op and competitive, a whole bunch of levels, and best of all—lets you burn the crud out of everything that stands in your way.”

Just ahead of release date, Hothead Games has released a Swarm Sensitivity Training Video. The studio’s message is “Don’t fear others just because they’re different.” In this informative video, learn the secrets of working together with swarmites, the adorable yet clueless stars of the hit new video game Swarm coming this week to the Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network. Note, in true Hothead Games fashion, this video does contain…questionable content. 😉

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IG2_engPwA]

Ayogo’s latest Facebook title is live and doing quite well. Health Nutz, a wacky new comedy about a washed up hockey player who will inherit a Juice Bar on the condition that he gets and stays sober. The six episode series has an extensive social media component that will run alongside the series to accompany the story arc via a Health Nutz Facebook game, Twitter, where several of the show’s characters will be tweeting throughout the run of the series, and on YouTube, where there will be eighteen webisodes, six episode teasers and all of the character clips.

The Health Nutz Facebook Game launched on March 8th, four weeks before the official TV launch on APTN on Tuesday, March 29th (the show launches on HD APTN on Tuesday March 22) and Ayogo will release a new game each week until the end of the show’s series run in May.

Rocketfuel Games has a new title on the App Store for iOS mobile devices. Seek Your Own Proof: Agent Arcade is a 4-in-1 game with more games on the way and is a title for kids of all ages. Discovery Kids and Rocketfuel invite you to become a member of the secret spy agency known as the C.I.E., entering a world full of puzzles, heroes, and villains as you Seek Your Own Proof!

The four in-app games available at launch are:

* Synapse Sequence – Try to stop the sinister sequence!
* Pyramid Explorer – Zip your way through the pyramid but watch out or you’ll get zapped!
* Catch the Keymaker – The Keymaker is in your sights. Don’t let him escape!
* Double Agent – Twice the Agents. Twice the Villains. You’ll be seeing double!

Players will be able to browse through their favorite Seek Your Own Proof Heroes and Villains in the Agents gallery, explore and learn more about the world of Seek Your Own Proof as well as obtain new and unique games in future updates

Interactive Ontario’s final iLunch of the season will feature Gamification thought leader, Gabe Zichermann, who will speak about how Gamification is transforming companies big and small, from media and advertising to travel and manufacturing. Leveraging the lessons of blockbuster social games like Farmville, and years of engagement developed in frequent flyer programs, Gamification’s proponents see a fun future in which users are engaged (and succeeding) in everything from doing their taxes to getting fit.

Gabe Zichermann, author of two books and chairman of the Gamification Summit, will share some of the most interesting insights about this trend and how you can capitalize on it for your business. A highly sought after public speaker for such events as Google Tech Talk, Web2.0, and Mobile Games Forum, Gabe will bring his expertise and experience to iLunch 9 on March 30th from 12-2pm.

Wow it’s Monday already – where did the weekend go? That 48 hours really does pass by far too quickly, and I never get as much accomplished as I’d like. At least I did manage to get some Spring cleaning done in the office, what with it now being Spring – except for you people in the Eastern Arctic, that is. Sorry about that snow, Ontario. I haven’t yet found the exact bit of paperwork I was actually looking for, but our office does look a little bit less Hoarder-ish, so that’s a step in the right direction at least.

As usual there is loads of news bits I’d like to pass on to you, so I suppose there is no time like now to get started. For those of you who would like to have exhibit space at SIGGRAPH 2011, the floor plan has been re-configured to open up more space. We’d like to be a part of SIGGRAPH 2011 but can’t afford the exhibit space on our own – is there anyone out there in Canadaland who might be interested in sharing space or making a co-op booth? This could be a great opportunity to get some exposure happening. We’ve started working on our re-branding, and SIGGRAPH 2011 would be a very opportunistic time to launch. Give it some thought and let me know if you’re interested.

Transgaming Studios‘ recently released title Garage Inc. is currently available for free download in Apple’s App Stores for iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad and Mac. If you’re not already playing this Prohibition-era time management game, you should go download it now. Help Angelo build his automotive business and live the American dream while fending off some really nasty mobsters.

According to all reports, the BIG Book Drive held over the weekend in Burnaby was a huge success, with more than 10,000 books collected,  providing low-income families with an opportunity to learn. The organizers have also been able to recycle over 24+ boxes of magazines and catalogs to create a more sustainable future. The organization would like to thank everyone who has helped out so far, and remind you that this does not mark the end of the Book Drive – there is more to come. Be sure to check their website for future information.

Ancestry.ca has released a new (and free) app for the iPhone and iPad. This new app lets you access generations of family history and add facts, photos and other historical anecdotes at every turn. All you need is an Ancestry.ca family tree, an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad and an adventurous spirit, and you’re ready to download the free app and hit the road in search of your story.

App Features Include:

• Lighter version of your Ancestry.ca family tree
• More intuitive to use, with iPhone and iTouch functionality
• Information is automatically available when you log in to your Ancestry.ca account from your computer
• Access trees that were shared with you
• View attached records and source citations

I noticed in the app’s descriptions on Ancestry.ca that an additional feature is listed under the iPad section, stating that you can easily upload photos, add ancestors, correct dates, include notes and more, from within the app – but this is not listed in the basic and iPhone app features.

Microsoft Canada is once again calling for entries to the 4th annual Microsoft Blue Sky Awards. The corporation is looking for individuals who have developed solutions that either break conventional processes or go beyond marginal improvements in existing products. Entrants will be assessed on the innovation behind their idea, the uniqueness of the architecture, the use of Microsoft technologies and the solution’s viability in the marketplace. Winners and finalists will be recognized at the 2011 Canadian ISV Leadership Summit (event site has not been updated from 2010) on May 30, 2011 and the winner will receive a customized engagement plan to help support ongoing software development and increase market visibility. Submissions close April 25th, please see the competition web site for full details.

Citytv has launched its Toronto CityNews app for iPad and iPhone.  The interactive CityNews app will feature the latest in local news, weather, sports and traffic that matters most to viewers in Toronto and the GTA.  The ad supported CityNews app is available free from the App Store on iPad or iPhone.

CityNews viewers can now get their news Everywhere while on-the-go with this new hyper local news app.  The app will provide up-to-the-minute news and weather videocasts throughout the day.  The app allows users to share their own stories and breaking news in their communities via their mobile device with the CityNews room by uploading videos, photos, news tips and stories.  Other features include local weather information, a map view of the news as it unfolds across of the GTA and the ability to share content from the app using social media. This would be more useful if it also covered CityTV’s other market cities.

Toronto’s Omnego™ will be showcasing the company’s comprehensive platform for mobile customer engagement this week at Orlando’s CTIA Wireless 2011. The Omnego platform enables brands to deliver digital cards, tickets, coupons and much more to a mobile application for an ongoing engagement with consumers in the mobile channel. Omnego’s web-based platform and consumer mobile application has been developed so that businesses can implement their mobile marketing strategies within weeks.

The Omnego platform is ideal for businesses that currently interact with consumers using physical loyalty, gift, ID/membership cards, or distributors of tickets/passes and coupons. These businesses can easily implement Omnego’s platform to issue digital versions of these same items, and additionally create an interactive and targeted marketing engagement with consumers. Businesses such as retailers, gift card processors, card personalizers, direct/loyalty marketers, print/online media companies, and ad/media agencies can benefit from implementing the Omnego software platform. You can check the service out at Booth 2246, located in the CTIA Ontario Pavilion.

XLmagic, a mobile web platform/HTML5 from Toronto’s Xtreme Labs Inc. is now available.  XLmagic is designed to provide a dynamic and enhanced browsing experience for all mobile phones as well as social network integration for all smartphones, catering to the increasing market demand for superior mobile web solutions and has recently been deployed by a large North American wireless network and content provider. The network subscribers will benefit from an intuitive user interface, easier access to social networks, and increased ability to manage their services via their phone.

Madra expressed excitement about the technological expertise and innovation Xtreme Labs is showcasing with the release of XLmagic for mobile operators and content providers. “Mobile web mashups with social network integration and operator billing are just the start. With XLmagic we can simplify the mobile experience for subscribers while improving their ability to upgrade and manage their mobile products and services,” says Madra.

XLmagic provides the full package from standard to customized modules for delivering content integration and management. Designed for mobile operators and content providers, XLmagic’s broad access to all phones with device optimizations and multi-language support reduces the time and cost to deliver mobile web experiences across multiple devices.

Industry Canada has re-launched the Government of Canada’s Small Business Internship Program, investing $3.5 million to create internships for post-secondary students across Canada. When the application process opens on April 1st, the Small Business Internship Program will assist small and medium-sized enterprises across Canada improve their productivity and competitiveness by hiring about 400 student interns annually to help with information and communications technology projects. Seventeen Canadian organizations have been chosen to act as delivery agencies for the Internship Program, and they will be responsible for selecting businesses to participate in the program. Funding provisions will be allocated between each of the agencies will be based on the size of the population they serve.

Event: Early Registration for Canada 3.0 2011 has been extended until March 17th.
From GDC 2011: Congratulations to the Bioware Mass Effect 2 team for picking up the Best Writing award at the GDC Choice Awards and to the University of Montreal for winning at the IGF Awards with FRACT being named as the top Student Game.

Catching up with Big Blue Bubble this morning, the studio has released Geeks Unleashed to the Mac App Store for $3.99 USD. This game is a strategic puzzle game that pits the player against some of the smartest, yet geekiest opponents on the planet. The storyline, which for some reason makes me think of Big Bang Theory, follows the player as they enter a collecting convention, attempting to accumulate collectibles from different categories such as Sci-Fi, Fashion, Comics, Plush Toys and Role Playing Games.

Another popular Big Blue Bubble game also made its debut on the Mac App Store this week. Home Sweet Home, available now for $4.99 USD, is a game that invites you to play Interior Designer. You choose the furniture, patterns, and colors to create a masterpiece that will blow your client away. You can email photos of your newly designed rooms to yourself or your friends, and you can also replay levels or your designs.  With simple controls, a fun graphical style, and an easy to use interface, Home Sweet Home allows you to nurture your creative side.

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney has launched a fun and educational Facebook application that tests your knowledge of Canada’s history, values, symbols and political institutions. The quiz can also be downloaded to mobile devices like iPhone, Blackberry and Android. The 20 questions are randomly selected from a bank of 122 questions, allowing the quiz to be played more than once.

“Download the app, take the quiz, and share it with your friends,” Kenney said. “You might be surprised to find out just how Canadian you are!”

The initiative is part of an on-line resource called “A Fun Path to Learning” that was launched in April 2010 by Citizenship and Immigration Canada for students and teachers. The educational tool draws from material in the popular new citizenship study guide Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship and aims to help students from grades five to 12 learn about Canada’s history and political institutions through games and activities. There are a number of learning resources on the Youth page, making learning about Canada’s history fun.

The “How Canadian Are You, Eh?” application is a cross platform application that can be found within Facebook, at the iTunes app store, in the Blackberry app world, and in the Android marketplace.

Radian6 has announced Radian6 for Salesforce, bringing new social capabilities to the Salesforce Service Cloud experience. Monitoring the overwhelming volume of social conversations that matter to enterprises, and connecting them to existing sales, service and marketing processes is a major challenge for companies today. To address this challenge, the Radian6 integration will connect the social capabilities within both the Salesforce Service Cloud and the Radian6 platform, enabling enhanced social customer service.

The Radian6 platform monitors social media, including blogs, forums, comments, photo and video sharing sites, Twitter, public content within Facebook and more. Radian6 leads the industry with its ability to surface social metrics on everything it gathers, enabling valuable time savings through sorting and prioritization. With its pending arrival on the AppExchange, Radian6 for Salesforce will let agents work entirely within the Service Cloud, with fully automated case creation that adds social media content to Salesforce based on the customizable Radian6 workflow rules engine.

In addition to the recently added feature that allows users to interact with Salesforce Chatter directly within Radian6 Engagement Console™ additional capabilities that leverage the Service Cloud will include the ability to create new or view existing cases, leads and contacts from within the Radian6 Engagement Console™. Radian6 for Salesforce is currently scheduled to be available to early adopters in April 2011 while a full public release is currently scheduled for Q3 of calendar year 2011.

zipzoom is a brand new patent-pending anonymous communication technology changing the way consumers and businesses find each other. The service was officially launched today in Simcoe County, choosing Barrie because it is one of the fastest growing cities in North America.

“A dynamic, friendly and booming community like Barrie is the perfect place to launch this revolutionary service,” said Reg DesRosiers, the founder of zipzoom.com. “We offer residents the ability to make quick, informed decisions about any products or services they need, while also providing new streams of customers to Barrie’s local businesses and salespeople.”

zipzoom.com recently launched a beta version of its site, which acts like a personal shopper for overwhelmed consumers. zipzoom.com-registered consumers just make an anonymous personal inquiry and zipzoom immediately, through its exclusive communication platform, sends the inquiry to all relevant contacts and businesses using a brilliantly designed product keyword search association, saving time, money and effort. Businesses and salespeople also benefit by having direct access to “ready-to-buy” customers 24/7 without increasing their advertising costs. zipzoom is free of charge to register for consumers, businesses, service providers and salespeople. zipzoom finally answers the question consumers ask themselves every day: “How can I find the best deal, person or business to work with?” On the vendor side: “How do I consistently find ‘ready-to-buy’ customers?”

In addition, zipzoom is offering weekly giveaways via their social media networks on Twitter and Facebook, where randomly chosen registered vendors will receive a no-charge lifetime membership subscription.

Staying true to its friendly, down-to-earth and down the street philosophy, Original Joe’s has announced that, starting today, it will be providing a free pound of wings to each individual who ‘likes‘ them on Facebook.

“Each person who decides to participate by liking Original Joe’s on Facebook will be able to print off a coupon which they can redeem at any of our 37 locations for a pound of wings on us,” says Derek Doke, President of Original Joe’s. “We appreciate the support and loyalty of our existing customers and this is one way to express our gratitude to our regulars while encouraging newcomers to find out for themselves why so many people choose Joe’s as their preferred neighbourhood pub.”

Joe’s is expecting thousands of individuals to take advantage of this promotion, and are prepared to give away up to $100,000 worth of wings (estimated Canadian dollar amount based on 10,000 pounds of wings and gift cards). With more than a dozen wing flavours available ranging from dill pickle, Caribbean jerk and industrial strength, to the more traditional honey garlic or salt and pepper, Joe’s has something for everyone.

Note: The Toronto International Film Festival (September 8 – 18th) is now open for submissions.
Event: WaveGuide™ Technical Workshop: Samsung Bada Code Camp presented by WaveFront. This free seminar takes place tomorrow in Vancouver from 1:30pm – 8:00pm. Pre-registration is required.
Event: Global Insights Conference is taking place in Victoria on March 17th.
Event: The Basics of Intellectual Property is a free seminar on March 10th presented by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and hosted by nGen.

Vancouver’s Decapod Studios, creators of one of my favourite XBLIG games, Murphid, has released iStopwatch for Windows Phone 7. The free app is a simple, fast and elegant stop watch. It features a stopwatch timer, split timer, lap timer and countdown. It supports logging unlimited split and lap times and shares results via email.

The studio has also submitted an update for its measurement units converter app, Convert Units PRO for Windows Phone 7. The update includes faster application loading and adds in-app feedback options. The update will be available for free for all existing users once it receives Microsoft certification.

Convert Units PRO features include:

• U.S., Imperial and metric units.
• Convert length, mass, area, volume and temperature with ease.
• More than 100 measurement units are supported.
• Rarely used and old units are available.
• High precision conversion.

Industrial Brothers has released a new 99 cent USD game on the iTunes Store. 2Bit is a challenging retro-inspired puzzle game that will challenge your nerves and co-ordination as you try to navigate through The Grid, a landscape full of dangers. Yes, that’s right, The Grid is rife with shooting turrets, trip wires, hydraulic plugs, screwblades and more dangerous too frightening to talk about. At launch, 2Bit offers 20 challenging levels contained within 2 Grid areas, each with 10 levels of puzzles to negotiate.

2Bit’s current features include:

• Select between 2D or 3D views
• Personal High Scores and Global Leaderboard and Online Registration
• Original retro-themed sound effects and music
• Additional Grids and Levels to be released over the next few weeks at no extra cost

The Cavechild has released his first non-narrated gameplay video for Dawn of War II: Retribution by Relic Entertainment. His army is the one decked out in patriotic red and white, in Last Stand on The Anvil of Khorne as the Space Marine Captain.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDDh1az2NxU]

Strangeloop has partnered with Exclusive Concepts, Inc. to offer its proprietary Site Optimizer service to Yahoo! store merchants worldwide. Yahoo! Merchant Solutions is the largest hosted platform for ecommerce stores, with more Internet Retailer® Top 500 retailers using Yahoo! than any other hosted solution. Exclusive Concepts, the leading resource for online stores seeking to convert online shoppers into loyal buyers, provides a breadth of marketing services – from advanced search engine marketing to conversion testing – to more than 800 merchants around the world. As an authorized Yahoo! partner, Exclusive Concepts will be the exclusive provider of Strangeloop’s website acceleration technology to this market.

The Strangeloop Site Optimizer, utilized by companies such as Petco, Travelocity, Visa, Sodexo, and O’Reilly Media, is the only automated web performance optimization solution that functions at the scale demanded by global ecommerce sites and enterprise applications. Through partners like Exclusive Concepts, Site Optimizer can be offered as a hosted service, making Strangeloop’s advanced optimization technology accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Calgary tech company Vaenco, Inc. has officially launched its interactive media platform called ZoweeTV. An end-to-end multi-screen media platform that delivers movies, TV shows, music, games and other interactive media to Internet-enabled devices including TVs, Blu-ray players, media extenders, set-top boxes and game consoles for both ‘over-the-top’ delivery as well as integrated solutions for service providers and operators.

Key features include a fully integrated cross-platform user interface that includes a media management system for consumers as well as social networking capabilities through ZoweeTV’s proprietary system-wide network. ZoweeTV was built for content owners by content owners, offering a fully customizable content management system enabling dynamic ‘self’ distribution with a turnkey content management dashboard including asset management, metadata integration, windows, pricing, territories and other key policies with detailed ‘back-end’ reporting.

According to recently released In-Stat research, Web-to-TV Video content revenue will grow by 750% to $17 billion by 2014. “We built ZoweeTV from the ground up, built for complete customization for any platform, any video format on any device, anywhere in the world — ZoweeTV will optimize content distribution opportunities for content owners and deliver a robust, quality user experience to the end user” said Ronald Domes, CEO.

ZoweeTV will be widely available to consumers Worldwide by Summer 2011 through strategic partnerships with device manufacturers as an operating system or through stand-alone apps and web browsers. More announcements will be made in the upcoming weeks.

Four initiatives that support northern innovation and knowledge will move forward thanks to investments by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor). The Honourable John Duncan, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, has announced an investment of $426,000 for research and training projects to help the Northwest Territories and Nunavut strengthen information technology (IT), energy, and educational sectors of the economy. With additional contributions from project proponents and the Territorial governments, the projects have a total value of more than $500,000.

“The Government of Canada recognizes that by investing in research and training, we are enabling the long-term sustainability of communities and businesses across the North,” said Minister Duncan, who is also Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians.

“Research has shown that there is a strong positive correlation between investments in IT infrastructure, capacity development and economic growth,” said the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Member of Parliament for Nunavut, Regional Minister for the North and Minister of Health. “These investments will create new educational, social and business opportunities in both territories that will provide long-term benefits for northerners and northern businesses.”

CanNor’s funding will support four projects in the NWT and Nunavut, including new mining and remediation training programs, research into the potential to use local willow as biomass fuel, and two projects to assess and support the potential for establishing broadband internet in Nunavut.

Funding for these projects came from CanNor’s Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development (SINED) program, which provides funding for northern projects that contribute to long-term economic growth, economic diversification, and capacity building in the three territories. SINED is one of a number of economic development programs delivered by CanNor in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

On this past Sunday, February 27^th, members of the London RCMP Detachment Federal Enforcement Section seized thousands of pirated DVDs from a booth at the Gibraltar Trade Centre on Dundas Street East in London.

Pirated DVDs in flimsy plastic sleeves were openly displayed for sale at space rented by the accused at the Gibraltar Trade Centre, where it is alleged they sold the pirated movies. The accused were found in possession of approximately 4000 movies for sale including recently released DVD movies, movies still in the theaters and others yet to be released. Titles included: The King’s Speech, The Fighter, Black Swan, True Grit, and Inception amongst many others.

“This isn’t a victimless crime,” stated Inspector Dwight Blok, Officer in charge of the RCMP London Detachment. “We are committed in our efforts to combat this type of criminal activity.”

The accused, a 25 year old man and a 24 year old woman from Toronto, face charges under the Copyright Act for allegedly offering for sale an infringing copy of work where copyright subsists. If convicted the accused could faces fines not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.

Bits Republic Technologies, Inc., a Vancouver-based developer of cloud security applications and licensed technologies, has unveiled the new name for its popular ultra-secure Document Management System. The application formerly known as MOnet has been renamed PrivyDocs in order to better reflect the complete privacy that this application provides.

PrivyDocs is entirely browser-based. Unlike past versions, PrivyDocs requires no software installation and can be run on Mac or PC through most major browsers. This represents a major unique advance in cloud computing in that security and privacy are so complete that neither the application host nor storage hosts have access to stored data, yet control by the user extends to file sharing with other parties replete with advanced file and folder permissions.

“PrivyDocs is designed to replace a key part of in-house systems; that part that deals with guarded data dissemination both within and outside the organization.” explained Charles Chung, owner and founder of Bits Republic Technologies, Inc. “In the past, placing such data online and managing it `through the cloud` has necessitated complete trust in the application provider – they can see your data. With our solution, professionals and enterprises retain control of their sensitive data and the providers have no access to it. Our solution enables the users to control advanced permissions by file, to track file access and versions, and even to customize the look and feel of the application for their particular needs”.

PrivyDocs uses the patent-pending Bits republic security engine which provides a very flexible platform for client-side encryption and server side ‘blind’ hosting and management. This technology assures that only authorized users are able to access secured data and metadata, and that not even the application or storage hosts have access to it themselves.

DHX Media Ltd has been authorized to purchase at market price up to 3,629,576 common shares of the Company being approximately 10% of its public float of 36,295,762 common shares as of February 28, 2011, and representing approximately 5.9% of its issued share capital, by way of a normal course issuer bid (the “Bid”) through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). As of February 28, 2011, there were 61,617,565 common shares issued and outstanding. DHX is making the bid to reduce the number of outstanding shares in the corporation and to improve earnings per share. The Bid will commence on March 4, 2011, and end no later than March 3, 2012, observing the purchasing restrictions during ‘black out’ or ‘close’ periods.

The Company intends to implement an automatic share purchase plan to allow it to purchase shares under the Bid while in such ‘black out’ or ‘close’ periods. The Bid will be funded from the Company’s existing cash resources. Any shares purchased under the Bid will be cancelled. The TSX rules permit DHX to purchase daily, through TSX facilities, a maximum of approximately 26,467 common shares under the Bid, being 25% of the average daily trading volume of 105,870 over the last six months.

In the opinion of the Company’s board of directors and senior management, DHX shares may occasionally trade in a price range which does not adequately reflect the value of underlying assets based on the Company’s business and financial position. Consequently, the Company may, from time to time, purchase common shares of the Company under the Bid. DHX has not purchased any shares of the Company pursuant to a normal course issuer bid during the preceding 12 months.

Calgary-based Veer, a provider of affordable visual elements that makes it easier to be creative, today announced the launch of an exclusive new font collection named Agency 26, as well as the addition of fonts from the Filmotype foundry and several other leading designers.

Other new additions to the Veer font collection include:

•   Steinweiss Script – Known as the father of the album cover, Alex Steinweiss’ distinctive “scrawl” has been faithfully recreated by Michael Doret in homage to the original. Available in three weights, each including a number of variations including simple, fancy and tilting. Steinweiss Script is part of the Umbrella Collection.
•   Yana – Designer Laura Worthingon set out to create a versatile, swashy serif usable in logos, headlines and body copy. Along the way it gained an old-style Victorian aesthetic, upper and lowercase characters, over 200 swash capitals, and regular, bold and italic variants. Yana is part of the Umbrella Collection.
•   Torino Pro – Originally designed in 1908 by Alessandro Butti, Torino is a modern italic Didone that has been revived, redrawn and expanded by Jason Walcott. It contains a large number of elegant swashes, discretionary ligatures and lining figures. Torino Pro is a Veer Exclusive and part of the Jukebox Collection.
•   Hiatus – This is a contemporary script that blends casual and formal elements with the warmth of hand lettering. Stephen Rapp’s low body height and full connection of the characters make for a versatile script. Hiatus, which includes a large number of swash alternates and ornaments, as well as extensive international language support, is a Veer Exclusive from the Umbrella Collection.

Reminder: Last chance to register for the BCTIA and Mac McIntosh Marketing for Leads and Sales sessions on February 22 in Kelowna, February 23 in Victoria and February 24 in Vancouver.

Voting is now open to elect 5 new IGDA Directors, and all eligible IGDA Members should have received a special election email with the subject line Voting has begun! – IGDA Board of Directors Election. This email will contain not only the link to the ballot page, but also the registered email and unique voting password for your membership account. The voting process will be open until March 18th, giving you time to research the candidates and issues before you cast your vote. You can also follow the discussion on Twitter with the #igdavote hashtag or you can subscribe to the RSS feed (note, this will open your RSS feed reader).

Hothead Games is holding a contest – they want to know how you would kill a Swarmite. Submit your ideas now – the winning entry will be animated and added to the game. Need some inspiration? Here are some graphic examples of ways to dispose of Swarmites courtesy of the warped minds that creep around the Halls of Hothead:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hg0bVLdRgA]

The National Call has gone out for Entries & Curriculum for Merging Media 2011’s Transmedia Seminar+Lab. Covering the complete value chain from “Conception to Consumption,” this inspiring one-of-a-kind syllabus presented by Merging Media Productions and CMPA-BC has been tailor-made by Anita Ondine, one of the world’s foremost Transmedia practitioners, for our rapidly evolving industry. Anita’s unique workshops for “Transmedia Next” in London, UK and the “Binger Filmlab” in Amsterdam have been highly successful in energizing the Transmedia community in the UK and Europe.

For the very first time, 20 participants will be selected from across Canada for this groundbreaking Lab. The 2 day immersive sessions will bring together select mid to senior level digital media, game design, film & television practitioners to develop projects under Anita’s invaluable guidance, while exploring essential Transmedia business & creative tools, strategies and concepts. The M+M 2011 Seminar+Lab agenda includes:

• Transmedia Fundamentals, Business + Creative Development: A Parallel Process, Identifying + Implementing your Operative Ideas
• Business Strategies: Financing Transmedia, Exploring new Revenue Streams, Pitching Transmedia Projects, and more
• Creative Toolkit: Story Architecture + Bible, Using Social Media + Technology, Involving your Audience and more

Apply now to be part of this exclusive group. Merging Media welcomes writers, film/television producers, digital media/game/mobile developers, marketing/social media specialists, broadcasters, commissioning editors and educators. Apply online and then fill in the Master Class Lab Application (PDF). Send your application to Merging Media by March 31st.

Seminar+Lab – CMPA Members: $265.49+HST, Non-members: $398.23+ HST
Seminar Only– CMPA Members/Student: $26.49+HST, Non-members: 39.82+HST

Highly subsidized rates have been made possible by our Merging Media 2011 Partners.

UBC Certificate in Entertainment Administration is offering friends of Merging Media a 10% discount on courses in its Spring term. Enhance your business and management skills for the entertainment industry with the award-winning UBC Certificate in Entertainment Administration courses in entertainment law, marketing, distribution, financing, digital media etc. See the course page for more information or call 604-822-1420. Discount code: MEDIAFILM1420 for all Spring 2011 term sessions except BC Film Orientation course.

Wired Woman Toronto is hosting a seminar titled Tap Into Your Hidden Talents: Unlock Your Potential to Build a Successful Career on the evening of Tuesday, March 1st at the Sutton Place Hotel on Bay Street. Three prominent career coaching leaders will be presenting discussion topics which will provide you with practical professional advice. At this thought-provoking event, you will have the opportunity to learn how to assess your personal skills and strengths and also gain insights into the importance of building a personal brand and creating your professional image. The scheduled speakers are Barbara Kofman, Principal at Career Trails, Nadia Baboo, Principal at The Image Factor (site currently under construction) and Donna Messer, Principal at ConnectUs Communications Canada. Tickets for this session are $35.00 for Wired Woman Members, $45.00 for non-members and $25.00 for students.

Meanwhile, Wired Woman Vancouver is hosting two upcoming seminars. The first seminar, Writing Resumes and Cover Letters that Work, features Communications Specialist and BCIT Instructor Geraldine Eliot, who will teach you how to write a winning resume and killer cover letter to get the job you want. Whether you are a recent graduate, changing careers, or want to make sure your resume is up to date “just in case”, Geraldine will focus on helping you create a targeted job application package that gets you to the top of the pile. She’ll cover the purpose of a focused job package, the dos and don’ts of resume and cover letter writing, and help you create a unique resume that gets you noticed. It is recommended that you bring a copy of your current resume to this session, which will take place on the evening of Tuesday, March 29th in the YWCA building at 733 Beatty. Tickets for this session are $20.00 for Wired Woman members and $25.00 for non-members.

The second Wired Woman Vancouver seminar will be held at the YWCA on the evening of Wednesday, April 27th and is titled A Blueprint for Implementing a Successful Mentorship Program. Dina Grskovich, Wired Woman Director Mentorship & Sponsorship will lead you through this hands-on workshop leaving you with a tangible blueprint for implementing a successful mentorship program in your organization. Dina will answer your questions about the difference between mentoring and coaching, the different types of mentoring programs and how to create a successful mentoring program. Other covered topics will include matching mentors and mentees as well as how to gauge the success of your program. Tickets for this session are $35.00 for Wired Woman members and $40.00 for non-members.  If you aren’t a Wired Woman member and taking advantage of discounted ticket prices, remember that membership is free.

A new location-based social media game has hit the mobile market from developer MobyWan. Mobeo is an app that, according to the product site,  allows you to “connect with your friends based on where you are in the real world. Leave items on your way to work or school for your friends to ‘trip’ on, ‘throw’ items at the mall or grocery store where you think your friends might be, or just leave notes at random locations around your city for your friends to discover. Mobeo pits you against your friends in a casual gaming environment to see who can outsmart who. Mobeo was developed with your privacy in mind, and includes powerful privacy controls to ensure your location is only shared with the people you choose.”

Mobeo is available now as a free download for iPhone and will be available later today in the Android Market.  The Blackberry version will be available later this year.

EA Sports™ has launched globally two major new features and over 50 improvements for FIFA 11 Ultimate Team, the massive online community of fans building, managing and competing with their ultimate football team in FIFA 11 on the PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360®. The features and improvements will be live in Asia on February 24.

FIFA 11 Ultimate Team is free-to-play (Restrictions and conditions apply – requires FIFA 11 to play) with a massive online community of more than two million fans. It is the most popular and successful DLC ever developed by EA Sports, according to internal sales data. FIFA 11 Ultimate Team challenges community members to build a squad of the world’s best footballers by earning coins from competing in weekly tournaments and then spending them on packs in the in-game store or as currency to bid for players in the very popular auction market both on console and the web app.

Some of the additional changes include updates to the auctions to make it easier to track auctions or repost expired items, Power Passing assistance is switched off by default in online matches, and a number of general stability improvements.The FIFA 11 Ultimate Team title update released today also features:

Play A Friend Challenge – enables you to test your skills against your friend’s Ultimate Team, even when your friend isn’t online. Take on your friend’s squad whenever you like with the CPU controlling their squad. Results are recorded and presented to your friend the next time they log on to their console. Now you can prove who has the best Ultimate Team whenever you are ready to play. Plus, when you return to your console, you can see who played your squad, left you a message, and challenge them to a rematch when you want to play.

Friends Leaderboards – Compare your progress in FIFA 11 Ultimate Team against friends automatically with personalized leaderboards. Catering to how you choose to play, you can now compete and compare your progress as a trader, expert team builder, top entrepreneur in the auctions, or owner of the most valuable club.

In a effort to give back to its community, EA Mobile has launched a new Deal of The Day promo that will deeply discount games or even make them free. The Deals will last all week with Saturday February 26th being the last day. The promo will include both iPhone & iPad codes over the 6 days, each day being a different mix-up of genre & style of game. You can find out what the Deal of the Day is by following EA Mobile on Facebook or Twitter. The game up for Deal of the Day, as chosen by the EA Mobile community is Mirror’s Edge, which is on sale in the iTunes app store right now for 99 cents USD.

PocketGamer has begun naming its Top 50 mobile developers for 2011 with the release of studios placed 41-50th. IUGO weighs in at #46 while two other Canadian studios are named to the list for the first time. Big Blue Bubble makes it debut at #47 and Bight Games took the #41 spot. More Top 50 developers will be added to the list during the week, culminating on the Top 10 of the Top 50 on Friday.

I imagine that many of you have already heard of this new search service, but I only learned of it this morning because someone Tweeted about it, and I must say that this looks like something I would find very useful, because right now I have an unmanageably-huge bookmark file called “On Twitter” which is chock full of the interesting links I get from people I follow on, you guessed it, Twitter. It’s one of those folders that I keep meaning to get to and organize properly, but I just haven’t gotten there yet. It appears that with Wajam, I will be able to go back and look for further links to knowledge shared by my friends and contacts. Unfortunately the service is apparently over-subscribed at the moment, so I can’t get in right now to take a closer look at what the service offers.

In January Montreal-based Wajam launched a beta version of its ‘social search’ browser extension that works in Google, Bing and Yahoo. Wajam adds a layer of results, above the usual search engine results, where users can find content that their friends have shared on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Users can also search for their personal browser bookmarks and those from Delicious.

“We’re excited to launch Wajam and allow users to start finding results from their friends in their favorite search engine,” said founder and CEO Martin?Luc Archambault. “Using Wajam is like having unlimited access to an online library packed with your friends’ knowledge. I recently searched for information on ‘pitching startups’ in Google and Wajam added personalized results that my friends had shared on Facebook and Twitter. Wajam saves me hours of research and lets me find content from my social feeds that I wouldn’t be able to retrieve any other way.”

When users download Wajam and link their personal sources (Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and Bookmarks), Wajam starts showcasing relevant, social content right in their search engine. Wajam is certified by TRUSTe and Verisign, and each user’s content and personal information is kept confidential and secure on Rackspace cloud servers.

“What sets Wajam apart is that it takes less than a minute to get started and it brings users value without asking them to change the way they do things – they can keep using the same search engine and continue sharing content on their favorite social networks,” said Archambault.

Funded by startup lab and accelerator Bolidea, Wajam is compatible with major browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, and works on PC and Mac. The company plans to add more social network sources to the service and support more search engines in the near future. “Wajam wants to bring your friends’ knowledge with you anywhere that you search online. The future goes beyond search engines,” said Olivier Cabanes, partner, Bolidea.

Social search is the next big trend for web search. Search and social networks are already ingrained in users’ daily life ? Google and Facebook are holding strong as the two most popular sites online. According to Compete, the average Google user conducts 5.6 searches per day and Facebook claims that their users share an average of 60 pieces of content per month. That means a lot of content gets lost in the social network cloud that Wajam can help users find.

For the first time ever, Staples Canada has awarded a computer lab valued at $50,000 to Dover Bay Secondary School in Nanaimo, BC, for eco-responsible improvements made within their school, community and families. Canadian students were invited to enter the contest by writing a 500-word or less online essay about the actions they took to help their school and community become more eco-responsible.

“We were absolutely delighted with the sheer number of responses from schools! After pouring through all the essays, it was clear that students care deeply about preserving the environment and do want to make a difference to the future of our planet,” said Steve Matyas, president of Staples Canada. “It’s great to see students getting their hands dirty and making compost, recycling cartons, putting together solar panels for the school to use, and taking learning from the classroom into the community. I’m happy Staples can donate new technology to further develop their research and understanding of the environment.”

The office supply retailer has also awarded a second place prize of a $5,000 gift card and a collection of eco-supplies to W.C. Miller Collegiate, Altona, MB, and a $1,000 gift card to Heritage Park Secondary School in Mission, BC. Staples would also like to acknowledge their partners, Earth Day Canada, earth cycle planning inc., Green Learning, and Direct Energy for their work in judging the contest entries.

His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston Governor General of Canada has agreed to be the Patron of the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation for the duration of his vice-regal term. The Museum is pleased that the Governor General has accepted to become Patron of an institution whose vision is to inspire all Canadians to engage with their scientific and technological past, present and future.

“We share with His Excellency the same understanding of the importance of education and innovation to Canada’s future,” says Denise Amyot, President and CEO of the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation. “Every day at our museums, and across the country online and through travelling exhibitions, we inspire Canada’s youth to engage with the rich cultural connections among science, technology and society.

As stated in his installation speech on October 1, 2010, Governor General Johnston’s vision for Canada is for a Smart and Caring Nation where it is essential to support families and children, to reinforce learning and innovation, and to encourage philanthropy and volunteerism.

The Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation comprises three Ottawa-based museums: the Canada Agriculture Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and the Canada Science and Technology Museum, all of which boast a rich and varied collections of Canada’s scientific and technological heritage as well as exhibit and interpret current and future discoveries and innovation.

Jobdeals, Inc. has launched its powerful online local services search product in Canada, focusing initially on serving the Greater Toronto Area, but its Canadian service provider database is growing and Jobdeals will expand nationally in the near future. Jobdeals enables consumers to find and book appointments online with local service providers. It goes beyond previous local search attempts by allowing consumers to receive multiple price quotes and schedule appointments with local businesses and freelancers all in one place – and the company is currently running a free promo for service providers, and consumers always book jobs free.

Jobdeals.com changes the way consumers shop for local services. “You should be able to go online to look for and purchase services from a tutor, wedding planner, dog walker, plumber or other local pro – the same way you would buy a product online,” says Robert Platek, Co-founder and CEO of Jobdeals, Inc. “You can search for a verified provider in your area that fits your schedule – all for a price that works for you.”

Jobdeals.com is an invaluable resource for both consumers and service providers. Advanced technology selects relevant service providers for specific job requests based on their schedule and work area proximity. Service providers compete for jobs by submitting a price quote; consumers receive the best value by choosing the quote that suits their budget. Both parties benefit from the convenience of booking service appointments online. Consumers can also request specific services, at which point service providers receive free job leads and have the opportunity to submit price quotes at no charge.

Safety for the consumer is of utmost importance to Jobdeals, Inc., who offer multiple levels of optional verifications for service providers, including phone and address checks, virtual verifications such as email and Facebook, and background checks from a national agency. Providers that successfully pass these verifications are rewarded with a higher search ranking as well as badges on their profile page, showing consumers that they are a trusted business.

ecobee, the award-winning green technology company, today expanded its mobile offerings with the release of a free Android app for the ecobee Smart Thermostat. Downloadable from the Android Market, the ecobee Android app will allow customers to control their ecobee Smart Thermostats anytime, anywhere from the convenience of their Android devices.

The ecobee Android app looks and operates just like the ecobee Smart Thermostat and works on any Android device with OS 2.0 and up. Users can remotely adjust the thermostat’s temperature, schedule or update a vacation event, change the system and fan operating settings, and receive important alerts.

ecobee also offers a free iPhone app which has proven immensely popular with tens of thousands of downloads to date.

Toyota Canada has embraced the social media movement, launching a brand new Facebook page, plus an enhanced twitter feed and YouTube channel, and invites these customers and enthusiasts to share their passion and stories by joining the conversation. The online conversation kicks off with a new contest to find Toyota’s #1 Fan.

“Canadian Toyota owners are proud of their trusted cars, trucks, minivans and SUVs, and there will certainly be lots of competition to find our #1 Fan. Our Toyota enthusiasts love to share their stories with one another and with Toyota Canada, and these social media outlets will enable us to better connect with our customers,” said Stephen Beatty, Managing Director at Toyota Canada Inc. “As we celebrate the sale of our 4,000,000th vehicle in Canada and a quarter century of manufacturing Canada’s most popular Toyota vehicles at our assembly plant in Cambridge, Ontario, it’s a great time to offer Canadian Toyota fans this new venue for communicating not only with Toyota Canada but also with one another.”

Toyota enthusiasts are encouraged to enter the contest by sharing their stories about why they believe they are Toyota’s #1 fan through photo or video. Finalists will be determined by the number of views of their individual submissions as well as by a panel of judges, and participants are encouraged to use their own social media channels to increase their unique entry views. Finalists will be selected for a final round of voting, after which six finalist videos will be created. One lucky entrant will receive the grand prize, a Toyota of their choice (up to $50,000 value). Two secondary prizes of a Panasonic HD camcorder will be awarded. All submissions and votes are eligible to win weekly prizes of $100 gas cards.

Toyota Canada has created a dedicated social media team to feed information and entertainment into the portal, including:

* Contests, including the “Toyota’s #1 Fan” contest, through which customers can share their stories through words, pictures and video and win prizes, including a new Toyota vehicle;
* Hot off the press vehicle and business intelligence, such as tours of the refreshed Corolla and Matrix, the celebration of Toyota’s 4,000,000th vehicle sale in Canada, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc.’s 25th anniversary, and more;
* Intriguing videos, from ownership stories and favourite Toyota commercials to information to ensure Canadians get the most from their Toyota ownership and driving experience;
* Updates on Toyota partnerships with celebrities such as Steve Nash to business partnerships with Tim Horton’s, Home Hardware, Delta Hotels, and more;
* Access to a dedicated team of Toyota experts to answer questions on Toyota forums.

Reminder: Banff World Media Awards submissions closes on February 18th.

Note of Interest: Are you looking for funding sources? Check out the searchable database on the MaRS Discovery District website.

Indie game developer Matt Rix has put his super-hit puzzle game Trainyard on sale in the iTunes store – and 25% of February’s profits will go to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.  The goal in Trainyard is simple: get each train to a goal station. Red trains go to red stations, blue trains go to blue stations, etc. You control the trains by drawing track for them to follow. There isn’t a time limit or even a score; the only thing you need to do is figure out a solution for each puzzle – which is often easier said than done, believe me. Trainyard is very much worth the price, plus for this month you’ll be helping to support a very important organization. If you haven’t bought this challenging puzzler yet, now would be the time.

XMG Studios has released its latest title on the iTunes App Store. Cows vs Aliens is a game of bovine protectionism.  Aliens are invading and amid all of the chaos, you need to get your cattle in the barn as fast as possible. Featuring a fun and unique multi-touch interface, Cows vs Aliens challenges your herding skills as you  squeeze as many cows through the barn doors as possible before time runs out. Not all cows are created equal, either – you’ll soon learn that some beefy beasts are more valuable than others, and the more heifers you herd at one time the higher your multiplier. Remember you are battling spacemen, though – Aliens are sneaky and determined to free you of your beef. Make sure you keep those visitors from the outer limits out of your barn or they’ll take off with your herd. Cows vs Aliens is currently priced at 99 cents USD and offers Game Center integration.

Congratulations to our Canadian developers on multiple BAFTA 2011 nominations:

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood topped the total number of nominations, being named to seven categories: Action, Artistic Achievement, Best Games, Gameplay, Multiplayer, Technical Innovation and Use of Audio, while Bioware’s Mass Effect 2 received nominations for Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Gameplay, Original Music and Game Award of 2010.

Toronto studio Digital Extremes developed the multi-player components for Bioshock 2, and that title is nominated in the Action and Story categories. EA Sports‘ FIFA 11 is nominated as Best Game, Sports and the Game Award of 2010. Vancouver’s Smoking Gun Interactive is the developer behind 20,000 Leaks, which is a component of Kinect Adventures, and that title is nominated in the Family category.

Continuing in the awards recognition theme, this year’s winners for the Exploriem.org 2011 Bootstrap Awards (PDF) have been announced, and receiving recognition for their achievements in the interactive, digital and social media industy were:

Favequest received Gold Best Micro Business medal
Ideavibes received Gold for Most Innovative Source Bootstrap Capital, while VirtuStructure received Silver and Purple Forge received Bronze.
Zeebu Mobile received Gold for Best Guerrilla Marketing Idea/Social Marketing, while NetGen took Silver and ContestMob received Bronze.
Select Start Studios received a Silver Medal for Best Value Proposition/Value Differentiator/Pixie Dust
Threedify took home Bronze for its corporate website
NetGen also won Silver in the Most Innovative Social Enterprise Fundraiser category, while Civiside received Bronze.
Ideavibes took Silver for Most Innovative Business Model, while Arkli took the Bronze.

There is one more Bootstrap award to be presented – the top Ottawa start-up will be named at the OCRI Awards in April. IDM nominees for that award are: Purple Forge, Dual Code, Inc., GPS To Go (who also won a Bronze medal for Best Value Proposition/Value Differentiator/Pixie Dust), Blindside Networks and Pretzil.

OMDC is reporting that Ontario’s film and television industry contributed $964.3 million to the provincial economy in 2010- an increase of almost $18 million over 2009 — despite fierce competition from other jurisdictions, a sluggish U.S. economy and a high Canadian dollar. The $964 million in production activity accounted for more than 23,000 full-time direct and spin-off jobs.

The film and television industry held and gained ground over 2009, a year which experienced dramatic growth over 2008 and marked a return to production levels not seen in Ontario since 2002. Increased spending was seen in foreign television series, reflecting the continuing influence of the Ontario Government’s 2009 enhancements to the Ontario Production Services Tax Credit (OPSTC), which was expanded from 25% of eligible labour to include all eligible Ontario production costs.

Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) programs also support the book and magazine publishing, music and interactive digital media industries. The entire entertainment and creative cluster supports almost 300,000 jobs and contributes $12.2 billion annually to the province’s GDP.

Calgary marketing firm Rare Method Interactive has experienced recent stock activity that prompted a statement from the company this morning, whereby “Rare Method Interactive Corp. wishes to confirm, at the request of IIROC, that the Company’s management is unaware of any material change in the Company’s operations that would account for the recent increase in market activity.

Mood Media Corporation has acquired PELIKA Business Music Oy (Pelika) for US $9.8 M, implying an acquisition multiple of 4.9 x EBITDA. Pelika is a dominant market leader in digital business music solutions in Finland, predominantly serving clients in the hospitality sector.

Endras BMW, one of Canada’s most innovative BMW retailers, is offering the ultimate job for a social media savvy, BMW enthusiast. Beginning today, anyone in the world who loves to be “in the BMW know” can attempt to make a career of it by applying to be Endras’ Ultimate Blogger at EndrasBMW.com. The most qualified and connected applicant will land the job of a lifetime. This in-house social media gig pays the chosen candidate $65K a year to drive a brand-new BMW, attend BMW events around the world, find the latest BMW news, and blog, Tweet and Facebook about it all. If these responsibilities aren’t enough to pique interest, the job also comes with a downtown Toronto condo for the Ultimate Blogger to call home for the duration of his or her contract. Stage One of the application process closes on April 1, 2011.

Vancouver indie developer Dark Acre Game Development announced today that its new game, ‘Ball of Steel’ is now available as a free-to-play title via Kongregate.com for gamers with Unity-enabled web browsers.

Ball of Steel is a marble tilt-maze with a twist: in addition to navigating twisting passages, players must guide their ball through high-tech teleporters and avoid burning pillars of scorching flame to clear each table. Players may choose their challenge levels and warp or skip to any of the 20 boards.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcNYhYRFkIo]

Ball of Steel was built in Unity 3D during two weeks of intensive full-time development. It was developed as an entrant to the Unity Game Contest currently underway at Kongregate.com, and represents the second in a series of free-to-play efforts from Dark Acre. You can check out more information on Dark Acre’s first title on the project’s web page.

In the category of receiving the news a day late (honest, I just got this today), Frima Studio apparently celebrated Valentine’s Day by unveiling a host of new updates for Pocket God with Episode III – The Birds! This third episode follows in the footsteps of the recent Episode II: Clash of the Frightened for the social game, which is currently in an open beta and growing rapidly with more than 175,000 monthly active users on Facebook.

The new updates for The Birds include:

* The Return of the Dodo! – While it may have gone extinct hundreds of years ago for being too passive and peaceful, this reincarnation of the Dodo could not be farther from its ancestors – keep an eye out as it will terrorize your island, making short work of your fish and pygmies!
* New “Dodo Down” Item – Usually there’s a limit on how often you can sacrifice your friends, but with the new Dodo Down power, feel free to resuscitate them and bring them back to life…only to kill them again!
* More Customization – Make Pocket God your own! Players now have the ability to name their individual pygmies so there’s no need to have to settle for the pre-assigned monikers…name them after your enemies and get extra satisfaction from their sacrifice!
* Fat Cupid! – It’s gorgeous, lovely, and quite Rubenesque – it’s Fat Cupid and it needs to be stopped! Band together with your Facebook friends to take down the ultimate evil god.
* Valentine’s Treats – Take a break from drowning your Facebook friends and get into the spirit of Valentine’s Day…send them chocolate treats to let them know that each time you sacrifice them, it’s a gesture of love.

Since its debut on the world’s most popular social network in December of 2010, the Facebook version of Pocket God has grown exponentially and is quickly approaching a quarter of a million active users in less than two months. More than 20 million hapless and helpless pygmies have been sacrificed over that time, and one million of those are friends on Facebook sacrificing other friends in a host of brutal ways, including electrocution, drowning, shark attack, tornado, volcanic lava and much more! The lucky user who sacrificed the one millionth friend, Jessy Rivas of France, received 350 Pocket Change, the in-game currency for Pocket God!

With the city quaking in fear and no help in sight and a rumoured release date of March 23rd*, who ya gonna call? Atari, one of the world’s most recognized publishers and producers of interactive entertainment, is once again answering the call for gamers everywhere by delivering the first ever Ghostbusters digital title, Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime. In conjunction with Sony Pictures Consumer Products and developed by Behaviour, Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime will be available on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360®, PlayStation®Network, and Windows PC Download at Atari.com.

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is a four player, ghost-busting adventure that will take players on a brand new paranormal experience. Players will suit up with their proton packs and assume the role of a rookie hired by the Ghostbusters to save New York City from a disaster of ghoulish proportions.

The action-packed gameplay progresses as players complete jobs as fearless rookies who explore a series of haunted environments that must be cleared of any ectoplasmic threats. The gripping adventure rages on as players encounter gigantic bosses that require a concentrated effort to defeat using a medley of highly destructive weapons including the Proton Stream, Plasma Inductor, and the Fermion Shock. Rookie Ghostbusters will face the dangers of the eerie world alone or with a ghostbusting team of friends both locally or online through the game’s multiplayer capability.

* Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime has yet to appear on the Xbox Marketplace or on the Atari store, so the release date as of yet has not been confirmed. Perhaps someone in the know could let me know?

Edmonton’s Fluik Entertainment has announced that Gunner Galaxies, the sequel to top-downloaded game Gunner will is scheduled for release this March, and will pack new galaxies, new gameplay, fun new unlocks and ship upgrades into this latest chapter. Gunner Galaxies is an asteroid-blasting classic arcade action game for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Fluik’s previous game releases include the aforementioned Gunner, Bubble Rainbow (which are free in the iTunes store and now residing on my iPod Touch), the also free Tic Tac Draw and Airport Madness Challenge, Airport Madness Mobile, Will It Fly, and CoolSpell, which all have both free and paid versions.

Toronto publisher DreamCatcher Games and parent company JoWooD Entertainment have confirmed the release date for the official Painkiller Standalone Add-On “Redemption“ as February 25th 2011 – although there is no official page on the DreamCatcher site yet for Redemption, the game will continue the epic Painkiller conflict between good and evil.

The kingdom of heaven is threatened by a ruthless army from hell. Two champions, Daniel and Belial, who we already know as the two previous heroes of the series, combine their forces and join the never-ending battle between good and evil.

“It demands quite a bit of skill to confront the countless hordes of monsters – to vanquish them you can equip some really crazy weapons“, says Markus Reutner, International Product Marketing Manager at JoWooD. “We also have the right soundtrack for the fast-paced action because the atmosphere is particularly important when countless monsters attack you without mercy. An insiders’ tip for Painkiller friends as well as for new fans!“

Features:

· 7-10 hours playtime
· Transform yourself into a demon once you’ve collected enough souls!
· Use the occult powers of tarot cards
· More than 6,000 enemies and up to 1,000 monsters on all of the 6 new maps
· Easy to use map editor for your very own Painkiller experience
· Adrenaline pumping soundtrack

Another Toronto-based publisher, Game Bridger Entertainment, has unveiled the latest game to come to their free-to-play gaming platform, GamerKraft. Aida Arenas, developed by Korean developer GalaxyGate, is an “MMORPG Brawler” set in the raucous world of Aida – a land where adventuring, treasure-hunting, and good ol’ fashioned rough-housing are the primary pastimes.

“We are excited to announce Aida Arenas’ arrival on the GamerKraft platform in the first quarter of 2011,” said Matthew Denomme, Marketing Manager for Game Bridger Entertainment, “the game’s charming cartoon graphics and whimsical game world, plus its accessible controls and gameplay mechanics, are sure to appeal to a wide range of both hardcore and casual gamers.”

Create a hero, explore dungeons, fight monsters, compete with friends, and discover hidden treasure in AIDA Arenas, the new MMORPG Brawler from GamerKraft, where you can Combine elements of the classic beat ‘em up arcade genre with the character progression and social features of modern MMORPGs.

And of course I would be totally remiss if I did not even mention the big Triple A game news of the day, which is the announcement that Felicia Day has written a new web series based on Bioware’s Dragon Age series. The six part Dragon Age: Redemption series will star Ms. Day as elven assassin Tallis. In an article on USA Today, (no, I was not one of the lucky ones who were sent a press release about the web series, I found out about it via Twitter) the story will revolve around Tallis’ personal quest to capture a renegade magician and the companions she enlists into her fellowship along the way.

Montreal-based Di-O-Matic has revealed details about Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya. Created to meet the needs of 3D character animators all over the world who require an easy-to-use, lip synchronization plug-in for their Autodesk Maya software, Voice-O-Matic is used by top 3D animation studios to achieve highly accurate voice-to-character matching. Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya is available now for US $349.

Di-O-Matic heard your call animators. Spending hours to create lip sync animations for CG characters is tiring, and manually generating every lip movement is a long and tedious task. That’s why Voice-O-Matic was designed! Combining a user friendly interface with a highly efficient and time saving system. Some of the most admired CG characters including Batman, Spider-man and Superman carry Voice-O-Matic at the heart of their facial animations.

Designed for animators by animators, Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya only requires an audio file to automatically produce an accurate lip sync animation. Afterwards, the results can be easily tweaked to perfectly match any style of animation. Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya works with any type of character setup and with every language. Voice-O-Matic has also already earned its stripes with its use in leading feature films, popular television shows, commercials and award winning video games.

Oscar Marquez, coordinator of the 3D department at Cromosoma reveals “Not only did we manage to increase our productivity with Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya, but it allowed us to focus on other aspects of our animated series. What we liked most about Voice-O-Matic is that it can be set up easily, the lip sync of several characters can be done at the same time and we barely need to modify the animation curves. If you make a good setup and integrate it properly you can have very good results. Thanks to Voice-O-Matic, we could do all the lip sync we needed in the series with just 10 mouth shapes and only one control for the most extreme poses.”

No matter which type of character setup you wish to use: from blend shapes to complex bone-based rigs, and no matter the language for which you wish to create lip synchronization, Voice-O-Matic v1.61 for Maya delivers, and can save up to 80% of the time it takes to manually animate lip synchronization. 3D animation artists can benefit by using both the automatic phoneme matching features and the manual tools to fine-tune the animated character to achieve highly customized results.

Interactive entertainment company Ludia today announced its ‘The Bachelor: The Videogame’ App is available on the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch for $2.99 USD and iPad for $4.99 USD. Based on the hit franchise created by Mike Fleiss, hosted by Chris Harrison and airing Mondays 8:00–10:00 ET/PT on ABC, the app features characters inspired by the actual Bachelors and Bachelorettes from the top rated series’ “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” including current Bachelor Brad Womack and the most recent Bachelorette, Ali Fedotowsky.

Fans of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” can now live their own show experience anywhere, anytime, as they compete in a collection of exciting mini-games and challenges to win the attention and, ultimately, the heart of the Bachelor or Bachelorette. Players vie for the final rose, playing as either a female or male contestant.

“The Bachelor is one of the most successful dating competitions in the reality genre, and we are pleased to bring the romance and heated competition that are the hallmarks of the TV show to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “This release reinforces Ludia’s strategy of delivering highly entertaining games, based on the most popular television brands.”

Features of The Bachelor: The Videogame App include:

* Play to earn the love of the Bachelor or the Bachelorette, guided by Chris Harrison.
* Characters based on favorite Bachelors and Bachelorettes, including Brad Womack, Jake Pavelka, Jason Mesnick and more!
* 23 mini-game challenges to play in one-on-one or group date scenarios.
* 3 levels of difficulty to chose from.
* Humorous “Fantasy Suite” videos where your performance in the game determines the outcome; will you share an embrace in the hot tub or be hung out to dry?

For those looking for employment, Ludia currently has several positions that need to be filled.

The S-3D Gaming Alliance has just released the 2011 edition of the U-Decide Initiative. U-Decide is credited as the only S-3D gaming report shaped by consumer opinion, industry analysis, and hands-on experience. The initiative gives readers a candid outlook of what needs to happen to make stereoscopic 3D gaming successful in the long term.

“DDD is a leading provider of 3D game conversion software for the PC market, and our success is dependent on delivering what gamers want. The U-Decide report provides this helpful insight and more, and we recommend it to anyone that also markets to the growing S-3D gaming community,” said Chris Yewdall, CEO of Dynamic Digital Depth. Read the rest of this entry »

Reminder: one week left to register for Prime Time in Ottawa

Pursuant to yesterday’s announcement by Shaw Communications in regards to their delaying Usage Based Billing, a reply from the corporation has shown up in my email box in regards to their upcoming “User Meetings”

Thank you for the Email dated February 8th, 2011.

We’re glad to hear you are interested in Usage Based Billing and want to join the conversation with regards to managing bandwidth usage. We are still setting up venues and times for the discussion so at this point we cannot say when or where they will be but we will contact you with an invitation as soon as these details have been worked out. We do expect to be sending out invitations next week so look for that in your Email.

We hope this answers your question but if you do require further assistance please feel free to contact us again by Email, Chat or Phone.

Today is release day for the third and final episode of Assassin’s Creed: The Fall, a comic book based on the Assassin’s Creed franchise and created by Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart. All three comics in the series are available at comic book stores or can be ordered online at the Ubiworkshop store.

For those unfamiliar with the comic series storyline, readers follow 19th century Russian assassin Nikolai Orelov as he strives to claim an artifact of immense power from the hands of the Templars, leading to a climactic and violent showdown with the ruthless Tsar Alexander III aboard a speeding train. Nikolai’s modern-day counterpart is a troubled young drifter who tries to cope with unsettling visions of a possible past life – visions that have irreversible consequences for the present.

Interactive Ontario has announced that registration for INplay 2011 is now open, and early adopters can benefit from the Kick Off ticket price of $629.00 (plus HST), which is available until February 23rd, when prices increase to $719.00 (plus HST). INplay is a conference that “connects kids creative industries with insights and opportunities in the interactive space,, encompassing all facets of the industry from the video game business to the broadcast industry, from toys to toons.”

This year’s INplay event will be held in Toronto on May 17th and 18th, and will feature three main tracks:

* Inspiration – creativity and content stream
* Investment – business stream
* Insights – research stream

INplay 2010 was held at Toronto’s Liberty Grand, welcoming 334 participants to the experience and featured three keynote presentations and 27 educational sessions lead by 106 international speakers.

Brock University has put out a call for papers for its third biennial conference on the Interactive Arts and Sciences. This year’s theme is Interacting with Immersive Worlds, with a focus on exploring the growing cultural importance of interactive media. The conference subject matter offers sessions in four different tracks:

The Challenges at the Boundaries of Immersive Worlds: creative exploration and innovation in immersive media including ubiquitous computing, telepresence, interactive art and fiction, and alternative reality.
The Critical Approaches to Immersion: look at analyses of the cultural and/or psychological impact of immersive worlds, as well as theories of interactivity.
The Immersive Worlds in Education: examine educational applications of immersive technologies.
The Immersive Worlds in Entertainment: examine entertainment applications of immersive technologies, such as computer games. Read the rest of this entry »