Village Gamer

Vancouver – Relic Entertainment’s Warhammer® 40,000™: Dawn of War® II – Chaos Rising™, the highly anticipated standalone chapter in the critically acclaimed RTS series, has reached the gold master stage of development and entered manufacturing. Chaos Rising features the traitorous Chaos Space Marines army as a playable race, a new single-player campaign, a level cap increase from 20 to 30, more powerful war-gear and a suite of innovative multiplayer options. Scheduled for a nationwide release at all major retail and online outlets on March 11, 2010, Chaos Rising will be available as a Games for Windows LIVE® PC title for a suggested retail price of $29.99.

“Chaos Rising is the perfect follow up to Dawn of War II, 2009’s RTS Game of the Year, offering an incredible amount of new content for an amazing value,” said Travis Plane, Vice President of Global Brand Management, THQ. “Relic Entertainment is the industry’s leading RTS developer and will once again deliver bone-crushing action, breathtaking visuals and unprecedented innovation in the genre.”

“Chaos Rising builds on the success of Dawn of War II to create a truly epic and memorable experience for fans and newcomers alike,” said Jonathan Dowdeswell, General Manager, Relic Entertainment. “The game features an intense single player campaign with 15 new action-packed missions and our most brutal multiplayer army yet, the Chaos Space Marines.”

St. John – The CNIE-RCIÉ Awards Festival, which recognizes excellence in the innovative educational practice and use of learning technologies in all educational settings has issued a call for Submissions and Jurors. Distributed learning, open/distance education, and institutional contexts including government, commercial and or industrial sectors, both nationally and internationally, are invited to participate in the competition which will be adjudicated by a committee of professional peers from across Canada.

A total of approximately 20 Awards are available for presentation in English and French.

Two different CNIE-RCIÉ categories are open to competition:

· Awards Festival

· Graduate Student Stipend Award

The deadline date for submission for the Awards Festival program is February 25th, 2010, with the Awards presented at the Festival which takes place in St. John NB this coming May 16-19. Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal – Today Ubisoft® unveiled new details for the upcoming release of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands™ for the Wii™ system. Developed by Ubisoft’s Quebec City Studio and built entirely from the ground up, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands utilizes the full graphical capabilities of the Wii™ system. This chapter in the critically-acclaimed Prince of Persia® Sands of Time series introduces players to a brand new storyline complete with new characters and powers that transcend both nature and time. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is scheduled to ship May 18, 2010.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands for Wii is a new installment in the popular Prince of Persia series and presents a new adventure within the Sands of Time universe. After leaving his father’s kingdom to prove his worth, the Prince is drawn towards a mysterious realm. He quickly discovers that he must harness his acrobatic abilities and powers over the environment to not only survive, but to save a mystic palace from unfathomable evil.

Game features include:

*Classic Gameplay Reinvented: By utilizing the Prince’s acrobatic prowess, players will be Read the rest of this entry »

Village Gamer is Proud to Be Canadian

GO CANADA GO!

Edmonton – A Smartphone as an x-ray machine? “There’s an app for that.” This phrase is starting to become as commonplace as saying “hello” when answering the phone. According to Gartner Research, Smartphone consumers are estimated to spend more than $6 billion and download over 4.5 billion mobile applications this year. With the mounting popularity of this phenomenon, AppBoy launched an easy-to-use, revolutionary social network that aims at connecting mobile app developers and users.

“AppBoy was developed to help developers get their apps discovered and to help users navigate through the thousands of available apps to find the ones they like,” says Thorren Koopmans, Director of Operations for AppBoy.

With more than 100,000 apps on the market, it’s difficult for app entrepreneurs to stand out. AppBoy gives app developers of multiple platforms (Android, iPhone, Palm and Blackberry) an opportunity to easily showcase their work and market their creations to mobile app lovers. Through personal developer profile pages created on the site, developers can share their ideas and even create their own app store. Apps sold through the social network also earn the developer a share of the profits.

AppBoy also has a lot to offer for those who aren’t building their own apps. Any user with ideas that are useful, smart or just plain entertaining can submit them to the website. Visitors to the social network have the ability to vote and comment on submissions. If the ideas generate enough votes, AppBoy rewards the user $250 and creates the app.

“We already have a great value proposition for both developers and end users, but we’re just getting started. There are big updates coming that are going to make AppBoy that much better.” Read the rest of this entry »

Edmonton – Bioware has added to the Normandy’s armory. According to the Mass Effect 2 web site, the new Cerberus Assault Armour and M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun DLC are now available for free through the Cerberus Network on both the PC and Xbox 360.

Cerberus Assault Armor
Cerberus assault armor is designed for shock troops, who are expected to turn the tide of battle against creatures or forces that would decimate normal soldiers. The troops demanded three things in its design: shields, armor thick enough to last against a superior foe, and a rechargeable pack to extend a heavy weapon power cell. The only drawback of the armor is its weight, which the troops carry as a point of pride. They have a saying: “Out of shape going in, in shape coming out.”
Increases heavy weapon ammo capacity by +10%
Increases shields by +10%
Increases health by +10%

M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun
The M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun is a longer-range shotgun with armor-piercing loads. This design also violates several intergalactic weapons treaties, so the M-22a is not distributed to militaries.

EA has released their Key Titles Schedule for Fiscal Year 2011, and while this is only working schedule, there were some title announcements that mean our Canadian EA studios are going to be busy, busy, busy.

As expected, there will be new additions to the EA Sports franchises – FIFA 11, NHL 11, EA Sports Active, NBA 11, NBA Jam and of course Need For Speed – but what gave me the happy gamer warm fuzzies is the announcement that there will be a new Dragon Age chapter in Q4 2011. There will also be additions to the Monopoly family plus a few genre-only announcements, such as a news sports title. Read the rest of this entry »

London – Digital Extremes and 2k Games will be celebrating the launch of BioShock 2 with a party to be held at the Digital Extremes studio this coming Wednesday February 10. The Digital Extremes development team is responsible for the multi-player components of this highly anticipated sequel to the 2007 (PC and Xbox 360 versions) BioShock.

The Multiplayer mode in BioShock 2 provides a rich prequel experience that expands the origins of the BioShock fiction. Set during the fall of Rapture, players assume the role of a Plasmid test subject for Sinclair Solutions, a premier provider of Plasmids and Tonics in the underwater city of Rapture that was first explored in the original BioShock. Players will need to use all the elements of the BioShock toolset to survive as the full depth of the BioShock experience is refined and transformed into a unique multiplayer experience that can only be found in Rapture.

BioShock 2 was developed in partnership by 2K Marin, 2K Australia and Digital Extremes for PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows-based PCs. BioShock 2 is rated M by the ESRB.

Vancouver – The BCTIA has released an updated version of their PDF PODIUM directory. With over 140 profiled companies, PODIUM illustrates the talent and ingenuity that makes British Columbia a great place to live, work, study and invest. During the games, the BCTIA meeting concierge will help you connect with companies featured in PODIUM. To set up a meeting, simply send your request to the BCTIA and their immediate response team will take care of the rest! The BCTIA also reminds local companies that there is still time to participate. Please click the PODIUM link above to find out more information on how your company can get involved.

Calgary – Digital Alberta has announced the program for their February SHAKER event on February 16.  Join Alberta industry leaders Jennifer Aubin, Steve Shatford and Marc Wachmann for a panel discussion of issues related to team management at technology companies: “building great teams at digital media companies”.  Questions to be pondered will include: What are the best practices to get the right people on board? How do you build and develop successful teams within digital media?

February’s SHAKER event will take place at the Seven Restolounge in Calgary from 5-7pm. Tickets are free for Digital Alberta members and $15.00 for non-members. Please contact Rene Smid to register for this event.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – Lotusland Studios has announced their latest project, Truckmodz, which is completely intuitive with no need for tutorials or menus – the fun starts instantly! As stated on their web site, even the littlest drivers will quickly discover how to build trucks and play with them. Just touch, swipe and shake! Kids of all ages will enjoy hundreds of vehicle combinations, complete with fully animated accessories and realistic sound effects.

Truckmodz encourages cognitive development in younger children by strengthening motor skills and refining early learning exercises like sorting, matching and decision-making. The unstructured game play gives kids a feeling of control and independence, and parents can rest assured knowing that no points or time-limits make for a relaxed, no-pressure experience.

But let’s face it – driving a giant rubber ducky down the highway is just plain awesome. Players will be able to mod their little big rigs in their garage, where they do things like add a snow plow and a sweet new paint job. They can then kick back, crank up the tunes, and enjoy the scenery as their creations roll on down the highway.

Featuring:

* completely 3D environment and models
* vast amounts of colors and combinations
* tons of animated accessories including horns, sirens, headlights, exhaust pipes and much more
* ever-changing endless environment
* realistic sound effects
* CB radio
* drop down garage to customize and spray-paint your vehicles
* smoke and sparks
* four different camera angles – shake device to check out your ride from all sides
* awesome original soundtrack
* totally intuitive, fun for all ages

No launch date or expected price point information has been released, but we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we know.

Vancouver – Approximately 50 ladies and gents attended the Women In Games Vancouver networking event which took place last evening in the Harbourview Room at Steamworks Brew Pub. This event was held to introduce the group’s mandate, representatives and committees to members of the interactive industry, and many attendees signed up to participate in those committees.

It was great to see so many studios represented, including Fit Brains, Radical Entertainment, Hothead Games, Microsoft, Propaganda Games, Ubisoft Vancouver and 80 Elements to name but a few. Many thanks to event sponsors AnnexPro and Ubisoft Vancouver who provided nibblies and prizes. If you were unable to attend but would still like to get involved, please contact the WIGeh! group through their web site.

Toronto – HotDocs has launched the HotDocs Library, making hundreds of Canadian-made documentaries available to the viewing public. The Library is completely searchable, and there are also reference playlists which have been compiled by experts. The HotDocs Library is an excellent resource for students and researchers, and is free to use. The 2010 HotDocs Festival will be taking place from April 29 through May 9 in Toronto. The Festival will present over 170 films from more than 35 countries and welcome hundreds of visitors from around the globe. Festival passes are available online, but the official selection will not be announced until March 23rd, which is also when advance show tickets will go on sale.

Montreal – Ubisoft has confirmed that April 13th will be the release date for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction. For those not already familiar with this latest iteration of the Splinter Cell franchise, Sam Fisher finds himself doing battle from the outside after an investigation into his daughter’s death unwittingly leads him to discover he’s been betrayed by his prior agency, the Third Echelon. Now a renegade, Fisher finds himself in a race against time to thwart a deadly terrorist plot that threatens millions.

Uniting revolutionary gameplay enhancements with a high-octane, no-holds-barred storyline, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction arms you to the teeth with all the high-tech weaponry and lethal skills of an elite operative and invites you to enter a dangerous world where justice means making your own rules.

Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto – Fresh TV Inc., an award-winning family entertainment company, is pleased to announce that they have been awarded three Pixie Awards for their animated tween TV series, Stoked. Fresh TV took home awards for Opening Title Effects, Animation and Atmospheric Effects and was given an impressive score of 9.5 out of 10 for the series. The Pixie Awards – sponsored by the American Pixel Academy – honour outstanding creativity in Motion Graphics, Effects and Animation.

“It is an honour to receive accolades from such an esteemed group of industry peers,” said Tom McGillis, President, Fresh TV Inc. “I would like to especially thank our amazing team at Fresh TV as these awards embody the team’s continued dedication to creating quality, engaging shows.”

Stoked is an animated situational comedy about teens who come together one summer to work at world renowned Surfer’s Paradise Resort, home of the best surfing in the country. For twelve weeks they will spend their first summer away from home, work hard, and most importantly, have the opportunity to surf on their days off.

The series (26 x 30’) broadcasts Monday-Friday on Cartoon Network in the US and on TELETOON in Canada.

Edmonton – Bioware has released several new screenshots for the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins expansion chapter Awakening. These new images focus on Vigil’s Keep in Amaranthine, which had previously served as the base of operations for the Howe family and their troops. .

Amaranthine was the first of the Fereldan arlings to fall to the Orlesian occupation. As the port city burned, its ruling family, the Howes, fled to the countryside to wage a guerrilla war against the invaders that lasted for generations. No matter how enormous of a bounty the Orlesians promised, they could not rid themselves of the wily Howes and their ever-growing number of sympathizers.

The Howes chose the ancient fortress of Vigil’s Keep as their primary base of operations, hiding the entire rebellion within the vast complex of storage rooms and caves beneath “The Vigil” — right underneath the noses of their oppressors. When the Orlesians were finally ousted, it was at Vigil’s Keep that the flag of Amaranthine was first raised again, amidst cheers of victory. Vigil’s Keep became the new home of the Howes. Following the downfall of the Howes in Origins, Vigil’s Keep and arling of Amaranthine came under the control of the Grey Wardens. If you want to learn more about the rise and fall of the Howes, you’ll have to pick up a copy of Dragon Age: Origins, because I’m not saying anything about how they betrayed their allies and friends.

Bioware has also released a short trailer to introduce of one of the new party NPCs you will meet when you play Dragon Age Awakening, Anders. According to the video’s description, many mages chafe under the Chantrys control, and Anders is no exception. Its a lucky thing that Anders despises blood mages as much as the Chantry does, else he might have been executed as a suspected maleficaru.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BW2z6Y6Msg]

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening will be available for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC on March 16, 2010. And yes – I have already placed my pre-order. Dragons, magic, spies, blood and gore – too much goodness to miss.

Ottawa – W!LDBRAIN, the award-winning entertainment company and one of the world’s foremost producers of animation, has entered into a partnership with Fuel Industries, the Ottawa-based digital agency and producer of popular interactive brands, including AllGirlArcade.com, to develop television, motion picture, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products utilizing the existing popularity of Fuel Industries’ entertainment properties.

“Fuel has a great body of characters and stories with limitless creative possibilities,” said Michael Polis, CEO, Wildbrain. “As a company, we will strategically integrate the proven Fuel Industries branded properties and characters into our studio’s content and distribution businesses. Under this agreement, we are looking at a number of properties that have the potential to become sustainable franchises and growth drivers on a number of media platforms,” he continued.

“Our development deal with W!LDBRAIN, combined with their successful portfolio of world-class animation and family entertainment, is a major step in our company’s efforts to realize the full potential of our Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal – Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery App is now available for purchase ($9.99USD) in the iTunes App store. Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery is the first in a series of gaming franchises, from hard core to casual games, that Ubisoft plans to develop and publish for the App Store.  iPhone and iPod touch users are invited to discover an exciting chapter of the Assassin’s Creed II storyline. Players follow Ezio as he travels to 15th-century Spain to rescue fellow assassins being held under the guise of the Inquisition, only to uncover a Templar plot to sail west and discover the New World.

Vancouver – IUGO has just announced that Cliffed: Norm’s World is now available on the iTunes App Store, and it’s free. Cliffed: Norm’s World is the Lite version of the highly addictive title Cliffed ($1.99USD), and allows players to experience  unlimited game play as the Cliffed character Norm. This lite version also allows for full-featured multiplayer experiences.

Edmonton – Another special on iTunes involves Bioware’s Mass Effect 2. Dark Horse Comics will be releasing Mass Effect Redemption #1 for free for one day only, on February 3. After the initial 24 hour period, Redemption #1 will then sell for $0.99USD. Redemption #2 is also scheduled for release in comic book stores on February 3. In Redemption #2, Liara T’Soni searches Omega — the most dangerous space station in the galaxy — for clues that could save humanity’s greatest hero, Commander Shepard. Redemption #1 is also included in the Collector’s Edition of Mass Effect 2.

Vancouver – Relic has released some early looks at the Chaos multiplayer units for the upcoming Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising. Head over to the Relic Blog to get a closer look at the Space Marines, Havocs and Heretics who have fallen to the Dark gods of Chaos. Relic also recently released the full soundtrack for Company of Heroes, which is available for free on the game’s Steam page, where you can also purchase all three Company of Heroes titles for a special packaged price of $49.99USD.

Vancouver – Absolute® Software Corporation has launched Absolute Manage, the rebranded version of the Company’s recently-acquired cross-platform IT asset management solution. The new solution from Absolute complements its Computrace® family of data security, tracking and theft recovery solutions with full-featured computer life-cycle management capabilities.

Absolute Manage, formerly LANrev, provides organizations with an easy and automated way to manage PC and Mac® computers, as well as iPhone® devices, from a single interface. IT administrators using Absolute Manage can efficiently manage all their assets by automating time-consuming IT processes such as software distribution, patch management, asset inventory and imaging. Additionally, it helps organizations save money by allowing them to track installed applications and licenses, redeploy under-used licenses and hardware to maximize inventory, and avoid non-compliance fines. The MSRP for a standalone one-year license is $24.95 USD.

Some of the capabilities of Absolute Manage include the following:

– Application & License Management – Deploy software and manage licenses across the network.

– Security, Change & Configuration Management – Remotely monitor and adjust configurations, and execute files.

– Automated Patch Management – Centrally manage and install patches, and report on patch status for all managed systems.

– Computer Imaging – Install a complete OS plus all standard applications onto Mac computers while in use or just out of the box.

– Power Management – Comply with green initiatives and lower total cost of ownership by remotely enforcing power saving policy profiles.

– Asset Inventory – Collect hardware and software data points from devices over the network and analyze the information for timely and fact-based asset management decisions.

Calgary – ICEsoft™ Technologies, Inc. has announced the release of ICEpdf 4.0, an open source PDF rendering technology for Java.

ICEpdf is a lightweight Java rendering library that can be easily integrated within any Java-based client application or deployed on a server in headless mode as a PDF Servlet (JSP or JSF). ICEpdf is ideal for providing PDF viewing and navigation as well as PDF content conversion and extraction without the hassles of Java-to-native integration issues.

This latest version of ICEpdf contains numerous product improvements, bug fixes, and is now capable of:

* PDF document editing and saving for Link Annotation edits.
* Text selection and clipboard actions.
* The search API has been completely revamped allowing for search result highlighting, and more.

“Since ICEpdf was open sourced 8 months ago, the product has experienced unprecedented adoption”, says Robert Lepack”, VP of Marketing and Business Development at ICEsoft. “This latest release of ICEpdf adds important new features and capabilities that our customers, as well as community members, have been asking for.”

Gormley – Digital Leisure’s 5 in 1 Solitaire game for the Nintendo DSi is available today for 200 Nintendo DSi Points. 5 in 1 Solitaire features the always-popular Klondike, Spider and FreeCell games as well as the unique Golf and Gaps versions of solitaire. Each of these versions has a unique style of play that’s easy enough for novice players to enjoy but will also challenge experts. You can also view tutorials for each game, track your scores and view gaming stats to see your progress.

Vancouver – Slick Entertainment has announced that their latest title, Scrap Metal, has passed certification at Microsoft, and will be released on Xbox Live Arcade this Spring. Scrap Metal had a great showing at this year’s CES, where attendees had the opportunity to check out this new fast-paced, top-down racer. Players can drift around corners with guns blazing fight their way through explosive, action-packed missions and defeat cunning bosses to win their vehicles. Customize newly-acquired cars and return to the track to blast through more enemies. Then, jump online with Xbox LIVE® to race against friends and crush their cars with the wheels of a massive monster truck in pulse-pounding online multiplayer matches.

Ontario – Contact North has released an important new study and challenge paper titled Strategic Directions For e-Learning In Canada. In the paper’s introduction, Contact North President and CEO Maxim Jean-Louis states:

“One of the three components of Contact North | Contact Nord’s mandate is to support innovation in education and learning through testing and applied research of new modes of “delivery” using technology, and to share information in Northern Ontario, as well as nationally and internationally.

In keeping with our mandate, Contact North | Contact Nord developed this challenge paper, Strategic Directions for e-Learning in Canada, to encourage a thoughtful and intellectual discussion on the future role of technology in learning.

Our goal with this paper is to inform, to think about what the future will look like, and to see how we can best use technology to ensure Ontarians and Canadians have quality access to the education and training opportunities that are critical to our future prosperity.

We call it a ‘challenge paper’ because some of the ideas outlined here are challenging, both in terms of accomplishments in this field, as well as the challenges ahead. Again, our intention is to stimulate a conversation by exploring both the opportunities and acknowledging the challenges.”

Interested parties can view the full PDF report on Contact North’s web site.