Village Gamer

Vancouver – With a focus on Vancouver throughout February as the world’s best athletes compete in winter sports, Propaganda Games, Disney’s Canadian video games studio, is celebrating its fifth anniversary as a key part of the thriving Vancouver interactive entertainment community. The studio is also participating in the BC Canada Pavilion, an innovative exhibit open to the public, in downtown Vancouver.

Exclusive in-game development models and images from Disney Interactive Studios’ upcoming video game TRON: Evolution are part of an interactive touch screen exhibit in BC Canada Pavilion during the Winter Games, through February 28.

The province of British Columbia is hosting the BC Canada Pavilion on the fourth floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery. As part of the province’s celebration site at Robson Square, the Pavilion features state-of-the-art exhibits and interactive displays showcasing the best of British Columbia innovation and culture. The exhibit expects to host more than 250,000 visitors from Canada and throughout the world.

Propaganda Games, located in downtown Vancouver, employs more than 200 professionals between two teams. The studio is currently developing two major video games — TRON: Evolution and Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned. Both games are scheduled to be released for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC.

“Propaganda Games is poised to deliver two of the industry’s prominent video games,” said Dan Tudge, vice president and general manager, Propaganda Games. “As part of Vancouver’s flourishing video games development industry, Propaganda Games has tapped into the enormous talent pool and represents Disney’s commitment to the community.”

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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 »

Vancouver – Demonstrating marblemedia’s gold medal talent at the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, the award-winning production company announced today that it will be a contributing artist to the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad Digital Edition (CODE).

“All of us at marblemedia are excited and honoured to be a part of Canadian history,” said Mark Bishop, Co-Founder and Executive Producer of marblemedia. “We want to thank CODE for allowing marblemedia to go global at the Winter Games!”

Two of marblemedia’s kids properties, This is Daniel Cook-Figure Skating; and This is Emily Yeung-Learning Ballet (co-produced with Sinking Ship Productions) and two films from the marblemedia anthology series The Art of Seduction – Electric Chairs and On Fire (co-produced with the National Film Board and Bravo!FACT) have been selected to be featured on towering high-definition screens at the Vancouver and Whistler Celebration Sites during the 2010 Olympic Games.

Calgary – Digital Alberta invites you to come learn about Google at an event which will take place on the evening of February 23 at Mount Royal University. Come and meet some Canadian googlers at this exciting event where they will discuss some of the technical challenges faced at Google, with highlights from 3 areas of focus at Google Waterloo: Ads, ChromeOS and Mobile. Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to the teams of Assassin’s Creed 2 and FIFA 10 for making the shortlist in the BAFTA Game of the Year nominations. The public are invited to vote in this category, so I hope you’ll head over to the vote page and support our Canadian products. The Awards ceremony will take place on March 19th at the London Hilton.

Vancouver – IUGO‘s fantastical and ridiculously fun dual stick shooter, Daisy Mae’s Alien Buffet is now available in the App Store for the introductory price of $1.99 USD.  Daisy Mae’s peaceful, simple life in her little desert trailer park will never be the same. A full scale alien attack on earth has begun and Daisy becomes the unlikely heroine outta nowhere. Take hold of the steering wheel and help Daisy Mae shoot and blast her way to victory in this fun and quirky dual stick shooter. Aliens: you have been served!

Features:

* More aliens than you can shake a stick at!
* The baddest selection of weapons known to folks ’round these here parts
* Purty graphics and fancy sounds effects
* Sassy costumes to unlock for Daisy Mae’s alien hoedown
* Daisy Mae “taunt” moves to kill the aliens dead in their tracks
* Control options to suit every varmint’s needs
* VIP points to be earned towards an additional costume
* Global leaderboards
* Auto save

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOX8oRM6-FY]

Toronto – The Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) proudly announces that it has invested $2.9 M in funding support through its Entertainment and Creative Cluster Partnerships Fund (PDF) to leverage an additional $7.1 M from 94 partners to support 17 innovative projects.

The Partnerships Fund was designed to help Ontario’s entertainment and creative industries invest in smart ways to grow and increase their competitive advantage in the global marketplace. The industries eligible for funding include book and magazine publishing, music, film, television, interactive digital media and commercial theatre. 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.

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Banff – Motivated by the great success of the 2009 Banff World Television Awards, The Banff World Television Festival (June 13 – 16 2010) is proud to announce a new competition for the 2010 season that aims to honour those with the talent and motivation to create a series pilot.

The inaugural Banff International Pilots Competition aims to recognize the talent and creativity it takes to conceptualize and create a pilot, be it online or on television. The competition accepts submissions from both “virgin” producers who have never had a show or program broadcast in any way, as well as “veteran” producers with least one show broadcast on cable, satellite or the Internet, or with a show in full production.

The Banff World Television Festival is also proud to be hosting two amazing opportunities to participate in training programs focused on the creative side of television. The Canwest Showrunners Program and The Canwest Global Writers Program allow creative minds looking to expand their experience in the television industry the opportunity to meet and train with some of the biggest names in TV during their time at Banff.

The Canwest Showrunner Training Program helps to position seasoned series writers for the role of showrunner by inviting successful applicants with their own series to pitch to attend the Banff World Television Festival on a full access pass. At BANFF, they will have the opportunity to attend master classes, pitch Canadian and US broadcast executives and will be part of individual sessions with renowned showrunners attending BANFF.

The Writers Apprentice Program offers emerging Canadian writers with the opportunity to gain significant experience by completing a four-week internship in the story department of a prime-time series and will also be invited to attend the Banff World Television Festival on a full access pass.

Application deadline for Showunners is March 10, 2010 and March 15th, 2010 for Writers Apprentice. There is an Early Bird submission fee now in effect for the International Pilots Competition – it’s only $75.00 to enter until March 1, 2010. Final deadline for the Pilots Competition is March 15, 2010.

Nelson – The Kootenay Association for Science & Technology is bringing industry Guru Rochelle Grayson to the Kootenays! Join us to learn about news trends and tips to ensure you are making money from your product. This event will be designed to support technology and innovation companies in the monetization of software/applications as well as a presentation on turning new trends into opportunities. The event keynote Rochelle Grayson will be presenting on proven methods to monetize innovations – in short how to ensure companies make money on their products in today’s market. Also speaking at the event will be Rik Logtenberg, owner of Yellowseed, a Nelson-based web development and consulting company, with 10 employees and offices in Canada and India. Rik will be speaking about ways to use social media as a tool to improve marketing and sales.

This KAST Tech Village Connect event will be held at the New Grand Hotel in Nelson, BC on February 11th from 11:30 a.m. – 6:30p.m. Tickets are $20.00 per person and include speakers, workshops, lunch, appetizers , cash bar and networking.

KAST is also hosting a free webinar featuring Dave Thomas and Geoffrey Hansen of Rocket Builders. They will cover topic areas such as:

Better market planing = more revenue

* Entering the market with a new, innovative product or service?
*Are you able to explain your product or service so that the buyer understands what you have & why it is special?
*Do you have a well defined pricing model for your customers?
*Have you selected a promising target market?

Gain perspective on these questions and more:

* key criteria for understanding your market opportunity
*methods for market research
*methods for determining pricing
*key elements of a positioning statement
*techniques for market research on a shoestring

This webinar will be held on February 9, 2010 from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. Pre-registration is required. Please see the KAST event page for further information about the event and how to register.

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.

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Vancouver – A brief reminder that the Women in Games Vancouver (WIGEH) Networking Event takes place tonight at the Wine Room, downstairs at the Steamworks Brew Pub. We invite you to join us at 7pm for an evening of socializing and information.  This event is open to both women and men, and we hope to see you there.

Ottawa – The Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) has released its annual Knowledge-based Industry Survey. The study indicates that as of December 31, 2009, the number of companies in Ottawa’s knowledge-based sectors has increased by nearly half of one per cent while the number of employees has decreased by 1.3 per cent. The most current data, garnered from 13 industry sectors, indicates a slight increase of 0.4 per cent in the total number of companies to 1,857 up from 1,850 last year. The survey garnered responses from 88 companies whose primary business focus is in cleantech, contact centre/customer centre, convergent medical devices, defence and security, eBusiness, health and drug discovery, knowledge-based support services, photonics, semiconductor, software, telecommunications, wireless and digital media.

“We certainly expected 2009 to be challenging so we are not surprised by the decrease in employment but we also know that the best time to start a new business venture is during tough economic times. With 222 companies added to the database and a notable increase in employment for small and medium sized businesses we see that the support programs and tools available to new companies and entrepreneurs here in Ottawa are having a positive impact,” says Claude Haw, President and CEO, OCRI. “The entire city has rallied to provide support to help our companies become successful and there are examples of great collaboration all around us. Of course, we must continue to create an environment that is attractive to investors and actively leverages the various funding programs available for small and medium sized companies in order to fuel innovation and propel our economy forward.”

Ottawa’s cleantech sector demonstrated the greatest growth for the third year in a row, with several companies adding more than 50 employees to their staff base. This translates to a 25.2% increase in job positions for this industry sector. Also of note is Ottawa’s recent designation as one of the world’s top seven intelligent communities by the Intelligent Community Forum.

The OCRI report also points out the strength of the region’s digital media industry, stating that “the digital media sector has been gaining traction in our region. In October, Ottawa hosted the International Animation Festival, proving to many who weren’t already aware that Ottawa is a hotbed for digital media creativity. The cluster features 63 companies that have identified digital media as their primary industry and more than 120 others see digital media as their secondary industry. As a result, a formal digital media cluster, GENERATOR, was launched in December.”

Vancouver – Hive is a board game originally designed by John Yianni and released by “Gen Four Two Games” in 2001. Independent developer Lotusland Studios has developed Hive as a mobile game, and it is now available in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone™ and iPod touch®. Hive is categorized as an abstract strategy game and is highly unique as the pieces are simply placed on a flat surface without the limitations and constraints of a traditional game-board.

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Vancouver – It was a very busy week and weekend here on the west coast. Last Thursday evening was the Help Haiti Pub Night which saw $6000.00 raised for to assist UNICEF’s Clean Water Initiative. Many thanks to all of the great sponsors and donors who helped make the silent auction and Pub Night a great success.

Congratulations to our Vancouver SIGGRAPH chapter for a very successful Spark FX event. With the highest attendance ever, there was much for the hardworking crew to be happy about. The Avatar post-mortem sessions were so popular with attendees that a closed circuit broadcast was presented in the common area for those who could not get seats in the theatre. In attendance at this episode of Spark FX was a committee from the SIGGRAPH conference, and they were very happy with the event as well, according to Sly Provencher. As many of you are already aware, SIGGRAPH 2011 will be held in Vancouver – the first time this conference has ever been awarded to a city outside of the United States, and I am definitely looking forward to being able to attend this great conference on “home turf.” SIGGRAPH 2010 will be held at the Los Angeles Conference Centre this coming July 25-29.

This weekend was also Global Game Jam, and we checked in with the teams over at UBC on Sunday afternoon. There were some great ideas happening, and co-organizer Vidya Kotamraju said that “The jam went extremely well and we have been very pleased with the turnout and the games. We have not ranked any games as the main aim is to foster creative collaboration. We asked each of the teams to present their games and judges from a few local game companies critiqued them.”

The majority of the participants were new to Global Game Jam, but there were a few veterans in attendance, including Brennan Massicotte and Miko Wilson. Several of the local digital media schools and programmes were represented, including BCIT, Emily Carr, SFU, UBC and Masters of Digital Media, as well as a few local studios including United Front Games and Propaganda Entertainment.

The organizers would like to thank this year’s sponsors for contributing to a very successful event, as well as mentors Andy Moore, Pat McGee, Victor Cameron and Brian Vidovic, and of course the local developers who came out to view and critique all of the games.

For this year’s Jam, the weekend developers were given the theme of Deception, which had to be worked into their game, along with key words punk, skunk and monk. There were some very creative ways which these were being worked into the games, including completely misleading the player and going against many of the “game mainstays” of how a gamer is lead through a level. Other challenges included making it possible to play the entire game in 5 minutes or less, using a maximum of 16 different colours including light and shading, using only sound effects which could be produced by the human body and several others. One other interesting fact to note is the increase in female participants this year, which more than doubled over last year’s event.

Vancouver had two Game Jam locations this year, but we unfortunately did not have time to visit the participants over at Vancouver Hacker Space, but you can check out all of the games here: UBC teams – 8 games and Vancouver Hacker Space – 1 game

We closed out our weekend at the 3D Animation Workshop which was held Sunday afternoon at the 221A Studios. I was invited to talk to the Workshop participants about Village Gamer, and while I’m not overly skilled at public speaking, the experience was enjoyable and another opportunity to meet people who work, teach and support our local interactive media industry. The 3D Animation Workshops are an informal platform for artists and other creatives to share experience and knowledge, and is hosted by the CG Movement community.

Events for this week include the Women In Games Vancouver Networking Night on February 3rd, which is taking place in the Wine Room at Steamworks Brew Pub, starting at 7pm. Then on Thursday evening it’s the League of Kickass Business People panel “Get in the Game: Gaming Isn’t Just For Gamers Anymore” featuring panelists Steve Bocska, McElroy Flavelle, Victor Lucas, Mark Magnusson and Ian Clark, with moderator Eric Brooke. The aim of this panel is to investigate and discuss the many ways which gaming is revolutionizing your business and your world. Learn how gaming trends are shaping everything from customer experiences to community building, leadership training to team collaboration, simplified interfaces to communicating complexities – and how gaming’s impact will accelerate in the next decade.