Village Gamer

Vancouver Animation School, a leading Canadian educational institution offering entry level and advanced programs for the animation, film and game industries, announced a new program that bridges the gap between virtual learning and hand-on practice. The new Vanas Labs program reverses the online classroom model, providing students with a convenient online classroom experience partnered with on-site hands-on workshops where they can perfect their craft.

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For Canadian boomers, the road to retirement may include a stop as a small business owner. Whether starting freelance consulting work, buying a franchise or opening a specialty business, a recent TD Canada Trust survey found more than half of boomers (54%) have started or considered starting a small business prior to retirement (15% and 39% respectively). Read the rest of this entry »

There’s never been a better time for design and marketing professionals to consider going in-house. A new research paper, 5 Trends Every In-House Designer Should Know, indicates that in-house teams will expand and exert more influence on creative efforts in the next three to five years. The report also sheds light on the inner workings of corporate design departments and highlights trends any creative professional can take advantage of in the coming years. Read the rest of this entry »

The Gaming, Graphics, Animation and New Media Network of Centres of Excellence (“GRAND”) in association with Wavefront, and the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN), is pleased to announce that it will be presenting four full day workshops across Western Canada in November. The general theme of the workshops is Creating Opportunities for Canada’s Wireless and Digital Media Researchers, Developers, Startups and SMEs. Read the rest of this entry »

Canada’s sliding global competitiveness ranking is due to its weak innovation performance, according to a Conference Board of Canada analysis of World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2012-13. Overall, Canada’s ranking declined to 14th place in 2012 – from 12th place in 2011 and 10th place in 2010. But in the sub-area of innovation and business sophistication factors, Canada fell six places from 15^th to 21^st – no other top-ranked country dropped nearly as much. Read the rest of this entry »

Attracting some of the best minds in digital design and media just got easier with the launch of the new Centre for Digital Media at Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC). The Centre for Digital Media has been occupied since August 20, 2012 but celebrated its official launch on September 21. The 51,000-sq. ft. building combines social, learning and student residential space for the Masters of Digital Media (MDM) program. Located next to the existing Centre on the False Creek Flats, adjacent to Great Northern Way, the mixed-use facility provides state-of-the-art classrooms and studios, along with three floors (76 units) of student designated rental housing in a LEED Gold certification qualified building. Read the rest of this entry »

Canadian Women in Comunication and educational partner OCAD University announce the launch of the pilot series of Strategic Digital Leadership Accelerators, for mid to senior level women working in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) industries. These workshop-style accelerators are designed as skills and curriculum-based learning and networking opportunities, lead by top educational and industry experts. Each Accelerator will focus on different key topics identified by CWC research partner Digital Theory, as the most important skills and knowledge needed for innovation, growth, and success in the TMT businesses and industries. Read the rest of this entry »

via JB&T Entertainment, a start up company enrolled in a Vancouver-based Technology Business Acceleration program. The studio is currently seeking talented game creators who are available now to begin work on a social game on the Facebook platform. The game’s core functionality should also be easily accessed on mobile MacOS and Adroid platforms. Read the rest of this entry »

As those of you who follow us on Twitter will be well aware, DigiBC hosted a town hall meeting Tuesday night for the BC game development community. It was encouraging to see such an excellent turnout for the event, and kudos to Whitney and Carly for putting the event together. The evening featured a panel of local creative devs with Lance Davis taking on the role of moderator. Opening remarks for the evening were presented by Rick Griffiths, Audit and Assurance Group partner with PwC. I will touch on only a few of the highlights from the evening, simply because the conversation moved quite quickly and because we did tape the event. The video is now available and embedded below; I have also pulled many of the tweets into a board on Storify. Read the rest of this entry »

Amazon Canada Fulfillment Services (ACFS) has announced plans to locate a new fulfillment centre in Delta, creating more than 100 new full-time jobs. This 200,000 square foot facility is the company’s first on the West Coast and second fulfillment centre location in Canada, bringing its total Canadian footprint to more than 700,000 square feet. ACFS currently has a fulfillment centre located in Mississauga. Read the rest of this entry »