Village Gamer

Montreal – Meridian4 has signed a multi-title digital publishing agreement with RTL Interactive Games Publishing, a subsidiary of RTL Television in Germany and part of Europe’s leading entertainment network RTL Group, to release four titles into North America.

The titles covered in this agreement include: the crime-solving action arcade racing game sequel; Crash Time 2, the very unique racing team management game, aptly named Racing Team Manager, the third sequel in the very successful sports series; Biathlon 2009 and to make you forget about the scorching hot Summer heat, the market leader in winter sports compilations; Winter Sports 2009 – The Next Challenge.

Birgit Hönsch, Head of Games Publishing & Licensing at RTL interactive comments: “We are happy to enlarge our games’ presence in the North American market due to this agreement with Meridian4 and are confident in establishing a long lasting partnership.”
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Waterloo – Open Text™, a global leader in Enterprise Content Management (ECM), today announced the immediate availability of Open Text Web Solutions 10, the latest release of Open Text’s industry-leading Web Content Management (WCM) software. The new release allows organizations to intelligently manage and deliver a broad set of corporate information to users over the Web, and features extensive usability upgrades, a new technology foundation, and deeper and more comprehensive integration with the Open Text ECM Suite and the SAP NetWeaver® Portal component.

The role of WCM has significantly expanded from a place to store and publish external-facing content to a vital tool in helping to support organizational business goals in such areas as sales and customer support. This means that WCM must deliver a highly personal customer experience and be able to tap into content housed in many different enterprise systems. And as digital assets have become less expensive to create, companies need better ways to manage rich media such as audio and video.

“Sites like iGoogle, Twitter and the many social Web offerings have raised the bar on the type of intuitive, flexible and personal experience users expect when visiting Web sites,” said Jens Rabe, Vice President of Web Solutions at Open Text. “With Web Solutions 10, we are bringing the full Web 2.0 user interface to both the people editing content within the company and to the consumers of this content. The many enhancements and deep ECM and digital asset management integrations in this release will help customers save costs and produce more compelling and effective websites.”
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Vancouver – Absolute® Software Corporation, the leading provider of firmware-based, patented, computer theft recovery, data protection and secure IT asset management solutions announces support for Windows 7 and its Sensor and Location platform, which facilitates access to geolocation devices installed on a computer.

“We’re thrilled that Absolute Software has chosen to build their computer tracking and recovery application on our platform,” said Bill Mitchell, corporate vice president at Microsoft Corp. “By providing a consistent framework API for any GPS or location device that works with Windows 7, the Location platform in Windows 7 simplifies the process and speeds time to market for software developers.”

Absolute’s flagship IT asset management and computer security solution Computrace® utilizes several location determination methodologies including GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation to give customers unprecedented capabilities for tracking and managing their mobile computers. With geolocation capability, customers can see both the current and historical locations of their computers or handsets plotted on a map within the Absolute Customer Center. This functionality is particularly useful in locating computers that are missing but are not believed to have been stolen. It is also used by the Absolute Theft Recovery Team to aid in stolen computer investigations.
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Vancouver – The BIGS™ 2, developed by Blue Castle Games and published by 2K Sports, is now available in retail stores. This sequel to The BIGS features MLB® All-Star first baseman, Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers, as the cover athlete and spokesman for The BIGS 2. Fans now have the thrilling opportunity to enjoy bigger power-ups, amazing visual effects, and legendary game modes that elevate the arcade-style baseball experience to new heights like never before.

In addition to new player animations and improved pick-up-and-play controls, The BIGS 2 offers fans the ability to make more strategic decisions with the added Batter’s Wheelhouse, execute new Legendary Catches, and pull off amazing Big Slams. Exciting new game modes have also been added this season, including Become a Legend and the heavily fan requested, Season mode. Become a Legend picks up the story from the end of the Rookie Challenge mode from The BIGS, as gamers take on the role of a player that suffered a career threatening injury and is challenged to regain his Major League career by fighting his way back at the Mexican league to the Majors. Along the way, players compete in boss battles against MLB legends and steal players from other teams, eventually earning enough votes to get into the Hall of Fame. The BIGS 2 also features a brand new Season mode that offers full MLB team schedules, stat tracking and roster management that adds another layer of depth to the already addictive baseball experience.
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Vancouver – The new Vancouver Unity 3D Users Group is celebrating their official launch with a TGIF Networking Event on Friday July 24 at District 319 on Main Street.

dimeRocker.com in partnership with Unity Technologies invites all local game, web, and iPhone developers to a premiere industry Unity Networking TGIF followed the next day by a Unity Skills Workshop.

The entire initiative will be framed within a “web-ready” context, exploring how tools like Unity 3D in combination with a new breed of social gaming hives are enabling developers to create, market, and monetize console-like browser content for a growing audience of online and mobile gamers.

TGIF Schedule:

5:30pm – 6:30pm    Reception, drinks and appetizers
6:30pm – 7:30pm    Key Note followed by Q&A with Tom Higgins (Unity Evangelist, San Francisco)
7:30pm – 9:00pm+  Networking Social

Admission is $20 and includes a free drink, eats and chance to win a Unity 3D License.

The Unity Skills Workshop will be taking place on Saturday July 25 at Centre for Digital Media with Dmitry Shtainer (Unity Stealth Engineer, Vancouver). The workshop will be a day-long Unity 3D skills development event,  intended for students and professionals alike. Workshop curriculum and registration information have not yet been announced, but TGIF registrants will receive advanced email notification for the event.

Vancouver – BCTIA has announced that they will be holding a Members’ Reception on July 21 from 4 – 7pm. Tickets are $50.00, this event is open to BCTIA members only. The BCTIA Member Reception…On the Water is your opportunity to develop new business relationships in a relaxed and casual atmosphere. Join us for some west-coast style networking while enjoying the beautiful view of Vancouver’s harbour and Stanley Park from the water. Mix and mingle with fellow BCTIA members while enjoying delicious appetizers.

On July 22, BCTIA will be hosting a Business Survival Strategies Webinar. The topic will be Proven Techniques to Grow Your Business, with speaker Dr. Jim Sellner PhD., DipC. Cost is $69.00 for members and $89.00 for non-members.

Webinar Details:
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Toronto – Streamlogics today announced that effective July 1, 2009, the Streamlogics business has been acquired by Thomson Reuters. Streamlogics is a leading provider of webcasting applications and services in North America, with a strong presence in the financial, healthcare and technology sectors. The terms of the deal of privately-held Streamlogics remain undisclosed.

Thomson Reuters is a $13 billion company headquartered in New York City with operations in 93 countries. In addition to being the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, Thomson Reuters is the largest webcast provider in the world. With webcast broadcast centers across four continents, Thomson Reuters is committed to providing corporations worldwide with innovative solutions that effectively meet all of their business communication needs.

Streamlogics is a leading global provider of results-driven webcasting solutions for hundreds of enterprises across several verticals including financial services, technology and healthcare/life sciences. Streamlogics’ webcasting solutions are utilized for training and certification, marketing and lead generation, and corporate communications. Founded in 1999, Streamlogics is based in Toronto, with regional sales offices in Canada and the United States. The company also supports a global network of value added resellers.
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Toronto – LG Electronics Canada, a leader and technology innovator in Home Electronics, has announced the inaugural LG Life’s Good FilmFest (LGfilmfest.com), a global film competition open to budding movie makers of all skill sets and abilities. Unlike most film festivals, the Life’s Good FilmFest is free to enter for film-makers, and free and open for all to enjoy this fall.

“There really is no other film festival like the LG Life’s Good FilmFest,” says Tim Barnes, Marketing Team Leader, LG Electronics Canada. “We wanted to create a Film Festival that celebrates Life’s Good, inspiring film-makers to tell their uplifting stories, and allowing film enthusiasts to enjoy those stories. Bring the two together through free and open access inspires us all to celebrate Life’s Good. That’s what we’ve done with the Life’s Good FilmFest.”

Starting today, film-makers can enter their submissions into one of four categories: Animation, Fashion & Music, Sports and Narrative. Each entry must be no longer than five minutes in length and express an uplifting, life affirming message that best demonstrates the notion that “Life’s Good”. There will be four prizes awarded. Three of the four category winners will receive $10,000 in prize money. The fourth category winner, who is chosen as the overall winner, will receive the grand prize of $100,000 in prize money. The entry deadline is 5pm ET, October 16, 2009. Each submission will be judged and winners are to be announced in early January 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto – In a just-concluded press conference held at the Isabel Bader Theatre, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, with an introduction by the Honourable Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, announced a 263 million dollar commitment and a 10 year partnership with Ubisoft to open a new development studio which will employ a staff of 800 people. Ubisoft’s net investment in the new studio will be over half a billion dollars in the new studio, which will begin operations in late 2009.

“Today’s announcement marks a strategic move for Ubisoft as we continue to expand our internal

Premier McGuinty

development force,” said Yves Guillemot, president and chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “We are in an excellent position to grow and after extensive analysis we are thrilled to have reached an agreement with the government of Ontario to found our new studio in Toronto. The city is one of North America’s economic and cultural epicenters and our expectations are high. We’re excited to be able to count on the exceptional local talent, who will contribute to our accelerated growth and will have a profound impact on the video game industry with the excellence of their creativity.”

Three years in the making, Premier Dalton said that some of the primary reasons Ubisoft chose Toronto for their newest studio was the amazing talent, innovation, and ties to the movie industry enjoyed by Toronto’s creative industry. Collaborating with local film industry veterans to enhance video game production and extend Ubisoft’s convergence strategy, Ubisoft Toronto will contribute to Ubisoft’s global plan of extending its brands to complementary platforms and mediums, including books, comics, short films and other products.
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Vancouver – No, that’s not 72 hours of straight playing. The long-awaited North American closed beta of NCSoft’s Aion began this past Thursday at noon Pacific time, and that’s when our resident PC game player, A.K.A. Cavechild, logged into the game – if he hadn’t been in need of sleep and food, he probably would have logged a straight 72 hours.

The Aion build used for this testing is version 1.0, the most up-to-date version available. Players are limited to level 20 and certain map regions – but with so much to do and explore even within in this limited area, players can remain very occupied for this test period.

When I interrupted Cavechild’s play to ask him about Aion, the first question I put to him was to name one thing he did not like about the game. There are only two things thus far that he doesn’t like in the game: the fact that this is not the full release, and the apparent inability to turn off announcements from player stores – the well-known WTB and WTS scenarios.  (For those unfamiliar with these acronyms – WTB is Want To Buy and WTS is Want To Sell).

According to the Lore of Aion, the shell world of Atreia was once connected by the Tower of Eternity but a great cataclysm caused by the Balaur shattered the tower, separating the two worlds of Atreia. One side of Atreia is now inhabited by the Asmodian faction while the other is populated by the Elyos. Players will be able to explore these worlds as well as regions made up of voids and floating islands. As with many worlds, the two factions have an intense hatred of each other, and there is constant warring in The Abyss, the area between the two shattered regions. While the races battle each other, they must also contend with the greatest evil of all, the Balaur, previously only known to the factions through their Lore. It would seem that the factions may have to work together against the Balaur in order for what’s left of their world to survive.
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