Village Gamer

UK – Develop Magazine, a UK-based magazine for the game development industry has released its annual Top 100 worldwide studio list. While there are more Canadian studios listed this year than in previous years, there is a large shift in their placings.

EA Canada, who held the number one position on the Develop 100 list for 2005, 2006 and 2007, was toppled from that position in 2008 by Nintendo, and this year both were moved down a notch by Blizzard Entertainment. Rockstar North took third place, effectively knocking Canada out of the top three. EA Canada, however, still hangs on to the top Canadian spot at number 4 while Ubisoft Montreal finishes at sixth, down three from 2008. Fourth place is the lowest position EA Canada has ever held in the Top 100, while Ubisoft Montreal has moved up and down the list while always remaining in the Top 10; the studio placed 10th in 2007, 6th in 2006 and 5th in 2005.
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Vancouver – Pixelmatic Entertainment Inc. has announced the official launch of Gamerbook on the Facebook platform. Gamerbook is an application designed to connect gamers on Facebook. Users of Gamerbook can create profiles for different games which detail their nickname, which servers they played on, their faction and clan, and the time period for which they played that game; this information is then easily searchable by any other Gamerbook user. With Gamerbook, users will be able to find people they have played with in the past that are known only by an alias. Gamerbook also allows gamers to notify friends about the games they are currently playing, well as keep track of the gaming aliases of friends.

“We see Gamerbook as an extension of Facebook – an embedded social network within Facebook built specifically for gamers,” said Samson Mow, founder and director, Pixelmatic Entertainment. “We envision that Gamerbook will reconnect gamers much in the same way that school and work networks on Facebook bring together classmates and coworkers.”
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Vancouver – The Leo Awards, established in 1998 to celebrate excellence in British Columbia film and television held their annual awards celebration and gala over the past two days at the Westin Bayshore. Since 2003, they have been a project of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British Columbia, a non-profit society formed to celebrate and promote the achievements of the B.C. film and television industry.

The Awards Celebration on Friday evening was hosted by twin brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott, with Saturday night’s Awards Gala hosted by Gary Jones. The Leo Awards Film Festival, held prior to the awards offered public screenings of this year’s Leo Awards nominees in several leading program categories — Best Feature-Length Drama, Best Documentary, Best Short Drama, and Best Student Production. We, however, are only concerned with the VFX, CGI and Animation sectors of the Awards program.

Best Visual Effects in a Feature Length Drama was won by Artifex and Spin VFX for Impact
Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series was won by the Stargate Atlantis team of Mark Savela, Shannon Gurney, Kodie MacKenzie, Viv Jim and Dan Weir for the First Contact episode
Best Animation Program or Series went to Kid vs Kat from Studio B Productions
Best Direction/Storyboarding in an Animation Program or Series was won by Nerd Corps Entertainment for Storm Hawks – Stratosphere
Best Screenwriting in an Animation Program or Series also went to Nerd Corps for Stormhawks, but for the Fire & Ice episode
Best Overall Sound in an Animation Program or Series was picked up by Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects for Max Steel: Bio Crisis
Best Musical Score in an Animation Program or Series went to Bob Buckley for Stormhawks – The Storm Hawks Seven
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Vancouver – Earlier this week, Toronto’s Yangaroo Inc. announced that it had received a patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office for  its “Content Distribution System and Method.”  The US Patent, #7529712,  will be in effect until 2026.

The announcement went on to say that “The U.S. patent for “Content Distribution System and Method” covers a method of distributing digital content, such as music and advertising, to selected individuals over the Internet, in which the uploading content provider selects the individuals that are entitled to access the content and sets release conditions, such as a time and date. Once the identities of the selected individuals have been verified at login, they are provided with access to the uploaded content if those release conditions are met.”
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Vancouver – The BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) have announced the finalists for the 2009 Technology Impact Awards (TIAs). Marking the awards’ 15th year, the 2009 finalists reaffirm British Columbia’s status as a global leader in innovative software solutions, mobile communications, and energy conservation technologies.

“This year’s TIA finalists are making their mark on the world with innovative solutions that are improving productivity and environmental sustainability, while saving their customers millions of dollars every year,” observed Pascal Spothelfer, President of the BCTIA. “Innovation and best business practices are essential for our industry to weather the current economic storm. The TIA finalists are representative of the class of companies that come out of a downturn strong and well positioned for the recovery.”
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Vancouver – The Canadian Tourism Commission has announced their unique approach in promoting our great country. It’s kind of hard to sum up one of the world’s largest and most physically, geographically and culturally diverse countries in a few words — even if we had unlimited advertising dollars and time in the world (which we don’t). So in today’s world of “live well, spend less” and “if you can’t tweet it, it’s too much information”, we distilled the essence of the amazing Canadian vacation experience into 15 seconds — a bit shorter than your average elevator ride.

But get this — it gets better. We didn’t even shoot our own commercials! We went on YouTube and discovered real people having real experiences in Canada with real and raw emotion and really loving it! That’s right. Real people, real experiences, real emotion!
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Vancouver – Pixar Studios has announced that they will be opening a new 20 000 square foot Vancouver studio this fall. Pixar President told The Hollywood Reporter that the new studio will focus on the production of Pixar’s short films and other non-feature projects based for the most part on “legacy characters”, such as the characters of Toy Story.

“The operation will be small in size and dedicated to producing short-form quality computer animation for theme parks, DVDs, television and theatrical exhibition… for several different divisions of The Walt Disney Company”, he continued, while General Manager Jim Morris stated that “the studio plans to hire 75 – 100 employees, with the majority of them being Canadian.”
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2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., announced today that it has signed a partnership with Digital Extremes to develop the multiplayer experience for BioShock® 2. Under this partnership, Digital Extremes is working closely with the creative team at 2K Marin to develop a new and substantial element that enhances the lore and fiction of the BioShock universe.

“The fans asked for a multiplayer experience and we answered,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “With Digital Extremes delivering a multiplayer experience for BioShock 2 that features all of the things that make BioShock unique, we’re holding ourselves to a high standard so that we can deliver the depth and variety that fans of the BioShock universe demand.”
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Toronto – TransGaming Inc., announces a partnership with Tale of Tales to bring their biggest project to date: a highly original, artistic, horror game, entitled ‘The Path‘, to the Mac. The Mac version of The Path was enabled by TransGaming’s Cider Engine and will be digitally distributed globally. Available immediately, The Path for Mac can be downloaded by the Mac community for $9.99 US at Tale-of-Tales.com, GameTreeOnline.com and other GameTree Network sites.

“The Path is a unique and intriguing journey designed to encourage inquisitiveness and adventure. As an Indie title that has received broad acclaim, The Path is a natural fit for the Mac,” commended Vikas Gupta, President & CEO of TransGaming. “With most of the gameplay being entirely optional, the player has all the freedom in the world, an aspect we believe is very well aligned to the essence of the Mac community.”
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Toronto – Creativeworks Productions is proud to announce they have won platinum for the GreenPrint animated video in this year’s Hermes Creative Awards competition. Hermes recognizes outstanding work in the industry, attracting thousands of creative artists from around the world. Their annual creative awards are judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP).

The GreenPrint animated video was created for the Town of Markham, known for embracing new technologies and innovative approaches in communication. Markham’s GreenPrint sustainability plan targets residents of all ages, including youth. The GreenPrint video, targeting the difficult to reach 11-18 youth market, was created to generate excitement for Markham’s new youth website, www.markham.ca/greenprint, and to create a buzz in the youth market.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiKQ1h4u_M0]

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