Village Gamer

Bot Colony, the first game to use conversational English as the primary way to interact with characters, was launched today by Montreal game developer North Side Inc. An Open Alpha version is publicly available and can be downloaded from the Bot Colony site for $2.95. Bot Colony leverages a technological breakthrough in Natural Language Understanding (NLU), a problem scientists have been trying to solve for many years. Natural Language Understanding (NLU) is technical jargon for computer understanding of human language (English in the case of Bot Colony). The characters in Bot Colony understand what the player says, and are often able to respond in a cogent manner. North Side believes that the NLU capability of Bot Colony is superior to that of Apple’s Siri or IBM’s Watson. Read the rest of this entry »

Game Connection’s “Selected Projects” is once again giving independent developers the unique opportunity to pitch their games in front of some of the gaming world’s most influential people. Until January 10th, 2014, developers worldwide can submit their projects with a chance of taking home the ultimate accolade of “Best Project” at Game Connection America, March 17-19 at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, San Francisco. Read the rest of this entry »

The SIGGRAPH 2014 Mobile Pavilion in Vancouver is the place where the mobile, embedded, and low-power industries come together: the leading IP companies, top app developers, device manufacturers, and mobile operating-system developers. With the unparalleled capabilities of modern mobile devices, this market is enjoying unprecedented growth and generating access to untapped revenues for organizations that are committed to this technology. Read the rest of this entry »

Inter-Dec College is proud to announce that its Laval campus is launching two new programs recognized by the ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche, de la Science et de la Technologie (MESRST). Students from Laval and the northern periphery can now pursue studies in Interior Design or Video Games at a location close to home. These programs lead to an Attestation of College Studies diploma (AEC). Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft and Team Dakota have begun inviting fans and creators who have registered on the Project Spark site to participate in shaping one of the most anticipated games of 2014 with the “Project Spark” Beta Program exclusively on Windows 8.1. Since “Project Spark” was announced at E3 in June, hundreds of thousands of fans have signed up for the closed beta, which has begun rolling out today. Starting exclusively on Windows 8.1 and available to fans on Xbox One early next calendar year, registered beta participants are welcomed to a dynamic community where players create and creators play. The beta for both platforms will continue until the product launch next year, and there’s still time to sign-up online. Read the rest of this entry »

Nominations opened today for the 5^th Annual Canadian Videogame Awards (CVAs) as the show makes the move to Toronto, a city that is known for its thriving digital economy. The show will celebrate Canada’s spot on the world stage as a leader in interactive entertainment. This industry contributes $2.3 billion to Canada’s GDP and employs over 16,500 men and women in studios right across Canada. The show will also be broadcast nationally on City TV through the Rogers Network. Tickets for the event will go on sale to the general public in March. Read the rest of this entry »

In a new report available from Research And Markets, analysts forecast the Global Game Software market to grow at a CAGR of 10.04 percent over the period 2012-2016. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the innovation in audio-visual devices. The Global Game Software market has also been witnessing the increasing number of hardware platforms. However, the shifting of consumers to alternative gaming platforms could pose a challenge to the growth of this market. The report, the Global Game Software Market 2012-2016 has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the Americas, and the EMEA and APAC regions; it also covers the Global Game Software market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.   Read the rest of this entry »

A total of 18 new interactive digital media projects received a combined total of $10.7M as part of the Canada Media Fund’s (CMF) Experimental Stream second round of funding  for production support. The 18 new projects are comprised of 8 games, 9 interactive digital media platforms and 1 new social media application. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver Film School (VFS) is pleased to announce that it will be adding a brand-new, one-year program to its educational roster. Starting March 2014, VFS will offer Programming for Games, Web & Mobile, a course that is all about becoming a better, smarter, more versatile and hireable developer. This one-of-a-kind program teaches individuals how to create and bend programs; to develop software that is impressive, innovative, and entertaining. Students graduate with a high-powered portfolio along with the skills to impress professionals and recruiters from an incredible range of industries. Read the rest of this entry »

The next generation of game developers are here – and they’re already hard at work on the next big thing. Today, Mind Pirate and the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) announced the four participants selected to participate in the ideaBOOST/Mind Pirate Production Lab: a three-month boot camp that gives developers the resources to create games and apps for wearable technology devices.  The four winners selected to participate in the ideaBOOST/Mind Pirate Production Lab consist of high caliber developer talent from both the United States and Canada. The winners are: Read the rest of this entry »