Village Gamer

Organizers of the International Digital Cinema Festival, Symposium and RED ONE boot camp have announced a date change due to an unexpected level of interest and industry participation. The Festival, which was originally scheduled for July 19 – 20 2008 has been moved to October, 2008. Further details will be announced on the International Digital Cinema Festival site as they become available.

About The Festival

The International Digital Cinema Festival, Symposium and RED ONE Boot Camp is the best opportunity this year for filmmakers and others in the motion media industry, to acquire in-depth knowledge of the RED ONE 35mm Digital Cinema camera that is taking the industry by storm. This groundbreaking 2 day event taking place at the Canadian Film Center features a symposium where leading digital cinema experts will provide deep insights into the emergent opportunities created by new digital motion media technologies.

Following the Symposium, participants will commence a 2 day Boot Camp, experiencing the RED ONE camera in a production environment on the first day. The second day focuses on working with the RED footage in a variety of post production pipelines.

On the Saturday evening there is the IDCF party and on Sunday evening, in a preview of the Digital Cinema Festival’s RED FEST, the short film Directed by Ian Sun during the Boot Camp will open the RED SHORTS program. The RED ONE Digital Cinema Boot Camp and Symposium is a great opportunity to experience the Future of Cinema and network with the people who are creating it.

The Society for New Communications Research, a nonprofit think tank focused on the latest developments in new media and communications, today announced a call for entries for the 2008 Excellence in New Communications Awards.

This prestigious awards program honors the work of corporations, governmental and nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, media outlets and individuals who are innovating the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, online communities and virtual worlds and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media, and professional communications, including advertising, marketing, public relations and corporate communications, as well as entertainment, education, politics, and social initiatives.

Awards are granted in six divisions: Corporate, Government, Media, Nonprofit/NGO, Academic, and Technology Innovation (for New Communications and Social Media Technology Vendors), and in seven categories: Online Reputation Management; Behind the Firewall; Blogger Relations; External Communications & Communities; New Media Creation; Collaboration & Co-creation; and Mobile Media. In addition, the Society’s Fellows will select and honor the Visionary of the Year, the Innovator of the Year, and the Brand of the Year.

Read the rest of this entry »

VICTORIA – The Premier’s Technology Council has released its eleventh report, which focuses on three topics: Clean technology, regional innovation and industrial design.

Key recommendations in this report include:

Clean Technology:
Government has been proactive in addressing climate change and promoting the development
of clean technologies. Government’s regulatory reform office has also been successful in creating
effective and efficient regulatory regimes. By applying the expertise of the regulatory reform office to
some specific, green-related challenges, government can ensure B.C. remains at the forefront of clean
technology development.

• Government’s regulatory reform office should focus its efforts on the application of clean
technologies and work with the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions to anticipate future
regulatory needs.
Read the rest of this entry »

Press Release – Today Ubisoft announced that it will publish Hell’s Kitchen™: The Video Game, for Wii™, Nintendo DS™, PC and Mac^®.

Developed by Ludia, Hell’s Kitchen™: The Video Game is based on the hit television program featuring world-renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay. The game will allow players to experience the show’s high-pressure kitchen and dining room challenges as a faithfully rendered 3D Chef Ramsay watches their every move.

“I had a great time doing the voice for my own animation,” said Gordon Ramsay. “Being in a video game is a new experience for me and I’m very pleased with the results.”

After executing the three phases of an order – preparation, cooking and service – Chef Gordon Ramsay will score each meal. As they progress through the game, players will be rewarded with access to recipes from Chef Ramsay’s own repertoire.
Read the rest of this entry »

Five graduating game design and animation students will plug their laptops into the Atlantic Technology Centre this summer to pursue a dream of driving their video game idea from concept to market-ready prototype.

The graduates are the first team selected for the GameGarage, an initiative of the Interactive Media Alliance (IMA), the PEI-based interactive media industry association, with support from Telefilm Canada and PEI Business Development.

Participants were chosen from a national competition that invited graduating new media students and recent graduates to submit original game concepts, or submit their resumes for a chance to work on someone else’s concept.
Read the rest of this entry »

The National Film Board of Canada has officially launched its new service, which offers full-length NFB documentaries, animations and dramas. Delivered using an open source platform and the new JW Media Player, the NFB offerings can be viewed at beta.nfb.ca

The National Film Board has recognized that the majority of Canadians will be active Internet users and that approximately 95% of Canadian households will access the Internet through broadband services. To that end, the NFB believes that Canadians will expect a full range of offerings in the digital world to be available on their computers and mobile devices.

Recognizing that the ability to watch programmes whenever and wherever they want is becoming a driving force among Canadian viewership, the NFB believes that content should be available in both English and French, as well as Aboriginal languages wherever possible.

Read the rest of this entry »

July 8, 2008 – Today Ubisoft announced the acquisition of Hybride Technologies, a Montreal-based studio renowned for its expertise in the creation of visual effects for cinema, television and advertising.

Created over 15 years ago, Hybride employs 80 team members. The studio’s many projects include such innovative films as 300, Frank Miller’s Sin City and the Spy Kids series.

Ubisoft will work closely with Hybride to share technology and to develop tools in order to optimize the creation of both video games and visual effects and to offer gamers visual experiences that rival those of the cinema. At the same time, Hybride will continue to work with its film partners while also bringing its expertise to leverage Ubisoft’s intellectual properties for the movie industry.

Read the rest of this entry »

Little Boy Games, a new Vancouver game development studio headed by Ivan Tung and Usman Khalid will be releasing their first game on XBLA this month. Go! Go! Break Steady is rated E for Everyone and features six break dancing characters who dance their way through twenty musical numbers as the player matches buttons and blasts their way through match-three puzzle levels.

Go! Go! Break Steady offers single player, co-op, versus and multi-player modes, along with an XBLA Leaderboard and Gamer Achievements. Gamers can choose to play as Hydro, Sparx, Slim, Granny, Go Go or Mighty Mite and choose their level of difficulty. The object of the game is to take on DJ Scruffy and the Beatniks and win the “All City Break Steady Tournament” by defeating each level and taking home the prizes.

Go! Go! Break Steady will be available exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 owners who have either a Silver or Gold membership. Those who are also on FaceBook can check out the Go! Go! Break Steady fan page for further information. Best of luck to Little Boy Games on their inaugural game release – we look forward to seeing more games from Ivan and Usman in the future.

Get Rich Playing Games
Scott Steinberg
2007

Get Rich Playing Games has got to be one of the most useful and entertaining “how to” books I have read recently. I can usually gauge the usefulness of a book by how much yellow highlighter I go through, how many post-it notes stick out from among the pages, and by how many research leads I garner. Scott Steinberg has penned another winner, and in my opinion the value of the information he shares in Get Rich Gaming far exceeds the cost of the book – which is very reasonably priced, by the way.

Get Rich Playing Games covers almost every aspect of the game industry, from pre-startup stage to getting the product on the shelf and beyond. Scott Steinberg doesn’t only focus on the game developers and designers, though. Throughout the book he discusses the important roles other people in the industry play, from the number crunchers and audio designers to the journalists who write the reviews. What I consider important about the inclusion of these different vocations within the videogame industry is that almost anyone who has the passion to work within the industry can probably find a career position for which they are perfectly suited. Not everyone has the knowledge, talent or passion to be an engineer or an artist, and Get Rich Playing Games shows that you don’t have to be able to paint the next fantasy art masterpiece to work in gaming.
Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver-developed Need for Speed ProStreet has become the second EA title to achieve Diamond status on GameTrailers. According to GT’s Stream Stats, the ProStreet trailer has been viewed more than 10 million times. Shane Satterfield, Editor in Chief for GameTrailers said “We are proud to present EA with a GT Diamond Award for their incredible work on Need for Speed ProStreet. With quality titles like Crysis and Need for Speed ProStreet, it is no surprise that EA was the first publisher to have two titles that really resonated with our hardcore gaming audience.”

Black Box Vice President Larry LaPierre said that “Receiving the GT Diamond Award is a real accomplishment; GameTrailers visitors represent our core fan base and ten million views illustrates why Need for Speed is one of the world’s most successful videogame franchises.”

Our congratulations to the team at Black Box.