Village Gamer

Montreal – Gamerizon, an emerging game development studio, today announced its official opening in Montreal, a city well-known for its vibrant video game industry. The new independent casual game development studio – led by a team of seasoned industry experts – aims to be at the leading edge in defining the next generation of casual games.

“Gamerizon has a unique and innovative vision of the development of casual games,” says Dominique Bélanger, President of Gamerizon. “Our unique game design approach combined with our long-standing expertise allow us to create innovative gameplay mechanics that appeal to today’s gamers. Gamerizon is quickly carving out a distinctive niche into the casual gaming market.”

The young Montreal studio currently focuses its efforts on the development of multiplatform casual games, targeting digital distribution on various platforms – from smart phones to new generation consoles – as well as PC and Mac. Its first title, the highly-anticipated and soon to be released QuantZ, offers a simple yet addictive organic gameplay that refreshingly merges elements of the marble popper, action-puzzle and match-3 genres. The demo version of the game has already made a great impression on industry experts and video game enthusiasts alike.

Gamerizon was founded by brothers Martin and Robert Lizée (two seasoned video game entrepreneurs who have produced and developed several popular titles) and by digital media entrepreneur Dominique Bélanger. Focusing on an industry experiencing booming growth, Gamerizon is also seeking to hire senior level candidates to complete its talented Montreal team.

Montreal – Meridian4 and Frogames have been hard at work tweaking Penguins Arena, their action-packed, non-stop battle for survival – FPS (First Penguin Shooter) and have fixed a few things and added others.

The update to Penguins Arena: Sedna’s World has been released and is available through normal digital distribution channels. The specific changes include:

• Added “Custom maps” game mode, which allow players to play maps created with PAME (Penguins Arena Map Editor)
• Added 4 new custom maps created by fans (Thanks!)
• Fixed case of penguins falling into the water but are still alive (The ‘Tread Water’ bug)
• Fixed some achievements not being able to be unlocked
• Fixed crash when a player tries to join a full server
• Fixed not being able to bind the ‘E’ key
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EA SPORTS Downloadable Title Prioritizes Accessible Fun with Low Cost of Entry

Burnaby – Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that 3 on 3 NHL® Arcade – an all-new downloadable experience from EA SPORTS Freestyle™ – is now available worldwide on the PlayStation®Network for $9.99. The game will be available on XBOX Live Arcade, for 800 MS Points, on February 11, 2009. Developed at EA Canada by the team that produced the critically acclaimed NHL 09, winner of 10 Sports Videogame of the Year Awards, 3 on 3 NHL Arcade is a no rules, fast paced, hockey experience that gamers of all types can enjoy.

From the exaggerated player-looks of 40 of the NHL’s top stars to game changing power-ups, 3 on 3 NHL Arcade is a light-hearted hockey game that appeals to everyone. With no rules to hinder the action, you can deliver devastating checks that send your opponent over the boards, or check the goalie if he skates out of the crease to play the puck. Feel like you need to turn the tide? Grab one of eight power-ups to change the momentum of a game and fly down the ice with a super-speed skater to beat a mini-goalie with a trick move for that highlight reel finish.
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Vancouver – One of the co-founders of the award winning science fiction show Sanctuary is bringing his gaming talents back to the classroom. The Art Institute of Vancouver is proud to welcome Marc Aubanel as Academic Director of Game Art and Design and Visual Games Programming.

Marc, originally from Montreal, took Communication Studies at Concordia University, On relocating to Vancouver in 1992, the lifelong hockey fan channeled this passion as Online Editor for the Canucks magazine, Winning Spirit. At an exciting, up and coming time for the gaming world, Marc found himself drawn to the industry and joined Electronic Arts Canada (EA), the largest 3rd party games publisher in the world. Marc spent 13 years and worked his way to vice president / executive

Marc Aubanel

producer, working on such video games as chart breaking FIFA and Need for Speed Underground producing over 50 SKU’s for revenues generating more than a billion dollars.

Marc left EA around the same time as Damien Kindler left his role as co-executive producer on the hit show Stargate and they formed Vancouver based production company and full service visual effects house, Stage 3 Media. Deciding that there must be a better way of making entertainment in the new, emerging electronics market, they set about creating the first broadcast quality, High Definition dramatic series designed specifically for the internet, combining live actors and CG sets and backgrounds. In 2006 the web based series Sanctuary was born.

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