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Strategies, Communities and Software Launches

[1]VancouverAnnexPro [1] has announced two upcoming events to celebrate the launch of Autodesk [2] 2011 software and Autodesk Smoke 2011 for Mac OS X. The first event is being held on April 27th from 10am to 6pm. “Seize the Opportunity with Autodesk 2011 Digital Entertainment Creation Software [3]” is a free all-day event which will be held at the Scotiabank Theatre on Burrard [at Smithe], with specialized tracks for Game Developers and Post-Production. At the end of the day there will be a customer appreciation reception with cold beer, soft drinks and tasty snacks.

The second event is a virtual event directly from Autodesk. ‘Seize the Opportunity at the Autodesk Virtual Event [4]” is comprised of 3 sessions for Digital Entertainment Creation software including Smoke for Mac OS X along with sessions for building, engineering and more. Please see the event listing at Autodesk [4] for details and registration. This virtual event will run on April 19th from 7am – 2pm Pacific Time.

TransGaming [5]TorontoTransGaming, Inc. [5] and Ubisoft®  have collaborated with TransGaming to bring The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom™ video game to Mac® via TransGaming’s Cider Portability Engine. TransGaming, a leading developer of portability technologies for the electronic entertainment industry, brings the Mac version of The Settlers 7 Paths to a Kingdom simultaneously with the PC release to both traditional retailers and online merchants including, GameTreeOnline.com [6]. This new global release extends TransGaming’s partnership with Ubisoft, that includes Prince of Persia® and Shaun The Settlers 7 Paths To A Kingdom [7]White titles, and continues the collaboration of bringing great video game content to the Mac community.

The long-awaited sequel to the award-winning strategy game, The Settlers®: Rise of an Empire, The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom will also offer an exclusive Gold/Collector edition of the game available for purchase via download only. The standard and Gold/Collector editions are available immediately for consumers to purchase and download [8].

“We are pleased to bring another great Ubisoft game to the Mac, and the simultaneous deployment could only be made possible through our Cider engine,” commented Vikas Gupta, President & CEO of TransGaming, Inc. “Settlers is an award winning franchise, and I’m sure the Mac community will be thrilled to have access to this great new release through both retail channels and GameTreeOnline.com.”

“Ubisoft is excited about the simultaneous multiplatform release of The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom™,” said Carrie Tice, Senior Director of Strategic Sales & Partnerships at Ubisoft. “The partnership with TransGaming to bring our titles to the Mac allows us to expand our business and serve the growing Mac gaming community with new and exciting game releases.”

The standard edition is priced at $49.99 and is available via digital download and at retailers, with the exclusive Gold/Collector edition only available via digital download for $59.99. In addition to the standard edition game play, the Gold/Collector edition provides exclusive unlockable content for consumers, including: one exclusive map, the original soundtrack of the game and additional castle forge elements – including a gate, balcony, bay, gargoyle and two windows – allowing players to customize their castles and make their cities unique

Digital Leisure [9]GormleyDigital Leisure [9] has announced their latest title, Chess Challenge! for the Wii. According to the title’s info page [10], patience will be key going up against the Chess Challenge [11]best players from around the world with Chess Challenge! Perfect your chess skills by playing against the computer in multiple difficulty modes or using the Nintendo ® Wi-Fi Connection service to start climbing the worldwide rankings. Win online matches and even see how your chess rating stacks up against the world by viewing the online Leaderboard.

If you don’t have time to play your friends in a live chess game, Chess Challenge! also lets you play up to five different Wii Friends using WiiConnect24. With full Mii support you can really bring your games to life! Start off practicing on some casual games, and work your way up to fully ELO rated matches. With all of these gameplay options you have some serious chess action awaiting you!

IGLOO Online Communities [12]KitchenerIGLOO Software [12] has announced the availability of free online communities [13] with business-ready solution templates. IGLOO’s free offering is ideal for project teams, SMB’s, not-for-profits and associations.

IGLOO’s online communities offer powerful content management, collaboration and knowledge sharing tools, within one secure, cloud-based social solution. In the free edition, users can IGLOO Online Communities [12]experience the benefits of an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface for web publishing and information sharing; Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, blogs, messaging and forums for collaboration; and personal profiles for social interaction and professional networking.

“Our free version is truly game-changing”, said Dan Latendre, CEO of IGLOO Software. “In this new world of Web 2.0, offering a free version of your software has become a normal course of business,” he added. “But, unlike other free social offerings, our community solutions are focused on the needs of the business user – helping them to identify, connect and leverage the talent, knowledge and relationships that reside in their organization.”

Online communities, powered by IGLOO Software can be up and running in less than 60 seconds. Start from scratch or choose from a collection of preconfigured solution templates:

* Corporate Website
* Intranet/Team Space
* Partner Portal
* Customer Support Site
* Classroom & eLearning

Additional business templates will be available soon, including Project Team, Research Community, Sales & Marketing Community and an Event Site template.

“As with the introduction of any new technology, the smart organization starts small. [Make sure to] carefully define the business issue you want to address and work closely with business leaders in a controlled pilot to ensure that your organization will embrace social technologies,” said Rob Koplowitz, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research.

IGLOO Software also offers a variety of value-added services, optional modules and upgrade features such as: BlackBerry® client to connect a mobile workforce; e-commerce integration to process paid memberships, donations or shopping cart transactions; desktop client integration to improve productivity; custom domain creation to reinforce branding; real-time communications integration with Skype™, Windows Live™ Messenger, Google Talk™ and Yahoo!® Messenger; Salesforce.com integration to improve visibility into sales and marketing metrics for Social CRM; and Microsoft® SharePoint integration to leverage existing infrastructure to access and share existing corporate information.

IGLOO’s free online community edition [13] is available immediately. The free edition is available for the first 25 members with unlimited anonymous users. To upgrade to IGLOO’s Basic Edition for more than 25 members, pricing begins at less than $4/user. There is Enterprise Edition pricing available for large corporations, where entry level support begins at $2,000. There is also a collection of professional services packages to meet the needs of any budget.AC2 PSN Personal Space [14]

Ubisoft [15]MontrealUbisoft [15] has unveiled the Assassin’s Creed Personal Space for the PlayStation Network. Available today for $4.99, the Personal Space includes a multi-player tower defense-style game where Assassins will battle Templars along with concept art, the Animus 2.0 database, the full Lineage live action short film and dev blogs.

Ubisoft has also confirmed that Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction™ is on schedule and will be in stores next month. They’ve also released the latest Dev Video, which you can watch below:

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

[16]Toronto – Leading independent studio E1 Entertainment [16] has signed a long-term distribution agreement with kids production company Amberwood Entertainment [17]. Through the deal, E1 will handle worldwide distribution rights for Amberwood first-run and selected kids catalogue programming, act as the global sales agent for its animated “Rob the Robot” series and secures first-look at all future projects.Amberwood Entertainment [17]

Specializing in but not limited to animation, Amberwood creates, develops, finances and produces its properties which are then licensed throughout the world. Amberwood’s portfolio of titles now handled by E1 consists of more than 240 half hours of programming including well-known children’s brands such as “The Secret World of Benjamin Bear” (39 x 30) which is licensed to over 120 territories and currently in production on season 4 (13 x 30); “Rob the Robot” (26 x 30) currently in production, as well as popular library titles including “Zeroman” (13 x 30), “Hoze Houndz” (78 x 30) and “Katie and Orbie” (78 x 30).

“Amberwood is one of Canada’s most prestigious producers of high-quality children and family programming,” said Peter Emerson, President, E1 Television. “This distribution agreement and first look arrangement compliments our overall strategy to grow our global kids business.”

“Amberwood has distributed its productions to over 120 territories worldwide and we are confident that E1 can further this success” stated Jonathan Wiseman, Senior Vice President at Amberwood.

E1 Entertainment has been growing its E1 Kids division by partnering with acclaimed creative talent worldwide to bring award-winning content to life. The deal with Amberwood is in keeping with the company’s strategy to aggressively grow E1 Kids, which has seen tremendous success to-date with properties such as “Peppa Pig” and “Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom” in the UK and “Majority Rules” in North America. The deal also comes on the heels of an announcement of a kids’ television development deal with legendary rockers KISS.

“Backed by the success of our properties such as Peppa Pig and Ben and Holly, E1 Entertainment is rapidly becoming recognized as a leader in the production and distribution of quality kids programming around the globe,” said Patrice Theroux, President, E1 Filmed Entertainment division. “This deal fulfills several key priorities for our E1 Kids business – it gives us a stronger presence in the Canadian market, creates opportunities for future Canada-UK co-productions, it brings further diversity to our kids programming library and it provides us with an ongoing relationship with an established producer of quality kids programs.”

iCongo [18]MontrealiCongo Inc. [18], a leading provider of e-commerce, multi-channel, order management and marketing systems, announced today the release of M-Commerce as part of its industry renowned E-Commerce Platform. iCongo customers can immediately take advantage of their existing platform to explore the mobile channel.

The addition of mobile technology in the iCongo E-Commerce Platform is a natural next step for a marketplace that is ready to use M-Commerce. “Our customers count on us to help grow their businesses through iCongo’s growing suite of solutions, services and consultative approach to maximizing online revenue. M-Commerce is a growth channel and we want our customers to tap into the benefits early. Consumers expect to buy any product from anywhere and have it fulfilled from any store location, something mobile marketing and a mobile storefront powered by iCongo’s Cross-Channel systems provides. It brings our endless aisle literally to the palms of the consumer.” Stated Steven Kramer, President for iCongo.

Retailers looking to launch mobile storefronts can protect their existing investment, using iCongo’s mobile offering which leverages existing CMS (Content Management System) and marketing tools to push content to a mobile-optimized storefront. In addition, retailers can maintain their PCI compliance across all channels through iCongo’s PCI Compliant multi-channel E-Commerce Platform.

“iCongo’s approach to M-Commerce has been developed in conjunction with our clients feedback and needs in mind,” added Steven Kramer, President for iCongo “As a provider with cross-channel capabilities, the iCongo E-Commerce Platform can take all the benefits already achieved through cross-channel and in-store integration strategies and transfer those same benefits to the mobile channel.”

With iCongo’s E-Commerce Platform including M-Commerce and Cross-Channel, retailers are well positioned to maximize each channel’s potential, meet every customer’s request, in any channel – anywhere and offer all the functionality that will set them apart including anywhere-to-anywhere fulfillment, find it in store, and return/pick-up in store.