14th July 2010

Peer 1 Officially Opens ServerBeach Canada

CanadaA reminder to Canadian dev studios that the Consulate General of Canada in Seattle is planning activities around Casual Connect Seattle 2010 (July 20 – 22) to promote the Canadian game development industry, including a networking event, a Canada table at the show and a Canada Casual Games Organization Directory. Discounted registration is also available on a limited basis. For information on these activities and how to become involved, please contact Victoria Hayes or Neil Swain for more information. Still with government news, Dick Harris, Member of Parliament for Cariboo–Prince George is scheduled to make an announcement regarding the Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians programme tomorrow afternoon at the Exploration Place Museum and Science Centre in Prince George.iTunes Canada

The Apple Canada App Store recently added a new app category entitled, “Great Canadian Apps“. This feature, as the name implies, recognizes apps created by Canadian-based companies. Only 29 Canadian-made apps have made the short list thus far, for everything from navigating Montreal to finance and productivity. It would be really nice to see a Made In Canada game feature as well, although searching for Canadian games in the App store does yield some interesting results…

Drum StudioAll Seeing Eye Games announced today the release of a title update for the Xbox 360 game Drum Studio. The update for the award-winning drum recording game adds full support for velocity-sensitive drum kits. This new feature allows players with supported Xbox 360 drum kits to control the volume of their in-game drums by how hard they hit their real-life Xbox 360 drum pads.

Lead Programmer Darren Joe says, “This title update is a thank you to all the players who have made Drum Studio a success. For those with compatible drum kits, it adds a whole new dimension to Drum Studio’s already unparalleled recording tools.”

Drum Studio is an award-winning virtual drum recording app for Xbox 360 that allows players to play, record, edit, save and playback their own song creations using their Xbox 360 drum kits or controllers. It features a powerful easy-to-use recording interface, hundreds of high quality drum sounds and fully animated characters. It has received widespread critical acclaim since its release, including an Editor’s Choice Award from teamxbox.com.

The title update also includes fixes for an incorrect sign-in change detection and a conflict with cymbal expansion kits. Drum Studio is available now exclusively on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 80 Microsoft Points or try the free trial on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

snow days gamesSnow Day Games, a new game development studio based in Charlottetown has announced that its original title for iPhone and iPod Touch, Fly vs. Car, is now available. Snow Day Games has partnered with international charity “Child’s Play” to put games and toys in the hands of sick children all over the world by sharing 50% of the profit from sales of the game to charity.

“Fly vs. Car is a fun, casual game for players of all ages and that fits with our goal of making a game that can do good in the world for children,” said Matthew White, chief creative officer of Snow Day Games. “As players dodge traffic in homage to Frogger and other great games where you avoid getting flattened, they can also know that their gaming is helping others.”

In Fly vs. Car, players avoid oncoming traffic for as long as possible by moving their fly from side to side. It’s a challenging and fun, fast paced game where the faster your reflexes, the higher your score. Fly vs. Car features OpenFeint, Facebook, and Twitter integration, so high scores can be shared and players can compete against their friends on the leaderboards.

Cross Media TorontoCross Media Toronto has announced new additions to its line-up of industry executives and technology experts to speak, demonstrate and debate at its symposium this July 21st, 2010. The event is in partnership with NATPE, the MaRS Discovery District, the CFC Media Lab and Bell, with the additional support from Canadian Media Fund, Idea Couture, MarbleMedia and Bellfund.

Newly added speakers include SVP Managing Director of Arc Worldwide Richard Bernstein and Chief Digital Officer of TBWA Worldwide Colleen DeCourcy in a conversation on the future of the advertising industry titled ‘The Changing Agency: Evolution or Revolution. President of Digital Extremes Ltd Michael Schmalz rounds out the super panel which includes SVP Director Digital for Random House of Canada Lisa Charters, Head of Agency Relations for Google Canada Sabrina Geremia and Senior Business Development Manager for RIM Pete Watson, while Core Matrix Creator Jacob Blackstock, President and Founder of Secret Location James Milward and CEO of ES3 Douglas Edwards will be presenting technology demos which will explore the latest innovations in digital media.

Jacob Blackstock will demonstrate his project Bitstrips.com, a hugely popular online tool for creating original comics and cartoon characters. James Milward will demonstrate HERD which is a mobile application that enables participants to discover and tag GPS-enabled audio; and Douglas Edwards will discuss ES3’s ITV product catalogue. In addition, Steve Pratt, Director of Digital Music at CBC and the director of CBC Radio 3 will be speaking at Cross Media Toronto’s event. Radio 3 is a multi-platform unit of Canada’s public broadcaster that focuses on emerging Canadian music. Other special guests include Akamai’s Chief Strategist Chris Van Noy and Transmedia Consultant Dr. Siobhan O’Flynn.

These featured heavyweight media industry executives and technology experts will discuss specific ways their respective media sectors can begin to collaborate with one another. Cross Media Toronto is designed to give attendees an opportunity to network with other media sectors as well as learn how the other sectors function in order to foster cross media collaboration in the emerging digital landscape.

Peer 1 ServerBeach, a leading dedicated hosting provider that prides itself on being built ‘By Geeks, For Geeks’, today announced the availability of ServerBeach in Canada. Dedicated hosting in Canada through ServerBeach is now available for purchase worldwide and will be housed at PEER 1 Hosting’s flagship US$40 million data centre in Toronto, which opened earlier this year. PEER 1 Hosting acquired the dedicated hosting company in 2004 to help further its business by providing the necessary assistance to startups and small businesses around the world.

“We understand geographic location is an important factor for our customers when choosing where to house information,” says Robert Miggins, Senior Vice President, Business Development, ServerBeach. “We are committed to servicing our fellow geeks to the highest degree and are thrilled to be able to offer a full suite of services in Canada to support them, North and South of the border, as they grow.”

PEER 1 Hosting’s new 41,000 square-foot data centre is the most efficient data centre the Vancouver-based company has built to date, with increased power densities, high reliability and robust security. It also marks the first time PEER 1 Hosting will be offering all three hosting services – managed hosting, dedicated hosting and colocation – in Canada, enabling greater choice and flexibility to meet customer needs and current demands.

“While in theory hosting is a borderless business, in practice geography is very much a relevant factor. When it comes to choosing a hosting provider, where the data centre is located is a key part of a potential customer’s decision-making process,” said Philbert Shih, Senior Analyst for Hosting at Tier1 Research, a division of The 451 Group. “There are legal and regulatory issues to consider, while cultural and linguisitc factors should not be overlooked. There is also a comfort and convenience factor when it comes to where IT infrastructure is hosted, and distance to and from a data centre impacts performance and latency. Hosters that set up operations in multiple geographies and legal jurisdictions have a value propostion that will open the door to a wider range of opportunities.”

Unlike competitors, where service often ends once the server is connected, PEER 1 is focused on providing customers with continued support as their businesses grow, starting with dedicated hosting through ServerBeach, an inexpensive entry point for low traffic websites, through to colocation and managed hosting, which helps minimize internal IT pressures so businesses can put a greater emphasis on core business operations.

Although the hockey season is over, ServerBeach and PEER 1 Hosting is keeping the game alive with limited edition jerseys for its new customers. Beginning July 14, every new PEER 1 Hosting and ServerBeach customer in Canada will receive either an authentic PEER 1 Hosting or ServerBeach hockey jersey. Official jerseys are available through to the end of Summer 2010.

Tecagora SolutionsTecagora Solutions Inc. is delighted to announce that Snapact Photo Manager has been selected as the winner of the “Best of Entertainment” category for the Intel Atom Developer Challenge 2010 taking home the award title and $10,000.

In January 2010, Intel announced the release of its AppUp Center and the Intel Atom Developer Challenge 2010 competition for software developers to create ground-breaking applications designed to operate on the Intel Atom processor that is found in many of the netbooks available in the marketplace.

“We are thrilled that Snapact Photo Manager has been selected as the winner of the Intel Atom Developer Challenge 2010 ‘Best of Entertainment’ award,” states Bruce Kwan, President and CEO of Tecagora Solutions Inc. “The Intel Atom Developer Challenge 2010 program is open to software developers on a world-wide scale, and to win the ‘Best of Entertainment’ category is a great achievement for the team behind the design and development of Snapact” says Kwan.

The AppUp Center is designed to be a storefront for games, software applications and utility tools that software developers have created and optimized for netbooks operating with the Intel Atom processor. All software titles available through the AppUp Center have been tested and certified to operate on Netbooks with the Atom processor. Netbook users can launch the AppUp Center and quickly browse, download, install, purchase and uninstall the optimized software titles available through the AppUp Center, saving time and effort in looking for software applications that may or may not work correctly on the user’s netbook. Categories of the Intel Developer Challenge 2010 “Best-in-Category Applications” include Best of Home & Lifestyle, Best of Utilities & Security, Best of Education & Reference, Best of Entertainment, and Best of Games. Tecagora has been a member of the Intel Software Partner Programme since December 2008, and a member of the Intel Atom Developer Program since the program’s inception in December 2009.

kenginKengin Consulting Inc., a mobile development consulting firm, has launched a new application for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users. Whether you are looking to build your own apps, acquire new skills for your resume, or just have some fun, you should check out SDKtoday now.

Kengin CEO Jacob Kennedy, was prompted to develop SDKtoday as a result of the experiences he encountered while developing his own iPhone apps. “When I was first learning how to make iPhone apps, I had to aggregate solutions from a variety of sources. There was no single place I could refer to that would provide me with everything that I was looking for. To get what I needed, I had to either buy a book or download an app… either way, I paid in full but needed only a fraction of the content. That’s why I like our app, and our approach. You SDKtodaycan download it, demo the tutorial options, and decide what fits your needs. This way, you only end up buying what you need while being provided with a sweeter and swifter path to app development success.”

Dennis Volovic of dedovo Inc., collaborated with Kengin as SDKtoday went from design to reality. “We always wondered why something like this was never done before. As we began to work on our app, it became clear why! Conveying the depth and breadth of the tutorials in a way that is intuitive and scalable is not so straightforward. My excitement really piqued, and I knew we were on to something when the S2C2 methodology came together; Start It, Stub It, Connect It, and Complete It. It’s that easy! This approach is so incredible, that we immediately began using it for all our own personal app development!”

Kennedy & Volovic both agree that the “pièce de résistance” of the SDKtoday app, is the S2C2 learning methodology they created. The methodology was essential in streamlining the iPhone development process and provides a consistent learning experience throughout all tutorials!

SDKtoday App Features:

• Tutorials:

o The app gives you three tutorials for free. Tutorials 101 through 109 make up the “introductory series” of the SDKtoday tutorials. Once mastered, you will be in a position to apply this knowledge to build your own apps. The tutorials are packed with clear and practical info. They are architected around core development topics and techniques that illuminate individually and collectively.
o In the Tutorial Detail view you can Demo the App, learn to Build It, or Download the Code
o In the Build Detail view, you have the freedom to read through the materials or watch videos bringing the app to life utilizing the S2C2 methodology.
o Tutorials 104-109 are already available for purchase in the Store section of SDKtoday, with more to come.
o Every tutorial gives you the opportunity to learn by way of watching videos or reading, and each works towards development of an actual app.
o Status Indicator: Toggle the status button to keep track of your progress. There are three tutorial states; Not Started, In Progress, and Complete.

• Reference Section: Provides an extensive reference section offering tips and other Xcode related literature. You can review the Core Data Object nomenclature, brush up on your Xcode Keyboard Shortcuts, learn a few Debugging Tips, and much more.

• Store: In addition to the free Tutorial offerings, there is a store full of additional tutorials. You can buy these tutorials and expand your SDK knowledge even further, right in the app. You can go through the tutorials in order, or in the classic “choose your own adventure” fashion.

GDC 2011The call for submissions to present lectures, roundtables and panel sessions at the 2011 Game Developers Conference® (GDC) is now open through Wednesday, August 25th. Organized by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, GDC 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the game industry’s most comprehensive professionals-only event where game developers converge for a week of learning, networking and inspiration. GDC 2011 will take place February 28-March 4 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Session proposals can be submitted via the official GDC website. The GDC advisory board is looking for submissions in the following areas: Audio, Business and Management, Game Design, Production, Programming and Visual Arts.

The industry has seen the scope of gaming experiences evolve to include more connected social games and independently produced titles. The GDC 2011 advisory board has been expanded to address these areas and welcomes a slate of new members including Dan Fiden, (GM, Playfish San Francisco), Adam Saltsman (Co-Founder, Semi Secret Software ), Soren Johnson (Lead Designer and Programmer, EA Maxis),Siobhan Reddy (Studio Director, Media Molecule), Steve Theodore (Technical Art Director, Undead Labs) and Scott Selfon (Lead Program Manager, Microsoft). These new members join industry veterans such as Dave Perry (Gaika.com), Mark Cerny (Cerny Games), Chris Hecker (definition six), Rob Pardo (Blizzard Entertainment), Julien Merceron (Square Enix), among others on the advisory board.

“We pride ourselves on providing best practices for game developers of all genres and GDC 2011 will continue this tradition as the gaming space grows and adapts to the evolving market,” said Meggan Scavio, director, Game Developers Conference. “We’re excited to welcome our newest advisory board members and expect them to bring a healthy balance of their past experiences along with a fresh approach to the conference program. The forward-facing content, inspired sessions, and especially the insightful advisory board are what has kept the event thriving for 25 years, and will sustain it for the next 25.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 11:07 am and is filed under Awards, Business News, Careers, Casual, Digital Products, Education, Events, Everyone, Government, Mobile, Music, National News, New Releases, Peripherals, Social Media, Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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