Village Gamer

Reminder: You have two days left to apply to be one of 20 media professionals at Anita Ondine’s groundbreaking Transmedia Lab on April 28-29, presented by Merging Media Productions and CMPA-BC.
Deadline: MiGS 2011 Speaker Deadline is Monday. Get your proposals in now.
Register: Toronto Startup Weekend is June 3 – 5th.
Launch: Firefox 4 and Mozilla’s Vancouver Office Launch Party is on April 15th

Funcom and EA have released a new Secret World video – and apparently all of those conspiracy theories are … true …

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OymMalX8VYM]

Also new today from EA Sports is the SSX franchise re-launch video for the upcoming Deadly Descents.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72X8csHXflM]

Ludia and Disney-ABC Domestic Television today announced the availability of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire game on Facebook platform, giving a true-to-TV experience with thousands of questions and hundreds of categories from the “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” TV show, complete with authentic theme music. Based on the exciting and unpredictable “shuffle” format of randomized questions seen on the hit TV game show, players can now enjoy a multiplayer experience with friends and other Millionaire fans across North America on Facebook.

Contestants simultaneously compete to correctly answer ten multiple choice trivia questions from various categories, with the ability to use the “Jump The Question” lifeline for a stumper question as well as use their Facebook friends as lifelines to earn bonus points and increase their chances of winning. The champion of the multiplayer “Round 1” goes on to play a “Classic Millionaire” round of four questions, each with a progressively higher dollar value that leads to the simulated $1,000,000 grand prize.

Congratulations to Ubisoft, who came out as big winners at last night’s MI6 Game Marketing Awards, hosted by California-based PromaxBDA, an international association for entertainment marketing professionals. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood picked up the following medals:

Gold Medal Best GamePlay Footage Trailer for “Enter Rome” Single-Player Gameplay Trailer
Gold Medal Best Product Packaging
Gold Medal Best Limited Edition or Collector’s Edition
Gold Medal Best Swag for the “Doctor Jack-in-the-Box” Collectible
Silver Medal Outstanding Promotional Trailer for its E3 trailer
Bronze Medal Best Co-Branding & Video Asset by Gamestop TV, Harlequin Doodle Dandy and Ubisoft

Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell franchise also won two Bronze Medals, the first for Best Use Of Online Media or Use Of Online Social Media Marketing for Splinter Cell: The Search for Sam Fisher (by Liquid Marketing), and the second for Splinter Cell Conviction “Set in Stone” Buzz Tactic in the Most Effective Buzz Creation category.

Not to be left out, Ubisoft’s Your Shape Fitness Evolved: Boot Camp Pre-Launch Campaign picked up a Bronze Medal for Most Effective Viral Marketing/Promotion and a Gold Medal for YourShape Fitness Evolved: Outtakes (Pereira & O’Dell) in the Best Work Never Seen category.

EA Sports NBA Jam picked up a Bronze Medal for NBA Jam in the Standout Print Advertisement category while Bioware’s Mass Effect 2 won a Silver Medal in the Best Online Take-over/Road Block/Rich Media Unit for Mass Effect 2 – Diorama produced by draftfcb San Francisco & Wieden+Kennedy

Speaking of awards shows, the voice over community is banding together in an effort for their industry to be recognized at the Oscars, which currently recognizes just four acting awards for live action. Animated films are eligible for the Best Picture and Animated Feature Film categories but there is no category to honour the voice actors in these films.

Canadian company Voices.com initiated the idea for a change to the Oscars program on their Facebook Group. When the company asked if talent were willing to not only talk the talk but also walk the walk and sign a petition lobbying for a voice over performance category, the fan-base gave them a resounding thumbs-up.

“Our initial research shows that many people are in support of the Academy Awards introducing a category for voice over performance,” says Stephanie Ciccarelli, Voices.com Chief Marketing Officer. “We were amazed by the outpouring of support in our endeavor to get the ball rolling in this regard. Recognition in the form of an Oscar for voice actors not only acknowledges their work at this level but also esteems voice acting and its significant contribution to film.”

The purpose of the petition is to achieve recognition for actors who perform behind the scenes. Outstanding voice over performances breathe life into animated films thereby creating iconic characters that are memorable, lovable and real. Recognizing the art of voice acting by designating a voice over performance category for voice actors in the Oscars could result in the fulfillment of many collective dreams.

Ubisoft and Gatorade have announced a new partnership to deliver a workout series designed specifically for fitness athletes for Ubisoft’s popular video game Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. Gatorade enlisted the talents of celebrity-trainer Gunnar Peterson to develop a workout series created around the G Series™ FIT, their new line of innovative products for fitness athletes. The Gatorade-inspired workouts are available to download now for free on the Xbox LIVE marketplace.

The ‘G Series FIT Workout with Gunnar Peterson’ offers personalized training sessions with one of the country’s top celebrity and athlete trainers and the workout plan is designed to inspire and fuel the inner athlete in everyone. The downloadable workout plan includes a 30-minute full-body toning program, and introduces new exercises including jumping jacks, squat raises, lunges, and other new moves that integrate free weights and dumbbells.

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is available exclusively on Kinect™ for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system. G Series FIT was developed specifically for fitness athletes to provide fuel, fluid and nutrients before, during and after a workout. The products, each inspired by fitness athletes and designed by Gatorade, are currently available nationwide.

Let the heavens rejoice after 5 years in development  Hothead Games has released Swarm. Swarm is a amazing downloadable action platformer game for  XBLA and PSN.

It’s about a gigantic blue worm that lands on a nasty planet and it’s up to you to control a team of 50 little “Swarmites” at once through 11 levels, collecting points and DNA to help grow “Momma”, get her a new hat and leave the planet. There is one catch though; this path is full of things that burn, trap, electrify and decapitate your swarm at every point and you get glorious points added to your score for it. All you have to do is make it through the level with at least one Swarmite in order  to return to Momma. Momma has lots of  Swarmites spawn points throughout the levels so if they die, Momma spawns more. This can be helpful because there are points in the game that require you to have a certain number in order for the higher point value orbs to appear.

You are rewarded in this game for the collection of things that look like nucleus and DNA. The more you collect in a row helps fill a multiplier which can greatly add to your score, but in a cruel twist, deaths of your Swarmites also add to it. So if your multiplier looks like it’s running out you can just kill off some of your swarm to keep it up. This is the game’s primary mechanic, as you find that most obstacles you encounter or crates to open just happen to kill off some of your happy blue buddies. At the end of the level your amount of Swarmite deaths are calculated up and put towards progressive death medals and the worldwide death total. Deaths in the level also have death medals but are only rewarded when the last 10 of your Swarm encounter the same deadly fate.

The game gets progressively harder and (easier if you replay earlier levels) as you get better at controlling your swarm and there are even two boss battles that are unlocked by collecting enough DNA.

Some of the awesome things you can get your swarm to do include moves such as jump, dash, huddle together and stack on each other as well as pick up and throw explosives. Sometimes your Swarmites will pick each other up when picking up explosives, leading to some hilarious deaths.

The game’s length is 6-8 hours but with the leaderboards, achievements and the constant questioning of Momma asking “Why can’t you be more like (Insert friend’s gamer tag here)”  the replay value is high. Here’s hoping there is more Swarm content coming.

Hothead Games has taken an old convention that games punish you if you die, turning it around so that death is rewarding. Congratulations to Hothead for taking an original idea and making it shine. If you’re looking for a fun, original type of game don’t let this one pass you by cause you wouldn’t want to disappoint Momma – plus it would make a great gift for any video game loving mom (Mother’s Day is coming up) and you know that would score some serious points.

Swarm is on  XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) for 1200 MS Points and PSN (Playstation Network store) for $14.99 Released on March 22nd 2011 by Hothead Games, Swarm is rated T for Teen by the ESRB.

Review by: Twisted Majic

Toon Boom Animation has a new look with their redesigned web site. While you’re over there taking a look around, check out the entries in their Animated Winter Wonderland Contest. It was open to elementary students in Quebec, in partnership with LearnQuebec and voting to pick a winner is now in progress.

The first video dev diary for Space Marine has been posted to YouTube – check out the action and hear from the devs as they talk about Relic Entertainment’s next title. Set in the rich Warhammer 40,000 universe created by Games Workshop®, Space Marine is scheduled to be released worldwide for the Xbox 360®, PlayStation®3 and Windows PC in August 2011.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGToH9mQTjY]

You are a Space Marine, one of humanity’s elite warriors, the last line of defence between mankind and its enemies. Through extensive genetic modification, psycho-chemical conditioning and years of rigorous training that would kill a normal man a Space Marine becomes superhuman. When one of the industrial ‘Forge World’ planets where humanity creates its greatest weapons, comes under attack and the thousands of imperial soldiers stationed there are overwhelmed the only thing standing between this planet and its total destruction is your Space Marine.

Paradox Interactive has released the first trailer of Supreme Ruler: Cold War. Developed by BattleGoat Studios, which also created the successful Supreme Ruler 2010 and 2020, their most recent title invites you to relive the tension and uncertainty of the Cold War.  Supreme Ruler: Cold War is the next installment in the Supreme Ruler series and gives players control over a 1950’s United States or Soviet Union as they try to lead their country to glory.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKberi0I2HU]

As leader of the United States or the Soviet Union, you must make the correct Economic, Diplomatic, Domestic and Military decisions to successfully navigate your country through this dangerous historical era and increase your nation’s Sphere of Influence on the world stage.

Last week Canada Post released the following warning on its web site:

A spam message is circulating which may contain a link to a virus. The email appears to come from Canada Post, and contains the tracking number RT094860142HK. We are aware of one version which is falsely reporting delivery of a package from the Heart and Stroke lottery foundation, but there may be others circulating with different package senders being spoofed.

This email is not coming from Canada Post, and is fraudulent. Please do not click on the links or open any attachments. The anonymous authors of this email virus unfortunately are using the Canada Post name to get you to trust the message.

Steps you can take to protect yourself if you receive an email that appears to be from Canada Post:

1. If you feel the email is suspicious or there is an attachment, delete it.
2. Whether you are expecting a package delivery by Canada Post or not, and there is a tracking number in the email, you can do the following:
   • Check the tracking number by going directly to www.canadapost.ca and entering the tracking number on the home page where indicated.
   • If the tracking number is not valid, “Invalid Tracking Number format. Please check your entries and try again.” will appear on the screen in red letters. Delete the email without clicking any links which may be in the email.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause and are taking this matter seriously. We will provide further updates as information becomes available.

Yesterday Frima Studio hosted the Quebec Minister of Family, Yolande James, in a press conference at Frima’s office to announce the new Work-Family Standard for local businesses— the first such business certification standards in the world. Frima Studio’s offices were chosen to host the press conference because of Frima’s notable respect for and contributions to the advancement of work-life balance for their employees.

The new standard announced by the government of Quebec yesterday aims to attract and retain employees. Similar to environmental standards established years ago, businesses will soon be able to apply for work-family certification, which when granted will serve as a demonstration of the company’s respect for a healthy balance between work life and family life.

“We truly believe in work and family balance as an investment for our company, rather than an expense,” remarked Steve Couture, CEO, Frima Studio. “We care about our employees’ lives outside of the workplace and we plan to be the first in line to apply for the new standard certification.”

After being recognized with an award in 2010 from the Quebec government for their efforts to balance employees’ work and family lives, Frima continues to put an emphasis on progressive programs that make Frima Studio one of the best places to work in the world. Frima employees are provided with the freedom to care for their families as needed, offering benefits such as flexible work schedules, free bus passes, in-office massage therapy, and a performance rewards system that trades points for services that can help in the home.

Frima is currently hiring to fill more than 35 open positions in art, design, and programming.
Photo Credit: Frima

Markham Electronic Medical Record service provider Nightingale Informatix Corporation has launched its web-based EMR and practice management solution, Nightingale On Demand on the Apple^® iPad™.

Nightingale On Demand for the iPad™ responds to the increasing need for physicians and healthcare providers to have mobile access to their patient data. Key functionalities of the application will allow physicians to review patient charts and lab results, respond to patient and staff messages, as well as manage the scheduling and billing of patient visits. This is a complimentary tool for physicians using Nightingale On Demand and has been designed with use in settings, such as hospital rounds or offsite patient management and homecare, in mind.

“We are pleased to offer Nightingale On Demand to our customers for use on the iPad™,” said Sam Chebib, President and CEO of Nightingale. “Product innovation is a cornerstone of the Company’s mandate. We strive to provide solutions that not only make EMR implementation easier for physicians but also leverage the most current technology available in the marketplace.  We are confident that this will be a significant value added product offering for our customers. As a result, we anticipate considerable uptake over the coming months.”

Nightingale is leading the Canadian EMR market as one of the first companies with plans to launch an iPad™-enabled solution. Physicians and healthcare providers will have the comfort of knowing that all patient data entered while using the iPad™ is stored directly to the same secure servers Nightingale uses for its existing ASP EMR, and that no patient data will remain on the iPad™ device. Nightingale On Demand for the iPad™ will be made available to the Company’s more than 3,000 EMR users in Canada, as well as all new EMR customers.

UK education software specialist NetSupport, who does have a subsidiary office in Markham, has once again responded to the challenges of the modern classroom with the release of NetSupport Assist; the new cost-effective and efficient way for teachers to manage and engage with their students in a Mac and Linux environment.

Twenty-first century education is providing students with inspiring learning opportunities and giving them unparalleled access to a diverse range of computing assets. However, providing the latest IT infrastructure is only half the equation. Ensuring it is used in the most effective way represents the other half.

With 22 years of development expertise to call upon, NetSupport Assist brings together NetSupport’s core classroom management technology to deliver a focused feature set that ensures teachers can give their time and attention to their students, without having to worry about learning and maintaining the software.

Crystal clear student thumbnails enable teachers to monitor the entire class in a single real-time view, each thumbnail displaying visual indicators to show when applications and websites are in use. To ensure the resources being accessed by each student are appropriate, with a single click you can switch to a view that details exactly which files and websites are open and, if needed, take remedial action to block the internet.

A powerful range of remote control tools enables teachers to interact with students individually or as a class. Teachers can discreetly view an individual desktop to confirm the student is on task and, for example, conduct a two-way chat session without disrupting the rest of the room.

With NetSupport Assist there’s also no need for expensive front-of-class display equipment: real-time presentation tools enable the teacher to ‘show’ their screen to students.

To gauge topic understanding, teachers can, on the fly, poll students for their feedback. A question can be sent to each machine with a pre-defined list of responses and, once the students have responded, the results are instantly reported on the teacher’s screen. Read the rest of this entry »

Communitech’s Venture Services program is expanding to support the burgeoning number of startup companies relying on Communitech for commercialization expertise, with more new companies “walking through the doors” every week, Communitech CEO Iain Klugman said today. The program provides expertise and resources to startup companies, engaging executive-level talent from the Region.

“Part of the tech ecosystem is ensuring that the wealth of executive knowledge in all aspects of entrepreneurship is shared with others who are the future leaders of successful ventures,” said Klugman. “It’s one of the reasons that hundreds of entrepreneurs have chosen Waterloo Region for their startups.”

More than 250 early-stage companies are actively engaged with the Venture Services Program, up from 50 since the inception of the EIR program five years ago, Klugman said. In 2010, more than 7000 hours were spent by EIRs coaching startups.

Communitech continually seeds its Executives-in-Residence team with high-level executives who have experience in “C-level” jobs and can coach startup tech firms, and the program has expanded from one to a complement of six EIRs. Each EIR has experience and expertise in a particular sector and a capability essential to business success. Klugman says most EIRs continue to be active in their field, either as senior executives or entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs work with the team of advisors best suited to their business, and have access not only to the expertise needed, but also resources and connections across a range of disciplines and sectors.

The Venture Services team at Communitech currently includes the following Executives-in-Residence:

– Lillian Bass, a Chartered Accountant who provides leadership and helps get things done for fast-growing small and medium-sized businesses. Lillian was VP Finance and Operations at IGLOO Inc., an early stage business social software company, CFO for engineering company Brock Solutions, and Corporate Financial Manager for ATS Automation Tooling Systems and was involved with the inception of Angstrom Engineering.

– Marc Castel, CEO at Maintenance Assistant Inc. and formerly CEO at ROBOsky, who brings extensive experience in the private and public sectors. Castel serves as Director of Commercialization for the Ontario Centres of Excellence, and works in collaboration with Angel Investment Groups in Ontario. Castel is also the founder of the Resource Alliance, Ontario’s largest network of commercialization professionals.

– Cameron Hay, a professional from the global high-tech world, who was for six years president and CEO of Unitron and previously COO and VP Operations at Unitron; Hay also had experience at IBM and Celestica as a process engineer, and subsequently focused on both entrepreneurial businesses and global high-tech.

– Chris Howlett has been involved with Communitech since its own startup days and applies his PhD in Mathematics to helping companies solve business problems with software systems. He has held executive positions as a VP at Geosign, as CTO at Maplesoft and as CEO at Freedom Intelligence/Aruna. In his current EIR role, Howlett is CTO-in-Residence at Communitech.

– Dave Litwiller brings senior executive experience from Prinova Technologies where he was COO, as well as DALSA Corporation where he was Corporate VP Marketing and Business Development. At Prinova, Litwiller led R&D, Quality Assurance and Product Management for the company’s enterprise software development and delivery. Prior to joining DALSA, Litwiller was a design engineer at several high-tech startups in the wireless, fibre optic telecom and broadcast industries.

– Brett Shellhammer, an expert on aligning marketing, sales and services activities around product lines to build successful organizations. Shellhammer was previously SVP of Marketing at Coreworx Inc. in Kitchener, and was previously SVP of Product Management at Eloqua in Toronto and VP and General Manager of the Global 2000 and Government business unit at OpenText. Shellhammer’s experience also includes having worked with five San Francisco Bay area startups.

Communitech and the Waterloo Accelerator Centre announced in late 2010 that they would team up to ensure one-stop shopping for early-stage companies looking for help taking their business to the next level. Now startups located at both the AC and The Communitech Hub have access to the same ‘Accelerator Program’, operated by the Accelerator Centre, which includes amenities for tenants, educational programming, in-house mentors and access to the Entrepreneurship Council and the Venture Services Program.

EA BioWare™ has partnered with FUNimation® Entertainment, a distributor of Japanese animation in North America, announced today an agreement to create an anime feature film adapted from one of the video game industry’s most revered franchises, Mass Effect™. Tokyo-based anime and international feature film production company T.O Entertainment, Inc. has signed on as a co-producer on the video. Based on the Mass Effect universe, the anime video will tell the tale of an epic science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious, uncharted planets.

Casey Hudson of BioWare, executive producer of the Mass Effect series, will serve as executive producer on the film, along with FUNimation President and CEO Gen Fukunaga and Director of Original Entertainment Chris Moujaes and T.O Entertainment’s CEO Takeichi Honda and Yui Shibata.

“Over the last few years, we have revealed different pieces of the Mass Effect world through different media. Extending the story through an anime medium is another amazing opportunity for us,” said Casey Hudson, Executive Producer for the Mass Effect series. “Partnering with FUNimation ensures that we will bring this rich universe to life with the utmost quality and the same attention to detail that the Mass Effect games are known for.”

“It is thanks to the enormous and passionate Mass Effect fan base that this movie is made possible,” said Gen Fukunaga, President & CEO of FUNimation. “With production underway on the Dragon Age video, we are excited to team up with another BioWare team to add an exciting new chapter to this vast sci-fi world.”

Production of the Mass Effect anime movie has already begun. Digital and home video releases are scheduled for the summer of 2012. The original Mass Effect game and its sequel Mass Effect 2 have received over 250 awards and 100 perfect ‘10’ scores from critics worldwide. Mass Effect 2 is available now for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC. Stay tuned for more news about the continuation of Commander Shepard’s adventure as BioWare will release more information about Mass Effect 3 soon.

In another deal, EA and Hasbro, Inc. have proclaimed that today, April 7th, is Global Monopoly Day on Facebook. Monopoly fans around the world are invited to play Monopoly Millionaires on Facebook to win more than $20,000 in prizes (no purchase necessary, void in Quebec) and participate in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Records® title. The attempt will be measured by the greatest number of people worldwide simultaneously playing Monopoly Millionaires on Facebook. Official adjudicators will be monitoring the game over a 24-hour period from 12 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. PST on April 7. Players can take part during that time frame through Monopoly Millionaires on Facebook and can RSVP to participate at the Global Monopoly Day event page on Facebook any time prior to 11:59 p.m. PST on April 7. As of right now, there are over 74 000 people “attending” the event. Read the rest of this entry »

Talent Lab: Applications are open for the TIFF Talent Lab. Deadline is June 8th.
Nominate: Gemini Awards now accepting Digital Media nominations. Deadline is May 24th.
Apply: Mesh Prize is now open for submissions.
Register: BCIC New Ventures 2011 Competition applications open until April 18th.
Register: Search Engine Strategies Toronto is open for registration.
Survey: Vancouver’s Network Hub is looking for your input on a second location.
Open Today: Disney Store locations at Metrotown in Burnaby and Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga
Hiring: Hothead Games in Vancouver is looking for programmers

Smiles Zen and Smiles Drop, two mobile games by Sykhronics Entertainment have made their debut in the Ovi Store as a dual game pack for $2.99.  The games are also available on iTunes as a pack for $4.99 or you can buy them separately for $2.99 each. There is also a lite version of the two pack on iTunes that lets you experience both games. The Android pack is also priced at $2.99 for the dual game pack. Smiles works on both phones and tablets for iOS and Android.

Smiles Drop is an unconventional action puzzle game of the “match 3+” genre, but unlike other games, you don’t have to wait for the tiles to stop moving before you make your next move. You can also play at your own pace, making matches and using power-ups to work your way through the levels. Also unlike conventional match 3 games, you don’t slide the tiles to make your matches, you use the single tile at the bottom right of the screen, so placement of the tile becomes very strategic as you want to match as many at one time as you can while setting off more matches in succession.

Smile Drop’s companion game Smiles Zen is a relaxing game of strategy that borrowing heavily from the Solitaire and Sudoku style of game play. Instead of clearing the board of pieces, you need to make enough matches to light up the full board.

Smiles features 14 game modes, including Avalanche, where the ice constantly pours out, Hard Mode where the ice is harder to break, Long Play, where multiple matches and combos are easier, and Six, where you can lose in as few as two moves. The games also offer three different themes – blocks, vegetables and weather, along with 140 achievements. You can also keep track of your high scores and game statistics.

Vancouver middleware developer VI Technologies has released a beta version of their SDK, which is currently free. VI Technologies has two game development products based on AI and Animation available. The company plans to release programming tutorials on a regular basis, and its first tutorial is a soldier squad evolving on difficult terrain, which is part of this first SDK release. The next tutorial will be about racing.

Canada Post announced today the addition of a BlackBerry version of its Mobile Apps suite, which broadens its family of mobile applications and provides consumers and small businesses with new ways to access to its Track a Package and Find a Post Office tools.

The new application is available as a free download from BlackBerry App World and follows the release of the app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch a few months ago. These tools provide customers with the ability to track their packages and find nearby post offices, either by typing in an address or by using their device’s GPS feature.

“More and more, our customers are interacting with us on-the-go using their mobile devices,” says Louis O’Brien, Senior vice-president and Chief customer officer at Canada Post. “With this new BlackBerry application we are becoming as mobile as our customers. This is a great example of how we are embracing new technology to become a truly modern post.”

Canada Post is expected to release an Android version of the application this spring, and will also be adding a Find a Postal Code tool to its mobile applications on all three platforms within the next two months.