Village Gamer

Vancouver – Electronic Arts has announced two new partnerships involving local studios. First, EA announced that it has inked an exclusive deal with Klei Entertainment to bring the studio’s provocative new game Shank to Xbox LIVE® Arcade, PlayStation®Network and PC this summer. Featuring a unique art style inspired by graphic novels and golden age comics, Shank blends the intensity of classic 2D side-scrolling action games with a gripping and mature storyline. The cinematic brawler is a finalist for “Excellence in Visual Art” at this year’s Independent Games Festival and will be featured at the IGF Pavilion during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week.

“Our mission at EA Partners is to work with the best talent across the game industry, and we are thrilled to extend our expertise to the leading creative developers in downloadable indie games,” said Jamil Moledina, Outreach Director, Business Development at EA Partners. “The team at Klei Entertainment is among the best in the world at developing fun and engaging titles for digital distribution platforms, and Shank is an amazing experience.”

“As an independent development studio, we always focus on creating great, authentic experiences for players. Working with EA Partners expands our distribution and allows us to bring Shank to a much wider audience,” said Jamie Cheng, CEO of Klei Entertainment. “They have been a fantastic partner and their understanding of the space is incredibly exciting.”

Taking place in a stylized, modern-Western setting, Shank tells a classic betrayal story directed through a sophisticated cinematic lens, with addictive action gameplay found in classic 2D side-scrolling games.

EA’s second announced deal today is another exclusive publishing deal, this time with Hothead Games and their newest title DeathSpank, which will be coming to Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PlayStation®Network in 2010. Developed under the vision of The Secret of Monkey Island creator and industry icon Ron Gilbert, DeathSpank blends a story filled with Gilbert’s unique humor and wit with classic and addictive action RPG gameplay. Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal – Interactive entertainment company Ludia and FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) today announced the availability of The Price Is Right 2010 App on the App Store. Now iPhone™ and iPod® touch users can “Come On Down!” to new pricing games, increased customization options and dazzling graphics, along with all the familiar and much-loved game play of the original title. The app is based on the Emmy Award-winning and longest-running game show in television history.

“Ludia is thrilled to deliver another exciting game experience based on the iconic The Price Is Right game show franchise,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “The Price Is Right 2010 App, with its fresh new batch of pricing games and enhanced production values is sure to please new and existing fans of the game on the iPhone and iPod touch.”

The Price Is Right 2010 App features:

* Brand-new pricing games to play including Clock Game, Golden Road, Safe Crackers and more.
* Newly upgraded graphics, including stages, Big Wheel, and other game elements combined with all the familiar music and sound effects to create a true-to-show game experience.
* Original, fully customizable 3D player avatars: choose hairstyles, clothing, accessories and more.
* Two game modes: single player and multiplayer.
* Unlock bonus items as a reward for progress in the game.

“Now in its 39th year, The Price Is Right is truly one of the most popular game shows on television,” added Olivier Delfosse, Director of Interactive for program licensor FME. “We are happy to see the franchise continue to thrive so players can enjoy the game on revolutionary devices like the iPhone and iPod touch.”

The Price Is Right 2010 is available for $4.99 from the Apple App Store.

Calgary – Two announcements from Ph03nix New Media today. First they announced their rebate offer for Hottie Hookups through their innovative iPhone Game Rebate program. Starting today through March 10, customers who purchase Hottie Hookups from the App Store qualify for a $1.99 cash rebate. There are only 1,000 rebates available so act fast!

Hottie Hookups is a unique time-management game from the creators of the acclaimed #1 iPhone game Sally’s Spa. Blending elements from line drawing and castle defense games, Hottie Hookups is an irreverent, ironic game where you must connect hotties on the dance floor while defending them from nerds, fatties, and geezers using a variety of techniques.

To receive iPhone Game Rebates, follow these three simple steps:

1. Register
2. Send in your iTunes receipt
3. Receive the cash rebate once the proof-of-purchase has been confirmed

The second announcement from Ph03nix New Media involves their casual games division, Triple Hippo Studios, who has released their much anticipated casual PC title, The Tarot’s Misfortune. Available exclusively for the next month on Big Fish Games, The Tarot’s Misfortune leads players on a mysterious and dangerous adventure as they solve puzzles and uncover intriguing clues about the missing Villagers of Luzio.

“We believe we’ve succeeded in creating a game that will keep players of all levels captivated by intertwining challenging puzzles along with an intriguing storyline,” said Michael Grills, Director of Operations at Triple Hippo Studios.

In The Tarot’s Misfortune, players take on the role of tarot reader, Rosalee, who awakens disoriented in prison and must embark on a thrilling journey. Exploring the town of Luzio, players will piece together cryptic clues and find the lost tarot card deck to uncover the secrets of the village. To advance through each of the 12 beautifully detailed levels, players must uncover specific hidden objects in Luzio. Gameplay is intuitive yet addicting so both experienced casual gamers and newcomers to the genre will be entertained and enchanted. The Tarot’s Misfortune will be released to other game portals at the end of March 2010.

Montreal – The MODSIM World Canada organizing committee has put out an official call for speakers and Papers. MODSIM World™ is a unique multi-disciplinary International Conference & Exposition for the exchange of knowledge, research experience, and technology in modeling and simulation across industry, government and academia. Issues include: Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto – Spongelab Interactive has earned its third major international award – first prize in the Interactive Media category from the Journal of Science and National Science Foundation’s 2009 Visualization Challenge. This is the second consecutive year which has seen Spongelab Interactive named as the winner.

Spongelab Interactive’s Genomics Digital Lab (GDL) is an integrated on-line learning environment where users experience the world of biology through discovery-based learning. GDL (version 4) is currently being used in over 50 countries around the world, illustrating a demand for new technology-based and game-based teaching tools. Spongelab continues to promote the use of immersive learning technologies to school boards and districts across Canada to increase funding commitments for the use of leading-edge interactive digital learning tools in their secondary schools and in the mean time plans to continue to keep costs minimal for individual users and classrooms. “At the high school level, one of our biggest problems across North America is that enrollment in science & math is tanking, especially among girls,” said Dr. Jeremy Friedberg, one of the founders of Spongelab Interactive. “Well-designed educational games are an amazing way to reconnect with students in an engaging and relevant way.”

GDL, was developed as the first part in a series of modular, curriculum-aligned games and interactive simulations covering an array of topics in biology. To meet the needs of students, teachers, and schools, GDL is designed to be fully accessible online from home or school through a web browser, with no downloads, or installation, and provides teachers with class management tools and integrated real-time assessment. Built around a custom learning environment, GDL employs rich, high-quality- 3D graphics designed to captivate and immerse users in the biology they’re studying.

Encompassing varying levels of difficulty, one of the many games engages students in a discovery process to ‘save’ a dying plant by identifying the correct air, light and soil conditions. GDL is built around discovery-based and self-directed learning where users are highly engaged and learn by ‘doing’ and by “playing the biology.” For example, students can choose to feed their plant water, salt water, vinegar, or soda to discover the impact on their plant: will it flourish or shrivel?

In other games, students use their imagination to come up with an “artificial leaf” or they can learn about how plants are the source of our food, fuel and everything in-between. ‘Transcription Hero’ allows students’ to take on the role of an enzyme to transcribe DNA.

Montreal – Twelve months ago, Montreal mom Michelle Skamene was unhappy about the fact that her two boys, then aged 8 and 9, spent very little time reading. Video games and computers were too much competition for their books. She and her husband, Emmanuel Greciet, decided to put a system in place whereby their kids had to earn TV or game console time by reading: 1 minute TV time for every minute of reading. An IT consultant working in field of website design, Mrs. Skamene set up a program for them to log their reading and TV time to help everyone keep track.

When friends asked if they could use it for their own children, Mrs. Skamene expanded the website to allow parents to set up their own rewards for their kids, and included a number of mini-games and features that the children could activate by reading and reading alone. The kids loved it, and it worked! They are no longer the reluctant readers they once were. “The thing is to get them started. We just needed that little extra motivation to get the ball rolling, and turning their TV time into a reward was the key. Once they made reading a regular part of their routine, and found books they liked, the incentives, really, were no longer necessary.” says Mrs. Skamene, who also created a page to help kids choose the right books. Read the rest of this entry »

Burlington – Available now on Xbox LIVE Indie Games, Curling 2010 brings the sport of curling to a new (less-old) generation. The first release from newcomer dadoo Games hopes to blow the dust off the often mocked sport by demonstrating the strategy and skill required to curl.

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

Curling 2010 features multiple game play modes, from traditional matches to target competitions to a fully featured practice mode. Most importantly, the game features a guided tutorial and detailed explanations of the rules of curling to give those new to the sport a fighting chance. Online play against up to three other players over Xbox LIVE allows curlers to compete for worldwide bragging rights. Competitive computer opponents come in three levels of difficulty to make learning to curl enjoyable for all ages. Download the free trial from the XBox marketplace today, or purchase the full game for only 240 MS points!

Montreal – EA Mobile™ has announced that it has signed an agreement with THQ Wireless, a division of THQ Inc., and independent software studio Team17 Software, which grants EA Mobile the worldwide publishing rights to the existing mobile Worms™ catalogue and the license to develop future Worms games on mobile phones. As part of the deal, the first new title in development at EA’s Romania studio is WORMS, which is now available to download for mobile phones around the world.

The classic turn-based comedy war game returns to mobile with a bang. Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, the original experience is being updated for 2010 with all the favourite weapons and outlandish fun of the series. WORMS also includes a host of new features such as weapons, modes, levels and enhanced graphics to keep players worming their way back for more explosive fun.

Effective immediately, the catalogue of existing games licensed to EA Mobile also includes Worms 2008, Worms 2007, Worms Forts 3D, Worms Crazy Golf and Worms 2. Team 17 retains the rights to existing and future iPhone/iPod touch versions of the Worms franchise.

Read the rest of this entry »

London – Big Blue Bubble Inc. has officially launched Thumpies, a truly original beat matching game for iPhone/iPod Touch. Special version designed for iPad will be available on the launch date. WiiWare™ and PC versions will follow up shortly.

Thumpies is a unique rhythm based music game for players of all ages. The best way to describe Thumpies is a rhythm game crossed with juggling. Players tap the screen to match the beat of bouncing Thumpies, creating layers of a song. If the player taps the targets in time, their Thump-o-Meter slowly rises, but if the player misses or taps out of time, the meter falls. Unlike typical rhythm based games, Thumpies uses a mechanic of bouncing in time instead of just a series of notes.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN8dFYrq8js]

The quirky art design of Thumpies is accompanied by a unique musical score composed by award winning composer and industry veteran David Kerr. The music was crafted with game play in mind, giving the player a harmonizing experience. Players also have the chance to unlock progressively bizarre Thumpies characters by collecting different colored butterflies. But be warned, hungry Thumpies might just eat them up before you get a chance to catch them!

Beware Internet Users! The Thumpies are on the loose and have taken over their own Facebook page! They want to invite all humanoids to a very special Live Chat . . . do you dare converse with the Thumpies? Thumpies is a game that will keep people of all ages hooked with its addictive, quirky and stylistic gameplay.

Congratulations to the teams of Assassin’s Creed 2 and FIFA 10 for making the shortlist in the BAFTA Game of the Year nominations. The public are invited to vote in this category, so I hope you’ll head over to the vote page and support our Canadian products. The Awards ceremony will take place on March 19th at the London Hilton.

Vancouver – IUGO‘s fantastical and ridiculously fun dual stick shooter, Daisy Mae’s Alien Buffet is now available in the App Store for the introductory price of $1.99 USD.  Daisy Mae’s peaceful, simple life in her little desert trailer park will never be the same. A full scale alien attack on earth has begun and Daisy becomes the unlikely heroine outta nowhere. Take hold of the steering wheel and help Daisy Mae shoot and blast her way to victory in this fun and quirky dual stick shooter. Aliens: you have been served!

Features:

* More aliens than you can shake a stick at!
* The baddest selection of weapons known to folks ’round these here parts
* Purty graphics and fancy sounds effects
* Sassy costumes to unlock for Daisy Mae’s alien hoedown
* Daisy Mae “taunt” moves to kill the aliens dead in their tracks
* Control options to suit every varmint’s needs
* VIP points to be earned towards an additional costume
* Global leaderboards
* Auto save

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOX8oRM6-FY]

Toronto – The Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) proudly announces that it has invested $2.9 M in funding support through its Entertainment and Creative Cluster Partnerships Fund (PDF) to leverage an additional $7.1 M from 94 partners to support 17 innovative projects.

The Partnerships Fund was designed to help Ontario’s entertainment and creative industries invest in smart ways to grow and increase their competitive advantage in the global marketplace. The industries eligible for funding include book and magazine publishing, music, film, television, interactive digital media and commercial theatre. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – Lotusland Studios has announced their latest project, Truckmodz, which is completely intuitive with no need for tutorials or menus – the fun starts instantly! As stated on their web site, even the littlest drivers will quickly discover how to build trucks and play with them. Just touch, swipe and shake! Kids of all ages will enjoy hundreds of vehicle combinations, complete with fully animated accessories and realistic sound effects.

Truckmodz encourages cognitive development in younger children by strengthening motor skills and refining early learning exercises like sorting, matching and decision-making. The unstructured game play gives kids a feeling of control and independence, and parents can rest assured knowing that no points or time-limits make for a relaxed, no-pressure experience.

But let’s face it – driving a giant rubber ducky down the highway is just plain awesome. Players will be able to mod their little big rigs in their garage, where they do things like add a snow plow and a sweet new paint job. They can then kick back, crank up the tunes, and enjoy the scenery as their creations roll on down the highway.

Featuring:

* completely 3D environment and models
* vast amounts of colors and combinations
* tons of animated accessories including horns, sirens, headlights, exhaust pipes and much more
* ever-changing endless environment
* realistic sound effects
* CB radio
* drop down garage to customize and spray-paint your vehicles
* smoke and sparks
* four different camera angles – shake device to check out your ride from all sides
* awesome original soundtrack
* totally intuitive, fun for all ages

No launch date or expected price point information has been released, but we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we know.

Montreal – Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery App is now available for purchase ($9.99USD) in the iTunes App store. Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery is the first in a series of gaming franchises, from hard core to casual games, that Ubisoft plans to develop and publish for the App Store.  iPhone and iPod touch users are invited to discover an exciting chapter of the Assassin’s Creed II storyline. Players follow Ezio as he travels to 15th-century Spain to rescue fellow assassins being held under the guise of the Inquisition, only to uncover a Templar plot to sail west and discover the New World.

Vancouver – IUGO has just announced that Cliffed: Norm’s World is now available on the iTunes App Store, and it’s free. Cliffed: Norm’s World is the Lite version of the highly addictive title Cliffed ($1.99USD), and allows players to experience  unlimited game play as the Cliffed character Norm. This lite version also allows for full-featured multiplayer experiences.

Edmonton – Another special on iTunes involves Bioware’s Mass Effect 2. Dark Horse Comics will be releasing Mass Effect Redemption #1 for free for one day only, on February 3. After the initial 24 hour period, Redemption #1 will then sell for $0.99USD. Redemption #2 is also scheduled for release in comic book stores on February 3. In Redemption #2, Liara T’Soni searches Omega — the most dangerous space station in the galaxy — for clues that could save humanity’s greatest hero, Commander Shepard. Redemption #1 is also included in the Collector’s Edition of Mass Effect 2.

Vancouver – Relic has released some early looks at the Chaos multiplayer units for the upcoming Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising. Head over to the Relic Blog to get a closer look at the Space Marines, Havocs and Heretics who have fallen to the Dark gods of Chaos. Relic also recently released the full soundtrack for Company of Heroes, which is available for free on the game’s Steam page, where you can also purchase all three Company of Heroes titles for a special packaged price of $49.99USD.

Vancouver – Absolute® Software Corporation has launched Absolute Manage, the rebranded version of the Company’s recently-acquired cross-platform IT asset management solution. The new solution from Absolute complements its Computrace® family of data security, tracking and theft recovery solutions with full-featured computer life-cycle management capabilities.

Absolute Manage, formerly LANrev, provides organizations with an easy and automated way to manage PC and Mac® computers, as well as iPhone® devices, from a single interface. IT administrators using Absolute Manage can efficiently manage all their assets by automating time-consuming IT processes such as software distribution, patch management, asset inventory and imaging. Additionally, it helps organizations save money by allowing them to track installed applications and licenses, redeploy under-used licenses and hardware to maximize inventory, and avoid non-compliance fines. The MSRP for a standalone one-year license is $24.95 USD.

Some of the capabilities of Absolute Manage include the following:

– Application & License Management – Deploy software and manage licenses across the network.

– Security, Change & Configuration Management – Remotely monitor and adjust configurations, and execute files.

– Automated Patch Management – Centrally manage and install patches, and report on patch status for all managed systems.

– Computer Imaging – Install a complete OS plus all standard applications onto Mac computers while in use or just out of the box.

– Power Management – Comply with green initiatives and lower total cost of ownership by remotely enforcing power saving policy profiles.

– Asset Inventory – Collect hardware and software data points from devices over the network and analyze the information for timely and fact-based asset management decisions.

Calgary – ICEsoft™ Technologies, Inc. has announced the release of ICEpdf 4.0, an open source PDF rendering technology for Java.

ICEpdf is a lightweight Java rendering library that can be easily integrated within any Java-based client application or deployed on a server in headless mode as a PDF Servlet (JSP or JSF). ICEpdf is ideal for providing PDF viewing and navigation as well as PDF content conversion and extraction without the hassles of Java-to-native integration issues.

This latest version of ICEpdf contains numerous product improvements, bug fixes, and is now capable of:

* PDF document editing and saving for Link Annotation edits.
* Text selection and clipboard actions.
* The search API has been completely revamped allowing for search result highlighting, and more.

“Since ICEpdf was open sourced 8 months ago, the product has experienced unprecedented adoption”, says Robert Lepack”, VP of Marketing and Business Development at ICEsoft. “This latest release of ICEpdf adds important new features and capabilities that our customers, as well as community members, have been asking for.”

Vancouver – IUGO’s latest adventure on the iPhone, Daisy Mae’s Alien Buffet, offers over-the-top alien slaying. Daisy Mae’s peaceful, simple life in her little desert trailer park will never be the same. A full scale alien attack on earth has begun and Daisy becomes the unlikely heroine outta nowhere. Take hold of the steering wheel and help Daisy Mae shoot and blast her way to victory in this fun and quirky dual stick shooter.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvJFT6uiLe0]

Aliens: you have been served! Daisy Mae’s Alien Buffet is slated for release in February of this year for the iPhone.

Features:

* More aliens than you can shake a stick at!
* The baddest selection of weapons known to folks ‘round these here parts
* Purty graphics and fancy sounds effects
* Sassy costumes to unlock for Daisy Mae’s alien hoedown
* Daisy Mae “taunt” moves to stun the aliens silly
* Control options to suit every varmint’s needs
* VIP points to be earned towards an additional costume
* Global leaderboards
* Auto save