Village Gamer

Ubisoft has launched Assassin’s Creed Project Legacy beta, a social role-playing game on Facebook Platform. Assassin’s Creed Project Legacy will serve as a companion to the gameplay experience of Assassin’s Creed® Brotherhood, which will be available on November 16, 2010 for the Sony PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. It also marks the first time that Ubisoft has integrated a social game into a console title. Utilizing the web services functionality of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, players can move from game to web and web to game, unlocking hidden features throughout the Assassin’s Creed universe.

Players of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood will be able to unlock up to 25 exclusive missions in Assassin’s Creed Project Legacy, allowing players to earn currency and experience points within the Facebook game. Assassin’s Creed Project Legacy players will also be able to unlock extra content in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. By piecing clues together, players will learn the hidden mysteries within the Assassin’s Creed universe.

For those few of you who have not yet experienced the #1 RPG title, Bioware has just announced Dragon Age: Origins – Ultimate Collection. With an overall value of $114.00, this all-in-one package is retailing for $49.99 USD for the PC version to $59.99 USD for the console versions. It is interesting to note that the Ultimate Collection is not yet listed on Canadian retailers such as GameStop or Amazon, but it is available at their American counterparts, as well as in the EA Store. The Ultimate Collection includes:

Dragon Age™: Origins

Discover the groundbreaking RPG, winner of more than 50 awards including more than 30 ‘Game of the Year’ awards! You are a Grey Warden, one of the last of a legendary order of guardians. With the return of mankind’s ancient foe and the kingdom engulfed in civil war, you have been chosen by fate to unite the shattered lands and slay the archdemon once and for all. Explore a stunning world, make complex moral choices, and engage in bone-crushing visceral combat against massive and terrifying creatures.

Dragon Age™: Origins – Awakening Expansion Pack

The story of the Grey Wardens continues as you are named Commander of the order. As your first duties you have been entrusted with rebuilding the order as well as uncovering the secrets of the darkspawn and how they managed to endure. Fight new enemies, learn new skills and spells, and explore an all-new area of the world, Amaranthine.

All Seven Content Packs

Extend your adventure, collect new rewards, gain new party members, and more as you delve deeper into the Dragon Age™ saga.

* The Stone Prisoner
* Warden’s Keep
* Return to Ostagar
* The Darkspawn Chronicles
* Leliana’s Song
* The Golems of Amgarrak
* Witch Hunt

~ Key Features

* A limited-time offer of the 2009 ‘RPG of the Year’ Dragon Age: Origins, the Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening expansion pack, and all nine additional content packs
* Critically acclaimed winner of more than 50 awards including more than 30 ‘Game of the Year’ awards

Electronic Arts Inc. has introduced a comprehensive insights suite which provides marketers with actionable consumer data based on their activity in and around EA games. A first of its kind, EA’s insights suite is a cross-platform tool which pulls together campaign performance, brand impact, social buzz, and where available, ROI, across all platforms on the EA network – mobile, social, online and console. Over time, advertisers will be able to benchmark their performance against their competitive set.

“One of the biggest challenges for marketers is comprehensively evaluating and learning from their investments across disparate audiences, platforms and content,” said Elizabeth Harz, Senior Vice President of EA’s Global Media Sales team. “Our insights suite is the solution. For the first time, our partners will have actionable insights as a result of their marketing communications to key audiences across all of our content and all of platforms. I can’t wait to get this into our partners’ hands.”

The rich feature set offers many benefits for advertisers, such as:

* Overview of key campaign performance indicators such as impressions, clicks, unduplicated reach, demographic profiles, and social media buzz
* Segmented audience insights based on cross-platform demographic, psychographic and social data
* Ability to drill down into the factors that impact campaign effectiveness including audience engagement, audience profiles, type of creative, measured over time
* Assessment of the social media sentiment and change in the brand conversation the campaign generates Read the rest of this entry »

Edmonton’s Beamdog is happy to announce the availability of great Kalypso games such as Disciples 3, Tropico 3 and Patrician 4.

“I am delighted to form a strategic partnership with Beamdog and look forward to this exciting business development!” says Charlie Barrett Managing Director of Kalypso Media.

“I’ve just started playing Tropico 3 and so far I’m no Fidel. My island people have yet to embrace my doctrine of statue building and banana worship.” rants El Presidente of Beamdog Trent Oster.

Kalypso Media games are available for purchase now, and the offerings on Beamdog’s site includes some free trials.

JoWooD Entertainment, the BVT Group and Toronto’s DreamCatcher Interactive announce details of the planned digital services for ArcaniA – Gothic 4 and therefore react to the needs of the gaming community.

“Digital Rights Management as a module of the digital services has always been a tightrope walk between user friendliness and security of the product. ArcaniA – Gothic 4 is different here” explains Clemens Schneidhofer, JoWooD Entertainment. “With Arcania – Gothic 4 we deliver a high-quality product gamers will enjoy playing for hours. This joy and fun should not be disturbed by intrusive copy protection measures. So SecuROM is the perfect solution for us because it offers the necessary security and at the same time it fulfills our high expectations concerning costumer-friendliness.”

ArcaniA – Gothic 4 can be installed on an unlimited number of PCs and only needs to be activated once via the Internet. To play, which can be done at up to three PCs at a time, neither the original disc nor a constant internet connection is needed. The possibility of an uncomplicated transfer of license between the used PC offers a maximum of flexibility to the customer.

“The implemented digital services will be perfected by a user-friendly Auto Update Feature that informs the gamer pro-actively – without an annoying search – about the availability of a new Update and installs with the permission of the gamer right away” says Sascha Geschwendtner, Product Manager Games Services Sony DADC. “In addition other innovative solutions to increase the usability and the comfort of the game were implemented one of them being the verification of the release date. This feature allows the user to install the game in advance and to start it directly on the release date and therefore helps to avoid unnecessary waiting time to access the game-world.”

The Province of Ontario is helping The Canadian Film Centre, the country’s largest institution for advanced training in film, television and new media, continue its leadership role in developing world-class talent. This training helps Ontarians get jobs in an exciting and growing industry, while giving Ontario’s artists an opportunity to reach a broader audience with their work.

The province is investing $9 million over three years to help expand its acclaimed training programs and further develop Ontario’s screen-based and digital entertainment market. This provincial support builds on a $10 million investment in the film centre announced in 2005, and in 2009, Ontario’s foreign film and television industry contributed $946 million to the provincial economy and The International Indian Film Academy has selected Toronto to be the first North American city to host its annual Weekend and Awards in June 2011.

Growing the creative sector supports the province’s five-year Open Ontario Plan to help seize new global opportunities and turn them into jobs for Ontarians. Two Canadian Film Centre films were selected for the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival: “Champagne” and “How To Rid Your Lover Of A Negative Emotion Caused By You!”

“The Canadian Film Centre has been instrumental in promoting Ontario’s entertainment industry to the world. Our government is proud to support its growth and the key role it plays in developing our cultural industry, which creates thousands of jobs for the province,” said Michael Chan, Minister of Tourism and Culture.

“We applaud the government for recognizing the cultural and economic contribution the Canadian Film Centre makes to the province and are grateful for their continued partnership. This investment will help our talent excel at creating innovative content for global audiences,” said Slawko Klymkiw, Executive Director of the Canadian Film Centre.

Electronic Arts Inc. and Hothead Games™ have unleashed the T-rated DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue (T.O.V.), making it available first for the PlayStation®Network on September 21 for $14.99. Those of us who are Xbox LIVE® Arcade users will have to wait until September 22, when we can grab the expansion for 1200 Microsoft Points.

The follow-up to last summer’s award-winning, chart-topping action RPG, DeathSpank: T.O.V. is a fresh new adventure where players hack, slash and shoot their way through mission after mission, in search of the six mystical thongs that are corrupting the universe. Gamers who download DeathSpank: T.O.V. in its first week (see below) will also receive two pieces of free downloadable content, the Snowy Mountain Dungeon, which adds another layer of gameplay and Sidekick Tankko, a cute-and-cuddly ogre who is available as a playable co-op character.

“We took all of the things that people loved about DeathSpank and amped it up a hundred times more,” said Vlad Ceraldi, Director of Game Development at Hothead Games. “DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue is a bigger, deeper, funnier and longer experience. We’ve added more crazy weapons, more areas to explore, more enemies and more thongs!”

DeathSpank: T.O.V. puts players in the mighty boots of DeathSpank in his quest to destroy the six mystical thongs which have corrupted those who wear them, and thus the universe. Players will travel through war-torn country sides, outer space and even the North Pole in an epic battle against an Evil Santa, collecting tons of loot along the way. DeathSpank T.O.V. also includes a local co-op mode, allowing a second player to help in the search for the thongs with either of his two trusty sidekicks, Sparkles the Wizard or Ninjatastic Steve.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iNxpujdHyY]

Owners of DeathSpank: T.O.V. on Xbox Live Arcade will be able to download both the Snowy Mountain Dungeon and Sidekick Tankko DLC for free from September 22 – 28. After that time period is over, the Snowy Mountain Dungeon will be available for 240 Microsoft Points and Sidekick Tankko will be available for 80 Microsoft Points.

Owners of DeathSpank: T.O.V. on PlayStation Network will receive both pieces of DLC when downloading the main game on PSN from September 20 – 27 (or September 22 – 28 depending on when the game is available in certain regions). After that time period is over, the Snowy Mountain Dungeon will be available for $2.99 and Sidekick Tankko will be available for $0.99.

EA BioWare™ has released new downloadable content for the critically-acclaimed games Dragon Age™: Origins and Mass Effect™ 2, throwing gamers back into epic battles with new stories revolving around key supporting characters in each franchise. The Dragon Age: Origins DLC pack, “Witch Hunt” ($6.99 on PlayStation® Network, 560 Microsoft points on the Xbox 360®, 560 BioWare Points on PC) features a story that reconnects players with one of the series’ original larger-than-life heroes, Morrigan. The Mass Effect 2 DLC pack, “Lair of the Shadow Broker” (800 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, 800 BioWare Points on PC), centers around Liara, a popular character and squadmate from the original Mass Effect.

“Both ‘Witch Hunt’ and ‘Lair of the Shadow Broker’ represent our commitment to keeping the game worlds alive with high quality content, even post-launch,” said BioWare Edmonton General Manager Aaryn Flynn. “Fans are asking for more characters, more adventures and that is what we’re delivering. Morrigan and Liara are two of the most beloved characters in their respective franchises and completing these new journeys will add to the story and action of both games.”

Dragon Age: Origins “Witch Hunt” picks up Morrigan’s story after the defeat of the Archdemon and her disappearance into the shadows. Nearly a year has passed since the Archdemon’s death, and word has reached the Wardens that Morrigan has returned to Ferelden. Seeking to confirm her presence and confront her about her mysterious disappearance, players will head into the forest to tie up this last loose end once and for all. Players can either import their characters from Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Origins — Awakening or create a new, high-level hero.

In Mass Effect 2 “Lair of the Shadow Broker”, Liara T’Soni is tracking down the mysterious Shadow Broker with the hopes of recovering a kidnap victim. Liara enlists the help of Commander Shepard and his crew, chasing clues from the luxurious heights of Illium to the depths of the Shadow Broker’s own secret lair. The new DLC pack adds the Shadow Broker intel center, new research, as well as the chance to continue a relationship with Liara from the original Mass Effect.

New indie house Wild Games Studio Inc. has announced the title and genre of their first game in production, an open-ended RPG/Adventure game. The game, which will release a trailer in October, will be set in third person view. Dhaila’s Adventures will be a game for PC, Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360, with a playable demo coming soon.

Featuring Dhaila, a young fairy whose powers are bound to nature, the game will rely on gameplay taking place in an open world where the player will update the origins of Dhaila and help fulfill her destiny. In addition to the main quest, Dhaila could fill hundreds of side quests depending on the choices and actions proposed. Puzzles and large dungeons filled with traps and monsters will be part of her adventure to enhance the gameplay. Furthermore, Dhaila will be accompanied with a friend that can be controlled by another player to help Dhaila during certain puzzles through teamwork.

Orphaned in the fantasy world of Martania, Dhaila possesses unknown extraordinary powers. She has special skills, including one which can absorb the energy of nature directly through its DNA. She can also absorb the DNA of other creatures, making the heroine able to acquire their shape at any time. Living in one of these valleys, the village seems protected by an unknown magical force, more powerful than in other villages. Dhaila will leave to research her origins, while trying to release Martania of the influence of Dysan, a tyrant who has subjugated the people, forcing them to labour under the threat of the dragons he also holds sway over.

Selected as one of the glorious PAX 10, Retro City Rampage from VBlank Entertainment will be showcased at PAX Prime this weekend at booth 3017, where visitors can meet the dev team, play the game and get some fantastic swag.

This unbelievable FREE swag includes:

* Retro cartridge labels (stick ’em on NES carts)!
* Retro game boxes* (stick your cart in it)!
* Retro plastic case inserts (with BLURST processing)!
*Retro game rental case inserts (“INDESTRUCTIONS”)!

As an added Bonus, the team will also be having a daily draw to win a Retro City Rampage cartridge case in the box! The team does caution, however, that due to the indie budget and a recent price increase on Ramen Noodles, the “box” is a cleverly designed and exciting arts and crafts project. Simply cut out and fold it yourself for some analog fun Alternatively, you could frame it and stick it on the wall of your local museum.

Capcom will be taking up residence at PAX in Booth 652, where you can drop by and try out their upcoming lineup of titles including Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Okamiden and Blue Castle Games‘ Dead Rising 2 – shipping on September 28.

Ubisoft will have three booths at the show. You will find them in spaces 632, 622 and 712. Each booth will feature a variety of Ubisoft’s upcoming releases and lots of fun prizes for booth visitors.

For the first time in the U.S., PAX attendees will get to try out various titles from Ubisoft exclusively for Kinect™ for Xbox 360®, including Your Shape™: Fitness Evolved and MotionSports™, in addition to seeing the first public demo of Child of Eden™. Consumers will also get an opportunity to play H.A.W.X® 2 multiplayer, and see a sneak peak of Outland™, one of Ubisoft’s digital games for PlayStation®Network and Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. In addition, Just Dance® 2 will be available to play onsite at the show.

PAX attendees will have a chance to play Assassin’s Creed® Brotherhood, which will be playable on Xbox 360 and the PlayStation®3 at the Ubisoft booth before its November release. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood fans who pre-order the game onsite at PAX will receive an exclusive Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood T-shirt, and there are also opportunities for consumers who fan the Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Facebook page to win Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood posters. Other giveaways include a Just Dance–themed t-shirt for anyone who pre-orders the October release of Just Dance 2 at PAX. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver Film School has announced that the 2011 iteration of its Game Design Expo will be held in Vancouver on January 22nd and 23rd. The school has also made exclusive session videos from the 2010 Game Design Expo available online. just made exclusive video from the most recent Game Design Expo available for free online at the Expo’s website. These interviews, panel discussions, and presentations let you hear from the makers of ModNation Racers, Mass Effect 2, Dead Rising 2, and many more.

Autodesk and EA Sports present the Game Developer Webcast, featuring a discussion with Simon Sherr, Animation Director for Electronic Arts Tiburon, focused on how EA Sports MMA heavily leveraged Autodesk® HumanIK® in their production of complex character interaction. In this session we discuss implementation of HumanIK features for EA’s Mixed Martial Arts fighting game including: dynamic Footplanting, Non-Uniform Player Scaling, Interaction-based player scale compensation, and partial body “Relative IK” interactions. This Webcast will take place at 10:00A.M. PDT on September 9th. The one hour session is free, but registration is required.

Attention all of you Mac-using Dragon Age fans: Bioware’s Dragon Age Origins Awakening is now available for your platform over at GameTree Online for $29.95.

“The Dragon Age franchise has been exceptionally well received by Mac gamers and we’re excited about continuing the saga through the release of this expansion pack and all DLC add-on game content for the Mac community”, commented Vikas Gupta, President and CEO of TransGaming. “Our strategic partnership with Bioware provides Mac gamers with some of the industry’s most acclaimed RPG games and illustrates yet another example of how TransGaming’s technology and distribution channels are empowering EA to bring their best games to the broadest consumer audience.”

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening is available now, plus Mac gamers can also enjoy great DLC add-on content packages such as Return to Ostagar, Darkspawn Chronicles, Leliana’s Song, and many more this year. Players are encouraged to sign up for GameTreeOnline news updates or Twitter alerts, as more great DLC add-on content releases for the Mac will arrive over the coming months, aligned with the PC releases.

Executive producer and Project Director on Mass Effect, Casey Hudson will reveal how BioWare navigated the challenge to create an (even more successful) sequel to Mass Effect in a keynote address at Future Game On. The new conference, which is the new European annual gathering for developers, creators and game and apps researchers in every field, will be held on September 9th and 10th at the Parc des Expositions de Paris – Porte de Versailles, hall 7. Read the rest of this entry »

Now you can compete against your Facebook and Twitter friends in the latest release of ApeZone’s SoliScare card game for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. The new version adds 11 leaderboards and 18 achievements to this already addictive little card game.

SoliScare lets you embark on a fantastic journey through graveyards, haunted houses, and spooky castles. Put the beat down on ghosts, zombies, and classic movie monsters in 100 levels of play.

Game play follows one simple rule: move monster cards to your hero pile by choosing cards that are one higher or lower than your current hero card. As you make longer card runs, you’ll capture these creatures and add them to your jailhouse. Capture all 37 ghosts, zombies, and monsters to become the new Van Helsing.

Ludia Inc., and Sony Pictures Consumer Products announced today that Ludia will create video games based on the hugely popular Pyramid series of television game shows. The licensing deal will result in games across major console platforms, PC/Mac, iPhone/iPod touch and iPad, the first of which games is slated for release in Q1 2011.

“Pyramid is a classic TV game show favorite, and we are thrilled to create games around the property so that fans of the show and broader audiences alike are able to feel the thrill of reaching ‘Winner’s Circle’ from home,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “This deal serves to further expand Ludia’s prominence across platforms in the game show video game category, which has been a successful growth strategy for us.”

Pyramid will feature all the favorite elements from the show as the game pits pair against pair in a bid to reach the coveted ‘Winner’s Circle’. Players pick from six categories on the pyramid-shaped game board, and guess a series of words or phrases as described by their team mate. The duo that scores more points than their opposing team wins the match, and gets a shot at the grand prize. Additionally, the Pyramid video games will incorporate thousands of questions, connected gaming elements, single and multiplayer game modes, as well as reward systems to fuel the competitive fun between players.

“Pyramid has been a long-standing and successful game show franchise, and we are delighted to work with Ludia to create new opportunities that will bring an engaging entertainment experience to fans of the show,” added Mark Caplan, Vice President Licensing, Sony Pictures Consumer Products.

Three of EA Sports’ titles are vying for the top spot in the Golden Joystick Awards. FIFA 10, Skate 3 and 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa are all in the final run to the top. Ubisoft Canada is also competing against itself in the Action Title category, with both Assassin’s Creed 2 and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction in the running.

Assassin’s Creed 2: Bonfire of the Vanities and FIFA 10 are finalists for Downloadable Game of the Year while Next Level’s Punch Out!! and EA Sports’ Fight Night Round 4 have entered the ring for Fighting Game of the Year. EA Blackbox is trying to be first over the finish line in the Online Game of the Year with Need For Speed World while franchise twins Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines and Assassin’s Creed Discovery are both in the running for Portable Game of the Year. We have a cross-country showdown going between EA Montreal’s NFS Shift and United Front’s Modnation Racers in the Racing Game of the Year category.

Bioware fans will have a real problem voting in the Role Playing Game of The Year category as Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age Origins Awakening have all made it to the final list. In the soundtrack category, we have Mass Effect 2 competing against Assassin’s Creed 2, and in the RTS category we have household favourite Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising from Relic. The voting for Ultimate Game of the Year is going to be hot and heavy with Assassin’s Creed 2, Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins all hoping to take the podium. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver studio Zeros 2 Heroes Media Inc. has announced the imminent release of their alternate reality game featuring the use of augmented reality technology on mobile smartphones.

Animism: The Gods’ Lake alternate reality game will be unveiled Aug. 28 with a live action event at Fan Expo Canada in Toronto. It introduces a unique digital media twist to the conventional broadcast of a TV show based on Aboriginal legends. The show’s pilot episode will be premiered online on Oct. 31, 2010 and broadcast on APTN, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, on Jan. 1, 2011.

Alternate reality game (ARG) technology involves interactive narratives in which physical real-world objects and images are augmented with virtual computer-generated imagery. In this game, participants use a mobile smartphone to scan posters, thereby unlocking a series of clues to the Animism plot. Full instructions on how to play are available online.

The “Animism” story is a mixture of modern urban fantasy with traditional First Nations mythology. Centred in a contemporary city with modern characters, the situation starts to unravel when an unscrupulous property developer unwittingly devastates an ancient sacred site, unleashing powerful forces. The heroine must somehow restore balance to a city where giant mythical creatures skulk in back alleys, demons drift through corporate boardrooms and the Wild Hunt is about to start once more. More information on the story will become available online on August 28th.

“We’re excited not only to introduce new digital entertainment technology to Canada, but also to add to the fan experience by giving them an active role in the narrative,” said Matt Toner, President, Zeros 2 Heroes. “By extending the Animism story to live action, mobile, Internet and traditional broadcast media, we can reach more fans in all the ways they like to be entertained.”

The ARG and motion comic were created by a team of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal writers, artists, designers and programmers. Both are aimed primarily at fans 13-25 years old, both male and female. While based on First Nations’ legends, the use of contemporary urban settings is intended to appeal to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal audiences.

“There is a wealth of untold stories and undiscovered characters with themes that are still relevant today,” Toner said. “We’re just updating the settings to something more contemporary and understandable for modern audiences.”

Funding for “Animism: The Gods’ Lake” has been provided by the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and British Columbia Film.

Zeros 2 Heroes will unveil the new alternate reality game at a special Aug. 28 event at Fan Expo Canada in Toronto. The event will feature actors playing roles from the Animism story. Participants will be the first to unearth the mysteries behind the motion comic plot at this live action event. By downloading a unique alternate reality mobile app, they can unlock a series of clues by scanning various Animism posters on-site with their mobile devices.

The showcase runs 4-5 p.m. on Saturday Aug. 28 in room No.103A at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and will also be present throughout Fan Expo at booth No. 4007.

My 360 is going to be very busy downloading new DLC from Bioware next month. Earlier this week the studio announced The Lair of the Shadowbroker for Mass Effect 2, which is due out on September 7th. Also coming out on the same day is Witch Hunt for Dragon Age Origins. It appears that this DLC chapter will cost the same as Leliana’s Song, 560 MS Points or $7.00.

The dreaded Archdemon has been slain and the advance of the darkspawn halted by a lone, heroic Grey Warden. The kingdom rejoices, but at least one question remains: what happened to Morrigan? The sorceress joined the Wardens cause, but it is said her true purpose was not revealed until the eve of the last battle. She vanished into the shadows, and while rumours claimed she crossed over the mountains into Orlais, no trace of her path could be found. She was never heard from again… until now. Nearly a year has passed since the Archdemon’s death, and word has reached the Wardens that Morrigan has returned to Ferelden. She has been sighted in the southern wilderness where she was first encountered, but is it truly her? If it is, then why is she here and what secret does she carry with her? The Warden heads into the forest to find out and tie up this last loose end once and for all.

Key Features:

* Confront Morrigan in this dramatic conclusion to the Origins storyline
* Earn powerful rewards that transfer into your Awakening and Origins campaign
* Import your character from Origins or Awakening or create a new, high-level hero

Witch Hunt will also introduce Ariane, a new character who is a gifted Dalish warrior, and her clan’s best hunter. When an ancient artifact belonging to the clan’s Keeper is stolen, one with a history tied to the very roots of the elven people, Ariane is charged with the task of reclaiming it. She is determined to carry out her solemn duty, and when her task turns out to intersect with the Warden’s quest to find Morrigan she realizes that there may be far more to the artifact’s disappearance than simple theft. There are two more character links, but as of right now they are both “sealed” – perhaps more will be revealed in the coming days?

Unity Technologies has announced that Jesse Schell, CEO of Schell Games, will keynote at Unite 2010. Unite 2010 is Unity Technologies’ fourth annual developer conference for artists, programmers, designers, researchers, publishers and enthusiasts taking place November 10-12 at the historic Marché Bonsecours in Old Montreal, Canada following the Montreal International Game Summit.

Jesse is a lauded author and lecturer on the subject of games design and his Schell Games studio is using Unity to develop ‘The Mummy Online’ in collaboration with Universal and Bigpoint. This Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) is set to launch in Winter 2010.

“I’ve been dreaming for years about a ubiquitous 3D solution for web browsers, and Unity is that solution,” said Jesse Schell, CEO of Schell Games. “It’s changing the face of online game development, and we’re just at the beginning of what is possible.” Read the rest of this entry »