Village Gamer

There’s more loony Skatoony fun on the way for TELETOON fans. The Canadian broadcaster has ordered a second season of the marblemedia-produced hit TV series Skatoony (26 half-hour English and 26 half-hour French episodes), and further expansion of the popular multiplayer online game on Skatoony.ca. Skatoony is based on the Cartoon Network UK format.

“Skatoony has proven to be a very successful franchise both in English and French Canada, and we’re excited to be starting production on its second season in association with our long-time partner TELETOON,” says Mark Bishop, Executive Producer/Partner, marblemedia. “The great thing about Skatoony is that it encourages education and learning through fun and engaging trivia games,” adds Bishop. “There is a high-level of interactivity both on-air and online that resonates well with kids.”

Production of the second season has begun in Toronto on the animated/live-action comedy series that pits tweens and toons against each other in competition through frantic, trivia-based rounds – but only one will be named Skatoony Quiz Champ. The live-action portion of Skatoony is being filmed in front of a green screen with contestants chosen through an audition process, which took place in Toronto and Montreal over the past two months. In addition, teletoon.com held a wildly successful contest and a winner from both English and French Canada will appear on the show. To add to the excitement of the second season, there will be special “celebrity” toon appearances by popular characters from other TELETOON hit series, such as Total Drama Revenge of the Island (Fresh TV) and Jimmy Two-Shoes (Breakthrough Entertainment).

“TELETOON is incredibly excited to bring Skatoony on board for a second season – a series that has become a beloved part of our programming lineup,” says Alan Gregg, Director, Original Content, TELETOON Canada inc. “We’re delighted to have more celebrity appearances from TELETOON’s other original productions that will enhance the new season and the overall game-show experience that Skatoony brings to our viewers.”

This year, teletoon.com launched its first-ever multi-player online game, the marblemedia-produced Skatoony Home Game (available at Skatoony.ca), which has been played over 85,000 times with over one million trivia questions asked to date. Kids play against other real kids in real time as well as computer-generated characters, and compete in the same trivia rounds featured on the television series, such as Bang On or Bogus and Hoo Flung Dung. The more kids play, the more Skatoony Bucks they collect, which can be used in-game to purchase accessories to customize both their avatar and their quiz show block.

Distributed internationally by Distribution360, Skatoony TV and Skatoony Interactive were produced with the financial participation of TELETOON Canada inc.; Canada Media Fund; Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund; Ontario Film & Television Tax Credit; Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit; Canadian Television Fund – Digital Media Program; OMDC Interactive Digital Media Fund.

News that I’ve known about for a couple of weeks now can (and has been) finally be announced publicly – Howard Donaldson, a co-founder of the recently closed Propaganda Games and former Disney Interactive Studios VP of Studio Operations will be taking over the President’s position at DigiBC.  Mr. Donaldson will be splitting his time between running DigiBC and participating in the CEOs in Residence program over at the Centre 4 Growth. He is also the chair of the BC Interactive Task Force, the organization which spearheaded the implementation of the Interactive Tax Credits program in BC. It is my hope that under Mr. Donaldson’s leadership DigiBC will be able to move forward and become a strong force for the province’s interactive digital media, wireless and transmedia industries. Howard Donaldson will officially take over the President’s seat later this month.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada has  announced two new initiatives designed to help Canadian marketing professionals keep up to date with recent research in Interactive advertising, plus gain access to the deep digital expertise that resides within IAB Canada’s own 250+ Member-companies.

The first Monday of each month, as part of the new “Faces Of IAB” program, IAB Canada will release a thought-leading Research Report, White Paper, Advertiser Case-Study, How-To Checklist, etc. that has been developed by one of IAB Canada’s Member-companies.

Through the Faces of IAB program, the Canadian marketing community will now get one-week of free access to important or even proprietary information from IAB Canada Members, that otherwise, might only be presented to a select group of that Member’s contacts, and only in select cities across Canada.

April’s selected “Faces Of IAB” Research Report is Carat and Microsoft’s New Shopper Journeys, which details how consumers’ purchase paths in four key retail categories (apparel, quick-service restaurants, groceries and home electronics), have changed in response to a variety of economic pressures and digital developments in the past two years, and how offline, Online and in-store media play a role in shaping purchase decisions now.

The second Wednesday (popularly known as Hump Day) of each month, IAB Canada will release its Hump Day Bump Of Research, an outstanding Research Report culled from the hundreds of global industry resources and newsfeeds that IAB Canada reviews in order to provide Custom Digital Marketing Research consulting for its Members. The research will be available for download by the entire Canadian marketing community — again, for one week only — on the IABCanada.com Homepage.

April’s selected “Hump Day Bump Of Research” Report is Delvinia and Environic Analytics “AskingCanadians™ Social Media PRIZMC2-Link,” which teams up PRIZMC2 (Environic Analytics widely-used segmentation system that assigns Canadians into 66 unique lifestyle types), with Delvinia’s annual AskingCanadians™ Social Media Survey — resulting in the first database that enables Canadian marketers to determine the Social Media behavior of all segments of Canadian society, and target products and messages to Canadian consumers based on a detailed understanding of their Social Media habits and lifestyles.

The following week, both forms of research will be brought back into the IABCanada Knowledge Centre, for access by IAB Canada Members-only.

“The goal of IABC Canada’s Faces Of IAB and Hump Day Bump of Research programs is simple,” says Paula Gignac, President, IAB Canada. “To provide time-stressed marketers with at least two pieces of credible and immediately-usable digital advertising research per month, that they don’t have to find or vet on their own; and to promote IAB Canada Members’ expertise in all things digital at the same time.”

“Trust and reliability are key attributes we look for when sourcing industry research,” says Karl Flanders, VP, Media Director, Saatchi & Saatchi. “IAB Canada has a proven track record of supplying us with leading-edge articles, facts and insights that help us help our clients, so we’re excited to know that we’ll be hearing about new Member and non-Member research finds in a more regular manner as a result of this programme. The initiative will also help the industry understand which IAB Canada Members or other global companies could be potential research partners in the future — a real “win-win” for everyone.”

Research In Motion will be the guest of honour at tonight’s MobileMonday Toronto, being held at at the MaRS facility. This marks the second time that RIM has taken the stage at MobileMonday Toronto to showcase upcoming initiatives for 2011 and beyond. In February 2009, RIM discussed the launch of BlackBerry World, and this time around, RIM will discuss the launch of important BlackBerry platform products such as the Playbook. Tyler Lessard, Vice President BlackBerry Global Alliances and Developer Relations, will take the stage to talk about the Playbook, ecosystems, and developer programs for business professionals and developers. Teams from RIM Developer Relations and Roger’s Catalyst will be on-hand with presentation booths to answer any questions for audience attendees during the networking portion of the event.

“This is the second time that Tyler has joined us to discuss the launch of a significant RIM product or service. An iconic Canadian company, RIM’s ever-popular BlackBerry device is a beloved high-tech business communication tool for countless users worldwide including President Obama. Always close to developer and business communities, it’s great to see RIM’s second-return to the MobileMonday Toronto community,” says Alexander S. Bosika and Jim Brown, co-founders of MobileMonday Toronto. “RIM also became a presenting sponsor of the MobileMonday Toronto @ MaRS annual series at the start of this year. Our community represents the intersection of intellectual and financial capital to help mobile innovation in Toronto and surrounding regions. We’re ecstatic to have RIM join the growing list of key sponsors which support our efforts to build MobileMonday Toronto into a key platform for mobile professionals to share knowledge, information and business contacts.”

Montreal-based Stingray Digital announced today from MIPTV in Cannes that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Music Choice Europe Limited from a European private investment group for an undisclosed sum.

Music Choice Europe, founded in 1993 and based in London, England, offers over 70 different commercial-free music channels delivered to more than 10 million subscribers through television service operators in 17 countries across Europe and Africa. In addition to the professionally programmed linear music channels, Music Choice Europe also offers a multi-platform solution to operators including music videos on demand and a service delivered by broadband.

“This acquisition is a perfect strategic fit for Stingray” stated Eric Boyko, President and CEO of Stingray Digital. “We will immediately benefit from synergies between the two companies, but more importantly, Music Choice Europe’s presence in 17 different countries will allow us to expand more quickly into Europe and Africa with our other music services that we have developed for the North American market including The KARAOKE Channel and Concert TV” he added.

“Music Choice has been actively growing its subscriber base and geographic reach over the past several years”, said Mark Wilson, President of Music Choice Europe. “Now as part of the Stingray Digital group of companies, Music Choice will be able to continue its growth by providing a greater variety of music-related services to current and future customers,” he added.

Stingray Digital’s acquisition of Music Choice Europe will create a true global music broadcaster that serves a digital music service to more than 20 million subscribers in more than 30 countries across Europe, Africa, North America, South America, the Caribbean and beyond. Stingray Digital is an innovative broadcaster who invests heavily in research and development in order to remain at the cutting edge of technology required to deliver a compelling music service to customers around the world.

Stingray Digital owns and operates the Galaxie Music service which is available in all digital cable, IPTV and satellite television households in Canada and an increasing presence in the US, the Caribbean and other countries. Galaxie, Your Musical Universe, is more than 50 commercial-free music channels on TV and on authenticated broadband services, and soon on mobile devices.

Vancouver indie developer and VFS instructor Roger Mitchell has partnered with UK indie developer Stephen Hawkes to launch Tiger Shark Studios, a small enterprise that will initially create assets for Unity projects with the possibility of taking on contract work for specific projects.

Both Roger and Stephen have several years’ experience as artists and modellers; Roger began his game development career in 1986, working on a Commodore 64 before moving on to an Atari ST512 – I had one of those, too. His first job came in 1994 at UK game development studio Ark Developments, where he worked on such titles as Rosco McQueen, Firefighter Extreme and Track Attack, which was when he first met Stephen Hawkes. Both Roger and Stephen further developed their skills while working for Psygnosis, before Roger moved on to Bullfrog, Kuju, Asylum Entertainment and Codemasters before being recruited by EA Canada in 2004 for its Fusion PSP department at the Burnaby Campus.

After falling victim to studio lay-offs, Roger moved on to work for other Vancouver game studios before co-founding a studio named DropShip with another EA Canada alumni, but he has since left that company. Over the span of his career, Roger has been credited on thirteen games and contributed to many more, with additional experience leading art teams in the creation of Wii and DS games.

In speaking about the motivation to start another partnership, this time with friend and former co-worker Stephen, Roger said that he has “always enjoyed making art as a primary function, and with Tiger Shark the main focus will be in producing polished, game-ready art assets. This means that it can be 2D, 3D, Low-poly, High-Poly and Super High. We will initially be concentrating on art with a goal of expanding into other realms. Our art assets will initially be available on the Unity Asset Store, but we will be selling them via other online stores as well as our own website.”

Both Stephen and Roger work with young people entering the game development world, Roger as an instructor at Vancouver Film School’s Game Design Program, while Stephen offers mentorship to share his experiences.

Gamers Heart Japan will be airing this weekend, with its premiere on April 3rd at 4pm in all CityTV markets, G4 at 6pm in all markets and on SPACE at 7pm ET (4pm PT).

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRZz5mAQtgM]

Watch, Enjoy, Donate.

Reminder: Battle of the Apps Round 2 is open for submissions until April 15th.
Tickets: Canadian Video Game Awards tickets are on sale now at TicketMaster.
Just In: Seth Green will reprising his role as Joker in the upcoming Mass Effect 3.

FACTOR is now accepting applications for the 2011-2012 fiscal year through FACTOR’s Online Application System. Visit onlineapp.factor.ca to create an account, review new program guidelines, as well as create, save and submit online applications for all FACTOR programs. New Program Guidelines are available online. 

Apparently the Eastern Arctic region of our country has entered into a thaw, because Big Blue Bubble is celebrating Spring. Starting tonight at 5PM ET a large selection of the studio’s iOS titles will be on sale for 24 hours, so if you’ve been meaning to download some of their games and haven’t gotten around to it, now is the time for action.  Big Blue Bubble’s Administrative Assistant Amanda Thorpe hinted that the studio has some great things coming up for their iOS games in the next few weeks, so she suggested that you stock up now while they are at a reduced price.

These iPhone and iPod Touch Titles will be available for 99 cents USD:

• Thumpies (regular price 2.99)
• Burn The Rope (regular price 1.99)
• Home Sweet Home 2 – Kitchens (regular price 2.99)
• Home Sweet Home (regular price 2.99)

The following universal titles (they work on all iOS mobile devices) will also be available for only 99 cents USD:

• Fighting Fantasy: Warlock Of Firetop Mountain (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: Deathtrap Dungeon (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: City Of Thieves (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: Citadel Of Chaos (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: Creature Of Havoc (regular price 2.99)

The following iPad titles are also on sale:

• Burn The Rope HD – sale price 2.99 (regular price: 4.99)
• Home Sweet Home HD – sale price 0.99 (regular price: 3.99)
• Thumpies XL – sale price 0.99(regular price: 2.99)

Three of Big Blue Bubble’s 99¢ games will now be free permanently:

• Rooster Punch
• Invaders From Uranus
• Snow Ballistic

Henning Software Solutions property Kidobi has added several children’s series to its growing library of videos for preschoolers, which are part of new distribution partnerships with top children’s content producers, including Organa LLC and Toronto’s CCI Entertainment.

“These additional series bring us one step closer to our ultimate goal, which is to provide videos that entertain young minds while showing them their imagination and potential is limitless,” said Eric Sorenson, Director of Research & Content, Kidobi.

New Additions Include:

“The Adventures of Mouse and Mole” about the everyday adventures of these lovable companions as they help each other to navigate through both good times and bad, from Los Angeles-based Organa LLC.

“The Longhouse Tales” (26×30’) about the fantasy and fun adventures of a young coyote and his animal friends, and “Farzzles World” (130×3’), which shows the real world seen from a baby’s point of view, CCI Entertainment.

A subscription to Kidobi provides a personalized playlist for each child based on their skills, interests, educational needs and more. By creating playlists for individual children, Kidobi ensures a unique and engaging experience for each viewer. Parents can rest assured that while their children watch videos from Kidobi’s current library they are surfing on a site that is entirely age appropriate and free of advertising.

Kidobi, which is currently seeking Beta testers, was developed with experts in child development, education, psychology and children’s media. Kidobi creates personalized video playlists based on the educational needs and entertainment tastes of individual children.

A quick note before the major news – The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) has embraced the value of social media, with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The OACP states that these accounts were opened in order to better serve Ontario police executives, members of the media, and members of the public with an interest in policing. Personally I think this is great – I believe that various police departments around the country are realizing what an important tool social media can be in crime fighting and helping to engage the general public when information is needed, from searching for a wanted person, a missing person, Amber Alerts, and the dispensing of public safety tips.

Some departments are far better at the use of these tools, such as both Vancouver and Toronto Police Departments, and some need improvement, such as the bcRCMP and local RCMP detachment twitter accounts, but they are on the right track, and I hope that as they get more comfortable with the use of social media, we will see a greater drop in crime and a big jump in safe communities.

Powernoodle, the web-based SaaS collaboration tool that recently acknowledged as the first recipient of FedDev Ontario’s Investing in Business Innovation Initiative (IIBI), will be powering the judging of the Road to Banff competition at the coming Canada 3.0 conference.

Canada 3.0 is all about Canada’s digital media future and Stratford has evolved into a hotbed of innovative, hi-tech development. From the University of Waterloo’s Stratford campus and the Stratford Institute, to an investment in 60 km of fibre optic cable and city wide Wi-Fi, the city has aggressively pursued a hi-tech economy, culminating in global recognition with a spot in the exclusive Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year for 2011, from the ICF.

“The Road to Banff Challenge aligns with Powernoodle’s solution for running competitions in the Evaluations space,” says Powernoodle CEO Deb Krizmanich. “Powernoodle’s collaboration features line up perfectly with the Canada 3.0 evaluation and rating requirements for the competition. The judges needed to be up and running quickly with little training and intuitively process a lot of data effectively. Powernoodle is a product of the Stratford technology ecosystem and while we have a global focus, being a part of Canada 3.0 is like a homecoming for us.”

With up to 100 companies making ten minute pitches to the panel of judges, there will be a great deal of information flying around and trying to track it all in a meaningful way presents many challenges. Each competing company will face a panel consisting of at least three judges (including venture capitalists, angel investors and professional services providers) and will be scored based on how compelling their product or service is, the viability of their business model, proven entrepreneurship and overall presentation. Powernoodle was chosen because it excels at empowering a team (in the same room or attending virtually) to collaboratively review, comment and rate a series of ideas, quickly and efficiently generating real-time results and reports of the very best ideas, solutions or in this case, companies.

According to Steve Currie, VP Business Services, Communitech: “It was critical for us to have real-time results reporting, even with judges evaluating companies in different rooms at different times. Powernoodle lets us move 100 companies to 16 finalists to three winners in real-time, using twenty different rating criteria, in a point and click interface. Best of all, Powernoodle generates an automatic report of the entire process, capturing the judges’ anonymous comments, feedback and scores through the two rounds of competition. Using technology to evaluate technology companies is a perfect fit for the Road to Banff pitch contest.”

Attendees of Canada 3.0 will see Powernoodle in action and will also be able to talk to company executives at the conference. Look for Powernoodle’s booth in the main conference exhibit hall.

HMS Software has announced the release of TimeControl 6.1.  This upgrade of TimeControl advances the 6th generation of one of the world’s best known timesheet systems.  Since its first commercial release in 1994 TimeControl has been recognized by some of the largest organizations in the world as the most flexible solution for meeting timesheet challenges.  TimeControl is a multi-purpose timesheet, serving requirements for project timekeeping, time and billing and time and attendance from within a single system. TimeControl version 6.1 takes the product to the next level with new features, an extended architecture, enhancements and an exciting new look existing functions.

“We’re very proud of the accomplishment represented by TimeControl 6.1” said Chris Vandersluis, president of HMS Software. “This version brings the new generation of TimeControl launched last year with the release of TimeControl 6 to a whole new level of interface and productivity.”

Canada Media Fund announces preliminary program budget and performance envelopes for 2011-2012, and the creation of a new Convergent Stream Digital Media Incentive.

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) announced today that its preliminary program budget for the upcoming year (excluding the $100M program funding allocation that was proposed in the federal budget) will amount to $271M.  The funding allocated to each of the CMF’s programs is outlined on the CMF’s web site as a PDF.

All programs without exception received a preliminary funding allocation based on approximately 73% of the expected total program budget for the year ($271M/$371M).

The CMF also announced that it will issue broadcaster agreements tomorrow which will outline the performance envelopes allocated to broadcasters for the upcoming year.  In order to enable broadcasters to ask any questions they may have pertaining to their envelope allocations, the envelope allocations will be posted on the CMF’s web site by April 15, 2011.

Two distinct performance envelope amounts will be indicated in each broadcaster’s agreement: the first amount is based on the preliminary program budget of $271M and represents the amount that the CMF will commit to in the broadcaster agreement. It excludes the amount related to the 5% Digital Media Investment factor which will be released in mid-April, as this factor is based on amounts spent in the current year and therefore requires data validation as of April 1, 2011.

The second amount is based on the expected total program budget of $371M (including the $100M program funding allocation that was proposed in the federal budget) and is provided to assist the industry with licensing and production planning.  It also includes the currently estimated amount related to the 5% Digital Media Investment factor, prior to data validation.

As stated in the CMF’s prior release on March 26, 2011, the preliminary program budget of $271M is based on confirmed sources of revenue, including the projected monthly contributions from broadcast distribution undertakings, as well as the allocation of funding of $34.6M included in the budget of the Department of Canadian Heritage which is targeted for the CMF.
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Reminder: The Gamers Heart Japan television special will be airing on SPACE and G4 on April 4th. Watch, Enjoy, Donate.

PlayTest: zinc Roe is looking for kids (ages 3-6) in the Toronto area to playtest some of the studio’s upcoming projects. Contact them via their website or email if you’re interested.

Yannis Mallat, President & CEO of Ubisoft Montréal & Toronto will be offering a glimpse into the secrets which enabled Canada’s video game developing industry to grow into the world leader it is today when he makes a presentation to the Canadian Club of Montreal on April 4th. Mr. Mallat’s speech is titled Myths and Realities of the Canadian Video Game Industry, and during his presentation, Mr. Mallat will also address what he considers to be the type of strategic thinking that should be encouraged in order to ensure a sustainable Canadian economy.

Yesterday Quebec newspaper Rue Frontenac broke the story that Ubisoft Montreal has fortified its court injunction barring THQ Montreal from further actively recruiting Ubisoft staff. THQ has already successfully obtained the development services of Mark Besner, Jean-Francois Boivin and Alex Drouin, all of whom worked on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise, and it’s suspected that other Ubisoft developers will be switching work addresses if they haven’t already. The first inkling of trouble between the two Montreal studios came last spring when THQ signed Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Désilets, who was named to head up the THQ studio beginning this May.

And with that news bit, I will segue over to some Dawn of War II news. Owners of  Relic Entertainment’s Warhammer® 40,000®: Dawn of War® II – Retribution™ will soon be able to purchase a custom Dark Angels Space Marine chapter for use in multiplayer. The Dark Angels Pack is scheduled to be available for download on Steam, the THQ E-Shop and select digital retailers on 6 April for a suggested price of $7.50 USD.

The Dark Angels Pack adds the iconic Space Marine chapter to the game with eight unique models for the major multiplayer units as well as new color schemes for the others.  The Force Commander is replaced by a Dark Angels Company Master complete with winged helmet, the Tactical Marine squad all sport the iconic Dark Angels robes.  Additionally, the Scout Squad, Assault Marine Squad and Terminators all receive similar chapter-specific revisions. The Space Marine vehicles also get a visual makeover with this DLC pack, adding custom designs and emblems to differentiate them from the standard vehicles.

Activision Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Entertainment, LLC have officially announced Spider-Man™: Edge of Time, where Spider-Man faces one of his greatest challenges ever — saving Spider-Man. Developed by Activision-owned studio Beenox, Spider-Man: Edge of Time challenges the player to take on the roles of both classic Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 to correct a time-stream gone awry and prevent a catastrophic future brought on by the early and untimely death of Peter Parker.

“The first Spider-Man entry by Beenox, Spider-Man™: Shattered Dimensions, was touted as one of the wall-crawler’s best Spider-Man games to date from both critics and fans,” said Vicharin Vadakan, Director, Global Brand Management. “Beenox is once again taking a fresh and different approach to bring a fast-paced and high-octane adventure and unexpected story to life in Spider-Man: Edge of Time.”

“At Beenox, we are constantly listening to the fans and looking for new and creative ways to innovate the gameplay experience for them,” said Dee Brown, Studio Head, Beenox. “We want to create a totally distinct experience in Spider-Man: Edge of Time by working with Peter David on the story and creating this urgent, high-stakes experience where time is working against you and the fate of Spider-Man hangs in the balance.”

Spider-Man: Edge of Time is a focused, action-packed adventure set in two connected and evolving timelines, from the contemporary times of the Amazing Spider-Man to the corrupted future world of Spider-Man 2099, against the backdrop of a rich, tightly crafted narrative by acclaimed Marvel veteran Peter David (co-creator of the comic book series Spider-Man 2099). The game features all-new “cause-and-effect” gameplay, where players will see how the immediate and sometimes unexpected effects of their actions as one Spider-Man changes the timeline of the other Spider-Man. Spider-Man: Edge of Time is slated for release this fall.

Congratulations to Frima Studios, whose Zombie Tycoon: IceField Demo has reached the FITC finals for Technical Excellence in Flash and Excellence in 3D. The title is also nominated for an FITC People’s Choice Award. Voting is open now and will remain open until midnight on April 22nd. You can play the Zombie Tycoon Interactive Demo on Adobe Molehill.

“We’re honored to be nominated for two FITC awards,” said Steve Couture, Frima’s CEO. “Our R&D team has worked extremely hard to ensure we’re always on the leading edge of technology and it feels fantastic to be recognized.”

Built using a combination of Adobe’s Molehill technology and Frima’s proprietary IceField 3D engine, Zombie Tycoon is one of the most advanced Flash games to be released. In Zombie Tycoon, players control their very own horde of ravenous zombies! Developed in just a few months by Frima Studio’s R&D team, the Zombie Tycoon: IceField Demo offers three levels of zombie madness. Two game modes are available to try; mild, which offers players a chance to explore and conquer the game world, and chunky mode which offers players the chance to see the full power of the new technology with over a hundred zombies moving on the screen at the same time.

Held from May 2-4, 2011 in Toronto, FITC is a three day event of presentations, demonstrations, networking opportunities and parties about the creative, technical and business aspects of Flash and digital media. Topped off with the FITC Award Show, the event aims to leave the attendees inspired, energized and awed while covering the Flash and digital media industries.

Following its successful launch on iPad, Shaw Media today announced their Global Video App is now available on the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch. The Global Video App offers Canadian viewers on-the-go access the network’s blockbuster library of premium content, including full episodes of House, The Good Wife, NCIS: LA, The Office, Rookie Blue and Survivor along with previous broadcasts of Global National and 16:9:The Bigger Picture.

Highlights of the Global Video App include:

* Full-length episodes and clips
* Superb video quality
* Sleek interface design with user-friendly features
* Progress bars to indicate runtime – allowing viewers to exit the app and to resume viewing at the same spot
* Schedule guide for Global programs with listings up to two weeks in advance
* Behind-the-scenes footage and Web-exclusive content

As college enrollments surge to record levels, thousands of students are arriving to campus finding they lack the basic math and English skills needed to succeed in their studies. Many of these students are coming from the high-school system, are non-native speakers or are displaced workers looking to improve their workforce skills, necessitating enrollment in remedial programs that help address basic literacy and numeracy skills.

Providing students with a way to quickly improve their math, reading and writing skills is the basis for MyFoundationsLab from Pearson, the world’s leading learning company. Suitable for multiple college and career readiness programs, including boot camps, high school bridge programs and student success centers, MyFoundationsLab is a complete online resource for assessing and remediating developmental skills. The program also includes comprehensive learning modules to improve students’ general skills, such as note taking, test taking and critical thinking.

Built specifically for Canadian students in mind, MyFoundationsLab delivers interactive, customizable features, including a comprehensive diagnostic tool, personalized content modules specific to each student’s skill level and self-paced learning activities that allow students to measure their progress toward the skills needed for continued academic and workplace success. “Colleges need flexible resources to help students learn the math and English required to succeed in their courses, and MyFoundationsLab can be tailored specifically to the needs of any learning environment,” said Steve O’Hearn, President of the Higher Education division of Pearson Canada. “Pearson’s investments in new technologies and learning solutions like MyFoundationsLab are designed to support institutions and instructors in their efforts to improve student achievement and retention.”

Pearson’s award-winning MyLabs and Mastering programs have personalized learning for millions of students around the globe, delivering proven results for institutions looking to improve student performance and lower costs. Available in a range of subjects including math, English composition, the sciences, foreign languages, economics and IT training, the programs provide immediate feedback and targeted help where and when students need it the most. Students learn at their own pace, in their own style, while educators are able to monitor student progress and communicate with their students online to keep them engaged and accountable for their work.

New smartphone use is growing rapidly in Canadian enterprise, but the investment in current wireless devices or the terms of the wireless contract may hamper adoption for many organizations. The new Wireless CellBack Program, powered by The Wireless Source Canada can help organizations convert to smartphones, shorten device upgrade cycles, more quickly refresh wireless technology and expand their mobility footprint.

Wireless CellBack is a pre-owned wireless handset buyback program tailored specifically to the needs of Canadian organizations who will now be able to receive real monetary value for retired, replaced and redundant devices and have the assurance of comprehensive data removal and the security of complete serialized compliance and disposition reporting. The Program is Simple, Safe and Smart with easy, no cost return shipping, reliable free quotations, guaranteed data security, serialized reporting and a focus on sustainable product reuse

And the “New Source of Power” – Organizations receive a free vehicle charger to charge-up the new smartphone for each used handset returned with residual value, regardless of the amount (ask for details, some restrictions apply).

For The Enterprise

Residual values as high as $100 for Blackberry Bolds, Curves, Pearls & Storms can help fund upgrades to the Torch and BB 6 system or can support an enterprise-wide conversion to Android. Similarly, early generations of the iPhone, which retain even higher value, can be captured to help the enterprise change devices or move up to the new iPhone 4. And there may even be a few ‘early adopters’ that are interested in the next wave of tablets that are hitting the market and use the almost $300 of value in first generation Apple iPads or Samsung Tabs to help role out new tablets for the whole enterprise.

Many organizations may also be migrating from employer-provided to individual supplied devices. Legacy handsets can be a real security risk and a real loss of value if left in storage and forgotten. Wireless CellBack ensures that confidential information left on these handsets is properly managed and that the enterprise receives value for the retired assets.

For The Mobility, Wireless Expense & Telecom Management Service Provider

Lifecycle mobility management is a fast growing enterprise service that, increasingly includes management of used devices during decommissioning. Consultants and service providers can use the Program to help their clients realize cost effective refresh strategies and reduce wireless spend to win new business and retain existing clients.

For The Enterprise Wireless Dealer

Corporate account ‘hunters’ looking for new business can convert prospects and help offset the cost of the required new handsets, while The Wireless CellBack Program can help support early contract renewal; early device upgrade, service plan expansion and retention for business account ‘farmers’ working with existing customers

Enterprise, mobility management service providers and dealers in all Canadian provinces and territories can use Wireless CellBack. Program launch includes a 10% ‘QuickStart Premium’ for handsets received during the month of April.

Distribution360 has unveiled over 200 hours of content, and will showcase a wide range of properties including a new format in France next week at MIPTV .

“We’re bringing an array of exciting properties to MIPTV this year that are sure to appeal to many audiences,” says Stéphanie Röckmann-Portier, Head of Sales, Distribution360. “In less than a year, D360 has built an impressive slate of over 200 hours of content, and we’re thrilled to have built partnerships with many internationally-renowned producers.”

New additions to Distribution360?s slate of offerings include:

Kids & Youth
Skatoony (39 x 30′ / 13 x 30′ live-action/animation, web games, online videos) An animated/live-action comedy series that pits tweens and „toons against each other in competition through four frantic, trivia-based rounds – but only one will be named Skatoony Quiz Champ. Set in a fantastical television studio in the fictional town of Showtown, the series is anchored by the hilarious cartoon duo of host Chudd Chudders and his lounge-singing sidekick, The Earl. Each week they attempt to put together another show while all manner of mad happenings occur around them… but the show must go on! North American versions produced by marblemedia; UK and German versions produced by Cartoon Network UK.

Splatalot (26 x 30’ action reality series, format rights, web games, online videos) A hilarious medieval-themed action reality show geared to the tween audience, featuring an extreme obstacle course with more wipe outs and spills than ever imaginable. Each episode features a different group of 12 thrill-seeking teen contestants, dubbed Attackers, competing in three cringe-inducing rounds. The Defenders of Splatalot, an international squad of nine medieval-themed gladiators, will do their best to protect the castle from the Attackers – only leaving one to be crowned King or Queen. Splatalot was commissioned by YTV, the BBC, and ABC (Australia). Produced by marblemedia.

Lifestyle
Ghostly Encounters (83 x 30’ episodes) Start a conversation about things that go bump in the night, and pretty soon everybody in the room has a story to tell. Paranormal experiences aren?t just the domain of psychics and tarot card readers – in fact, many ordinary people believe they have had supernatural encounters. Ghostly Encounters looks into those incidents and the regular folks-next-door who had them, and takes the viewer on a chilling ride through a fascinating, highly personal ghost story. Produced by Logan Hill Productions.

Comedy
TAC.tv (181 x 3’ animated shorts & 23 x 30’ animated episodes and online videos) The series features a cast of hilarious characters such as The Googoos, The Secretary, and The Pilot, to name a few. These off-the-wall characters are sculpted from modeling clay by the creator himself, Michel Beaudet. In post production, he superimposes his own moving eyes, mouth, and nose, creating unique characters with over-the-top personalities. Produced by Salambo Productions.

Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town (8 x 30’ episodes) When Death gets off the Greyhound bus in small town Shuckton, Ontario, everyone in town is implicated when one of its most distinguished citizens is found murdered. As a suspect is arrested and the trial plays out, the entire town is affected and its dark secrets are unraveled and exposed. Famous around the world for their sketch comedy, Death Comes to Town features the original five Kids in the Hall, Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson, in an all-new narrative format. The Kids still play all the characters – men and women – all distinctively quirky, gender-bending, boundary-pushing and definitively Kids in the Hall. Produced by Axis Entertainment.

Open: Online Registration for SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver – Make It Home.
Reminder: Early Bird pricing for the Canada 3.0 Forum ends today.
Nominate: The Ingenious Awards Program celebrates and showcases the achievements of Canadian organizations that have accomplished significant business transformation or outcomes through the innovative use of ICT.
Develop: Flash in The Peg March 31st meeting looks at WordPress Design and Development with Dreamweaver
Luncheon Learning: CanWIT BC presents A Career in Project Management signature event, taking place in Vancouver on April 30th and featuring an expert panel of women in technology who will discuss their careers and experiences in Project Management.
Islanders: Next Viatec networking event is April 28th. Don’t forget to submit your VIATeC Award nominations!
Call For Speakers: Get your proposals in for the Montreal International Game Summit before April 11th.
Just Announced: Gamification workshop in Toronto on May 27th.

Vancouver studio Silicon Sisters has submitted its debut title, School 26, to the iTunes store for approval. Official launch is imminent. Designed for girls ages 12 to 16, School 26 is a unique casual game built around the complex social hierarchy of high school. Versions for iPad ($4.99) and iPhone or  iPod Touch ($2.99) are expected to arrive in the App Store in April, with PC, Mac and Android versions coming soon after.

School 26 follows Kate, a student whose nomadic family has made it difficult for her to maintain long-term friendships. As she enrolls at her 26th new school, she and her parents strike a deal: if Kate makes good friends here, the family will stay put. Now the player must help Kate use intuition, empathy, and strategy to build friendships and navigate the moral dilemmas of high school. These dilemmas range from power struggles to peer pressure, from romance to betrayal, from alienation to acceptance — real and relevant situations teens face every day.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6IJU34Oc3U]

School 26 is inspired by academic research that identifies social engineering as a prominent element in the lives of teenaged girls. In the game, Kate must get to know her new classmates’ personalities, resolve their issues, and strengthen her connections to them. These objectives are met through various types of gameplay including dialogues during which players pick up on social cues and select appropriate emotional responses, quizzes that provide insights into other characters’ (and the player’s) personalities, and a card matching game with shifting rules that reflect the evolving social dynamic among the School 26 crew.

While Silicon Sisters ultimately plans to develop games for all age ranges and demographics, the company decided to lead with School 26 after considering where they could make the biggest impact. “With the workplace shifting to knowledge-based industries and women leading in university enrollments and professional degrees, today’s teen girls are poised for better success than any other generation,” says Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, Silicon Sisters’ CEO. “By highlighting and rewarding the social activities girls engage in every day, School 26 legitimizes ‘soft skills’ such as communication, empathy, and networking. Girls need to understand that these skills will give them a competitive advantage not only in high school, but also later in life.”

Capcom and Slant Six Games have released the debut trailer for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. As I mentioned yesterday, this game is scheduled  for release in Winter 2011, and players can expect the return of familiar faces, including police rookie Leon S. Kennedy, iconic landmarks and classic enemies as the Umbrella Security Service battles to destroy all evidence of the deadly T-Virus.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1xgbNr_8kg]

Coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, Resident Evil™: Operation Raccoon City is expected to deliver a true third person team based shooter experience set within the dark and sinister Resident Evil universe and a reinterpretation of the events depicted in Resident Evil™ 2 and Resident Evil™ 3. The setting of the Resident Evil universe not only provides a rich backdrop to the action but delivers a unique and thrilling triple threat battle. Zombies and Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W’s) add to the mix as players not only compete against an opposing squad but also tackle this third unpredictable element, creating a brand new style of gameplay and breaking the conventions of traditional team based shooters.

Decapod has released another app to the WP7 Marketplace.  According to the information available for Emergency Alerts Free, it provides extended information and useful tips for survival in case of various natural and man-made disasters. Along with the provision of emergency phone number for various countries, this app allows you to tapp into the live feed of nationwide FEMA alerts. The Emergency Alerts app shows location, status, time of occurrence and detailed description of most calamities known to mankind.

Probably the most tweeted-about news today is the acquisition of Radian6 by American-based SalesForce. SalesForce is an enterprise cloud computing company with offices around the globe – including a Canadian corporate presence in Toronto. The 5 year old Radian6, which is based in New Brunswick, is a leader in the social media monitoring platform. SalesForce will be assimilating the Radian6 for approximately $276 million in cash and $50 million in stock, net of cash acquired, with the expectation that the transaction will be completed during SalesForce’s fiscal second quarter ending July 31, 2011, and it is subject to customary closing conditions.

Earlier this month Radian6 had announced that it was releasing a new platform for SalesForce clients, connecting social capabilities within both the Salesforce Service Cloud and the Radian6 platform, enabling enhanced social customer service for SalesForce Clients. Apparently SalesForce liked it so much, they bought the company. Radian6 had also done a little acquiring of its own this month, welcoming the UK’s 6Consulting into the fold. The London company provided social media monitoring services to corporations in the UK, and had been a Radian6 platform reseller for the past two years.

And as one startup is acquired, another makes its official launch. Vancouver’s Summify, a new company founded by former Google and Microsoft interns and backed by its first round of seed funding. Investors include Accel Partners, Rob Glaser (RealNetworks), Stewart Butterfield (Flickr, Tiny Speck), Steve Olechowski (Google, FeedBurner), and Canadian super angel Boris Wertz. Company founders Mircea Pa?oi and Cristian Strat have been programming together since high school in Romania. They built two successful services there, connecting programmers to competitions and jobs, and were pursued for full-time jobs by Google and Facebook. Opting for entrepreneurship, they relocated to Vancouver to start up Summify.

For connected people with hundreds of friends and followers, it’s impossible to keep up with relevant news, and what friends are saying, sharing and posting. Summify analyzes and filters your streams, so you can read less but get more out of it. Summify distills the social web, boiling down the torrent of daily information from Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader into a summary of the top five or ten most important and relevant stories that day. An easily consumable summary arrives in email or on the web, with mobile coming soon. Summify is based on a highly refined algorithm that analyzes, among other things, what people you interact with most, what stories your friends are sharing most, and global reaction in social media to important stories worldwide.

To celebrate the launch of the new Nintendo 3DS™, Best Buy Canada is offering hot deals to help Canadians get the most out of their portable 3D entertainment device. With 18 Nintendo 3DS game titles to choose from, a wide selection of accessories to protect your device and hot offers to trade in your old DS systems, Best Buy is making it easy for customers to maximize their Nintendo 3DS experience.

Best Buy is offering two trade in promotions with the Nintendo 3DS until March 31:

• Trade in your Nintendo DS and save $50 off of your 3DS
• Trade in your Nintendo DSi XL and save $100 off 3DS
• Trade in three Nintendo DS games and receive a $10 credit

Until April 7, purchase any two Nintendo 3DS games from the selection of 18 game titles Best Buy is carrying and save $10.

Google wants Canadian businesses to get a web site – the upside is that it’s free – for one year. The downside is that they are not using Canadian web hosts or designers. For business owners who aren’t internet or design-capable, this is a good initiative on Google’s part. It’s also an easy way to serve ads, and to help businesses get started with Adwords, Google is also offering a Get Your Business Online badge, a listing and a $200.00 for an Adwords account. Google has been trying very hard to get Canadian businesses using Adwords – I’ve received at least a half dozen snail-mail gift cards from them – some of them with the right mailing address, but the names they were addressed to weren’t even close. Don’t know who Killian is, but apparently he works for us.

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) has launched a new social media campaign aimed at making education and student voting a cornerstone of the 2011 federal election.

“Students live on social networks and media, and this campaign and website engages students and politicians online,” said Zach Dayler, National Director of CASA. “This might be the first ‘Twitter election’, which means that the conversation will be taking place on our doorsteps.”

The campaign features key information about parties’ post-secondary education policy, important voter information for students, a student blog. It will also feature a video vault, and throughout the campaign students and others will be asked to contribute their own videos on the importance of student and youth voting.

Kicking off the collection is a video from comedian and CBC Host Rick Mercer. “Rick Mercer’s message on student voting speaks directly to the important role that we can and should play during an election,” said Dayler. “It is ready-made viral, and we expect to see many more like it between now and May 2^nd.”

CASA is calling on politicians to make a firm commitment to post-secondary education this campaign, calling on them to introduce policies that improve access to and enhance the quality of Canada’s university and college system. CASA has also invited all party leaders to help encourage youth participation by posting videos on education and join the online dialogue with students.

PARTA Dialogue Inc. has announced that its social media hubs, including ecomobility, energy 2.0 and alternativechannel have been white-listed by Facebook as video-serving sites that can embed their players directly into Facebook pages. This status places Parta’s web-video sites on par with recognized leaders such as Youtube, Dailymotion and Blip.tv, whose video players can also appear directly through Facebook. An expert in social media engagement, Parta’s strategies for generating online conversation involve the building of a central debate hub and active outreach and participation in the social networks where publics congregate. The company has already created and deployed DialogGenerator^tm , a Facebook application which allows for two-way penetration between discussions happening on the social network and those on Parta’s proprietary sites.