Village Gamer

Burnaby – Best Buy Canada has released its Report Card on Technology in Canada’s classrooms. The report card found that two-thirds of Canadian teachers surveyed believe students are being handicapped for the future by not giving them access to the latest technology. The survey, conducted by Leger Marketing between July 6 and July 19 2009, involved an online survey among 674 respondents randomly selected Canadian adults who are Leger Marketing panelists. The interviews were completed with Canadian teachers from primary to college and university level. This method simulates a probability sample which would yield a maximum margin of error of +/-3.8%, 19 times out of 20.

Best Buy Canada will contribute $300,000 in technology grants to schools in Canada through its Best in Class Fund program in 2009. The survey found that nearly all respondents believe that it is important for students to have the latest technology in order to thrive and succeed in today’s world, which underscores the importance of the Best in Class program.

The Best Buy Canada Report Card on Technology in Canada’s Classrooms, a national survey of 674 Canadian teachers, conducted by Leger Marketing, showed that:

– One-third of teachers surveyed indicated that schools lag behind in providing the best access to new technology to students
– More than half of the respondents (61%) believe that students have the best access to the latest technology at home
– Nearly three-quarters of teachers (74%) agree that having the latest technology in the classroom would foster creativity
– More than half of Canadian teachers use technology as part of their daily curriculum
– Despite the perceived importance of technology in the classroom, as many as one in five Canadian teachers report that they infrequently use technology in their classroom

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Montréal – Funcom is pleased to announce the establishment of a new development studio in Montréal, Canada, where it will build a strong and competent development team that will work on several games in the Funcom portfolio. Besides tapping into the excellent talent pool available in the region, Funcom will also move a certain number of key personnel over to the new studio.

“Montréal has established itself as one of the world’s most important locations for video game production, and we are looking forward to taking part in that success,” says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. “In addition to strengthening our North American presence, the new studio will take advantage of the great incentive programs offered by the Québec region, incentives that makes Montréal one of the most cost effective locations in the world for developing MMO games. This will in turn allow us to better balance our costs, making it possible for us to continue to expand our investments into the MMO segment.”

Funcom is one of the most multi-cultural game developers in the business, with over 320 employees from all corners of the world employed at the company’s offices in Norway, the US, China, and Switzerland. The company is responsible for the best-selling MMO ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ that shipped over 1.2 million copies to retail in 2008, as well as the pioneering sci-fi MMO ‘Anarchy Online’. The company has developed more than 20 titles since its founding in 1993; including the critically acclaimed ‘The Longest Journey’ and ‘Dreamfall’ adventure games. Funcom is currently working on the expansion pack for ‘Age of Conan’ called ‘Rise of the Godslayer’ as well as its new MMO ‘The Secret World’. Developers at the Montréal studio will play an important role in the development of both of these games.

“It has been a pleasure for us to work with Investissement Québec in setting up our Montréal studio and we are very thankful for the strong support they have given us throughout this process,” says Ole Schreiner, CEO of Funcom’s new Montréal studio. “We are excited about the opportunity that Montréal represents to our company, not only because of the great incentives offered by Québec, but also the authorities’ strong commitment to training qualified video games personnel and building a video games cluster in Montréal and Québec.”

Vancouver – Trulioo Inc., today announced the release of the web’s first Community Identity Verification System. Perfect for online dating sites, auction sites, job search sites and age restricted forums and groups. The product is free and can be used anywhere on the web where an increased level of trust between people is required. Facebook users can sign up now for Trulioo at Trulioo, and the Company plans to release versions for other social networking websites in the coming months.

Trulioo's Online I.D.

Trulioo’s patent pending technology allows its users to verify their identity details by leveraging their real-world relationships with thier friends, family, coworkers and community through online social networking websites.

“Governments around the world have always relied on community based identity verification to issue passports and other important documents to their citizens,” says Tanis Jorge, Director of Business Development for Trulioo. “When your neighbourhood doctor, lawyer or teacher signs your passport application – that is community identity verification at work.” explains Jorge. “With the advent of real world social networks being brought online in recent years, the opportunity for alternative online identity verification now exists.”

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Toronto – Ubisoft® announced today the appointment of Jade Raymond as head of its recently announced Toronto studio. Under the governance of Yannis Mallat, Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft’s Montreal and Toronto Studios, Raymond will oversee day-to-day operations of the Toronto studio’s work on video game projects.

Jade Raymond

Raymond joined Ubisoft’s Montreal studio in 2004 as a Producer on Assassin’s Creed® and is currently Executive Producer on the upcoming Assassin’s Creed® II among other Ubisoft projects. Prior to Ubisoft, Raymond spent eight years on video game development for Electronic Arts, IBM and Sony Online.

“I’m excited to have Jade managing our Toronto studio,” said Yannis Mallat, chief executive officer of Ubisoft Montréal and Ubisoft Toronto. “With more than 12 years of experience in the video game industry, Jade’s knowledge and leadership as an industry veteran are major assets in building the Toronto studio and expanding Ubisoft’s presence in Canada.”

“I’m honored to be a part of Ubisoft’s expansion into Toronto,” said Jade Raymond. “I’m looking forward to building a strong and talented team to work on AAA games and new intellectual properties.”

Ubisoft Toronto is slated to open by the end of the 2009 calendar year, and it’s expected to create approximately 800 new jobs over the next decade. Ubisoft is currently accepting applications for the new studio location.

Vancouver – The next Fair Copyright for Canada – Vancouver Chapter meeting will take place on September 2 at SFU Harbour Centre Room 2245 at 6:30pm. The Federal Government’s consultation process will be coming to an end on September 13, and if you haven’t had your say, please make sure your opinions are heard.

Michael Geist’s report on the latest Toronto consultation meeting doesn’t show a heavy involvement from the interactive media industry. He states that “Tonight the government held its second copyright town hall.  Only it wasn’t really a copyright townhall in the sense of bringing the community together to talk copyright in an open and balanced manner.  Instead, the music industry stacked the room to such a degree that little else was discussed.  There was the odd intervention from ACTRA, the Writers Guild, the education community, and software developers (and a self-professed pirate who may have worn a fair copyright shirt but did not discuss anything that resembled fair copyright), but the repeated music industry representation was the dominant theme of the night…”  You can read the rest of Michael’s report on his site.

Montreal – Eidos Montréal’s General Manager Stéphane D’Astous has put out the call for a new PR agency who can handle a national campaign for their upcoming titles Deux Es 3, Thief 4 and beyond. It is at a time like this that I wished I still worked in the industry, because I’ve found the creativity and originality required in the PR fields to have contributed to the best job positions I’ve ever held. The Montréal studio is also looking for people to fill a few job openings, including those of Senior Special Effects Artist and Programmers for Thief 4.

Vancouver – Wired Woman Network has partnered with Kontent Creative Group for a session on Creating Interactive Brand Stories this September 1. Wired Woman members will received a 20% discount on register for the seminar, which will look at examples of brand storytelling, identify what others stories are and how they are using the online space and social media to tell their brand’s story and engage with their audience. Just like the stories online, this workshop will be interactive and we will be doing some story building of our own. Please see the Wired Woman event page for further event and registration information.

Calgary – Autodesk has joined WorldSkills Calgary 2009 as a Platinum Sponsor and the Presenting Sponsor of the Mechanical Engineering Design (MED) competition. Autodesk’s sponsorship of WorldSkills Calgary 2009 compliments its status as a Global Industry Partner of WorldSkills International and further cements its ongoing support of the WorldSkills Movement since 2007.

“Autodesk is proud to be a sponsor of this very important educational undertaking,” said Joe Astroth, PhD, Autodesk Vice President, Learning and Education. “Being an integral part of WorldSkills Calgary 2009 represents a significant opportunity for Autodesk to inspire the next generation of architects, engineers and digital artists. We are confident the knowledge and experiences students gain using our software will prepare them to meet the demands they will encounter in the workplace.”

Autodesk’s role as a Presenting Sponsor of the MED competition also includes participation as a sponsor of the Polymechanics/Automation, CNC Milling competitions, Plumbing/Heating, Electrical Installations, Industrial Control and Joinery Competitions. As part of its sponsorship, Autodesk will provide its Inventor®, Maya® and AutoCAD® software for use by Competitors. It is through these seven competitions covering multiple disciplines that Autodesk is hoping to inspire students to develop their skill sets. Autodesk’s software used in the 40th WorldSkills Competition will be donated to Alberta schools, benefiting students across the province. For more information on Autodesk products, please visit our local premier Autodesk representatives and local event supporters at Annex Pro.

Seattle – For those interested in what’s happening across the border, enterpriseSeattle’s Washington Interactive Network will convene its 3rd annual Power of Play Economic Update Lunch. A panel of industry executives will explore the state of Washington state’s $4.2 billion Interactive Media Industry, the economy, and the Pacific Northwest region’s competitiveness compared with others in the US and Canada.

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Vancouver – A secure and confidential survey web site has been launched under the direction of PricewaterhouseCoopers to assist in the BC industry’s government lobbying efforts.

According to the BC Interactive Publishers and Developers Survey web site, it has “been designed to provide a secure and efficient means to collect the industry data for video publishing and interactive games companies in British Columbia.

The BC Interactive Task Force is organizing an industry-led government relations strategy to influence BC government policies that benefit the local industry. During discussions with the BC Government, it will be important to share the size of the industry in BC while investigating different tax incentive scenarios and their relative economic impacts and costs to the BC government. The purpose of the data collection is to identify important information regarding the size of the local video publishing and interactive games industry.

Initially, data will be aggregated and used to report on the size of the video publishing and interactive games industry in British Columbia. Later, the information may be used to estimate the industry’s economic impact on BC’s economy.

Survey data should be for the most recently completed fiscal year. All individual submissions will be held in strict confidence by PricewaterhouseCoopers and results will be presented in such a way that will not identify any individual organization.

I urge all of BC’s Interactive Publishers and Developers to participate in this very important initiative, as it will have an effect on our entire provincial industry, and now is the time to get involved.

Vancouver – Pug Pharm Productions Inc. (Pug Pharm), has announced that technology sector veteran David Dossot has joined the Pharm as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Dossot brings more than 15 years of professional experience to the Pug Pharm team after holding similar positions at software development firms and global online gaming and entertainment companies.

“David’s extensive industry knowledge gained as a leading software engineer and architect, along with his work in the field of online gaming and massively multiplayer systems,provide the perfect experience for guiding the Pug Pharm technical team as we continue to grow and create innovative social networking online games,” stated Steve Bocska, CEO of Pug Pharm.

Dossot’s experience runs the gamut from start-ups to large firms and global institutions, where he has provided technical guidance and code contributions to many teams, with a particular focus on refactoring and re-architecting software platforms towards scalable architectures.

Well-known and active in the technical community, Dossot is a member of the IEEE and the Computer Society. In addition to speaking appearances, he is the co-author of “Mule in Action” (2009, Manning Publications), and has written contributions for O’Reilly, Dr. Dobb’s Journal and Software Development Magazine. An advocate of the open source community, Dossot has led a number of prolific open source projects. He is a member of Mule’s Community Committee and serves as an official judge for the DDJ’s Jolt Product Excellence Awards. His educational background includes a Baccalaureate degree in Mathematics & Physics (Lycée Alfred Mézières, Longwy, France); Mechanical & Electrical Engineering(Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK); and a Diploma in Production Systems Engineering (ESSTIN, Nancy, France).

Vancouver – CKA Networks is excited to announce PoliTwitter, a non-partisan service that uses Twitter to connect elected MPs and MLAs with their Canadian constituents with the goal of increasing engagement and promoting open government. Users can keep track of what politicians are saying, and what regular Canadians have to say about the issues, all in one convenient location. PoliTwitter is the first service for Canadian politics and has unparalleled functionality.

Tweets can be viewed federally and provincially, or narrowed down by partisan affiliation, province, topics, and more. The site also allows for real-time updates, which is invaluable during fast-paced events like elections. PoliTwitter archives all political tweets, so there is a permanent record that can be used for statistical analysis, trending and public record. The site also tracks photos and videos posted by MPs. As demonstrated by the recent Iranian and US elections, Twitter is a valuable tool for politics and PoliTwitter an invaluable tool for Canadians.

Nexient Learning Inc., Canada’s largest corporate training provider has been acquired by North Carolina company Global Knowledge. The combination of Global Knowledge’s Canadian operations with those of Nexient establishes Global Knowledge as Canada’s leading provider of IT and business skills training as well as leadership business solutions. With the integration of their complementary product portfolios, customers will benefit from an expanded and unparalleled range of learning solutions.

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Vancouver – The Vancouver Chapter of Fair Copyright Canada will be holding an important meeting this Wednesday night at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver. The group plans to hold weekly meetings up until the Copyright Consultation period ends on September 13th.

According to the Chapter’s Facebook Group page, “Last year, following intense pressure from the United States, the government of Canada proposed radical changes to copyright law that would have made many legitimate, creative, and valuable activities illegal. Canadian artists, consumers and citizens rose up in protest. The bill died when the election was called, but the government promises to proceed.”

With the Federal Government’s deadline fast approaching, it is extremely important that artists, developers, writers, publishers, students – and everyone else who has a stake in the new copyright laws get involved with this consultation process. There are many Fair Copyright groups and chapters across the country. Check the Fair Copyright for Canada web site for more information or to find a group near you. I have also listed all of the national chapters below, with links to their pages.

Both web sites listed above are full of important, easy to understand information regarding the copyright consultation process and what it means for both consumers and creators. If you are unaware of the proceedings and not sure how they will affect you in the future, please take the time to read through the material on the sites. There is less than one month left for consultation – the time to get involved is now.

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Richmond – Brother International Corporation (Canada) Ltd. has expanded their Richmond, BC facility to 52,500 sq. feet, providing nearly triple the capacity of Brother’s previous location. The expansion was needed in order to keep up with the demand for its products in Western Canada.

“The decision to expand in Vancouver follows the expansion of our Montreal facilities three years ago, which is already operating at full capacity”, explains Martin Featherston, President of Brother Canada. “In order to support our sales growth, it became a necessity to expand our capacity in the Vancouver area as well.” For geographic reasons, the region of Vancouver was a natural point of entry for Brother products, which are predominantly manufactured and shipped from Asia. The first Brother office in Western Canada was established in Vancouver in the early 1980’s. Both current Brother facilities in Canada (Montreal and Vancouver) are ISO certified for quality management (ISO 9001:2008), environment (ISO 14001:2004) and health & safety (ISO 18001:2007). The construction of the new building started in March 2009 and was completed by the end of July, while operations officially launched in early August 2009.

Toronto – Bay3000 Corporate Education, a leading provider of Project Management Education has announced that nominations for the 6th Annual Canadian Project Excellence Awards and Learning Forum (CPEX) are now open. CPEX is dedicated to business success by enabling and recognizing outstanding leadership. Through the CPEX Competition, we celebrate Canadian projects that have overcome challenges to deliver superior value. CPEX will be held on November 2, 2009 at the innovative Institute for Learning in Toronto. The goal of this milestone event is to connect individuals and organizations from industry, business, and government sectors to learn critical best practices from leading experts in the field, to share knowledge, to network, and to celebrate achievements made by Canadian Projects. CPEX fills a void by serving as the meeting place where leaders and their teams come together to exchange ideas and discuss strategic alignment and execution. This unique event is geared to Senior Project Management and Executive leaders.
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