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29th October 2010

Mobilicity Launches Mobile Phone Bill Horror Stories Contest

mobilicityGetting gouged by wireless companies has become something of a feared tradition, based on the flood of mobile phone bill horror stories coming to light in new wireless carrier Mobilicity’s FMyBill contest.

Thousands of online voters have been flocking to Facebook.com/Mobilicity to rate the stories, which paint a less-than-flattering picture of the extra fees and unexpected charges found all too often on Canadian mobile phone bills.

Every FMyBill story puts a human face on consumers’ ever-growing dissatisfaction with wireless bills. According to Canada’s Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services, Canadian grievances with wireless companies grew by over 15 per cent in the last year. Of the almost 4,000 complaints it received, 44 per cent involved billing errors.

South of the border, the Federal Communications Commission recently proposed rules requiring carriers to alert customers before they reach monthly usage limits and incur extra roaming charges. The agency has said it has received many complaints about mobile phone bills, including one that totaled over $68,000.

The FMyBill stories range from the sublime to the subversive and the comical to the combative:

Alicia G. writes: “My husband and I went to the US in July for vacation. I nagged him everyday to be sure to purchase the ‘roaming package’. He purchased the package for an extra $75 and my mind was put at ease…temporarily! The following month we received a bill for $1300! Now I suffer from Post traumatic stress, and have an attack every time the Rogers bill arrives.”

Faiqa K. writes: “I went over my allowable text limit and ended up being charged what I would say was about two week’s worth of groceries. I was soooo not happy about that and had to live off Mac and Cheese for a while. FMB!”

Oscar S. writes: “Okay, so I’m a victim of not seeing that small tiny piece of text that you can only see with microscopes that usually happens in cartoons, in the summer, I was using MSN all the time, during my summer job, and I sent over 2000 IMs, and Fido didn’t put this on my bill for 2 months, and in the third month, my bill was over $300! FMB big time.” Read the rest of this entry »

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28th October 2010

3vis Presents The Foundry Sessions and ICBC Launches Creative Contests

3vis3vis would like to invite you to a presentation about The Foundry, a leading innovator of visual effects and image processing technologies that boost productivity in motion picture and video post-production. The Foundry’s technology touches most Hollywood blockbusters that reach our screens, as well as numerous television and commercial productions. Discover all the ways the latest suite of software opens up new opportunities in film production and television. See the latest technology from NUKE, MARI and the new STORM digital production hub.

Pre-registration is required, and the first 50 arrivals get a free gift. There will be three free-to-attend sessions held across the country:

November 3: Toronto – The Fieldhouse at The Berkeley Church
November 4: Montreal – Centre des Sciences – Le Hall Panoramique
November 23: Vancouver – Caprice Night Club

icbcTurn on your camera or pull out your sketchpad – ICBC is calling on artistic youth to help spread road safety messages to their peers and, in return, they’ll be eligible to win some cool prizes. It’s clear that safer roads are a priority in B.C. with new laws introduced this year to ban handheld electronic devices while driving and tougher impaired driving laws and excessive speeding penalties.

“Car crashes remain the number one preventable cause of death for youth in B.C and that’s why we’re looking to youth to help create advertisements that will reach their peers and express the importance of making smart driving decisions,” said ICBC’s Nicolas Jimenez, director of road safety.

ICBC has launched two contests: the 180 Film Contest, for 19 to 25 year olds and the Your Ad Here contest, for high school students in grades 8 to 11. The contests ask these groups to create either a short film or a print ad on one of three road safety topics: impaired driving, speeding or distracted driving.

For the 180 Film Contest, the winners of the top three films in each safety category will receive prizes amounting to about $35,000 worth of filmmaking equipment and software. By visiting 180filmcontest.com, you can vote for your favourite entry and the most popular film will receive a people’s choice award. The contest closes December 31, 2010.

High school students with a passion for art are also being called on to get inspired and create a print ad for the Your Ad Here contest. The top winner in each region of B.C. (Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, North Central and Southern Interior) will win an Apple Macbook and their ad will be displayed on next year’s high school agendas in their region. Visit icbc.com/youradhere to vote for your favourite ad. The fan favourite will win an Apple iPod touch and the school with the most participation will win an Adobe Creative Suite CS5 software package. The contest closes on January 14, 2011.

voicesEarlier this week Voices.com rolled out Local Voices, a new service offering voice over talent an opportunity to market themselves directly to potential clients within their own city.

Local Voices utilizes Google Maps, Bing Local, and Yahoo Local Search, employing local map listings, Internet yellow pages (IYPs) and local franchise advertising. Voice talent who sign up for the service are able to expand their online visibility and drive qualified contacts to their profiles so that they can work with local producers in addition to the online casting calls that the site already delivers on a daily basis.

Local Voices helps streamline the casting needs for producers wanting to work with local talent, saving them time and money in audition costs. Local Voices eliminates the need for ‘cattle-calls’, allowing businesses, producers, casting directors, and agencies to do the preliminary research online, pinpointing the voice over talent that they would like to work with in a local recording studio.

“Local Voices brings our online presence offline, expanding Voices.com’s reach and enabling people to find talent through local searches on Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other prominent engines.” said David Ciccarelli, Voices.com co-founder/CEO.

This service is available to members of the Voices.com website who are at the Platinum or Premium level. To be included in the Local Voices service, members log in to their accounts, fill out the Local Voices form, and follow the simple directions.

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26th October 2010

Social Co-operation Could Lead To Big Prizes At Veer

veerVeer, a provider of affordable visual elements that makes it easier to be creative, today announced the start of Free-For-All, a series of four different one week community challenges that aim to give away $30,000 in prizes to participants who can try to win just by downloading free images, fonts, avatars, screensavers and wallpapers from the Free-For-All pages.

Starting today, Veer will give the online community the chance to rally together to progressively unlock more and more free downloads across a range of themes in an effort to be entered into big grand prize sweepstakes.

Each Monday for the next four weeks, Veer automatically unlocks the first download, a selection of free images. The community must then rally together to have enough people download the images to successfully unlock the second download, a free font. If enough people download the font, then the third and final download, a free digital toy, is unlocked.

If enough people download the digital toy by the end of each week (Sunday at midnight), then the weekly grand prize is unlocked, and everyone who downloaded something during the week is automatically entered to win. People can get up to three entries each week, one for each download they do.

The weekly grand prizes include:

* Week 1: $5,000 Apple Store® shopping spree
* Week 2: $5,000 Entertainment shopping spree at Amazon.com
* Week 3: $5,000 Outdoor Adventure Gear shopping spree at REI
* Week 4: $15,000 Trip around the world through American Airlines

To help make sure that the grand prizes are unlocked and awarded, participants can spread the word through their social networks, email, instant message, text message – anyway they can – to make sure all downloads and the grand prize are unlocked by the deadline each week.

“We love to have fun at Veer and give our community a little challenge,” said Xerxes Irani, Creative Director, Veer. “The Free-For-All sweepstakes gives our biggest supporters and those new to Veer the opportunity to explore, share, get something for free and maybe even win big.”

Free-For-All is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada, except Quebec.

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18th October 2010

DBox Shakes Up Pilots and Noel Berry Releases Leap 4 Blue

D-BoxQuebec’s D-BOX Technologies Inc. announced today that is has entered into its first agreement with California-based Precision Flight Controls, a leading manufacturer of flight devices for both pilots and educators.

Precision Flight Controls will be offering D-BOX’s motion technology as an option for all new cockpit sales, as well as a retrofit option for units sold, giving their already 10,000 customer-base, comprised of Colleges, Universities, flight schools, governments as well as individual users, the opportunity to have the most accurate experience in flight simulation.

“We are very pleased with this agreement, yet another achievement in our strategy to sell products which derive from our core motion technology to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). We can only stand optimistic in regards to our future when we have the support of important players like Precision Flight Controls, who is well positioned and perfectly understands the challenges of its respective markets,” stated Claude Mc Master, President and Chief Executive Officer of D-BOX Technologies Inc.

On behalf of Precision Flight Control, Mr. Mike Altman, Chief Executive Officer added: “The precision engineered D-BOX motion system greatly enhances our flight simulation environment. We can now offer “seat of the Pants” motion cuing only found in much higher level flight training devices. The addition of motion adds the type of realistic feedback that we have been looking for as pilots can now experience the feel of roll, pitch, yaw, turbulence, stall and much more. D-BOX has definitely added the “wow” factor to leap 4 blueour devices.”

Independent game developer Noel Berry has announced the release of his game, Leap 4 Blue, on the Bored.com network. He started working on this latest title at the Winnipeg Game Jam this past spring, with the game’s premise including the creation of platforms needed to leap your way to blue while avoiding lasers, enemies along with an assortment of hazards and puzzles. You can read about Lead 4 Blue’s journey from conception to launch in Noel’s dev diary.

mozilla game labsMozilla has launched its Game Labs competition – open to game developers around the globe, the finished product must be built using open Web technologies, including (but is not limited to) HTML, CSS, JavaScript as well as server-side code such as PHP, Python, Ruby or Java. The use of libraries is permitted, however plug-ins are not. The competition submission period closes on January 11, 2011, when an expert panel along with the public will be invited to play your game and judge it against the competition. No additional features, fixes, or modifications are allowed during the judging period, or you will be disqualified.

Categories Include:

* Best Overall – the best overall score
* Best Technology – the highest technology score
* Best Web-iness – the highest web-iness score
* Best Aesthetics – the highest aesthetics score
* Most Original – the highest originality score
* Best Polish – the highest polish score
* Most Fun – the highest fun score
* Community Choice- the entry with the highest official average score

Grand Prize- Trip for two to GDC!

* Get the red carpet treatment!
* Entry to the Indie Game Developer Conference
* A visit to Mozilla’s headquarters in Mountain View
* Includes flight and 7 nights of hotel accomodations in San Francisco
* A veritable boatload of Mozilla swag
* Promotion on the Game-On Gallery

Details: One (1) Grand Prize is available: A trip for two (2) persons to the 2011 GDC Conference in San Francisco, scheduled for February 28 – March 4, 2011. Prize will include coach air travel, conference tickets and 7 nights double-occupancy hotel accommodations. See complete official rules for details. Mozilla Game Labs is also working on a whole bunch of awesome prizes for category winners and runners-up.

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30th September 2010

Conversation Starters and A Birthday For Blocks

RandomHouseRandom House of Canada is pleased to announce its move into the mobile screen space with a first-of-its-kind app based on interesting and fun facts from new and bestselling books from Random House of Canada and McClelland & Stewart.

Conversation Starters is a first in the book publishing industry, an insightful collection of fun and interesting facts from new & bestselling books presented in an easy-to-use Did You Know format. Created for both the iPAD and iPhone/iPod touch, this free application has a leading edge mobile user experience and design technology with a personality of its own, engaging users both 1:1 with the app and 1:many when users of the app take what they have learned and share with others to spark conversation.Conversation Starters

Conversation Starters allows people to boost their knowledge and keep the conversation flowing, and to share facts and tidbits with friends through email, Facebook and Twitter. Users can also read an expanded selection from each book with just one click, and to keep reading, they can easily connect to online retailers.

“This is just the beginning of our foray into the rapidly growing mobile space” says Lisa Charters, SVP, Director, Digital for Random House of Canada who oversaw development of the app. “We want to reach and engage with readers, providing them content from our books on the go and in an interactive fun way. We set out to build a unique app that people would keep coming back to on a regular basis. Conversation Starters is also another way we can help readers find the next right book for them and to help spread the word of mouth about our authors and their books.”

Deborah Hall, Managing Director at Web2Mobile, who worked with Random House of Canada on the development of the app commented, “Conversation Starters combines the best in breed digital content with a robust and innovative technology platform created by Web2Mobile. Our team is really proud of this project design and immersive digital experience unique for both the iPhone/iPod and IPAD platforms.”

Along with the launch of this app, Random House of Canada has optimized key content areas of the Booklounge.ca site for small mobile screens – the highest trafficked pages on the site such as bestsellers, new releases, and books in the news can now be found here http://m.booklounge.ca.

Mega BrandsThe iconic Mega Bloks® system, beloved by parents and children around the world, turns 25 and to mark this milestone, MEGA Brands is launching its biggest promotion and giving North American families the chance to win $25,000 towards their children’s future.

“We want to celebrate Mega Bloks®’ 25th birthday by giving back to the families who have helped us become the world leader in preschool construction toys,” said Stephane Boulay, Marketing Director at MEGA Brands. “We are thrilled to provide families with the chance to win $25,000 towards their children’s future, one of 25 Mega Bloks® prize packs valued at $500 each, as well as offering them $5 off their next Mega Bloks® purchase, which is all available in over 700 thousand 80-piece Mega Bloks® bags throughout North America.”MegaBlocks 25

From October 1 to November 30, 2010, North American families can participate in Mega Bloks®’ birthday contest through two possibilities: in-store and online. At all major retailers in North America, participants can simply purchase the award-winning 80-piece Mega Bloks® bag and peel off their in-pack peel off contest card to instantly get the chance to win the grand prize of $25,000 for their children’s future or one of 25 Mega Bloks® prize packs valued at $500. Participants also have another chance to win one of 25 Mega Bloks® prize packs valued each at $500 by going online and registering at www.megabloks.com/25.

The 25th birthday promotion is one of the many marketing initiatives supporting Mega Bloks®’s 25th Birthday. The company is also celebrating this occasion through retail events at Toys “R” Us throughout North America, a Mega Bloks® 25th Birthday feature shop in Toys “R” Us Canada, and a new and exciting Mega Bloks® iPhone and iPad application for preschoolers ages two to five.

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24th September 2010

Wicked Interactive Teams with World Online Gaming League For Weekend Competition

Wicked InteractiveWicked Interactive, a leading North American MMO publisher, has announced that World Online Gaming League (WOGL) will organize a special ladder competition this weekend for its popular free-to-play shooter Mission Against Terror (M.A.T.). The competition, celebrating the second explosive week of the game’s open beta, begins today, Friday, September 24 and runs through Sunday, September 26.

“Our community has been instrumental in getting M.A.T. to this point so quickly,” said Stephen Tucker, CEO, World Online Gaming League. “While the game is still in open beta, we expect a fun weekend, with a strong turnout from some of our best players.” WOGL

The World Online Gaming League is a leading eSports company dedicated to providing competitive play for gamers around the world. WOGL is based in Florida and covers games such as Combat Arms and Alliance of Valliant Arms. WOGL is continuously expanding to new games and provides its clients with the ultimate in competitive gaming. WOGL also has a streaming media arm named WOGL.TV in which it casts live tournaments utilizing Silverlight Technology.

“We are deeply grateful to the WOGL community for their input,” said Sam Ho, Director, Wicked Interactive. “As we work on implementing it into the next upgrade, we thought we’d up the ante again with a no-holds-barred ladder event to showcase the open beta’s new modes. Kudos to WOGL’s talented tech team for making the ladder a reality.”

The Competition Mission Against Terror

Format: 5v5
Mode: Bomb Mode
The Payoff: Points rewards to winning teams + other in-game surprises
Ladder on WOGL
Official M.A.T. site

THE SKINNY:

The highlight of the open beta patch is the debut of one of MAT’s most popular game modes, the Phantom Mode. Phantom Mode is a spin-off of the highly popular Bomb Mode. In Phantom Mode, one team plays as the ghosts who are highly translucent figures that are difficult to see but are restricted to melee attacks only, and they’re out to bomb key locations around the world. The other team is identical to that of Bomb Mode–soldiers with anti-Phantom training who are out to drive the ghosts back and save these locations from being bombed. Read the rest of this entry »

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8th September 2010

Canadian Schools Get Helping Hand From Staples and Best Buy

Best Buy CanadaBest Buy Canada is looking to award $200,000 in technology grants to teachers and students who are passionate about technology in the classroom. Starting Monday, September 13, Canada’s fastest growing retailer of consumer electronics will begin accepting entries for its 2010 Best in Class Fund program.

The need for effectively incorporating the latest technology into Canadian schools was highlighted in a 2009 survey of advanced use of ICTs (Integrated Communications Technologies) conducted by the International Telecommunications Union. The survey showed that Canada dropped to 19th place, down ten places from its ninth place standing in 2002, indicating that Canada is losing its competitive edge regarding technology into the classroom.

The Best in Class Fund program was conceived in 2008 to inspire teachers and students to develop compelling educational projects that will advance learning through the integration of technology in the classroom. This type of learning is recognized as key for scholastic success by numerous experts including Dr. David Vogt, Director of Digital Learning at the University of British Columbia’s Educational Technology Department and member of the Best in Class Technology Advisory Board.

“There are numerous studies that show how the effective use of technology by trained teachers can create a superior learning experience for students,” says Dr. Vogt. “What makes Best in Class such a strong program is that it equips schools with cutting edge technology and then brings in experts to help teachers and students understand how they can best integrate this new technology into the classroom.”

In addition to $20,000 for the latest in digital technology, each of the ten winning schools will also receive in-the-classroom support and ongoing online support from Best Buy’s Geek Squad. Experts in technology installation, trouble shooting and functionality, the Geek Squad will offer their expertise to the teachers and students of the winning schools to help them understand how to get as much as possible out of this new technology to maximize the learning experience.

The submissions will be reviewed by the Best in Class Technology Advisory Board comprised of leaders in the areas of technology and education. This year’s advisory board members include: Dr. David Vogt, Director of Digital Learning Projects for the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Education; Dr. Michele Jacobsen, Chair of Educational Studies in Language, Culture & Technology at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Education; as well technology experts and respected journalists Marc Saltzman and Francois Charron.

The Best in Class Fund Program began in 2008 and to-date Best Buy has donated $500,000 in technology grants to schools in Canada. The program is open to teachers and students in grades 7 – 12 in BC, AB, SK, MB, ON and NS, levels 2 – 5 in French-speaking QC schools and grades 8 – 11 in English-speaking QC schools.

Students and teachers are asked to develop their proposals, which must include a video and a written proposal that outline how they would like to integrate various consumer electronic technologies in the classroom and how it will provide an educational benefit, and submit online between Monday, September 13 and Sunday, October 24, 2010. One submission is allowed per school and it can come from a single class, or from a cross section of students and teachers from the same school, such as Student Council or other student clubs.

staples canadaStaples Canada has opened online registration for their Recycle For Education program, which recycles used ink/toner cartridges, then donates funds back to participating schools.

“We want students to not have to worry about supplies – we realize schools are on tight budgets and can use the help,” says Steve Matyas, president of Staples Canada. The Recycle For Education program is easy; used cartridges can be dropped off into specially marked recycling bins at any of the more than 320 stores in Canada.

Money is donated to elementary and high schools registered with the program and any publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are welcome to sign up.

To be eligible, schools are asked to register with the program between September 1 and December 31, 2010. Funds raised from the previous year will be distributed in May 2011, in the form of a Staples gift card, to participating schools.

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1st September 2010

Retro City Rampage Is Ready For PAX

Wild Games StudioNew 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 Dhaila's Adventuresaddition 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.

vblankSelected 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.Retro City Rampage

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.

CAPCOMCapcom 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.

UbisoftFor 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.Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

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 »

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24th August 2010

Get Shank Today on PSN or Tomorrow on XBLA

Klei EntertainmentElectronic Arts Inc. and independent Vancouver development studio Klei Entertainment would like to remind you that the highly anticipated downloadable 2D action game Shank, will be available for download today on PlayStation®Network for $9.99 and tomorrow, August 25th, Shank Boss Battleon Xbox LIVE® Arcade (1200 MS Points). At press time, Shank was still showing a release date of “08.2010” on PSN, but the XBLA page has been updated with tomorrow’s release date. With its blend of classic side-scrolling action gameplay and stylized animation set against a modern-Western canvass, Shank tells a bloody story of revenge, penned by award-winning game writer Marianne Krawczyk.

“Our goal with Shank was to create a game that pays homage to the classic 2D brawler, while seeing how far we could push it by melding it with our own pulp-fiction influences,” said Jamie Cheng, CEO of Klei Entertainment. “At the end of a long road that began as an indie dream in 2009, we’ve finally shipped a visually striking, cinematic brawler.”

Shank Train Chase“With Shank, Jamie Cheng, Jeff Agala, and the team at Klei Entertainment have delivered the game analog of the black comedy symphony of violence dominating today’s indie film circuit,” said Jamil Moledina, Outreach Director at EA Partners. “This exquisitely bloody game conjures memories of the best arcade brawlers of the late 1980s, while delivering the production values and pitch perfect controls of a modern high definition blockbuster masterpiece.”

Shank tells a classic story of gangland betrayal through a violent, pulp-fiction lens. Gamers play as Shank, getting their hands bloody as they uncover the secrets of Shank’s past and the reasons he is hell-bent on Shankrevenge. With a deep and intuitive combat system, players unleash a tremendous number of creative combinations as they take down waves of enemies standing in their path. Shank also features a special co-operative campaign, designed to be played with a friend locally, which tells the backstory of the revenge plot. This prequel mission allows players to play as Shank or his partner-in-crime Falcone, with deadly double-team moves and gameplay that encourages teamwork.

Shank is one of the most highly anticipated downloadable game releases of this summer, having been nominated for Excellence in Visual Arts by the Independent Games Festival, as well as multiple “Best of E3” awards, including “Best Action Game” from IGN.com and “Best Downloadable Game” from GameTrailers.com. Shank is rated M by the ESRB.

vortex competition 2010The McLuhan Festival of the Future’s Vortex Videogame Conference and Competition, an illustrious event designed to showcase Ontario’s undiscovered videogame talent, has announced today that it will be accepting entries for its 2010 edition.

With the mission to create opportunities for emerging videogame companies and individuals to showcase their work locally, nationally, and internationally, Vortex achieves its goal through education, discourse, pitching, networking and, of course, competition. Read the rest of this entry »

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23rd August 2010

Ray Ardent Science Ninja Trailer Now Available

Vancouver SIGGRAPH ChapterA-la-carte tickets for Spark Animation are now available. Vancouver’s ACM SIGGRAPH chapter have officially opened the event’s site for individual session or film session purchases. The festival will open with a social mixer on Wednesday, September 8th and will feature a full schedule of inspiring speakers, panels and films.

Vancouver indie studio Ninja Robot Dinosaur has declared Ray ArdentRay Ardent: Science Ninja done. The product of indie developer & design veteran Shane Neville, Ray Ardent: Science Ninja is a high speed platformer where players assume the role of Ray Ardent, a retro pulp combination of Nicholas Tesla and Chuck Norris who saves the world with his unique combination of Science and Ninjutsu. Power-ups like Science Slide, Triple Jump and nine others let gamers customize Ray to play how they want him to. Ray Ardent features 15 levels and is currently up for licensing on Flash Game License. Ray Ardent was built using the Flixel game libraries created by Adam Saltzman of Canabalt fame, with John Tennant providing the audio work.

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Big Blue Bubble Inc.’s newest iOS game, Fighting Fantasy: Creature of Havoc has been released to the iTunes Store. Fighting Fantasy: Creature of Havoc is the fourth release in the Fighting Fantasy series and includes Big Blue BubbleiPhone/iPod Touch support, as well as our new iPad support.

You begin this adventure not knowing where you are or who you are. All you know is that you are some kind of creature of instinct, understanding little. During the course of the adventure, it may be possible for you to begin to control your bestial nature, to find out more about yourself, and even to learn your destiny. But even if you know all this, success is by no means certain, for the traps and terrors of Trolltooth Pass are many.Fighting Fantasy Creature of Havoc

Now you can experience the books that have sold over 15 million copies worldwide, on your iPhone or iPad. Fighting Fantasy fans will love the classic story and original illustrations with a technological twist. No more dice, pencils, or bookmarks. All of the special features are built in:

* New! Player Achievements
* Universal app iPad support
* Scrolling image gallery of unlocked in-game art
* Tap the on screen buttons to flip pages (No papercuts!)
* Shake to roll the 3D dice using the accelerometer (or tap through with ease)
* Inventory items selectable via touch-screen
* Game-save feature allows you to retrace your steps
* Includes both original illustrations by Ian McCaig and digitally re-mastered versions
* Integrated iPod music library access

Bioware CorpBioware has just announced that the newest DLC for Mass Effect 2 for PC and Xbox 360 will be released on Lair of the ShadowbrokerSeptember 7th. Available for 800 Bioware/MS Points, players who purchase Lair of the Shadowbroker will  join Liara T’Soni on her mission to track down the mysterious Shadow Broker. She’ll do anything to recover the man the Broker kidnapped, and the Shadow Broker’s agents will do anything to stop her. Team up with Liara and chase down clues as you adventure from the luxurious heights of Illium to the Shadow Broker’s own secret lair. In this new DLC, players will gain access to the Shadow Broker intel center, new research, and five new achievements. Mass Effect 1 players who carried their characters over to ME2 will also have the chance to continue a relationship with Liara. Read the rest of this entry »

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