Village Gamer

Guinness World Records, the global authority on record-breaking, announce the Top 50 Video Game Villains of All Time as voted for by over 5,000 of their readers.  The list, which is revealed in its entirety in the new Guinness World Records 2013 Gamer’s Edition book, sees the iconic Nintendo Boss Bowser crowned king, with Portal’s GLaDOS in the runner up spot. A total of 5,699 total votes were cast on the Guinness World Records website, which placed Assassin’s Creed’s Borgia family at #7 and “The Readers” from Mass Effect at #21. I don’t remember The Readers from ME, but I do know The Reapers. Read the rest of this entry »

Geomerics, a UK-headquartered lighting technology company in the video game industry, has opened up a new office in Vancouver. Opening this office puts Geomerics closer to the growing US and Canadian market for its lighting technology for video games, Enlighten; and, in particular, it ensures timezone support for Geomerics’ rapidly expanding North American customer list. Read the rest of this entry »

The Independent Games Festival has announced the eight Student Showcase winners for the fifteenth annual presentation of its prestigious awards, celebrating the brightest and most innovative creations to come out of universities and games programs from around the world in the past year. This year’s showcase of top student talent include the first-person meta-videogame ATUM, from the Netherlands’ NHTV IGAD, the similarly meta-game-ified pen & paper RPG Knights of Pen & Paper, from Brazil’s Instituto de Ensino Superior de Brasilia & Universidade de Brasilia, and the  Jet Set Radio-esque Zineth, a game which “celebrates speed, movement & Twitter”, from students of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Read the rest of this entry »

More than 380 game professionals and aspiring game designers turned out for the seventh annual Game Design Expo and Open House. The two-day event kicked off with a sold-out Industry Speaker Day on Saturday featuring the leading minds behind Halo 4 and the Assassin’s Creed franchise. On Sunday, Vancouver Film School (VFS) opened its doors with sample classes to over 200 aspiring game designers. As always, the speaker sessions were informative with more than a few touches of humour thrown in for good measure. Patrick Plourde (Creative Director, Ubisoft) is one of my favourite speakers, and his session on New Horizons For Game Design was one of my top picks for the day, along with Tuomas Pirinen (Game Director, Slant Six Games) and his presentation on The Bowling Dead. Read the rest of this entry »

Registration for the international Computec games development competition Make the Game 2013 is under way. Until 15 May 2013, developers have the chance to present their browser, mobile or social games to an audience of millions and secure a lucrative publishing contract. Read the rest of this entry »

Just before Christmas Global Game Jam Inc.™ (GGJ) organizers announced that character creation and animation innovator Mixamo will be a sponsor of the upcoming Global Game Jam 2013. Mixamo will support GGJ13 participants by enabling them to leverage the company’s massive collection of animation services and assets.  Read the rest of this entry »

Last Friday Wild Games Studio announced GamerZ Rebellion, a new informational and Indy game distribution platform. Users will have access to the best Indy games, a creative section and an area where to submit open source 3D models.  Members will have the chance to watch exclusive Rebel TV interviews of Indy game developers as well as gameplay commentary/reviews of some of the best Indy games in the industry. Wild Games Studio wants to bring forth the best Indy games and offer them a place to shine in the gaming world amongst AAA studios. Offering a wide variety of original games, the mission of GamerZ Rebellion is to deliver to the  quality entertainment. Read the rest of this entry »

The Game Developers Conference has opened nominations for the 13th annual Game Developers Choice Awards through January 4, 2013. Produced by GDC parent company the UBM Tech Game Network, the Choice Awards are the most prestigious honors in the world of video game development. The Game Developers Choice Awards recognize the artistry and technical genius of leading industry professionals across multiple game development disciplines. The 13th Annual Awards ceremony will take place on the evening of March 27th, during GDC 2013 in San Francisco. Read the rest of this entry »

The organizers of the Independent Games Festival, the leading showcase for independent video games worldwide, have announced a new agreement with Valve for IGF 2013. All IGF Main Competition finalists for this year’s event will receive distribution agreements for Steam, a leading platform for distribution in today’s burgeoning independent gaming market. Read the rest of this entry »

Online combat strategy game developer Kixeye announced yesterday that it is expanding to Canada, and will be opening a new game development studio based in Victoria. This marks the third office for Kixeye, and second international studio opened this year, previously announcing its expansion to Brisbane, Australia. Kixeye Canada is actively staffing up to begin work on new special projects. Read the rest of this entry »