Village Gamer

Toronto – eMixEngine officially announces the successful launch of their new music mixing service. eMixEngine.com launched on June 12, 2009 to great fanfare and success as it introduces a revolutionary way for budding musicians, bands, and singers to have their music mixed and mastered by industry leading professionals in a highly affordable manner. Before eMixEngine people either had to try to do it at home themselves, and could never get the quality results, and great sound that professionals could deliver, or they had to pay expensive recording studio fees. Now music artists all around the world have a 3rd option. They can record their tracks themselves, and have industry leading professionals make it sound world class.

eMixEngine CEO, Lawrence Tepperman, believes that the market is ripe for this industry changing business model. There are over 11 million bands and musicians on MySpace alone and now that iTunes enables budding musicians to upload their music for sale right on its site, it is clear than music has become democratized…everyone can chase the dream, and they don’t need an agent, middlemen, or have to pay expensive recording studios. With eMixEngine these artists can sound like chart topping bands while typically spending less than $25 per band member on average to do so.
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Canada and Tokyo – Did you know that Japan is the largest per capita producer and consumer of console video games and its huge 3G mobile network makes it one of the largest mobile gaming environments in the world? For Canadian mobile contents developers and publishers, as well as providers of development tools, middleware and service providers for console, mobile and online games, the Tokyo Game Show is the best possible place to conduct B to B meetings with Asian companies, and find business partners in the region.

The Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, in collaboration with the provincial governments of Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, will be organising the Canadian participation to the TGS 2009. This year, the Canada Pavilion will feature an open concept with a design calling for 4 square towers, one in each corner of the Pavilion (there may be additional towers towards the centre of the Pavilion) and a centre rectangular pylon. Each tower is 2.7 meters in height with each of its four faces being one meter wide. For each face, the upper portion of roughly 1.7 metres can be used to affix either a TV monitor or a framed A1 size poster (60mm in width x 840mm in length); the bottom half of each column face comprises a counter top setting with a front panel with sliding doors.
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Toronto – Corus Entertainment’s YTV announced today a special sneak peek of the highly anticipated CGI animated comedy series, The Penguins of Madagascar, on Friday, June 26 at 8 p.m. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, creator of the Academy Award® winning Shrek, in association with Nickelodeon, The Penguins of Madagascar will premiere on Saturday, September 12 at 9 a.m. in YTV’s Saturday morning hosted cartoon block CRUNCH.

A 26-episode series, The Penguins of Madagascar centers around the adventures of four cute unsuspecting penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private, as they carry out missions to maintain order and rule the roost in their habitat, New York’s Central Park Zoo. It’s not an easy feat for these determined little penguins as their nemesis and new party animal neighbour, King Julien and his lemur sidekicks Maurice and Mort, are always getting in their way.

Beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 26, the sneak peek event will kick off with the premiere episode iCarly: iMake Sam Girlier, starring TV tween queen Miranda Cosgrove, followed by a second episode of Nickelodeon’s iCarly and the SpongeBob SquarePants’ one-hour special, Atlantis SquarePantis at 7 p.m.
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London – From the creative minds that brought you Home Sweet Home and Masters of Mystery comes a brand new adventure! Big Blue Bubble proudly announces the release of Legacy: World Adventure!

Travel the world as Emily King, an intelligent young woman with a yearning for adventure and a craving for knowledge. Help her reclaim her family legacy in an electrifying race around the globe, to win the illustrious Grand Adventurers Expedition! Legacy: World Adventure will challenge your Match 3 abilities and heighten your World Fact knowledge with exciting clues and stunning imagery!
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Lasalle – Herobits Corp. is proud to announce the launch of its new collectible card game, Herobits, a sci-fi themed armored hero game for kids. Herobits will be available in your local game store starting on Sunday, June 21st. The Herobits card game permits friendly combat between two people, face to face, with the great personal interaction so rare in today’s world.

Herobits Series 1 consists of three complete 50 card collectible decks, each one featuring a single armored hero. This easy to learn and fast paced game is centered on a devastated future Earth where great wastelands have formed. Mechanical monsters called Reapers dig, drill, and blast to feed “the Machine”; but, inside Arcadia, one of the last remaining human enclaves, powerful armor and weaponry are being developed, and Arcadians known as Herobits are training to wield them. Working together, Herobits prepare to combat the Machine and restore the Earth.

Players can sit down, learn the rules, and be playing within 10 minutes right out of the box. There are no booster packs, eliminating the need to spend more money to truly enjoy the game. Game play requires just 2 players aged 8+, each with their own Herobits 50 card deck. New 3 character releases are scheduled at two to three-month intervals. Every new series will feature new artists and great new artistic styles. Providing entertaining games for kids and a collectible, Herobits is easy to learn, play, and enjoy for two players.
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Mississauga – Microsoft Canada Co. announced today that MuchMusic, a division of CTV Limited, has selected Microsoft® Silverlight™ browser plug-in to give people across Canada one of the best seats in the house for this Sunday’s 2009 Much Music Video Awards (MMVAs) in Toronto when the cameras start rolling at 9pm EDT.

This year, anyone watching the MMVAs on a computer running Microsoft Silverlight will have access to Backstage Live, a unique, online video experience based on Silverlight that will stream the event live in high-definition – a Canadian first. Backstage Live lets viewers select from six different views powered by 21 cameras located throughout the event venue, so they can enjoy planned live on-stage performances from the Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas, take part in exclusive behind-the-scenes celebrity interviews, peek into the VIP and press rooms, or join in the action from backstage or in the crowd.

As well, viewers can take advantage of the Alt Show cams to enjoy a “second screen” experience, letting viewers access TV footage framed in an alternate shot with different cameras. People using Backstage Live can also chat with friends live via Facebook and Twitter.
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Orby

Vancouver – Yes, I have succumbed to the pressure and opened an account for Village Gamer on Twitter. Our account name on Twitter is VillageGamer – you’ll recognize Orby as our avatar if you search us out over there. It might have had something to do with Noelle Hunt Bennett (Big Fish Games) threatening to force feed Twitter lessons to me at the Casual Connect Conference next month in July. If any of you know Noelle, you know she’ll follow through with that threat, so I figured that I would beat her to the punch. Sort of. If I figure out how to use it to full advantage before the conference.

Which brings me to another small update. The Women In Games Vancouver group is partnering with Women in Games International and the IGDA to present a Leadership Development Forum on Monday July 20th at Casual Connect Seattle. The Leadership Forum, which is still being finalized, will be held at The Triple Door. I have been invited to participate on one of the panels, and if the powers that be in the Passport Office so deem, I will have new and valid “government-issued travel documents” before the conference.

In other news, I can’t believe how much our readership has grown. In just the first six months of 2009 we have doubled what we did for all of last year. As of June 17th, we’ve logged just over 2 million hits on the site and our Alexa rank has gone from over 7 million at launch to a current ranking of 468 008. So, thank you to all of you who come and read the news on Village Gamer – we appreciate your time and your support.

Vancouver and Montreal – Since the conclusion of this year’s E3 conference, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss Canada’s presence with a few people from around the country who were there. The general consensus is that the conference is very much worth attending, whether you have a title or product being launched or not. The experience is very educational and offers many chances to meet new people and to try products you may not otherwise have a chance to.

Wendy Boylan from Ubisoft Vancouver was very pleased with the launch of their first title, Academy of Champions at E3. She said that press reception was fantastic and that their pod in the Ubisoft sector was very busy throughout the show.  Pele’s endorsement of the title and interaction with those at the conference adds to the anticipation for the game’s release, and those who tried the title were impressed with the amount of detail and attention which has been paid to this game’s development.

Chammi Kim, a member of the Big Park crew who unveiled their new title, Joy Ride, as part of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 presentation was attending E3 for the first time, and she likened the experience to what it must be like arriving at Mecca after a long pilgrimage. She said that when she wasn’t working at the Microsoft booth helping with Joy Ride demonstrations, she tried to see as many Vancouver-developed games as possible, and it was very exciting to see such a strong presence at the show. Chammi also said that the Vancouver titles showed a wide range of diversity in talent, with a healthy mix of both hardcore and casual games on display. She also said that one of the best aspects of the show was getting to  see first hand how people reacted to the gameplay in Joy Ride and that getting instant feedback was gratifying.
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Vancouver – With the MLB All-Star Game right around the corner, 2K Sports today announced a free demo of The BIGS 2, which is being developed by Blue Castle Games,  is now available for download through Xbox LIVE Marketplace, and a demo on PlayStation Network will follow shortly. The demo will support two players, local only, and offer fans the exciting opportunity to experience the new Batter’s Wheelhouse, thrilling power ups, and incredible player models in a three inning game as either the American League All-Stars or National League All-Stars. Fans will also have the chance to smash home runs into building windows and neon signs in the return of the hugely popular mode, Home Run Pinball, in an all-new Las Vegas venue.

The BIGS 2, available on all major video game consoles, has been elevated to new heights this season with amazing visual effects and a variety of newly added modes including the fan requested Season and Become a Legend. With improved player animations and pick-up-and-play controls, The BIGS 2 is guaranteed to deliver an action-packed MLB videogame experience.

Scheduled to be in retail stores on July 7, 2009, The BIGS 2 will be available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo.

Toronto – Interactive Ontario today announced that GameON: Finance 2009 will take place October 27 & 28 in Toronto. This two-day investment summit is designed to bring investors and video game developers together to explore financing possibilities for the Ontario games industry. This year, Jason Della Rocca, Senior Consultant for Perimeter Partners and former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association, will head up the GameON: Finance advisory board.

Event attendees will receive access to special features including case studies, business discussions, examples of successful corporate models, project financing ideas and one-on-one meetings between developers and financiers. More information can be found at www.gameonfinance.com as it becomes available.
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