Village Gamer

Digifest 2011 is Toronto’s international festival celebrating innovation and digital creativity. From October 26-30 established and emerging designers, technologists and artists will learn about the latest trends and experience innovations firsthand through panel discussions and presentations, demos, interactive exhibitions, workshops, art installations, “doors open” academic tours, creative showcases and parties.

Digifest will showcase digital media creativity in Toronto, bringing together academic, industry and the public to experience the convergence of interactive & mobile media, gaming, art and design, architecture, simulation and more.

Digifest will celebrate the latest achievements in visualization, simulation and interaction in many fields, inspiring and connecting all involved.  The festival’s long-term vision is to globally brand Toronto as a leading digital media and technology centre based on the unique breadth and depth of its digital sectors.

Digifest has been renewed and updated by the School of Design at George Brown College in partnership with the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFF), Applied Arts Inc., Meet The Media Guru (Italy), TOJam, Gamercamp, OCAD University, Ryerson University, Seneca College and various media and venue partners.

Innovation Days

(Wednesday October 26 – Thursday October 27, daytime)

This exciting portion of Digifest will showcase results of industry/school research partnerships to a crowd made up of industry members, academics and students. The content will be selected by Digifest and its academic partners. Each morning / afternoon will be devoted to one of the four Digifest streams: play, touch, build, watch.

Talks will be delivered by industry “thought leaders” followed by shorter presentations from various innovators in related fields.

Tiff.nexus Innovation Day

(Friday October 28)

TIFF.nexus is the connection of the existing and emerging media sectors of Film, Gaming and New Media, designed as a catalyst for collaboration between them.  This innovation day will feature emerging technology talks and presentations as well as the results of the 2011 Gaming Peripherals Jam – putting game developers together with hardware hackers to innovate in areas of interface – which will be showcased in an evening reception at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Meet The Media Guru

(Wednesday October 26 – Friday October 28, evening)

Meet The Media Guru (MMG) is a Social Network and an Open Community of Digital Culture that organizes local Events in Italy to meet the world famous protagonists of Innovation. Digifest is bringing MMG events to Ontario by making them a key component of the DF schedule. These evening speaker events will bring innovators from across the globe for thought-provoking presentations that will inspire and challenge attendees.

Exhibits and Activities

(Saturday October 29 – Sunday October 30)

The Digifest weekend activities will feature an array of exhibits, interactive displays, presentations and more, with many free events open to the general public. Events include:

• TOJam: featuring a day of talks by local game makers and industry thinkers, exclusive in-progress demos, and an arcade installation of over 20 games from TOjam.
• Art by Gamercamp exhibition, displaying digital art and design installations.
• Ziris™ wall: an on-going display of Digifest Ziris™ competition entries to be featured on the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts Ziris™ wall throughout the week and into the weekend. The Ziris Competition is open for entries until May 27th – get yours in now.

Interactive Ontario has announced the speaker line-up for the second annual INplay Conference, which takes place at the Liberty Grand in Toronto on May 17th and 18th. With its three major topic streams of Investment, Inspiration and Insights, the conference will examine the world of interactive entertainment and education for children. Registration for INplay is still open, so get your ticket now if you haven’t already.

New at the conference this year is the Canadian Interactive Showcase. Interactive Ontario has partnered with the Canada Media Fund to create an exclusive opportunity at INplay to showcase Canadian talent. The Canadian Interactive Showcase presented by CMF will provide Canadian companies with a chance to share their interactive project, product or service with an audience of investors, potential partners and peers.

INplay also gives registered delegates a chance to sit down with one of our event speakers or other featured participants for a 10 minute speed-dating style conversation in 1×1 Meetings.

Here are some of this year’s featured speakers:

Warren Buckleitner, Ph.D., Editor, Children’s Technology Review • Founder, Dust or Magic conference, author & children’s technology expert

Gever Tulley, Co-Founder, Brightworks • TED speaker, author of Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do)

Russ McLeod, Chief Operations Director, Me To We • Audience favourite and key player in youth inspiration events

Rupert Harris, Series Producer, BBC Children’s • Series producer for the BBC smash hit TV show and website: Bamzooki where you can create your own virtual Bamzooki creature.

Julie Sun, Senior Director of Digital Marketing, Nickelodeon • Sets the strategy and implementation methodologies for the internationally acclaimed kids network, Nickelodeon.

David Merrill, President and Co-Founder, Sifteo • Entrepreneur, Ph.D. & TED speaker with a vision for the future of kids games – Sifteo Cubes: 1.5 inch computers with full colour displays that sense motion, sense each other, and wirelessly connect to your computer

Some of the Featured Sessions:

* Inspiration Stream – creativity and content stream featured session: I <3 / H8 Transmedia
Back in the day, having an interactive component to a property was something of a novelty. Now, most would agree that all consumable media should be developed with interactive in mind. So, does this make the term Transmedia moot? This session will explore successful cross-platform projects via case studies, followed by a charged discussion about one of the industry’s most hated buzzwords.

* Investment Stream – business stream featured session: Cross Merchandising – The Chicken or the Egg?
What comes first? The video game, toy, TV show or iPad application? This panel of industry experts will discuss various merchandising and licensing opportunities. What are the benefits to licensing your property to a 3rd party? When is the right time to start to build your brand around merchandising?

* Insights Stream – research and e-learning stream featured session: Bye Bye Textbooks, Hello Learning by Playing
From human/primate evolutionary behavioral parallels, to classroom archetypes, this session considers the very specific question of how computer based gaming will likely change the look and feel of education forever. The core point being that current educational materials are deeply connected to the peculiarities of the printing press – which we are no longer bound to. What are the implications of learning materials being technology-based?

If you haven’t already registered for the Canadian Games Conference, there is still time, but don’t wait too long. This year’s event features Sessions in business, production, design, programming, social games, and iPhone games, and offers visionary keynotes, an expo hall, and some great parties, receptions and networking events. Group and student rates also available.

Victor Lucas, host and executive producer of The Electric Playground is confirmed to open Day 2 of this year’s Canadian Games Conference with a 9:30am keynote address. Seen daily by millions on his popular TV show, Victor is also the President of Greedy Productions and Executive Producer of Reviews on the Run. Victor will be interviewed onstage at CGC by Blaine Kyllo, Games critic and columnist for The Georgia Straight.

Here are the latest Session and Speaker Announcements for CGC 2011:

* Monster Teams: How One Producer Tamed the Beast and Lived to Tell About It – Alexandre Parizeau, Senior Producer, Ubisoft Toronto

* Classic Game Postmortem: Bejeweled – Jason Kapalka, Co-founder, and Chief Creative Officer, Popcap Games

* Don’t Just Build an App: Build a Mobile Business – Charles Yim, Strategic Partner Development, Google

* Late to the Party: Go or No Go? A Facebook Games Panel featuring:

Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, CEO Silicon Sisters
David Bezahler, CEO Blitzoo Games
Rick Davidson, CEO Inspirado Games

* Making Academic/Industry Partnerships Work

Magy Seif El-Nasr, Professor, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University
Paul Newton, QA Development Director, Electronic Arts Canada
Sang Mah, former Director of Interactive Media, Bardel Entertainment
Bruce Gooch, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria, President and Manager, Relevant Games and Toon-FX.

You don’t want to miss the PechaKucha Session that will be closing out this year’s conference. Devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public, PechaKucha has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat”, it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace. Come be inspired by high energy stories from the world of Games as CGC closes with PechaKucha.

The Canadian Videogame Awards featuring Video Games Live is a great way to kick off your conference experience. The show takes place on May 18th at the Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver, and will be hosted by Electric Playground’s Victor Lucas. This is the party that will kick-off CGC, and tickets start at just $30.00 Join the biggest names in the Canadian game industry as we celebrate Canadian excellence.

It’s also not too late to become a sponsor, exhibitor or show partner. Visit the Conference or Awards sites to find out about exhibiting at CGC, hosting a party, reception or networking event.

The following Multimedia and Social Media Summer Bootcamps are being offered at UBC Robson Square in Vancouver:

Digital Video Production with Final Cut Studio: June 13-17
Plan, shoot and edit a video project from start to finish with HD cameras and Final Cut Pro.
Save $100 if you register by May 16.

Introduction to Mobile Web Design: June 20-24
Learn to adapt content, style sheets and graphics for mobile devices.
Save $100 if you register by May 23.

Web Design: July 4-22
In just three weeks, learn to create a website with Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash.
Save $210 if you register by June 6.

UBC Summer Institute in Social Media: July 11-15
An Introduction to Social Media Tools and Community Engagement – Learn about social media tools and how they can help you engage your customers and fans, and create a sense of community.
Save $145 if you register by June 14.

Adobe InDesign: July 25-29
Learn print layout and create multi-page documents using Adobe InDesign.
Save $100 if you register by June 27.

Plus there will be a free information session for the UBC Certificate in Entertainment Administration program at UBC Robson Square on June 8th.

On April 20, 2011, Hon. John Milloy, the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities in Ontario granted Toronto Film School at RCC Institute of Technology consent to offer a diploma in Writing for Film & TV in the province of Ontario. The program will be delivered in-class at the Toronto Film School’s centrally-located downtown campus at Dundas Square.

The Writing for Film & TV diploma, offered through RCC Institute of Technology’s Toronto Film School will immediately begin enrolling for its first class in October 2011. This 18-month intensive diploma will prepare students with skills to become a writing professional in new and traditional media. Students will learn different categories of writing for: documentaries, broadcast news, factual entertainment, sitcoms, 1-hour TV movies, interactive and multi-media components.

“This is a terrific program in a supportive, collaborative learning environment,” said Dr. Rick Davey, President of RCC Institute of Technology. “It is a great addition to the Film Production and Acting programs.”

Rick Bennett Program Chair of the Toronto Film School, also commented on the Minister’s announcement: “The Toronto Film School has a history of providing real-world education to its students. As we continue to grow, we are excited to add aspiring writers into the mix. The collaboration and strong sense of support that students receive from each other and from faculty will only get stronger with the addition of the writing program.”

In the Writing for TV and Film diploma, graduates will become story editors, production executives, network executives and work as writers. The curriculum covers all genres of writing, and provides workshops to expand and strengthen writing style. The program also teaches the history of film and TV and teaches students about new media, including 3-D, shooting with DSLR and other interactive multimedia components. The intention of the program is to produce dynamic writers for Film and Television who understand the inner workings of the film and TV industry. Finally, students learn the business side of the industry – including legal issues pertaining to writing and marketing their work to jumpstart their career and guide them through the complexities of the industry.

Friday evening we gathered for the official grand opening event at the new VFS Game Design Campus, which has moved to 88 East Pender in Vancouver – the former home of OmniTV. A far cry from the warren-like campus at the corner of Homer and West Hastings, the new campus is the perfect set up for the Game Design program, giving the school room to expand and whittle down its long waiting list of students waiting to unleash their imaginations and creative abilities on the game development industry.

The evening began with opening comments from VFS Managing Director Marty Hasselbach, who was the MC for the event. Mr. Hasselbach spoke briefly about the school and its successes before introducing school founder and President, Mr. James Griffin, who reiterated that one of the major goals for VFS is to teach students for success, something that I feel the school achieves time and again.

Following Mr. Griffin was guest of honour, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. Mayor Robertson spoke to the City of Vancouver’s commitment to the local digital media industry, and the important role Vancouver Film School plays in the continued growth of the industry. Mayor Robertson also spoke to the revitalization of the China Town community, and that the occupation by VFS of the former OmniTV building will assist in breathing new life to the area.

Several Vancouver City council members were in attendance, including Suzanne Anton and Ellen Woodsworth – in fact there were so many members of council present, Mayor Robertson joked that they could hold a meeting right there at the school. He continued, stating that the show of support from the council members’ attendance speaks directly to how the City is impressed with the remarkable achievements of not only Vancouver Film School, but the creative industry as a whole. The City recognizes the importance of the significant contribution the digital media sector has made to the standing of Vancouver as a global centre for creativity, and it is those successes that drives the City’s efforts in seeking out new opportunities, opening doors to new talent and new companies to come to Vancouver.

Also not one to miss an opportunity, Mayor Robertson noted the low carbon footprint of the digital media industry, and how its low impact on the environment will aid in the City’s quest to become the greenest city in the world – and he wasn’t just speaking to the home crowd, according to his bio page on the City’s web site, Mayor Robertson does indeed recognize digital media as being among important green industry sectors. The Mayor concluded his opening speech by congratulating the school on its scholarship initiatives, recognizing in particular the Women In Games Scholarship, the 2011 recipient of which would also be announced during the evening’s festivities.

Following Mayor Robertson, the Head of Game Design, Dave Warfield took over the podium to talk specifically about the past, present and future of the VFS Game Design program – after he noted that the campus’ location meant he would have a shorter walk to Canucks’ games. Mr. Warfield spoke about how far the school has come since launching its Game Design program six years ago, and how with the opening of the new campus the school will be able to double its capacity, helping 180 students enter the ever-changing world of game design annually.

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Mr. Warfield then introduced Women In Games Vancouver representative and independent game producer Bryna Dabby, who announced the winner of the 2011 Women In Games VFS Scholarship. Ms. Dabby spoke about the importance of scholarships like this one, awarding opportunities for more women to become members of what has until recently been a heavily male-dominated sector of the creative industry. The winner of the first Women In Games Scholarship, which was awarded in 2009, was Toronto’s Shannon Lee, who is currently employed at Silicon Sisters Interactive. Last year’s winner, Annie Dickerson of Washington, DC will be graduating from the school this year.

Dave Warfield echoed her sentiments, stating that “encouraging more women to get involved in gaming will create better play experience that appeal to a wider audience, and with the changing variety of gaming today, that is more important now than ever before.”

The 2011 Women In Games Scholarship goes this year to Larissa Baptista of Rio de Janeiro. While Ms. Baptista was not able to be present for the announcement, the school did release a statement from the young woman, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Communication. According to her background information, when she was just 14 years old, Ms. Baptista made a three hour bus commute to attend a year’s worth of classes in 3D software, as she had no other access to either 3D programs or even a computer.

“I am truly beyond honoured to have been chosen to receive the 2011 Women In Games Scholarship,” she said. “Thank you again – although words cannot possibly express my gratitude right now, I hope my future achievements will. A goal is now within my reach.”

Vancouver Film School will also be announcing the winners of three other scholarships to the school provided by G4TechTV, Annex Pro and 3Vis in the very near future.  The VFS Summer Intensives Program is also now open for registration – students can experience 5 days of fast-paced, eye-opening classes in any one of the many programs offered at Vancouver Film School.

Following the scholarship announcement, Mayor Robertson, James Griffin, Dave Warfield and Marty Hasselbach all took the stage for the official ribbon cutting ceremony, which was then followed by tours of the new school classrooms, labs, offices, arcades and theatre. As we here at Village Gamer look at new ways to form partnerships and support the VFS programs and students, we wish the school every success as it embarks on this new chapter in its history.

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Vancouver Film School – Results Matter

Max The Mutt Animation School knows the importance of networking for career success and as such offer students multiple opportunities to meet and showcase their work to Industry professionals in their field. The annual 1st Year Show and open house will be held at the school on April 30, 2011 from 10am – 4pm and the annual Grad Exhibition has its Grand Opening on May 21, 2011 running until June 30, 2011.

The first year show hosts the visual art work for first year students from all of Max The Mutt’s diploma programs: Classical & Computer Animation & Production, Illustration for Sequential Arts, and Concept Art for Animation & Video Games. If someone is interested in going into any of these fields this would be an excellent opportunity to see what skills are being taught at Max the Mutt. It is also a great opportunity for people to soak up the ambiance of this small, unique environment geared to give students “skills that count.”

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The Grad Exhibition will feature work and demo reels from the graduate students from the animation, concept art, and sequential arts programs. This will be an especially exciting year as they celebrate the first group of graduates from the Concept Art for Video Games & Animation four-year diploma program. To kick off the Grad Exhibition and put the students and their work in front of potential employers, Max The Mutt hosts a private Industry Night before the opening.

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Marvel, DC, Darkhorse, Comic Book Illustrator and Max The Mutt Instructor Dave Ross has worked for them all, drawing and writing for Captain America, Spiderman, Batgirl, Star Trek, Daredevil, Birds of Prey, JLA: Act of God, and many more. “Last year for Industry Night we were able to bring in the traffic director of Marvel,” explains Ross, “he is the liaison with the editors to know who is going to need talent to come onto a project and suggests people. He came in to speak with the graduating class, spent a lot of time with them to help them with portfolio development and told them what Marvel would expect. We had industry people from the various publishers in town and a few of the graduate students did get jobs from that industry night so that night is hugely important.”

Event Details:

*First Year Show: Saturday April 30, 2011, 10am-4pm Max the Mutt Animation School, 952 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario M6J 1G8. An information session will be held at 11:30 a..m. sharp with reservations required.

*Graduation Exhibition: May 21, 2011 running until June 30, 2011. Monday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Max the Mutt Animation School

For more information and to RVSP you can email or call the school at 416-703-6877

Reminder: INplay early bird ticket deadline is April 14th
Seminar: CanWIT Ottawa Chapter Presents – Setting Yourself Up For Success Series – April 19th
Seminar Series: CanWIT Toronto presents – The 2011 Professional Development 4 Part Series – Starts April 14th
Seminar: CanWIT BC Signature Lunch – Career in Project Management – April 20th

Congratulations to all of the digital sector companies who have been named to Canada’s Top 100 Great Places To Work:

Microsoft Canada – Google Canada – NetApp – SAS Institute (Canada) Inc. –  Habañero Consulting Group – T4G Limited – Intuit Canada –  Disney Online Studios Canada (Club Penguin) – CDW Canada Inc. – Sandvine – Qualcomm – Online Business Systems – FinancialCAD Coporation – Nintendo of Canada Ltd – Autodesk –  Softchoice Corporation – Vivonet – Ideaca – IT/Net Ottawa Inc. – WishGroup Inc. – EPIC Information Solutions – Zedi

Air Canada’s enRoute Film Festival today announced it is inviting Canadian film students and emerging filmmakers to enter its fifth annual short film festival. Each year, a jury selects the best short films and broadcasts them to a large international audience on Air Canada’s inflight entertainment system.

The winner of Best Short Film will receive a $5,000 cash prize courtesy of presenting sponsor Cineplex Entertainment. Other awards include Achievement in Direction, Achievement in Cinematography, and Achievement in Animation. All award winners will receive an exciting new destination prize to Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France.

Past jury members have included Jason Priestly, Denis Villeneuve, Donald Sutherland, Alan Cumming, Dan Aykroyd and Rémy Girard, among many others. This year’s jury will be announced this summer.

Selected films will be broadcast on Air Canada’s personal seatback entertainment system on the Canadian Movies channel viewed by millions of Air Canada customers around the world. A free public screening and awards celebration will be held in Toronto at the end of the year to honour the winners.

Worldastronauts.com is excited to announce the launch of a new network of sites featuring space news, travel, multimedia and blogs. VirtualSpaceHotel.com will be the first of its kind and offer a limited number of commercial and personal advertising opportunities. The sites will use 3D Graphic and Web Design granting visitors and members a truly unique virtual experience. This Virtual Space Hotel is aimed at those interested in participation of a global network solely dedicated to space exploration. The site will also offer the opportunity for affiliates to link to their sites and homepages. Creative web design, development and maintenance of the World Astronaut’s Network is managed by the Toronto Canada’s Discotoast Inc. and owned exclusively by New Hampshire-based URL Development.

Montréal will welcome a brand new event this summer that combines all three of these elements this summer: the International Startup Festival (ISF). Designed to stimulate technological entrepreneurship, this event will bring innovators, startups, investors, and clients of the economics of innovation and new technology to Montréal. Many big names on the startup and technology scene, such as Dave McClure, Chris Shipley, Howard Lindzon and Paul Kedrosky, to name but a few, will be on hand this coming July 13 to 15. Andy Nulman, CMO of the Just For Laughs comedy festival, will deliver the keynote presentation. The ISF will be an ideal opportunity to meet, discuss, chat, and spend time with the best and brightest players on the global technology scene.

With a focus on innovation in the areas of applications and technologies associated with mobility, social networking, and gaming, the ISF, under the theme of “Startups & LOL”, will establish itself as a hotbed of new ideas and networking synergy between the visionary investors of today and the dynamic entrepreneurs of tomorrow. As such, the programme will consist of, among other things, startup presentations, conferences on future subjects and challenges, workshops, fun activities, and surprise demonstrations, not to mention the many opportunities to expand networks, develop business, and have a great time in good company.

“Montréal is always enthusiastic about hosting events that highlight creativity and innovation; the International Startup Festival is proof of the constant support the city offers designers of new technology. Since the participants of this event are opinion leaders and important influencers in their technological domain, as well as in their respective networks, Montréal is sure to enjoy considerable spin-offs,” confirms the Honourable Charles Lapointe, President and CEO of Tourisme Montréal. “When it comes to matching imagination and ingenuity, Montréal is always ready to act as a catalyst for Web masterminds to carry out – and with great success – all their future projects,” concludes Charles Lapointe.

“Several events for technology startups already exist in many cities and draw local talent. What makes the ISF different, however, is its international character, and focus on the business side of startups. There isn’t another event entirely devoted to entrepreneurship and its players that seeks to bring together startups, innovators, and investors from Canada, the United States, Europe, and elsewhere in the world,” adds Philippe Telio, President of Embrase and principal festival producer.

Other than its natural affinity for creativity and new technology, Montréal also presents, with its unique mix of European and North American cultures, its multiculturalism, and its qualified workforce, a most favourable environment for exchanges between designers, developers, and entrepreneurs from around the world. It goes without saying that these qualities will definitely contribute to making the inaugural edition of the festival an impressive success. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday Frima Studio hosted the Quebec Minister of Family, Yolande James, in a press conference at Frima’s office to announce the new Work-Family Standard for local businesses— the first such business certification standards in the world. Frima Studio’s offices were chosen to host the press conference because of Frima’s notable respect for and contributions to the advancement of work-life balance for their employees.

The new standard announced by the government of Quebec yesterday aims to attract and retain employees. Similar to environmental standards established years ago, businesses will soon be able to apply for work-family certification, which when granted will serve as a demonstration of the company’s respect for a healthy balance between work life and family life.

“We truly believe in work and family balance as an investment for our company, rather than an expense,” remarked Steve Couture, CEO, Frima Studio. “We care about our employees’ lives outside of the workplace and we plan to be the first in line to apply for the new standard certification.”

After being recognized with an award in 2010 from the Quebec government for their efforts to balance employees’ work and family lives, Frima continues to put an emphasis on progressive programs that make Frima Studio one of the best places to work in the world. Frima employees are provided with the freedom to care for their families as needed, offering benefits such as flexible work schedules, free bus passes, in-office massage therapy, and a performance rewards system that trades points for services that can help in the home.

Frima is currently hiring to fill more than 35 open positions in art, design, and programming.
Photo Credit: Frima