Village Gamer

Apply now for this great opportunity through the Canadian Media Production Association:

The Digital Media Production Program offers participants the opportunity to gain work experience in the film, television and interactive media production industry. Funded by the Government of Canada’s Career Focus Program, the Digital Media Production Program emphasizes administration, management and technical skills in today’s rapidly changing knowledge economy in the digital world.

Deadline: November 29, 2010
Spots Available: 40
Duration of Placement: 24 weeks
Intern Stipend: $14,000 (minimum);
$10,000 from the Program and minimum $4,000 from mentor
Age: 15 – 30. Must be post-secondary graduate.

Intern Eligibility

*Open to Canadian citizens or permanent residents legally entitled to work in Canada
*Must be between the ages of 15 and 30 (inclusive) at time of application
*Must be unemployed or under-employed at the time of application
*Must be a post-secondary graduate
*Must be out of school
*Must not be receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits
*Must NOT have previously participated in a program sponsored by the federal government’s Youth Employment Strategy
*Cannot be an employee, family member, or current CFTPA participant of the mentor company with whom he/she is submitting a joint application
*Applicants should note that the intern MUST become an employee of the mentor company for the duration of the placement.

Mentor Eligibility

*An eligible member of the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) at the time of application. Eligible companies must be CMPA members and fall under one of the following CMPA categories: general member, service producer, interactive media, broadcaster affiliate or publicly traded
*The mentor company will be responsible for providing career assistance, feedback, guidance during, and debriefing following the completion of the placement
*The mentor company must contribute a minimum of $4,000 toward the participant stipend
*A mentor applicant cannot be an employer, family member, or current CFTPA mentor of the participant whom he/she is submitting a joint application
*Applicants should note that the intern MUST become an employee of the mentor company for the duration of the placement.

A note to BC developers from Justin Kozuch and the Pixel to Product research project: As we (and I don’t mean me! Come on Canada – this is YOUR digital legacy too!) continue to drive towards our goal of releasing our first survey designed to measure the size and scope of the Canadian digital media ecosystem, we’ve been exposed to many different communities within the digital media space. Our most recent trip to Alberta was a great success; we met with community leaders and passionate digital media professionals who expressed a great interest in our research study and echoed our sentiments where it concerns the publication of freely available market data for the CANADIAN digital media industry. The data and insights we’ll be sharing at the conclusion of this study will allow us to truly understand the size and scope of the Canadian digital media ecosystem.

With this in mind, we are looking westward to arrange meetings to speak to digital media professionals from marketing to mobile application development and everything in between. We’ll be heading to Vancouver from November 1st to November 5th, and we’re looking to connect with you!

We’re looking to speak at a number of events, and have confirmed our attendance at the upcoming DemoCamp Vancouver 12 on Wednesday, November 3rd, from 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM at The Lounge at Caprice (965 Granville Street).

To support our outreach initiatives, Mesh Prize winner and project visionary Justin Kozuch is interested in connecting with digital media and marketing professionals in the Vancouver digital media sector. Justin will be looking to build up an on-the-ground support team of influential and engaged industry professionals interested in helping us promote and support our research study and subsequent findings in Vancouver and elsewhere in British Columbia. These events and connections will help us gain an understanding of who the local industry players are, build an ongoing relationship with them and leverage their skills in assisting with the research and study promotion activities.

Please tweet, email, Facebook, string-and-can anyone you know in the Vancouver area who fit this bill, and please ask them if they are interested in joining us at DemoCamp on November 3rd or connecting with Justin for coffee.

Serebra Learning Corporation, a leading e-learning solutions provider based in Vancouver, has announced an important update to the Serebra Campus learning management system that will offer enhanced functionality and usability to training coordinators and students alike.

“At Serebra we value the input of our clients and constantly seek to serve them better. Taking into consideration their feedback, we’ve made improvements to the overall platform functionality of our LMS and created new features to strengthen our clients’ ability to deliver compliance-related training,” said Serebra’s acting President, Taleeb Noormohamed.

In addition to numerous usability innovations, Serebra has added new features to Serebra Campus, including a new compliance feature, which simplifies the task of training departments when it comes to compliance-related or recurring training requirements.

Administrators create course compliance rules and apply them to groups or individual students, making it easy to track and manage the organization’s compliance requirements. Students are notified via e-mail of the need to take courses, and the My Training Dashboard makes it quick and easy for users to register and complete their training.

“Serebra will continue to add functionality to the Serebra Campus platform offering clients additional talent management and human resources solutions,” added Noormohamed. “At Serebra, we’re committed to constant innovation that meets the needs of our clients and keeps them at the leading edge of organizational and individual training.”

Serebra Campus has long included Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and Active Directory support for single sign-on. This release enables basic OpenID support for student authentication, which allows Serebra to support clients who use Google Apps and similar platforms for their company infrastructure.

Vancouver’s Make Technologies, a privately held leading legacy modernization software and services company, has launched its new Partner Network Program, starting with a new strategic alliance with globally recognized firm Deloitte. The two companies will work together to develop a joint program targeting enterprise modernization initiatives.

“We are extending our success in the enterprise marketplace with this program,” said Jean-Guy Faubert, newly appointed Executive VP Global Alliances for Make Technologies. “There is strong demand for legacy application modernization solutions that allow companies to innovate and support business processes for competitive advantage, while leveraging existing investments. System Integrators play an invaluable role as trusted consultants to guide their customers through application modernization success. We’ve been successfully working with Network members and their customers on these mission-critical applications. Now we are expanding our outreach with active recruitment and strategic alliances.”

Deloitte has enrolled in Make Technologies’ newly formed Partner Network Program which provides program participants with support, specialized education and training, and access to its patented Transformational Legacy Modernization (TLM®) solutions and products. This program will help in the implementation of application modernization initiatives.

As a part of its Partner Network Program, Make Technologies has introduced categories to recognize the various needs and specialties of participating vendors. Make Technologies is looking to recruit strategic System Integration organizations focused on legacy application modernization projects and providing them with the solutions and services they need to effectively target this space today.

“Legacy application modernization is a growing market. This is a top of mind issue for most CIOs as they need assurance of project success with little to no interruption of service while transitioning from critical legacy applications,” said Ian Tait, Deloitte partner. “Organizations want to focus on their core competency, and not be in the business of maintaining custom code. Deloitte’s goal is to work with clients to ensure a strategy that can provide operational efficiencies and long term value.”

Make Technologies’ program participants will gain potential new revenue stream opportunities with this new program. They will also enjoy the benefits of marketing support, sales and pre-sales support and training programs. In addition, Make Technologies will also be offering accredited certification and training programs available through workshops and online courses.

Ubisoft has released a video dev diary for Assassin’s Creed: The Fall, a comic book written and illustrated by Award-winning artists Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl and colored by Nadine Thomas, produced by Ubi Workshop and published by DC Comics. The first of the three issues will release on November 10th, 2010.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSYwMB51LwI]

Assassin’s Creed: The Fall follows 19th century Russian assassin Nikolai Orelov as he strives to claim an artifact of immense power from the hands of the Templars, encountering historical figures such as the ruthless Tsar Alexander III. Meanwhile, in modern times, a troubled young drifter copes with unsettling visions of a possible past life – visions that have irreversible consequences for the present.

Eidos Montreal’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution is going to get a special preview tomorrow (today in AU) at The Mana Bar, a video game bar down in Brisbane, Australia. A team from Square Enix will be presenting a game demonstration, which will be followed by an exclusive video from the developers. Prizes and competitions giving away unique Deus Ex merchandise to the bar’s clientele during the day.

Vancouver’s Loud Crow Interactive Inc., a digital book publisher founded by a group of interactive entertainment veterans, announced today the redefining of e-books with its first release, PopOut!™ The Tale of Peter Rabbit, now available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch in all non-European territories.

With decades of combined experience in interactive digital media, the team at Loud Crow has applied its creative talents and technical expertise to revolutionize the reading experience. “For us, it’s all about making the reading experience fresher and better than ever,” says Calvin Wang, Founder and CEO. “We blend traditional content with rich, interactive elements such as audio, animation, and even touch and tilt gestures. Using the original illustrations and text, we’re able to achieve an authentic, yet modern experience that our readers will find unique and inspiring.”

The publisher’s first title in the PopOut!™ series of interactive children’s books brings the age-old Beatrix Potter classic to life with signature PopOut!™ spin-wheels, pull-tabs, spring-mounted elements, and objects that literally pop out of the page. Complete with a beautiful classical piano soundtrack, fun and immersive sound effects, and a charming vocal performance, this is an experience you and your family won’t want to miss.

ItWowed.Me, a new smartphone technology platform developed by Majestic Media Ltd., allows businesses and brands to drive audiences to Facebook fan pages and convert them into fans.

“Like” something in real life? By placing a Quick Response (QR) code on real world objects, smartphone users can now scan these codes with their iPhone, Android, BlackBerry or any smartphone device and instantly “Like” the real world product or business on Facebook, thus sharing it with their friends on the social media site. Read the rest of this entry »

A new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll shows very clearly the recognition by Canada’s small and medium business sector (SMB) that the Internet is a key element of business strategy. However, the study also suggests that the country’s SMB sector may be reluctant to expand capacity to use the Internet and to hire or train people with the appropriate skills.

The survey, commissioned by Intel Canada, indicates that 90% of companies employing less than 100 people conduct at least some of their business with customers or suppliers over the Internet (with 38% saying they do “all” or “most” of their business using the web). Furthermore, 2/3 (67%) of companies believe that universal access to the Internet is “important” to their business.

“Clearly, we’ve passed the point where the Internet is a luxury or an add-on to a business’s operation,” said Doug Cooper, Country Manager, Intel Canada. “Canada’s small business segment wants, needs and uses the Internet to advance their company goals. The SMB sector is an absolutely crucial economic driver whose increased Internet adoption will, ultimately, benefit all Canadians.”

“For my business to succeed, I need fast, reliable, uncapped internet capabilities to move huge amounts of data into the cloud and deliver our creative work to clients,” said Chandra Clarke, owner of Chatham, Ontario-based Scribendi Inc. “Having my business located in a small community, I often feel the effects of the lack of digital infrastructure in Canada.”

The survey also points out a possible disconnect between companies wanting to offer more Internet-based services and investing in acquiring the skills to do so: More than 8-in-10 (82%) company owners said that hiring for or training people to improve either digital skills or the ability to do business on-line was “not a priority”. At the same time, almost 2/3 (63%) of all small and medium business owners surveyed believe they are currently spending “enough” on Internet-based technology with just under 2-in-5 (19%) believing they should be spending more.

Interestingly, almost 9 out of 10 (89%) respondents were not aware of Canada’s “moon shot” goal of ensuring that: “Anyone can do anything online in Canada by 2017”. This moon shot goal arose from the Canada 3.0 Forum this past spring which brought together industry players and entrepreneurs, government, academics, creators and journalists to discuss the future of the digital economy in Canada. Read the rest of this entry »

As a global hub for entrepreneurial success stories, Toronto will be host to the first MaRS Innovation Summit. Confirmed participants include entrepreneurs and thought leaders from Canada, Israel and the United States who are all actively engaged in financing, marketing and supporting innovation and start-ups in the knowledge economy.

This one-day event uniting industry leaders with innovative entrepreneurs will take place on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at the MaRS Collaboration Centre, 101 College Street.

The day of discussion and networking will be co-hosted by Dr. Raphael Hofstein, PhD, of MaRS Innovation and The Hon. Jerry Grafstein, QC, of The Toronto Institute of Public Policy.

Special keynote presentations by:

Gordon Nixon, President, Royal Bank of Canada
John Kunschner, Senior Partner and Managing Director, Landmark Ventures
Dr. Michael S. Perry, Venture Partner, Bay City Capital; President and Chief Medical Officer, Poniard Pharmaceuticals
The Hon. Glenn Murray, Ministry of Research and Innovation, Province of Ontario

Panel discussions and showcases include:

Successful Start-Ups: Successful Job Creators Tell Their Story
New Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Opportunities
Modern Approaches to Technology Transfer
Three Canadian Start-Up Case Studies

Panel discussions and showcases will feature presentations by:

Loudon Owen, Managing Partner, McLean Watson Capital
Jane Harvey, President, Jane Harvey Lawyers
Stuart MacDonald, President and CEO, Tripharbour; Founder, Expedia.ca
Peter van der Grinten, General Manager US/Canada, dbMotion
Ram Liebenthal, VP Marketing & Sales, Early Sense: Innovation Patient Technology
Paul Chipperton, CEO, Profound Medical Inc
Yigal Erlich, CEO, Yozma Ventures
Nissim Darvish, CEO, Orbimed
Yaakov Michlin, President and CEO, Yissum, Hebrew University
Jonathan Levy, Consul for Economic Affairs and Trade Commissioner, Government of Israel, Economic Mission to Canada
Dr. Ted Sargent, Xagenic
Michael Kraft, Chairman and CEO, Lingo Media
Amar Varma, President and Co-Founder, Xtreme Labs, Xtreme Venture Partners
S. Morry Blumenfeld, Chief Investment Officer, MediTech Partners
John Varghese, Managing Partner, VentureLink Group of Funds
Mark Usher, Partner, Wellington Financial LP

“The goal of our inaugural MaRS Innovation Summit is to bring together dynamic entrepreneurs with industry innovators and thought leaders of today, as we examine the aspects of economic growth in tangible terms,” says Dr. Hofstein, PhD.

Registration is open to the public and is expected to attract leaders and entrepreneurs on the front lines of economic growth, along with those behind the scenes as investors, innovators, deal-makers, deal-brokers and agents of change.

“We anticipate a prosperous day of networking and sharing ideas as we showcase start-ups in the bio-tech, pharma and hi-tech industry,” states The Hon. Jerry Grafstein, QC. “It will be a practical guide for venture capitalists and start-up entrepreneurs alike to navigate their way to capital and markets in order to create jobs in the knowledge economy that knows no borders.”

MaRS Innovation Summit is a collaborative partnership between MaRS Innovation, The Toronto Institute of Public Policy, MaRS Discovery District and Yissum Technology Transfer.

MaRS Innovation Summit 2010 appreciates the generous support of its many sponsors. A special thank you to Summit Sponsors Rogers Communications and Minden Gross LLP.

Montreal-based Mad Science Group® has launched the Mad Science Kids Club powered by Everloop, becoming the first-ever science social network platform created specifically for kids.

A “virtual science playground,” the Mad Science Kids Club offers children a unique science-based platform for connecting, exploring and learning with peers online through the company’s signature science enrichment programs. Mad Science Kids Club offers applications including:

— Lab Rat: A panel of experts answers kids’ real science questions
— Science Zone: Offers kids and parents fun, do-at-home science experiments
— Brain Busters: Brain teasers, puzzles, and optical illusions
— Around the Word: An online kids’ book club

In addition, the Mad Science Kids Club gives kids a rich array of social media features including real-time communications: Instant Messaging (IM); email; Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a Skype(TM)-like application for kids; a friend post stream where kids can share their favorite content including videos, music, and photos; a robust game arcade and much more.

“We are so thrilled to launch the Mad Science Kids Club, furthering our mission to spark children’s imagination and provide them with a tangible, fun and highly interactive way to extend their experience with science outside of the classroom,” said Kathy Muloin, President of The Mad Science Group. “We are pleased to partner with Everloop in this effort – a full-featured, expressive platform known for its expertise in online safety – so we can offer parents a fun, and safe, social medium for their children that also promotes science enrichment.”

The Mad Science Kids Club is powered by Everloop’s COPPA-compliant Private Label solution, which provides partners with fun features designed for kids and an unprecedented level of privacy protection. Parents can also monitor their child’s online activities through the parental control dashboard.

“The Mad Science Kids Club is the perfect partner for Everloop, as it joins two of the most important features parents seek in a social platform for kids: educational value and safety,” said Everloop CEO, Hilary DeCesare. “We are excited to be on board with Mad Science and contribute to creating a secure and interactive environment for this revolutionary science platform.”

Leading Victoria event organizer Reboot Communications has just announced a new wholly-owned event, the Canadian Games Conference, debuting in Vancouver in May 2011 alongside the market-leading Canadian Videogame Awards.

This newly branded event will offer cutting-edge keynotes, lecture and roundtable content from local, national, and international game creators, focusing on core topics like game design and programming alongside emerging smartphone and social game areas. It will also include a bustling expo floor.

In addition, the 2011 Canadian Games Conference is also the first-ever event to feature a special ‘Best Of GDC’ content track, including some of the best speakers and topics from the worldwide Game Developers Conferences®.

This unique agreement for the ‘Best Of GDC’ content at the Canadian Games Conference evolves a partnership built around the former Game Developers Conference Canada™ event, which the Canadian Games Conference replaces and expands on. Reboot also ran the popular Vancouver International Game Summit from 2006 to 2008.

Reboot Communications CEO Greg Spievak commented of the announcement: “Our conference efforts in the game space have always been for the industry, by the industry. Our Canadian Games Conference advisory board is made of key representatives from across the country – and we expect the same vibrant growth and stimulating sessions that have defined our game events for the past four years.”

The UBM TechWeb Game Network’s global brand director Simon Carless added: “We’re delighted to continue working with Reboot and the Canadian game industry by contributing the ‘Best Of GDC’ track to the Canadian Games Conference – and look forward to supporting the conference and awards as one of the leading events in this vibrant space.”

The official dates for the Canadian Games Conference will be May 19-20th, 2011 at the Vancouver Conference Centre. Once again, the show will be preceded on May 18th by the 2nd Annual Canadian Videogame Awards, also produced by Reboot Communications in conjunction with Greedy Productions and DigiBC.

Keynotes and session topics for the Canadian Games Conference will be announced on the website soon.

Capcom® Mobile and Vancouver’s IUGO Mobile Entertainment have announced Lil’ Pirates, a brand new title that will be available for free on the App Store later this month. The development of more accessible general audience games is in line with Capcom Mobile’s strategy of reaching a more casual audience as powerful smartphones become more ubiquitous and mass market. Capcom Mobile also announced two other titles in development which will be released over the coming weeks.

“The release of these titles marks a new direction for the company as we complement our traditional premium pricing model with freemium social games for our customers,” said Midori Yuasa, President and COO, Capcom Interactive, Inc. “By creating a line of casual freemium games we can appeal to consumers not serviced by our more ‘hardcore’ IP and cast a much wider net over the burgeoning smartphone app marketplace.”

In Lil’ Pirates the player recruits their own band of scurvy dogs and sets upon the high seas seeking, adventure, treasure and camaraderie. Starting with a small ship and a tiny crew of scallywags, players can upgrade their vessel and expand their crew by undertaking special missions and jobs. Once they start to amass resources and loot, players will be able to battle other vessels, play mini games with the crew and bury booty to increase its value. More than 100 premium content items including ship upgrades and custom gear will be available at launch as DLC.

The other two announced titles were Zombie Café and a third licensed title based off a children’s entertainment property. In Zombie Café, the player partners with an evil corporation to use zombies as free labor to build their café empire. To thrive, players must prepare food, direct their zombie staff and manage supplies. If the competition gets too fierce they can always direct their zombie workers to attack a neighboring café and steal their secret recipes. Zombie Café will be available for free on the Apple App store and is expected to release in November.

The floral experts at Grower Direct want to share their love of flowers with you in a brand new way: the Grower Direct iPhone App. This exciting and very practical application has been developed for iPhone users in the hopes that it will make everyday life a snap when it comes to researching, viewing, and ordering flowers from anywhere, at anytime. The Grower Direct iPhone App provides information on hundreds of topics about flowers and everything flower-related.

Developed in conjunction with crazedCoders of Edmonton, the free app will answer questions such as:

* How old the world’s oldest rose bush?
* How do flowers affect people’s moods?
* Which flower is associated with a 25th Anniversary? Read the rest of this entry »