Village Gamer

London – Digital Extremes and 2k Games will be celebrating the launch of BioShock 2 with a party to be held at the Digital Extremes studio this coming Wednesday February 10. The Digital Extremes development team is responsible for the multi-player components of this highly anticipated sequel to the 2007 (PC and Xbox 360 versions) BioShock.

The Multiplayer mode in BioShock 2 provides a rich prequel experience that expands the origins of the BioShock fiction. Set during the fall of Rapture, players assume the role of a Plasmid test subject for Sinclair Solutions, a premier provider of Plasmids and Tonics in the underwater city of Rapture that was first explored in the original BioShock. Players will need to use all the elements of the BioShock toolset to survive as the full depth of the BioShock experience is refined and transformed into a unique multiplayer experience that can only be found in Rapture.

BioShock 2 was developed in partnership by 2K Marin, 2K Australia and Digital Extremes for PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows-based PCs. BioShock 2 is rated M by the ESRB.

Vancouver – The BCTIA has released an updated version of their PDF PODIUM directory. With over 140 profiled companies, PODIUM illustrates the talent and ingenuity that makes British Columbia a great place to live, work, study and invest. During the games, the BCTIA meeting concierge will help you connect with companies featured in PODIUM. To set up a meeting, simply send your request to the BCTIA and their immediate response team will take care of the rest! The BCTIA also reminds local companies that there is still time to participate. Please click the PODIUM link above to find out more information on how your company can get involved.

Calgary – Digital Alberta has announced the program for their February SHAKER event on February 16.  Join Alberta industry leaders Jennifer Aubin, Steve Shatford and Marc Wachmann for a panel discussion of issues related to team management at technology companies: “building great teams at digital media companies”.  Questions to be pondered will include: What are the best practices to get the right people on board? How do you build and develop successful teams within digital media?

February’s SHAKER event will take place at the Seven Restolounge in Calgary from 5-7pm. Tickets are free for Digital Alberta members and $15.00 for non-members. Please contact Rene Smid to register for this event.

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Banff – Motivated by the great success of the 2009 Banff World Television Awards, The Banff World Television Festival (June 13 – 16 2010) is proud to announce a new competition for the 2010 season that aims to honour those with the talent and motivation to create a series pilot.

The inaugural Banff International Pilots Competition aims to recognize the talent and creativity it takes to conceptualize and create a pilot, be it online or on television. The competition accepts submissions from both “virgin” producers who have never had a show or program broadcast in any way, as well as “veteran” producers with least one show broadcast on cable, satellite or the Internet, or with a show in full production.

The Banff World Television Festival is also proud to be hosting two amazing opportunities to participate in training programs focused on the creative side of television. The Canwest Showrunners Program and The Canwest Global Writers Program allow creative minds looking to expand their experience in the television industry the opportunity to meet and train with some of the biggest names in TV during their time at Banff.

The Canwest Showrunner Training Program helps to position seasoned series writers for the role of showrunner by inviting successful applicants with their own series to pitch to attend the Banff World Television Festival on a full access pass. At BANFF, they will have the opportunity to attend master classes, pitch Canadian and US broadcast executives and will be part of individual sessions with renowned showrunners attending BANFF.

The Writers Apprentice Program offers emerging Canadian writers with the opportunity to gain significant experience by completing a four-week internship in the story department of a prime-time series and will also be invited to attend the Banff World Television Festival on a full access pass.

Application deadline for Showunners is March 10, 2010 and March 15th, 2010 for Writers Apprentice. There is an Early Bird submission fee now in effect for the International Pilots Competition – it’s only $75.00 to enter until March 1, 2010. Final deadline for the Pilots Competition is March 15, 2010.

Nelson – The Kootenay Association for Science & Technology is bringing industry Guru Rochelle Grayson to the Kootenays! Join us to learn about news trends and tips to ensure you are making money from your product. This event will be designed to support technology and innovation companies in the monetization of software/applications as well as a presentation on turning new trends into opportunities. The event keynote Rochelle Grayson will be presenting on proven methods to monetize innovations – in short how to ensure companies make money on their products in today’s market. Also speaking at the event will be Rik Logtenberg, owner of Yellowseed, a Nelson-based web development and consulting company, with 10 employees and offices in Canada and India. Rik will be speaking about ways to use social media as a tool to improve marketing and sales.

This KAST Tech Village Connect event will be held at the New Grand Hotel in Nelson, BC on February 11th from 11:30 a.m. – 6:30p.m. Tickets are $20.00 per person and include speakers, workshops, lunch, appetizers , cash bar and networking.

KAST is also hosting a free webinar featuring Dave Thomas and Geoffrey Hansen of Rocket Builders. They will cover topic areas such as:

Better market planing = more revenue

* Entering the market with a new, innovative product or service?
*Are you able to explain your product or service so that the buyer understands what you have & why it is special?
*Do you have a well defined pricing model for your customers?
*Have you selected a promising target market?

Gain perspective on these questions and more:

* key criteria for understanding your market opportunity
*methods for market research
*methods for determining pricing
*key elements of a positioning statement
*techniques for market research on a shoestring

This webinar will be held on February 9, 2010 from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. Pre-registration is required. Please see the KAST event page for further information about the event and how to register.

Vancouver – Approximately 50 ladies and gents attended the Women In Games Vancouver networking event which took place last evening in the Harbourview Room at Steamworks Brew Pub. This event was held to introduce the group’s mandate, representatives and committees to members of the interactive industry, and many attendees signed up to participate in those committees.

It was great to see so many studios represented, including Fit Brains, Radical Entertainment, Hothead Games, Microsoft, Propaganda Games, Ubisoft Vancouver and 80 Elements to name but a few. Many thanks to event sponsors AnnexPro and Ubisoft Vancouver who provided nibblies and prizes. If you were unable to attend but would still like to get involved, please contact the WIGeh! group through their web site.

Toronto – HotDocs has launched the HotDocs Library, making hundreds of Canadian-made documentaries available to the viewing public. The Library is completely searchable, and there are also reference playlists which have been compiled by experts. The HotDocs Library is an excellent resource for students and researchers, and is free to use. The 2010 HotDocs Festival will be taking place from April 29 through May 9 in Toronto. The Festival will present over 170 films from more than 35 countries and welcome hundreds of visitors from around the globe. Festival passes are available online, but the official selection will not be announced until March 23rd, which is also when advance show tickets will go on sale.

Montreal – Ubisoft has confirmed that April 13th will be the release date for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction. For those not already familiar with this latest iteration of the Splinter Cell franchise, Sam Fisher finds himself doing battle from the outside after an investigation into his daughter’s death unwittingly leads him to discover he’s been betrayed by his prior agency, the Third Echelon. Now a renegade, Fisher finds himself in a race against time to thwart a deadly terrorist plot that threatens millions.

Uniting revolutionary gameplay enhancements with a high-octane, no-holds-barred storyline, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction arms you to the teeth with all the high-tech weaponry and lethal skills of an elite operative and invites you to enter a dangerous world where justice means making your own rules.

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Toronto – Fresh TV Inc., an award-winning family entertainment company, is pleased to announce that they have been awarded three Pixie Awards for their animated tween TV series, Stoked. Fresh TV took home awards for Opening Title Effects, Animation and Atmospheric Effects and was given an impressive score of 9.5 out of 10 for the series. The Pixie Awards – sponsored by the American Pixel Academy – honour outstanding creativity in Motion Graphics, Effects and Animation.

“It is an honour to receive accolades from such an esteemed group of industry peers,” said Tom McGillis, President, Fresh TV Inc. “I would like to especially thank our amazing team at Fresh TV as these awards embody the team’s continued dedication to creating quality, engaging shows.”

Stoked is an animated situational comedy about teens who come together one summer to work at world renowned Surfer’s Paradise Resort, home of the best surfing in the country. For twelve weeks they will spend their first summer away from home, work hard, and most importantly, have the opportunity to surf on their days off.

The series (26 x 30’) broadcasts Monday-Friday on Cartoon Network in the US and on TELETOON in Canada.

Edmonton – Bioware has released several new screenshots for the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins expansion chapter Awakening. These new images focus on Vigil’s Keep in Amaranthine, which had previously served as the base of operations for the Howe family and their troops. .

Amaranthine was the first of the Fereldan arlings to fall to the Orlesian occupation. As the port city burned, its ruling family, the Howes, fled to the countryside to wage a guerrilla war against the invaders that lasted for generations. No matter how enormous of a bounty the Orlesians promised, they could not rid themselves of the wily Howes and their ever-growing number of sympathizers.

The Howes chose the ancient fortress of Vigil’s Keep as their primary base of operations, hiding the entire rebellion within the vast complex of storage rooms and caves beneath “The Vigil” — right underneath the noses of their oppressors. When the Orlesians were finally ousted, it was at Vigil’s Keep that the flag of Amaranthine was first raised again, amidst cheers of victory. Vigil’s Keep became the new home of the Howes. Following the downfall of the Howes in Origins, Vigil’s Keep and arling of Amaranthine came under the control of the Grey Wardens. If you want to learn more about the rise and fall of the Howes, you’ll have to pick up a copy of Dragon Age: Origins, because I’m not saying anything about how they betrayed their allies and friends.

Bioware has also released a short trailer to introduce of one of the new party NPCs you will meet when you play Dragon Age Awakening, Anders. According to the video’s description, many mages chafe under the Chantrys control, and Anders is no exception. Its a lucky thing that Anders despises blood mages as much as the Chantry does, else he might have been executed as a suspected maleficaru.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BW2z6Y6Msg]

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening will be available for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC on March 16, 2010. And yes – I have already placed my pre-order. Dragons, magic, spies, blood and gore – too much goodness to miss.

Ottawa – W!LDBRAIN, the award-winning entertainment company and one of the world’s foremost producers of animation, has entered into a partnership with Fuel Industries, the Ottawa-based digital agency and producer of popular interactive brands, including AllGirlArcade.com, to develop television, motion picture, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products utilizing the existing popularity of Fuel Industries’ entertainment properties.

“Fuel has a great body of characters and stories with limitless creative possibilities,” said Michael Polis, CEO, Wildbrain. “As a company, we will strategically integrate the proven Fuel Industries branded properties and characters into our studio’s content and distribution businesses. Under this agreement, we are looking at a number of properties that have the potential to become sustainable franchises and growth drivers on a number of media platforms,” he continued.

“Our development deal with W!LDBRAIN, combined with their successful portfolio of world-class animation and family entertainment, is a major step in our company’s efforts to realize the full potential of our Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – A brief reminder that the Women in Games Vancouver (WIGEH) Networking Event takes place tonight at the Wine Room, downstairs at the Steamworks Brew Pub. We invite you to join us at 7pm for an evening of socializing and information.  This event is open to both women and men, and we hope to see you there.

Ottawa – The Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) has released its annual Knowledge-based Industry Survey. The study indicates that as of December 31, 2009, the number of companies in Ottawa’s knowledge-based sectors has increased by nearly half of one per cent while the number of employees has decreased by 1.3 per cent. The most current data, garnered from 13 industry sectors, indicates a slight increase of 0.4 per cent in the total number of companies to 1,857 up from 1,850 last year. The survey garnered responses from 88 companies whose primary business focus is in cleantech, contact centre/customer centre, convergent medical devices, defence and security, eBusiness, health and drug discovery, knowledge-based support services, photonics, semiconductor, software, telecommunications, wireless and digital media.

“We certainly expected 2009 to be challenging so we are not surprised by the decrease in employment but we also know that the best time to start a new business venture is during tough economic times. With 222 companies added to the database and a notable increase in employment for small and medium sized businesses we see that the support programs and tools available to new companies and entrepreneurs here in Ottawa are having a positive impact,” says Claude Haw, President and CEO, OCRI. “The entire city has rallied to provide support to help our companies become successful and there are examples of great collaboration all around us. Of course, we must continue to create an environment that is attractive to investors and actively leverages the various funding programs available for small and medium sized companies in order to fuel innovation and propel our economy forward.”

Ottawa’s cleantech sector demonstrated the greatest growth for the third year in a row, with several companies adding more than 50 employees to their staff base. This translates to a 25.2% increase in job positions for this industry sector. Also of note is Ottawa’s recent designation as one of the world’s top seven intelligent communities by the Intelligent Community Forum.

The OCRI report also points out the strength of the region’s digital media industry, stating that “the digital media sector has been gaining traction in our region. In October, Ottawa hosted the International Animation Festival, proving to many who weren’t already aware that Ottawa is a hotbed for digital media creativity. The cluster features 63 companies that have identified digital media as their primary industry and more than 120 others see digital media as their secondary industry. As a result, a formal digital media cluster, GENERATOR, was launched in December.”

Vancouver – Hive is a board game originally designed by John Yianni and released by “Gen Four Two Games” in 2001. Independent developer Lotusland Studios has developed Hive as a mobile game, and it is now available in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone™ and iPod touch®. Hive is categorized as an abstract strategy game and is highly unique as the pieces are simply placed on a flat surface without the limitations and constraints of a traditional game-board.

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Montreal – Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery App is now available for purchase ($9.99USD) in the iTunes App store. Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery is the first in a series of gaming franchises, from hard core to casual games, that Ubisoft plans to develop and publish for the App Store.  iPhone and iPod touch users are invited to discover an exciting chapter of the Assassin’s Creed II storyline. Players follow Ezio as he travels to 15th-century Spain to rescue fellow assassins being held under the guise of the Inquisition, only to uncover a Templar plot to sail west and discover the New World.

Vancouver – IUGO has just announced that Cliffed: Norm’s World is now available on the iTunes App Store, and it’s free. Cliffed: Norm’s World is the Lite version of the highly addictive title Cliffed ($1.99USD), and allows players to experience  unlimited game play as the Cliffed character Norm. This lite version also allows for full-featured multiplayer experiences.

Edmonton – Another special on iTunes involves Bioware’s Mass Effect 2. Dark Horse Comics will be releasing Mass Effect Redemption #1 for free for one day only, on February 3. After the initial 24 hour period, Redemption #1 will then sell for $0.99USD. Redemption #2 is also scheduled for release in comic book stores on February 3. In Redemption #2, Liara T’Soni searches Omega — the most dangerous space station in the galaxy — for clues that could save humanity’s greatest hero, Commander Shepard. Redemption #1 is also included in the Collector’s Edition of Mass Effect 2.

Vancouver – Relic has released some early looks at the Chaos multiplayer units for the upcoming Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising. Head over to the Relic Blog to get a closer look at the Space Marines, Havocs and Heretics who have fallen to the Dark gods of Chaos. Relic also recently released the full soundtrack for Company of Heroes, which is available for free on the game’s Steam page, where you can also purchase all three Company of Heroes titles for a special packaged price of $49.99USD.

Vancouver – Absolute® Software Corporation has launched Absolute Manage, the rebranded version of the Company’s recently-acquired cross-platform IT asset management solution. The new solution from Absolute complements its Computrace® family of data security, tracking and theft recovery solutions with full-featured computer life-cycle management capabilities.

Absolute Manage, formerly LANrev, provides organizations with an easy and automated way to manage PC and Mac® computers, as well as iPhone® devices, from a single interface. IT administrators using Absolute Manage can efficiently manage all their assets by automating time-consuming IT processes such as software distribution, patch management, asset inventory and imaging. Additionally, it helps organizations save money by allowing them to track installed applications and licenses, redeploy under-used licenses and hardware to maximize inventory, and avoid non-compliance fines. The MSRP for a standalone one-year license is $24.95 USD.

Some of the capabilities of Absolute Manage include the following:

– Application & License Management – Deploy software and manage licenses across the network.

– Security, Change & Configuration Management – Remotely monitor and adjust configurations, and execute files.

– Automated Patch Management – Centrally manage and install patches, and report on patch status for all managed systems.

– Computer Imaging – Install a complete OS plus all standard applications onto Mac computers while in use or just out of the box.

– Power Management – Comply with green initiatives and lower total cost of ownership by remotely enforcing power saving policy profiles.

– Asset Inventory – Collect hardware and software data points from devices over the network and analyze the information for timely and fact-based asset management decisions.

Calgary – ICEsoft™ Technologies, Inc. has announced the release of ICEpdf 4.0, an open source PDF rendering technology for Java.

ICEpdf is a lightweight Java rendering library that can be easily integrated within any Java-based client application or deployed on a server in headless mode as a PDF Servlet (JSP or JSF). ICEpdf is ideal for providing PDF viewing and navigation as well as PDF content conversion and extraction without the hassles of Java-to-native integration issues.

This latest version of ICEpdf contains numerous product improvements, bug fixes, and is now capable of:

* PDF document editing and saving for Link Annotation edits.
* Text selection and clipboard actions.
* The search API has been completely revamped allowing for search result highlighting, and more.

“Since ICEpdf was open sourced 8 months ago, the product has experienced unprecedented adoption”, says Robert Lepack”, VP of Marketing and Business Development at ICEsoft. “This latest release of ICEpdf adds important new features and capabilities that our customers, as well as community members, have been asking for.”

Gormley – Digital Leisure’s 5 in 1 Solitaire game for the Nintendo DSi is available today for 200 Nintendo DSi Points. 5 in 1 Solitaire features the always-popular Klondike, Spider and FreeCell games as well as the unique Golf and Gaps versions of solitaire. Each of these versions has a unique style of play that’s easy enough for novice players to enjoy but will also challenge experts. You can also view tutorials for each game, track your scores and view gaming stats to see your progress.

Vancouver – Slick Entertainment has announced that their latest title, Scrap Metal, has passed certification at Microsoft, and will be released on Xbox Live Arcade this Spring. Scrap Metal had a great showing at this year’s CES, where attendees had the opportunity to check out this new fast-paced, top-down racer. Players can drift around corners with guns blazing fight their way through explosive, action-packed missions and defeat cunning bosses to win their vehicles. Customize newly-acquired cars and return to the track to blast through more enemies. Then, jump online with Xbox LIVE® to race against friends and crush their cars with the wheels of a massive monster truck in pulse-pounding online multiplayer matches.

Ontario – Contact North has released an important new study and challenge paper titled Strategic Directions For e-Learning In Canada. In the paper’s introduction, Contact North President and CEO Maxim Jean-Louis states:

“One of the three components of Contact North | Contact Nord’s mandate is to support innovation in education and learning through testing and applied research of new modes of “delivery” using technology, and to share information in Northern Ontario, as well as nationally and internationally.

In keeping with our mandate, Contact North | Contact Nord developed this challenge paper, Strategic Directions for e-Learning in Canada, to encourage a thoughtful and intellectual discussion on the future role of technology in learning.

Our goal with this paper is to inform, to think about what the future will look like, and to see how we can best use technology to ensure Ontarians and Canadians have quality access to the education and training opportunities that are critical to our future prosperity.

We call it a ‘challenge paper’ because some of the ideas outlined here are challenging, both in terms of accomplishments in this field, as well as the challenges ahead. Again, our intention is to stimulate a conversation by exploring both the opportunities and acknowledging the challenges.”

Interested parties can view the full PDF report on Contact North’s web site.

Vancouver – It was a very busy week and weekend here on the west coast. Last Thursday evening was the Help Haiti Pub Night which saw $6000.00 raised for to assist UNICEF’s Clean Water Initiative. Many thanks to all of the great sponsors and donors who helped make the silent auction and Pub Night a great success.

Congratulations to our Vancouver SIGGRAPH chapter for a very successful Spark FX event. With the highest attendance ever, there was much for the hardworking crew to be happy about. The Avatar post-mortem sessions were so popular with attendees that a closed circuit broadcast was presented in the common area for those who could not get seats in the theatre. In attendance at this episode of Spark FX was a committee from the SIGGRAPH conference, and they were very happy with the event as well, according to Sly Provencher. As many of you are already aware, SIGGRAPH 2011 will be held in Vancouver – the first time this conference has ever been awarded to a city outside of the United States, and I am definitely looking forward to being able to attend this great conference on “home turf.” SIGGRAPH 2010 will be held at the Los Angeles Conference Centre this coming July 25-29.

This weekend was also Global Game Jam, and we checked in with the teams over at UBC on Sunday afternoon. There were some great ideas happening, and co-organizer Vidya Kotamraju said that “The jam went extremely well and we have been very pleased with the turnout and the games. We have not ranked any games as the main aim is to foster creative collaboration. We asked each of the teams to present their games and judges from a few local game companies critiqued them.”

The majority of the participants were new to Global Game Jam, but there were a few veterans in attendance, including Brennan Massicotte and Miko Wilson. Several of the local digital media schools and programmes were represented, including BCIT, Emily Carr, SFU, UBC and Masters of Digital Media, as well as a few local studios including United Front Games and Propaganda Entertainment.

The organizers would like to thank this year’s sponsors for contributing to a very successful event, as well as mentors Andy Moore, Pat McGee, Victor Cameron and Brian Vidovic, and of course the local developers who came out to view and critique all of the games.

For this year’s Jam, the weekend developers were given the theme of Deception, which had to be worked into their game, along with key words punk, skunk and monk. There were some very creative ways which these were being worked into the games, including completely misleading the player and going against many of the “game mainstays” of how a gamer is lead through a level. Other challenges included making it possible to play the entire game in 5 minutes or less, using a maximum of 16 different colours including light and shading, using only sound effects which could be produced by the human body and several others. One other interesting fact to note is the increase in female participants this year, which more than doubled over last year’s event.

Vancouver had two Game Jam locations this year, but we unfortunately did not have time to visit the participants over at Vancouver Hacker Space, but you can check out all of the games here: UBC teams – 8 games and Vancouver Hacker Space – 1 game

We closed out our weekend at the 3D Animation Workshop which was held Sunday afternoon at the 221A Studios. I was invited to talk to the Workshop participants about Village Gamer, and while I’m not overly skilled at public speaking, the experience was enjoyable and another opportunity to meet people who work, teach and support our local interactive media industry. The 3D Animation Workshops are an informal platform for artists and other creatives to share experience and knowledge, and is hosted by the CG Movement community.

Events for this week include the Women In Games Vancouver Networking Night on February 3rd, which is taking place in the Wine Room at Steamworks Brew Pub, starting at 7pm. Then on Thursday evening it’s the League of Kickass Business People panel “Get in the Game: Gaming Isn’t Just For Gamers Anymore” featuring panelists Steve Bocska, McElroy Flavelle, Victor Lucas, Mark Magnusson and Ian Clark, with moderator Eric Brooke. The aim of this panel is to investigate and discuss the many ways which gaming is revolutionizing your business and your world. Learn how gaming trends are shaping everything from customer experiences to community building, leadership training to team collaboration, simplified interfaces to communicating complexities – and how gaming’s impact will accelerate in the next decade.

Edmonton – Forty perfect scores. Two million units. One pop culture phenomenon. BioWare™ announced today that Mass Effect™ 2, according to internal EA data, has sold over two million units worldwide in its first week of release. Lauded for its intense shooter gameplay and deep, hand-crafted story, Mass Effect 2 for the Xbox 360 has earned an average review score of 96 according to Metacritic.com — making it the second highest rated game of all time on Metacritic for the Xbox 360 platform. Mass Effect 2 has earned 40 perfect scores, amassed over 30 editor’s choice awards and is donning the front cover of 20 magazines worldwide. On launch day, the term “Mass Effect” was in the top 10 trending topics on Twitter and most searched on Google News. MSNBC.com said, “Mass Effect will go down as one of the most influential video game series of all-time.”

Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare and Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group of EA said, “Mass Effect 2 is poised to be one of the biggest games of 2010. We could not be more proud of the game’s universal acclaim and early commercial success.”

Mass Effect 2 launched this week hot on the heels of BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins, the studio’s dark fantasy RPG which shipped in fall 2009. Dragon Age: Origins has earned an average review score of 91 on Metacritc, making it the highest rated original intellectual property from EA in the last year. Mass Effect 2 follows in BioWare’s tradition of delivering excellence on every front: gameplay, story, character development and visuals. Mass Effect 2 is an epic shooter/RPG set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious, uncharted planets. In Mass Effect 2, players step into the role of the heroic Commander Shepard, leading a crew of some of the most dangerous operatives from across the galaxy on a mission so challenging that it’s potentially suicidal. Featuring intense action, a rich storyline, space exploration and engaging character interaction, Mass Effect 2 delivers an unparalleled gaming experience.

In other Bioware news, Return to Ostagar, the highly anticipated and oft-delayed DLC for Dragon Age: Origins, is available on the Xbox 360 Marketplace as of today. Here is the full lot of information from Bioware’s Community Announcement:

If you were able to download Return to Ostagar during its previous release, you will not need to download it a second time. However, you will need to download the new version of the title update.

The PC and PlayStation 3 versions are still in testing. We expect the PC to complete testing in time for release early next week. We will update you with PlayStation 3 status when we have more information.

Title Update Release Notes:

Some players were unable to unlock the four achievements from Warden’s Keep and the Stone Prisoner during the first four days of launch. These achievements will unlock properly once you sign in to your Xbox Live and EA accounts.

The previous Xbox 360 update introduced an issue that relocked class specializations. This title update will resolve that issue.

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Toronto – Interactive Ontario today announced four new directors have been elected to the Board. These directors were voted in on January 26th at the Interactive Ontario Annual General Meeting of Members.

Newly elected board members include:

Sara Diamond, President, OCAD
Collin Douma, VP, Social Media, Proximity Canada
Gary Schwartz, President & CEO, Impact Mobile
Jeffrey Elliott, Founder and Co-CEO, GlassBOX Television Inc.

“Interactive Ontario is thrilled to welcome these new directors to the Board. Each one is a leader in their field, and contribute greatly to the interactive digital media industry,” said Ian Kelso, president and CEO of Interactive Ontario. “ We look forward to working with them over the course of the next year to continue to build the interactive digital media industry in Ontario and Canada.”

Re-elected board members include:

Mark Bishop, Partner, marblemedia
Danny Dowhal, COO, The Learning Edge Corp.
Trevor Fencott. Managing Partner & CEO, Bedlam Games
Laura Jo Gunter, Dean – Information Arts & Technology, Seneca College
Mike Mays, VP Finance, Silicon Knights

Returning Board members include:

Pary Bell, Vice President, Product, Digital Media, Rogers
Vikas Gupta, CEO & President, TransGaming Technologies
Lydia Sani, Partner, Redwood e-Learning Systems and Invisions Productions Inc.
Michael Schmalz, CFO, Digital Extremes
Scott Simpson, CEO, bitHeads / Headgames / playbrains

The executive was re-appointed by the board and includes:

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