Village Gamer

Vancouver – The 2nd Annual Global Game Jam takes place this coming January 29-31 2010 and Vancouver is one of the 100 locations for the jam being held simultaneously in multiple countries around the world. Global Game Jam is an IGDA initiative.

In a Game Jam, artists, programmers, students and designers come together to make video games. Each participant works in a small team on a complete game project over the course of a limited time period, usually over a weekend. Mentors support the game-teams by providing guidance and feedback to facilitate teams’ success. With such a small time frame, the games tend to be innovative and experimental. I attended as an observer last year, and I saw lots of fantastic ideas, creativity and innovations happening. If you have the chance, I highly recommend taking part in this event.

Register now to be a Participant or Mentor at this fun and educational event! The Global Game Jam will start at 5:00 PM Friday, January 29, 2010 through 5:00 PM Sunday, January 31, 2010 (all times local).

Other Canadian Global Game Jam Locations:

Calgary
Halifax
Hamilton
Miramichi
Ottawa
Sault Ste. Marie
Toronto
Waterloo

Today’s Super Special: Madballs in Babo Invasion by PlayBrains is currently available for 50% off on Steam. Grab this fast-paced action game for your PC from Steam (sale price $4.99 USD) or for your Xbox 360 from XBL MarketPlace for 800 MS Points and play as your XBLA Avatar as you campaign across distant worlds either solo or with four-player online co-op, taking no prisoners in your wake. Challenge your friends (and your enemies) to see who’s the baddest ball on the planet in no-holds-barred 16-player multiplayer arenas with freaky characters or with your 360 Avatar. Try out the Invasion Mode where combatants create the very worlds where they wage war. Dozens of unique character classes, weapons, special abilities, worlds, unlocks, secrets, maps, and game modes give you limitless gameplay. Madballs in Babo Invasion has been nominated in several categories for our 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards.

Vancouver – In the face of increased number of independent productions, increased production costs, diminished funding sources and limited funds available, forward-thinking members of the industry have been casting about for creative ways to fund films. An innately expensive undertaking, the making of a film is often decided by the deep pockets of the companies and individuals funding the project. These decisions can heavily influence the final product with ultimatums about creativity, casting, product placement, etc. Further, financial pressures are constraining the industry as piracy cuts into independent film revenues.

The Biracy Project™ is a social experiment in crowd-funded filmmaking which will build the audience in advance and give the audience the power to make decisions on how the film will be made.

“Let’s make a sustainable industry and allow the people who support it to benefit from the rewards” says Biracy CEO and Founder David Geertz; and added with a sarcastic chuckle “Ultimately, we’d love to end this piracy problem by making the pirate a buyer.”

Geertz has a solid history in the film industry ranging from production to media distribution. His frustration with the constraints placed on filmmakers by the financing bodies has led him and a solid team of experienced professionals to develop the Biracy Project™ concept.

The Biracy crowd-funding model starts with people choosing their membership level (minimum level is a $25 annual commitment). In exchange, members have access to regular updates via video and blog entries, they get to vote or provide other input on decisions that pertain to the development and production of the movie and they receive a copy of the completed film, To compensate members for their participation, the Biracy Project™ includes a members’ only game, the “Producer Challenge”. Game points are awarded for tasks completed by participating members. In addition to determining the winner of the Producer Challenge, game points will be used to allocate 75% of the movie proceeds among the membership. The winner of the Producer Challenge will receive the Grand Prize of an Associate Producer credit on the film together with appropriate financial compensation.

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Montreal – Psychoz Interactive is proud to announce its first iPhone/iPod touch title, Dead Strike is now available for purchase on the App Store.

Fight your way through a sprawling 3D, zombie-infested city as four survivors attempt to stop an outbreak of the living dead. The creation of an antidote depends on the group delivering a sample of the deadly virus to a hospital on the other side of the city. But as the foursome’s grim fight for survival continues, it becomes apparent that there’s more to the virus than anyone thought possible. As the group are systematically hunted by these abominations of nature, they soon discover that these cannibalistic monsters aren’t as mindless as they look.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjHxw1pch1M]

Dead Strike is the action-packed horror survival game the iPhone has been waiting for, with a powerful, twisted storyline, a brutal arsenal of weaponry, stunning graphics and more zombies than a BBQ at George Romero’s house. With a four player co-operative multiplayer mode coming soon in a free update, fans of Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor, Resident Evil and Silent Hill will devour Dead Strike, brains first!

Game Features:

* 46 levels, packed to bursting with legions of the undead.
* Unique abilities for each of the four characters.
* Nine different weapons including flamethrower, mini-gun and chainsaw.
* Original soundtrack with music and lyrics by Ben Spencer and Adrien Volpi
* Dynamic lighting, lens flare, mist and dust effects on all iPhone and iPod touch devices.
* Day and night battles.
* Choose a guns blazing action-packed approach or stealth tactics.
* Incredible AI where the undead react to sounds and action and can communicate with each other in real time.
* Frantic boss battles.
* Expansive and detailed 3D world to explore.
* Rich gripping storyline, edited and co-written by Pure Square Go.
* Buckets of blood splattering effects with sprays and splashes for full-on horror effect.
* Online high scores.

Yarmouth County – Xona Games has released a new trailer for their in-development title Duality ZF featuring some amazing game-play. In this video you will see the Boss Rush, which will unlocks once you beat the game; multi-directional controls, which unlock when beat all game modes with Dual Play control, and Dual Play control which will unlock once you beat all game modes in Solo Play. Duality ZF looks like one big, mad challenge waiting to happen – and has an awesome soundtrack from Imphenzia.

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Ontario – Howling Moon Games has released their newest iphone title Solar Advance in the iTunes App Store for 99 cents usd.

As the player, you are the intelligence controlling an advance technology that can store the suns energy for use back on a distant planet. As the intelligence you will need to motion special matter that absorbs certain forms of energy. The energy that needs to be caught bursts from suns. Along its path it changes shape and colors. The color of the flare needs to be met by the same color matter for it to be harnessed.

Game Features:

* Each new level leaves the player with more matter to control, more color differences from the solar flares.
* A timer calculates your overall game score, preventing your MAT’s from being destroyed decreases your overall time.
* Each sun has a different gravitational pull.
* New Collapsing Star mode just for the iphone
* An amazing leaderboard system to keep track of your highscores
* Try and collect all the rewards

Yarmouth County – Xona Games has announced that their newest game, Decimation X is coming to Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG) in January 2010 for 80 Microsoft Points. Xona Games has not yet released a lot of promo material for the game, but according to the Decimation X web site, game play will revolve around intense retro-styled shoot ’em action for 1 – 4 players and feature music from Imphenzia.

Gormley – Digital Leisure’s Dragon’s Lair is now available for download via Nintendo’s DSiWare store. Rated by the ESRB as E10, Dragon’s Lair is available for 800 DSi Points.

Title Details: You play the heroic Dirk the Daring, a valiant knight on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. Control the actions of the daring adventurer and find your way through the castle of a dark wizard who has enchanted it with treacherous monsters and obstacles. In the mysterious caverns below the castle, your odyssey continues against the awesome forces that oppose your journey to the dragon’s lair. Dragon’s Lair is a fully animated classic arcade game from legendary animator Don Bluth.

Game Developer Research is pleased to announce the debut of its sixteenth report, the ‘Game Developer Census 2009‘. The in-depth 248-page report aims to create an accurate list of each significant developer and publisher within the video game industry in the United States and Canada, as well as an accurate list of staff averages for each company.

The Census report lists more than 700 companies alphabetically by U.S. state and Canadian province, along with general contact addresses, website information, estimates of employee numbers and details on their market specialties (from casual gaming, online gaming, mobile gaming and serious gaming to PC, handheld or console gaming).

Not included in the Game Developer Industry Census estimates are game tools company, game contracting/services company, PR, marketing, and external business service, or game distribution and retail professionals. The report is intended to be a valuable tool for game industry trendwatchers, contractors, service companies, and other entities wanting to acquire accurate information to reach out to the North American game market as a whole.

According to Techvibes, “The report reveals that the United States videogame industry employee count is essentially flat year-over-year, rising slightly from 44,400 to 44,806. The small rise in North American game industry employment was marked by an unusually high number of new studios – particularly in social and online gaming – springing up to counterbalance the many closures that occurred throughout the rest of the industry.

Canadian companies, however, saw growth that can almost be called explosive. The continued establishment of new studios and expansion of existing large studios led Canada’s the employee count in the Census to rise 30% year-over-year. The totals rose from 9,500 Canadian video game employees in 2008 to 12,480 in 2009.

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Toronto – Interactive Ontario today announced that registration is now open for INplay 2010. This two-day conference, taking place at the Liberty Grand in Toronto, is designed to bring creators of kids interactive properties and developers together to explore inspiring ideas for the future.

“ INplay promises to bring cutting edge research, innovation, market strategy and inspiration together in this one-of-a-kind conference,” said Ian Kelso, president and CEO of Interactive Ontario. “ IO is proud to collaborate with such great partners, many of whom are global leaders in the kids media entertainment business.”

“With all the changes happening in content creation and delivery, INplay is a huge opportunity for inspiration, to hear some of the latest research, and connect with potential partners in the kids interactive market,” said Ted Brunt, VP Interactive Production, marblemedia.

Early bird pricing ends February 25, 2010. Members of Interactive Ontario receive a further discounts on tickets. For registration, press accreditation and to sign up for the INplay newsletter, visit their website.

INplay is for game developers/publishers, broadcasters, content producers/distributors, interactive/mobile/social media developers, toy/game manufacturers, book/magazine/comic publishers, marketers, researchers/child psychologists and all businesses with interest in the kids’ interactive media.

This project is spearheaded by IO in partnership with industry leaders including: Astral Media Inc, Bitcasters, Blue Print Entertainment, Breakthrough New Media, Capybara Games, CBC, Corus Entertainment, Decode Entertainment, Earth Rangers, Kids Can Press, marblemedia, Meridian Artists, Portfolio Entertainment, Spin Master Ltd., and zinc Roe Inc.

Ottawa – Fuel Industries has had a very busy year, it seems – in a summary of 2009 projects, Fuel released information about their work with EA, Intel & Dell, Microsoft, Toyota, MTV and Screenlife. For the record, I want that screen used in the Intel 360 “Future of the Data Centre” project. Some of Fuel Industries’ work can be found on Facebook in the way of EA Pogo Puppies, an interactive application that allows Facebook users to adopt and care for cute little puppies. The studio also created the SceneIt! Online Facebook App, bringing Screenlife’s interactive trivia games to the masses. Meanwhile, Twitter users were invited to learn, compete and create haiku pieces extolling the virtues of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 R2.

Fuel also worked with MTV, Verizon and Electric Farm Entertainment to create a growing online, interactive property for Valemont University through the use of blogs, websites, alternate reality and social media. Toyota and Fuel worked together to build excitement and adventure for Facebook users with their Adventure Finder App. This App, built to promote the new Toyota 4Runner,  uses interactive quizzes to generate possible off-road adventures.

Gormley – Digital Leisure has released a new trailer for the DSiWare version of Dragon’s Lair, which will be available from the Nintendo DSiWare download zone this coming Monday (December 21st).

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Ottawa – Fuel Industries has produced a very nice way to say Merry Christmas to all of their friends, and they’ve done such a great job I wanted to share their efforts with all of our readers. Designer Alyssa Munaretto, Producer Braden Brailey, Rob Plowman (Director, Fuel Sounds) and Nick Ianniti (Director of Communications) got together and recorded three Christmas songs for our listening pleasure. The tracks are downloadable, so you can add them to your Christmas playlist. Thank you and Happy Holidays to everyone over at Fuel!

Edmonton – Bioware has added some very cool Dragon Age: Origins clothing to the XBL Avatar Store – players can now dress their Avatars in DAO t-shirts and hats, available in three styles. Now if they would just release the Return to Ostagar DLC expansion on XBL…

Vancouver – The Innovation Camp organizers have announced the dates and location for their next workshop series – Innovation Camp 3. Taking place at Discovery Parks (887 Great Northern Way) in Vancouver, the first Innovation Camp of 2010 will occur on the following dates:

• Tuesday, January 26, 6:30pm to 9:30pm
• Thursday, January 28, 6:30pm to 9:30pm
• Saturday, January 30, 10:00am to 6:00pm

Participants will spend their Camp time practicing techniques to generate new ideas and expanding upon those ideas in order to accomplish a shared goal such as creating a product or completing a project/challenge. There are no lectures, just engaging activities that facilitate learning, interaction and growth. Registration is now open, and at only $150.00 (including sandwiches, fruit and tea, coffee & juice), Innovation Camp offers great value to its participants. I’ve heard plenty of good things about the Camp, so if you have the opportunity to participate, I’d say give yourself a great Christmas present by registering today.

Vancouver – IUGO Mobile Entertainment has put many of their great titles on sale – visit the iTunes App Store and pick up a few – or all – of them and get many hours of fun and challenge for very little money. Sounds like a good return on investment to me!

Guelph – Stir Fry Games has announced that an update for SFG Soccer is now available on XBL. The following changes will be automatically applied next time you sign in and start up the game:

• Hard Difficulty Setting
• Team & Player Stat tracking
• Ability to Edit Any Team
• Use your Custom Teams in Exhibition Matches
• Golden Boot Award
• League leaders section
• and some bug fixes

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Montreal – Meridian4 celebrates the season by making a donation to DonateGames and encourages other publishers to do the same, especially during this time of year.

“This Meridian4 donation represents what we know to be true, gamers are good. Video games new and used are being recycled to help others. Gamers are also great communicators and users of technology. This donation is important, gamers are telling each other about our work, and as the word spreads, the video game community and video game playing families with rare, neglected diseases are contacting DonateGames with stories of the joy and inspiration from knowing the gaming community, like Meridians4 are helping spread the word, generate relief funds and create global awareness for the rare and neglected disease community.” said Jim Carol of DonateGames.

“We discovered DonateGames at a game convention and after reading their literature, we thought it was a great idea and a one we wanted to get behind. The three directors at Meridian4 all have children and we know how devastating it would be if they were afflicted with a debilitating or fatal disease. This is a terrific idea and we hope that other gaming companies and gamers will get involved.” said Steve Milburn, Director at Meridian4.

Vancouver – Just in time for the holidays, Hothead Games today announced that Jonathan Blow’s Braid is now available for download via the PlayStation®Network in Europe. Already recognized by Metacritic as one of “The Best Games of 2009” for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, European gamers can fill their virtual stockings with this amazing indie title for only €9.99.

Players explore the human condition and manipulate time with our hero Tim in the lush, painterly world of Braid. The game takes you from a house in the city on a journey through a series of worlds to solve puzzles and rescue the princess. In each world, you have a different power to affect the way time behaves, including the ability to rewind, create parallel realities and utilize time dilation to overcome the many obstacles in your path. There is no filler in this game; every puzzle shows you something new and interesting about the game world.

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Vancouver – 80 Elements has released an update to their very cool Cypress Mountain Snow App, which is available free in the iTunes App Store. This application offers snow reports, a list of events on the mountain, trail maps for the alpine and nordic area, and the ability to send us pictures of your riding experience on the mountain. More updates are planned for the App, including full landscape support and multiple themes.

Vancouver – Sierra Wireless today announced a new major release of M2M Studio, a fully integrated environment for the development of embedded machine-to-machine (M2M) software, enabling developers to create, develop, compile, download, debug and test their applications.

M2M Studio 1.1.1 offers a series of enhancements and additions, including a new software redistribution feature which enables developers to create their own embedded software plug-ins and make them accessible to other M2M Studio users. The M2M Studio source code is also made available for developers to customize and recompile, further encouraging the sharing of software between members of the M2M Studio community.

M2M Studio 1.1.1 is compliant with Linux, allowing users to work on PC Linux platforms as well as Windows® to build projects (project edition, compilation and link).

The release includes new software to ease the installation of all Open AT® Software Suite components, including M2M Studio itself. Other enhanced features include automatic notifications of software component updates, direct access to documentation via the help menu, warning pop-ups in case of incompatibility between software components, and an improved “Launch configurations” feature facilitating Segger JTAG usage.

“Since its initial release in January 2009, M2M Studio has proved its appeal to developers of a wide range of innovative M2M applications, including home security systems, asset tracking devices, in-vehicle fleet management, smart utility meters, and fixed wireless telephones,” says Didier Dutronc, Senior Vice President, Marketing at Sierra Wireless. “This new release of M2M Studio enables even more creativity and freedom to users when developing and customizing embedded software applications.”

M2M Studio is built on Eclipse(TM) and is compatible with most GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and HSPA embedded modules from Sierra Wireless. The IDE can be downloaded for free from the product page.

This post was updated to include further IGN Award Winners.

Toronto – Harlequin Enterprises Limited, the global leader in series romance and one of the world’s leading publishers of women’s fiction, and Big Fish Games, the multi-platform developer, publisher and distributor of casual games, today announced the launch of Harlequin Presents: Hidden Object of Desire. The hidden object game with a romantic storyline is the first game release following the announcement of the companies’ partnership.

Inspired by The Royal House of Karedes, a Harlequin Presents® Mini Series, Harlequin Presents: Hidden Object of Desire features Allie, a reporter on assignment covering the 30th birthday of the Prince of Aristo. Following her arrival in the Kingdom of Adamas with her photographer, a series of events occur and players assist Allie in her quest to solve the mystery by finding hidden objects and solving puzzles.

“We are thrilled to be working with Big Fish Games to introduce our readers to this new interactive experience,” said Donna Hayes, publisher and CEO of Harlequin Enterprises Limited. “Our partnership reinforces our commitment to brand innovation and we anticipate great success with Harlequin Presents: Hidden Object of Desire.”

“Big Fish Games and Harlequin are wonderfully aligned as our audiences are global and largely female,” said Jeremy Lewis, president and CEO of Big Fish Games. “The games we develop together – starting with Harlequin Presents: Object of Desire – will appeal to romance readers and casual gamers alike. We anticipate the partnership will lead to audience expansion for both companies.”

Harlequin Presents: Hidden Objects of Desire will be sold online for $6.99 USD exclusively at Big Fish Games. Players who download the game within the first year of its release will also receive a free digital edition of the first book of the miniseries.

Edmonton – Dragon Age Origins has won four more awards, this time from online game magazine IGN. Congratulations to the studio for their Best Xbox 360 RPG, Best PC RGP, Best Story and PC Game of the Year awards. Dragon Age Origins has also been nominated in several categories for our own Readers’ Choice Awards. Nominations for our awards close on December 31st – be sure to let us know which Canadian titles and studios you think should be in the running.

Congratulations are also extended to Capybara Games, whose new Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes won IGN’s Best DS Stragety Game Award and for Critter Crunch, which won for Best PS3 Puzzle Game.

EA Canada’s FIFA 10 has taken top spot for IGN’s Best PS3 Sports game and Best Xbox 260 Sports Game, while Ubisoft Montreal’s Assassin’s Creed 2 won Best Xbox 360 Action Game and Xbox 360 Game of the Year.

Ontario – Ontario is helping to drive innovation and stimulate economic growth in the creative sector by supporting early-stage development for television, film, mobisodes, webisodes, video games, internet properties and more. The Intellectual Property Development Fund is a one-year pilot programme administered by the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC). An extensive list of guidelines have been posted on the OMDC’s website.

The province is investing $10 million to support screen-based companies in moving ideas from the development stage into production and marketing. By providing funding for development expenses, the McGuinty government is promoting the continued growth of Ontario’s creative sector and helping businesses thrive as they develop new and innovative products.

If only there was this much support for the interactive industry in every province – we have the unique position of having a massive talent pool in this country, and yet there are many companies struggling to stay afloat. The Province of BC government would do well to take a serious look at what’s going on east of the Rockies in regards to the interactive and creative sectors.

Ontario’s creative sector is now the third largest source of employment in North America, following California and New York, and according to OMDC, total direct employment in Ontario’s cultural industries (businesses whose main purpose is to create and distribute arts and entertainment) was about 202,000 people. This sector was also responsible for generating almost $12.2 billion of Ontario’s Gross Domestic Product through film and television production, interactive digital media, music recording, commercial theatre, magazine publishing and book publishing.

Gormley – Digital Leisure is excited to announce that arcade classic “Dragon’s Lair” will soon be available on Nintendo’s DSiWare™ service.

No quarters needed! You’ll soon have your chance to take on all the “Lair” has to throw at you, right in the palm of your hand. For the first time on any handheld Nintendo® system, you’ll be able to play Dirk in his original animated form – no pixel graphics here!

On December 21st in North America and January 1st in Europe, you’ll take on the role of Dirk the Daring, a knight on a quest to rescue the fair Princess Daphne from the clutches on an evil dragon – Now using your Nintendo DSi! Dragon’s Lair is rated E10 by the ESRB forAnimated Blood, Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes.

Toronto – The Cloud Slam Conference, which brings together leading companies and visionaries in business, technology, and cloud computing to showcase the hottest opportunities for driving profitability through sustainability, today announced their call for proposals. Taking place March 23-25, 2010 as virtual event , the conference is also proud to announce it has gathered hundreds of attendees passionate about cloud computing. These announcements reflect a growing trend involving companies that have committed to developing best practice cloud strategies for the emerging global economy that requires innovative, viable and profitable models for business success.

You are cordially invited to participate in Cloud Slam 2010 through paper submission, a workshop or a special session organization, a tutorial, an invited speech, a demo, a poster, an exhibit, a panel discussion, whichever sounds more appropriate and convenient to you. There will also be tutorial sessions, workshops, special sessions, demos, posters, panel discussions.

The conference will include invited presentations by experts from academia, industry, and government as well as contributed paper presentations describing original work on the current state of research cloud computing, their use in business, their design, performance and use, and their applications.

To encourage media coverage of the Cloud Slam 2010, the conference provides up to 2 free press credentials to verified media representatives from each organization. Media partnerships are also welcome, please send cross promotion proposals to media(at)cloudslam(dot)org.

Conference sponsorships are welcomed. To sponsor Cloud Slam or get additional information about event, contact Khazret Sapenov at 510-984-2312 or at sponsors(at)cloudslam(dot)org.

Vancouver – Aftercad Software is pleased to announce that Novedge LLC, a leading online CAD/CAM store, has become a distribution partner for Aftercad’s new 3D collaboration service Renderjam.com.

Renderjam.com is a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering that allows businesses to view, mark-up, manage and publish 3D assets onto the web, without the need for proprietary viewers, providing easy and instant access to project information by all stakeholders.

“Renderjam offers a new lightweight and very easy to use visualization product that enables anyone in the organization to access digital 3D assets. Being distributed as a service it has a very low impact on IT overhead and it is easy to deploy. Renderjam is the ideal tool for architects and industrial designers that need to share their project data.” said Dr. Cristiano Sacchi, CEO of Novedge.

Novedge will offer the Renderjam.com service through its successful Novedge.com portal. “Our partnership with Novedge gives us invaluable exposure and access to market” stated Chris Boothroyd, CEO of Aftercad “and we look forward to marketing this product with Dr. Sacchi and his team.”

Vancouver – The British Columbia Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) is pleased to announce the launch of PODIUM, their 2010 business outreach programme. The PODIUM program is designed to connect guests and media of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games with technology sector business partners and media stories while visiting BC.

The centre-piece of the programme is the PODIUM digital guide, an e-book illustrating the talent and ingenuity that makes British Columbia a great place to live, work, study and invest. The PODIUM guide profiles over one hundred world-class companies and includes a number of companies whose technology is being used to power aspects of the Games. The digital guide will be distributed to thousands of contacts, including International Business Development offices, Olympic Sponsors and hosting organizations, Federal and Provincial governments, and media. The PODIUM guide will continue to evolve right-up to the opening ceremonies. The more great companies we have participating, the more buzz we’ll create.

To help guests and media connect with innovative BC companies, the BCTIA will be providing meeting concierge services – coordination services to facilitate introductions before, during and after the games. With non-stop activity during the 2010 Games, we are working to ensure that international business people and media call upon us to connect them with business introductions and unique media stories. Interested parties need only send an email to podium[at]bctia[dot]org.

Montreal – ELearning Alliance invites you to reserve April 14, 2010 to attend the event eLearning Montreal. This day is specifically aimed at training officers, human resources and people who have to acquire content and e-learning tools. Meet the leading Quebec companies active in this area and to attend lectures offered by industry experts. The location and details of that day will be announced in January.

Multiplied Media’s Poynt Local Search application wins in the 2009 Mobile Star Awards

Calgary – Multiplied Media Corporation, a provider of mobile local search services, is pleased to announce that its Poynt Local Search application has been named as a winner in the eighth annual Mobile Star Awards™ program, hosted by mobile technology news portal MobileVillage.com. Multiplied Media was recognized in the Navigation or Location Based Services Award in the category for Consumer Applications.

As in past years, the Mobile Star Awards program showcases “best of” entries in dozens of categories covering mobile apps, enterprise mobile software, wireless network products, enterprise success stories, mobile industry visionaries and more. Winners were chosen by subscribers of MobileVillage’s “Go Mobile™” – a free e-newsletter that delivers headlines and links from top mobile technology stories on popular websites such as Cnet, Engadget, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Computerworld and AppScout. “Go Mobile” was launched nearly ten years ago and is now published every three weeks for thousands of readers.

“Poynt was selected by our ‘Go Mobile’ readers as the go-to application on the BlackBerry for location based and navigation services,” said Jon Covington, MobileVillage founder and president. “Real users selected the Poynt app based on real results, not hype. I look forward to watching Poynt evolve onto other platforms in the future, giving more users the opportunity to utilize the great application.”

“We could not be more pleased to have been named a ‘Superstar’ in our category,” said Andrew Osis, CEO, Multiplied Media. “To be recognized as a top consumer application by the MobileVillage is a great honour. The Mobile Star awards brought some stiff competition to the table this year. We would like to thank our development team, Poynt’s loyal users and of course MobileVillage for hosting the awards.”

In addition to MobileVillage, the Sponsors for the 2009 Mobile Star Awards were Clickatell, Funambol, MobileFrame, Nadel Phelan, OnPoint Digital and Syclo.

Ottawa – Epiphan Systems has announced that the new Lecture Recorder presentation recording, archiving, and broadcasting product is now shipping. Featuring integrated audio-in, video-in, as well as DVI/VGA inputs and outputs, Lecture Recorder lets users simultaneously record the audio and video streams of a lecture, presentation, or seminar. And, as it is designed primarily for corporate and educational clients, it’s easy to use and requires no prior knowledge.

Retailing at $2000, the Lecture Recorder also features 32GB of solid state memory and has 5 USB ports for connecting external devices, such as CD/DVD writers, external hard drives, and AMX/Crestron interface units. Being a bit larger than a paperback book, Epiphan Systems’ Lecture Recorder fits easily inside presenters’ podiums or other confined spaces.

Similar to Epiphan Systems’ VGA Recorder Lite, Lecture Recorder has the ability to not only store hours of lectures on board the actual device; it is also able to automatically send the recordings to a central repository server or FTP, or act as a stand-alone server relaying the recordings directly to an online audience.

Unlike similar solutions from other providers, the Lecture Recorder does not require the payment of any maintenance or licensing fees, integrates within an existing LAN network, and works with virtually any external server, making it the ideal recording device to use in lecture or conference environments.

Toronto – Compact computer technology is the latest and most effective way to transport all of your important files. USB Direct gives you great options in the latest styles of USB memory.

USB Direct is a Canadian supplier of memory storage who offers the best pricing ever on a large selection of Promotional USB memory solutions. Celebrate their grand opening and take advantage of their huge savings. Their prices can’t be beat. You won’t find a better deal anywhere!

USB Direct can also customize your memory sticks with your company’s name or logo. Imagine the pride your employees will display as they strut down the halls with their daily work in tiny little canisters or fashionable bracelets. Use them to give out at your local charity event as a way to remember the cause. You can even make them a fabulous way to hand out computerized invitations. The possibilities of use are endless. Everyone is getting into the techno universe.

With a variety of memory that starts at 128MB and goes as high as 16GB and a wide selection of bright colours, you’ll never lose your memory stick again. If you’re scared of breaking them, USB Direct even makes them in a sturdy PVC rubber casing to protect your precious files.  USB Direct also offers some very unique styles like wood, car shapes, look alike pens, bracelets and neck or wrist straps. It’s so easy to match your USB with your personal style.