Village Gamer

Vancouver – The new Vancouver Unity 3D Users Group is celebrating their official launch with a TGIF Networking Event on Friday July 24 at District 319 on Main Street.

dimeRocker.com in partnership with Unity Technologies invites all local game, web, and iPhone developers to a premiere industry Unity Networking TGIF followed the next day by a Unity Skills Workshop.

The entire initiative will be framed within a “web-ready” context, exploring how tools like Unity 3D in combination with a new breed of social gaming hives are enabling developers to create, market, and monetize console-like browser content for a growing audience of online and mobile gamers.

TGIF Schedule:

5:30pm – 6:30pm    Reception, drinks and appetizers
6:30pm – 7:30pm    Key Note followed by Q&A with Tom Higgins (Unity Evangelist, San Francisco)
7:30pm – 9:00pm+  Networking Social

Admission is $20 and includes a free drink, eats and chance to win a Unity 3D License.

The Unity Skills Workshop will be taking place on Saturday July 25 at Centre for Digital Media with Dmitry Shtainer (Unity Stealth Engineer, Vancouver). The workshop will be a day-long Unity 3D skills development event,  intended for students and professionals alike. Workshop curriculum and registration information have not yet been announced, but TGIF registrants will receive advanced email notification for the event.

Vancouver – BCTIA has announced that they will be holding a Members’ Reception on July 21 from 4 – 7pm. Tickets are $50.00, this event is open to BCTIA members only. The BCTIA Member Reception…On the Water is your opportunity to develop new business relationships in a relaxed and casual atmosphere. Join us for some west-coast style networking while enjoying the beautiful view of Vancouver’s harbour and Stanley Park from the water. Mix and mingle with fellow BCTIA members while enjoying delicious appetizers.

On July 22, BCTIA will be hosting a Business Survival Strategies Webinar. The topic will be Proven Techniques to Grow Your Business, with speaker Dr. Jim Sellner PhD., DipC. Cost is $69.00 for members and $89.00 for non-members.

Webinar Details:
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Toronto – In a just-concluded press conference held at the Isabel Bader Theatre, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, with an introduction by the Honourable Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, announced a 263 million dollar commitment and a 10 year partnership with Ubisoft to open a new development studio which will employ a staff of 800 people. Ubisoft’s net investment in the new studio will be over half a billion dollars in the new studio, which will begin operations in late 2009.

“Today’s announcement marks a strategic move for Ubisoft as we continue to expand our internal

Premier McGuinty

development force,” said Yves Guillemot, president and chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “We are in an excellent position to grow and after extensive analysis we are thrilled to have reached an agreement with the government of Ontario to found our new studio in Toronto. The city is one of North America’s economic and cultural epicenters and our expectations are high. We’re excited to be able to count on the exceptional local talent, who will contribute to our accelerated growth and will have a profound impact on the video game industry with the excellence of their creativity.”

Three years in the making, Premier Dalton said that some of the primary reasons Ubisoft chose Toronto for their newest studio was the amazing talent, innovation, and ties to the movie industry enjoyed by Toronto’s creative industry. Collaborating with local film industry veterans to enhance video game production and extend Ubisoft’s convergence strategy, Ubisoft Toronto will contribute to Ubisoft’s global plan of extending its brands to complementary platforms and mediums, including books, comics, short films and other products.
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Vancouver – Several founding members of Women In Games Vancouver (WIGV), along with several women (and men) from Vancouver’s game development community will be participating in a new Leadership Development Forum taking place on July 20 in Seattle. The Forum, being held one day prior to the start of Casual Connect Seattle, will offer a variety of topics relating to business, development, careers and community. Presented in partnership with the Casual Game Association, Women In Games International and the IGDA Women In Games SIG, topics will be presented on three consecutive tracks: Business, Design and Production.

Taking place at The Triple Door, the Leadership Development Forum will begin with registration and networking at 11am. Attendees will be welcomed by Jessica Tams, Managing Director at Casual Games Association and Annie Sumi Nam of WIGV. They will be followed by keynote presenter Megan Gaiser, President and CEO of Her Interactive, who will speak on the Importance of Leadership. Please read on for information on the full schedule, and a special thank you to Kerry and Kalinka Corlett over at AnnexPro for their generous sponsorship and support of WIGV’s first official international speaking event.

Anyone who is attending Casual Connect will have full access to the Leadership Development Forum. For those who only wish to attend the Leadership Forum, tickets are $25.00 (USD) and include networking, panels, roundtables and the post-event mixer.
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Vancouver – Biz Books is offering a rather unique opportunity to learn the art and craft of directing and cinematography from two of the best filmmakers in the film industry.

Course Details
This 2-Day Directing and Cinematography Course with multi Emmy award winning director/cinematographer/producer, Michael W Watkins, featuring Emmy nominated cinematographer, Joel Ransom, will be an information filled and inspiring weekend for both novice and professional filmmakers.

In this seminar, attention will be focused on how director and cinematographer work together toward a goal in creating the ’Moment’ through exploration of scene visualization, actor staging, camera blocking, positing and movement, camera/actor choreography, color, lighting, shot size, lens choice to, ultimately, express the director’s vision for the overall look of the film.

The workshop will be beneficial to professional and amateur directors alike — film enthusiasts, cameramen, corporate and home video entrepreneurs. The course will also suit actors who want to establish their directing career.
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Vancouver – Aftercad Software is pleased to announce the Beta signup for its ground breaking 3D Workspace for collaboration in Digital Prototyping and Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects.

The Aftercad 3D Workspace is a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering that allows businesses to upload, view, mark-up, manage and publish large and complex 3D CAD files onto the web, without the need for proprietary viewers, providing easy and instant access to 3D project information by non-CAD professionals.

“With the development of the 3D Workspace Beta we have achieved our goal of bringing a complete online file system to our customers so that they can collaborate on all project documents including stunning 3D visuals,” said Chris Boothroyd, CEO of Aftercad. “The goal of the 3D Workspace is to quickly centralize, visualize and annotate what it is you are trying to build so that your clients can come to decisions faster and easier. Each 3D Workspace has its own secure online file system, event notification and sharing tools so that you can easily invite clients or partners to collaborate with you on a 3D project.”
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Vancouver – Singular Software Inc. has released a beta update for PluralEyes™ 1.1, a companion application for Final Cut Pro that automatically synchronizes audio and video clips without the need for timecode. Targeted at the independent video professional, PluralEyes™ drastically simplifies multicamera and dual-system audio productions, both during recording and in post-production.

PluralEyes™ determines synchronization information from audio that is already present in the recorded material. During the shoot, there is no need to connect cameras and audio recorders or take any other special steps to prepare. And when shooting is done, the creative editing process can get started right away without the time-consuming step of matching clips manually. This removes the biggest bottlenecks in both production and post-production.

Since its release in April of this year, PluralEyes has been used by hundreds of video professionals and their feedback has been incorporated to make PluralEyes™ work better than ever for productions like weddings, live performances, music videos, reality TV, and indie films.
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Ottawa – The Honourable Helena Guergis, Minister of State (Status of Women), is pleased to announce the Call for Nominations for the 30th Governor General’s Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case. The awards were instituted by the Governor General in 1979 to honour the 50th anniversary of the “Persons Case” and the five Alberta women whose determination led to a landmark victory in the struggle by Canadian women for equality. The Famous Five achieved not only the right for women to serve in the Senate, but also paved the way for women to participate in other aspects of public life.

“Equality for women and their full participation in society are important for women, their families, their communities and our country. More than ever before, we need women leaders of all ages to help keep our country strong, economically, socially and democratically,” said Minister Guergis. “The Government of Canada is proud to recognize those who work to promote the equality of girls and women in Canada. Recipients of these awards continue the tradition of dedication and determination that the Famous Five inspired to enrich their communities.”
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It’s not about gaming, but it’s still fun and educational

Britannia Beach BC – The BC Museum of Mining (BCMM) has launched an advanced new website offering a host of multimedia features and downloadable material. With online archival images and historical newsletters, BC Museum of Mining Online is the place to learn about the history and the future of BC Mining.

The new website was created to enhance communication with visitors, students and teachers, and history enthusiasts looking to learn more about the Britannia Beach community, current exhibits and collections, and mining in BC. The easy to navigate new site offers a searchable database of archives, calendar, press area, tour information, and links visitors to the Museum’s social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Future plans will see the Museum offering further online activities to engage our audience, such as: The Curator’s Blog, high-resolution image library, video footage, additional archives, and new collections.

The Britannia Historical Society, the governing body of the British Columbia Museum of Mining (BCMM), is a non-profit society. The society was established in 1971 to preserve the material and social history of mining in British Columbia, and to educate the public about mining. It is a registered charity. The Society is essentially self-sufficient in its ability to earn revenues to maintain its operation.

Burnaby – We attended the AI Grad Presentation last Friday night, and once again we were reminded first hand just how many talented young people are ready for careers in game design, animation, audio design, film and VFX. We spent so much time talking to students and viewing projects that we weren’t able to make it around to everyone – which brings to the forefront the one challenge many of the students said they had problems with during their tenure at AI  – time management. This seems to be a problem wherever we go – perhaps there needs to be a study done about the phenomena and why so many people have difficulty with the issue.

Pritika Prasad

We were pleased to meet the team behind TikiWiki, the 2009 PopVox Award winner for Best Student Project. The tribal sports game was developed on the Unreal Engine and uses team play to collect stone tablets and score points.

All of the students present were well spoken about their projects, and quick to acknowledge any assistance they received from others, as well as to recognize members of their teams on class projects. It was also promising to see so many talented female students in this graduating class, in particular Environment and Prop Modeler Pritika Prasad (right), whose work is very impressive and very professional.
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