Village Gamer

Calgary – On April 28, 2009, Digital Alberta held their Annual General Meeting. The new Board is rolling up their sleeves already with a Board Strategic planning session scheduled for May 5, 2009.

Executive:

President – Larry Jacques – ITSportsNet (Calgary)
Executive Director – Rene Smid – Digital Alberta (Airdrie)
Vice-President, Northern Alberta – Greg Gazin – Parallel2000 (Edmonton)
Vice-President, Southern Alberta – Alex Gault – Small World Ventures (Calgary)
Past-President – Ron Thiele – Xpan Interactive Ltd (Calgary)
Treasurer – Gert-Jan de Vlugt – Calgary
Secretary – Richerd Chan – Tapium (Calgary)

Directors

Brian Traynor, Mount Royal College (Calgary)
Leanne Elias, University of Lethbridge (Lethbridge)
John Torvi, SATU Creatives (Calgary)
Michael Witwicki, (Calgary)
Jennifer Llewellyn-Pollack, Light Box Entertainment (Calgary)
Yulia Bocheck, dHz Media (Calgary)

Upcoming Digital Alberta Event:
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Ottawa – Corel Corporation today announced that it is working with Microsoft Corp. on Windows 7. Corel is committed to delivering its core applications for the Windows 7 platform and is currently developing its next generation of creative consumer products that will offer an all-new, hands-on experience built on the power of Windows Touch technology.

Offering unprecedented stability and performance along with new features such as Windows Touch, JumpLists and Libraries, Windows 7 delivers exciting new possibilities for Corel’s software development teams while providing consumers with a more engaging and expressive computing environment.

“Corel has a long history of ‘firsts’ when developing software for the latest Windows platforms. With the upcoming introduction of Windows 7, Microsoft’s new operating system will redefine how people think about computing. Drawing on our customer research, we’re taking advantage of the solid performance and powerful touch capabilities Windows 7 offers to turn the typical user experience of mouse clicks and menus on its head, completely changing how users interact with creative software,” said Joe Roberts, Executive Vice President, Products for Corel.
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Ottawa – The Canadian Screen Training Centre proudly presents the 29th Annual Summer Institute of Film and Television (SIFT) in Ottawa from May 26-31. With the increasing overlap between film, television and other forms of media, the CSTC is excited to put greater focus on the digital world at SIFT 2009. Choose from 20 workshops in new media, screenwriting, directing, producing, documentary, acting, camera/lighting and editing. Workshops are offered at various levels and taught by top industry professionals.

Workshop Samples: (please see the SIFT web site for the full schedule)

Production Crafts – Camera & Lighting with Karl Roeder

Using the language of light, the director of photography creates the mood and depth that supports the director’s vision of a film or television production. An accomplished director of photography will provide a solid foundation in the fundamentals of lighting for the camera. Then, working hands-on with camera and lighting equipment, participants will delve into the creative and technical processes of the DOP, and walk away with the ability to bring new life – or light – to any production.
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Vancouver – The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada – BC Chapter presents the POGO 2009 Conference. Taking place this May 8th and 9th, the POGO Conference provides an unparalleled opportunity for design students, graduates and design newcomers to learn, connect, guide and inspire each others creative thinking. Developed with this experience in mind, the conference includes studio tours, creative workshops and portfolio critique. It’s also a great opportunity to learn and network – at a very reasonable price. A two day full conference pass is only $55.00 for GDC members, and $95.00 for non-members. Tickets are also available for individual days and events.

May 8 Schedule:

The GDC/BC Pogo Studio Tours provides the opportunity to check out three of Vancouver’s hottest creative environments and one of North America’s most awarded printers, Metropolitan Fine Printers.

Sign up, get a guided tour and check out how each of these firms think about not only their work, but about their space. The studios selected for this tour are Subplot, Rethink Communications and Burnkit.
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Vancouver/Montreal – VanArts is proud to present a 2-day Masterclass in Montreal with Story Artist Matt Luhn and Animator Andrew Gordon from Pixar Animation Studios! This is a one-time special event.

Andrew Gordon

These seminars are designed for animation industry professionals, students or enthusiasts. Skill sets covered are not software-specific, and all lectures are organized with visuals, live-action and animated clips. This rare opportunity gives you the tools needed to create your own stories and do feature quality animation.

DAY 1

Saturday June 13, 2009
9:00am – 4:00pm

Animation Masterclass with Andrew Gordon

Topics will include animation principles, staging, pose design, weight, dynamics, acting for animation, gestures, scene planning, blocking, facial expressions, and high level polish techniques.
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Calgary – Digital Alberta has put together a new production reel highlighting and promoting the digital media services, animation, special effects, post-production, eLearning and game development industry in that province. The video highlights such studios as Bioware, Reel Girls Media, Fission Media Group and many more. Also highlighted in the reel are the benefits of locating a digital media studio in Alberta.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8S3VSJ43jM]

Vancouver – Daylon Graphics® Ltd. has announced updates for all of its terrain modeling software applications. Leveller™ 3.1, Landshaper™ 1.1, and Landshaper Golf 2.1 are now available for new and existing users.

“The main improvement is better organization of the document data structure.” explains Ray Gardener, Daylon’s administrator. “Because a document can have multiple views, we stored certain things in view files. But after careful review we felt it was better to move several items up to the document level. Some flexibility was lost doing that, but nothing that anyone will really miss, and the benefits more than make up for it. We want to avoid flexibility merely for its own sake.

“Before, if you forgot to create and associate view files, documents would look different than from the last time they were opened. One would usually have to modify the appearance settings to get them back to what they were. Now that’s history; one can still use view files, but they’re no longer necessary to maintain appearance settings between work sessions.”
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Vancouver – The Vancouver chapter of Wired Woman is proud to present an evening seminar on the importance of data analysis in a variety of situations.

Recently, the volume of data produced by business operations has grown dramatically, primarily because of the increase in email and other computer information systems. When these business operations because the subject of litigation, arbitration or investigation, the process of gathering, analyzing and managing these potentially massive volumes of data presents a significant challenge. This can be extremely costly, time consuming and, if not done properly, can expose the organization to significant litigation (and reputation) risks. Understanding the technical aspects and strategies involved in eDiscovery can reduce a company’s financial risks and help protect their reputation.

This presentation will focus on:

What eDiscovery is, including the phases and challenges involved
Where electronic evidence can be found
The technical aspects of forensic data capturing
Best practices to keep in mind
The future of eDiscovery
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Vancouver – With two days of sessions, an expo, networking events, Future Play and the Game Career Seminar, GDC Canada is a must attend event for developers looking to learn, network and be inspired by their peers.

Download the GDC Canada preview guide and start planning your GDC experience now.

Events at GDC Canada

Passport to Prizes
Tuesday, May 12th, Starts at 10:30am & Drawing at 6:15pm
GDC Canada Expo
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Big Fish Acquires Premium Sim Developer Grubby Games

Vancouver – Big Fish Games™, the world’s leading online destination for games and interactive entertainment, announced today the acquisition of Grubby Games, an award-winning Vancouver games studio which was established in 2004.

“Big Fish Games has a remarkable culture and a unique, multi-platform development approach that aligns with our vision for creating a differentiated content.” said Ryan Clark, co-founder and CEO of Grubby Games. “We are thrilled to be a part of Big Fish Games and in just a few short weeks, we are fully integrated into the company.”

Known for several award-winning titles such as “My Tribe,” “FizzBall,” and “Incredibots,” Grubby Games stands out in the casual game industry for their innovation and success in challenging genres and for their proprietary simulation game platform.

“The creative minds at Grubby Games have generated a best-in-class approach to design that fits wonderfully within our studio,” said Patrick Wylie, Vice President of Big Fish Games Global Studios. “We have had the pleasure of working with Ryan and his team during the last four years and we are delighted to have them as part of our future.”