Village Gamer

When it comes to shopping, platforms like Facebook and Twitter aren’t replacing the in-store experience, says a PwC report on the myths of multi-channel spending released today. According to the Multi-Channel Retail Survey, while 42% of Canadians use social media at least once a day and an additional 17% use these channels once a week, just 7% of these consumers are using social platforms to shop. Read the rest of this entry »

The BC Hospitality Foundation (BCHF) is well known and respected in British Columbia for their tireless efforts of providing financial support for individuals within the hospitality community who are coping with a financial crises arising from a health or medical concern. The foundation has recently partnered with Dominion Card Services (DCS) for all of their payment solutions. Additionally, The BC Hospitality Foundation will be benefiting financially from Dominion Card Services ‘Every Swipes Makes A Difference’ program. When any hospitality driven business based in British Columbia partners with Dominion Card Services, DCS will be donating a portion of profits from every debit & credit card transaction to the BCHF. Read the rest of this entry »

Innovative learning solutions provider Desire2Learn Incorporated has announced the acquisition of Degree Compass™, a predictive analytics technology that helps students select the courses to take that will drive the successful completion of their degree program. By predicting student success based on rich graduate data and current student data, the Degree Compass acquisition strengthens Desire2Learn’s robust analytics offering by providing colleges and institutions with technology that increases graduation rates. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver Animation School, a Granville Island-based educational institution offering entry level and advanced programs for the animation, film and game industries, has named well-known cartoon writer Jack Enyart the instructor for its newest online course – Writing for Animation. The brand new online course offering from Vancouver Animation School will focus on two very intensive streams – animation pitch bibles and animation scriptwriting. Students will learn how to create their own characters, settings and plot lines for animated series. Read the rest of this entry »

Geomerics, a UK-headquartered lighting technology company in the video game industry, has opened up a new office in Vancouver. Opening this office puts Geomerics closer to the growing US and Canadian market for its lighting technology for video games, Enlighten; and, in particular, it ensures timezone support for Geomerics’ rapidly expanding North American customer list. Read the rest of this entry »

Ubisoft has officially announced what most of us knew yesterday – that the corporation has acquised THQ Montreal as well as the publishing rights for the upcoming South Park: The Stick of Truth video game, being developed externally by Obsidian. In addition to the team at THQ Montreal, Ubisoft also acquired a new, yet-to-be announced IP in development at the studio.  THQ Montreal will join Ubisoft’s development teams, already the second-largest in-house development staff in the world with 26 studios in 19 countries and more than 6,250 people dedicated to video game production. Read the rest of this entry »

The Board of Directors of Canadian Women in Communications has announced the formation of the Digital Media and Technology Council,  an advisory leadership committee of senior women in technology, digital media and communications, to strengthen and advance CWC’s role as the premier national association advancing the careers of women in the digital age. The Council will be co-chaired by Shann McGrail, National Director, Education, Microsoft Canada and Lynda Partner, CEO, Partners Inc. Its mandate, in line with the mission and objectives of CWC, is to: Read the rest of this entry »

The Independent Games Festival has announced the eight Student Showcase winners for the fifteenth annual presentation of its prestigious awards, celebrating the brightest and most innovative creations to come out of universities and games programs from around the world in the past year. This year’s showcase of top student talent include the first-person meta-videogame ATUM, from the Netherlands’ NHTV IGAD, the similarly meta-game-ified pen & paper RPG Knights of Pen & Paper, from Brazil’s Instituto de Ensino Superior de Brasilia & Universidade de Brasilia, and the  Jet Set Radio-esque Zineth, a game which “celebrates speed, movement & Twitter”, from students of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Read the rest of this entry »

Last evening at the Save BC Film townhall meeting held at North Shore Studios, the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC (MPPIA) officially announced We Create BC – an initiative to showcase and celebrate BC’s creative industries, kicking off with BC’s film and television production industry. Last fall Vancouver’s videogame sector held a townhall meeting hosted by DigiBC to discuss the challenges it is facing. I want to delve a bit deeper into several points that have been raised over the past few days, but as the research and communication is going to take some time, in the meantime, here’s your introduction to We Create BC. Read the rest of this entry »

Two-time Emmy^® award-winning Toon Boom Animation Inc. will be featured on In View with Larry King in a report focusing on 21^st century education airing on the Discovery Channel, January 28, 2013 at 07:00 EST/PST. To illustrate the great benefits of using Toon Boom’s creative technology in the classroom, Toon Boom chose Bluffton Elementary School in South Carolina for their students’ impressive achievements in a very short time. Read the rest of this entry »