Village Gamer

Via Canadian Heritage & Official Languages:  Youth, artists, festivals, and arts training organizations are thriving in Vancouver, thanks to an investment by the Government of Canada. Support for a total of 40 projects was announced today by the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages. Minister Moore made the announcement at the Vancouver Playhouse in downtown Vancouver alongside leaders of Vancouver’s arts and cultural community.

“With Canada’s economic recovery still fragile, we are focused on creating jobs and economic growth throughout British Columbia,” said Minister Moore. Supporting Canadian culture means supporting Canada’s economy. Arts and culture bring communities together and contribute to the economic strength of cities. We are proud to support our artists and arts organizations, because investing in the arts is central to strengthening communities in Vancouver and throughout British Columbia.”

The funding announced today will support a range of projects that create cultural experiences, strengthen communities, and bring people together. Projects benefitting from today’s announcement include the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre, the DanceHouse performance series, Vancouver Takes the Stage, the Vancouver Early Music Festival, and the Bard On The Beach Theatre Society.

“We are very excited about the opportunity that the Government of Canada has provided to the youth of Vancouver,” said Lucille Pacey, President of Arts Umbrella. The Act One: Youth project will provide the opportunity for youth to work with seasoned Canadian artists in the community and to take those lessons into the classrooms in a leadership role.”

The Government of Canada has provided total funding of $4,779,527 under six programs of the Department of Canadian Heritage: the Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund, the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, the Canada Cultural Investment Fund, the Canada Arts Training Fund and theYouth Take Charge program.

Today’s announcement includes the following Vancouver-area projects:

Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage

The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program provides Canadians with more opportunities to take part in activities that present local arts and culture and celebrate local history and heritage.

• A.I.A. Arts In Action Society – In the House Festival; $5,500
• Celebrate Vancouver’s 125^th Advisory Committee – Vancouver Takes the Stage (Vancouver Celebrates 125); $109,200
• Collingwood Neighbourhood House Society – Collingwood Days Festival; $24,500
• First United Church – First United Church 125^th Anniversary; $8,400
• Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver – Festival Ha’Rikud 2011 Celebrating Love/Ahava; $12,500
• Hellenic Community of Vancouver – Greek Heritage Month/Greek Day; $16,400
• New Westminster Hyack Festival Association – Hyack Festival; $31,100
• North Vancouver Community Arts Council – Art in the Garden Tour; $2,600
• Richmond Arts Coalition – 8^th Annual Richmond Maritime Festival; $92,000
• Richmond Museum Society – Doors Open Richmond 2011; $6,700
• Scandinavian Community Centre Society – Midsummer Festival; $9,000
• Seabird Island Band – 42^nd Annual First Nations Festival; $18,900
• Think City Society – Think City Tours; $7,900
• Valerie Dudoward Foundation – Teach Me the Ways / Vancouver Aboriginal Heritage and Arts Festival; $4,300
• Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration – City of Bhangra 2011; $16,200
• Vancouver Korean Dance Society – Soaring: The 15^th Annual Korean Dance Festival; $6,500

Canada Arts Presentation Fund

The Canada Arts Presentation Fund gives Canadians increased access to the variety and richness of Canada’s culture through professional arts festivals, presentations of live professional performances, and other artistic experiences.

• Centre Culturel Francophone de Vancouver – 22^nd Festival d’été francophone de Vancouver and 2011–2012 season; $40,000 (2011–2012)
• Coastal Jazz and Blues Society – Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Winterruption, and Concert Season; $300,000 (2011–2012)
• Rosario Ancer Flamenco Arts Society – Vancouver International Flamenco Festival; $18,000 (2011–2012)
• Seismic Shift Arts Society – DanceHouse; $80,000 (2011–2012)
• Powell Street Festival Society – 2011 and 2012 Festival and Season; $28,000 (2011–2012) and $28,000 (2012–2013)
• PuSh International Performing Arts Festival Society – PuSh International Performing Arts Festival; $220,000 (2011–2012) and $220,000 (2012–2013)
• Vancouver Society for Early Music – Vancouver Early Music Festival 2011 and 2012 and The Early Music Vancouver Winter Concert Season 2010–2011 and 2011–2012; $93,000 (2011–2012) and $93,000 (2012–2013)
• Western Front Society – Western Front New Music 2011–2012 and 2012–2013 programs; $20,000 (2011–2012) and $20,000 (2012–2013)

Canada Cultural Spaces Fund

The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund seeks to improve physical conditions for artistic creativity and innovation. It is also designed to increase access for Canadians to performing arts, visual arts, media arts, and to museum collections and heritage displays.

• Presentation House Cultural Society – Theatre lighting equipment upgrade; $48,170
• Bard On The Beach Theatre Society – New Mainstage and Studio Stage Theatres; $1,050,337 (2011–2012) and $149,663 (2012–2013)

Canada Arts Training Fund

The Canada Arts Training Fund supports non-profit organizations that offer training to Canadians aspiring to a national or international professional career in the arts.

• Mandala Arts and Culture Society – Training in the Arts; $40,000 (2011–2012)
• Full Circle: First Nations Performance Society – Training in the Arts; $155,000 (2011–2012) and $155,000 (2012–2013)

Canada Cultural Investment Fund (Strategic Initiatives Component)

The Canada Cultural Investment Fund’s Strategic Initiatives component provides funding for initiatives supported by multiple partners and impacting multiple organizations. Supported projects help arts and heritage organizations build and diversify their revenue streams, and strengthen their management capacities/business competencies.

• Assembly of Bristish Columbia Arts Councils – Development, delivery, and expansion of a special projects program in capacity and sustainability; $157,200 (2010–2011)
• The Playhouse Theatre Centre of British Columbia – Next Generation Arts Leadership; $28,000 (2010–2011)

Canada Cultural Investment Fund (Endowment Incentives Component)

The Endowment Incentives component of the Canada Cultural Investment Fund provides funding to match donations from the private sector to arts organizations’ endowment fund. This year, the Government of Canada is providing 71 cents for every dollar donated by the private sector.

• Arts Club of Vancouver Theatre Foundation – Arts Club of Vancouver Theatre Society; $388,961
• Vancouver Foundation – Chor Leoni Men’s Choir; $21,883
• Vancouver Foundation –Vancouver International Dance Festival Society; $4,258
• Vancouver Foundation – Vancouver Society for Early Music; $7,182
• Vancouver Foundation – VDC Dance Centre Society; $46,291
• Vancouver Foundation – West Vancouver Arts Centre Trust; $71,108
• Vancouver Foundation – Théâtre la Seizième; $9,091
• Vancouver Opera Foundation – Vancouver Opera Association; $342,888
• Vancouver Symphony Foundation – Vancouver Symphony Society; $434,899

Youth Take Charge Program

The Youth Take Charge program supports youth-led projects and is getting young Canadians involved in a range of activities designed to strengthen their knowledge and attachment to Canada.

• Children’s Arts Umbrella Association – Act One:Youth; $137,896

IGDA Members: Today is the last day of voting for your Board Members. If you have not yet done so, please check your email for the Election Notification and voting link. We are very close to a quorum, please make sure you cast your vote before 11:59PM tonight. I’ve done my part and voted – now it’s your turn. Please pass along the word to other IGDA members, let’s get this election into the Tasks Successfully Done column. If you did not receive the email or are having problems please contact Ryan Arndt via email at ryan@igda.org right away.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Tickets Now Available For Purchase. Early Bird pricing is in effect until June 17th. Member, non-member and student prices are available for all categories: full conference, full conference single day, basic conference, basic conference single day, computer animation festival. Please see the ticket information page for full details on categories and pricing.

SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver – Make It Home

Congratulations to onX Enterprise Solutions, who has received two Cisco Partner Summit regional awards for Canadian Managed Cloud Partner of the Year and Canadian Borderless Network Partner of the Year.

Don’t forget that nominations are open for the 2011 VIATeC Awards. A little saddened that VIATeC is using the current tide of attention being paid to that recently fired TV personality as part of their promotional efforts, but here are the categories open to Vancouver Island technology companies:

• Technology Company of the Year
• Emerging Technology Company of the Year
• Employer of the Year – can only be nominated by staff
• Online Strategy of the Year
• Environmental Excellence
• Executive of the Year
• Employee/Team of the Year
• Innovative Excellence
• Product of the Year
• Member’s Choice for Service Provider of the Year – can only be nominated by a technology company.

The Awards ceremony will take place in Carson Hall at the Victoria Conference Centre on June 2nd. Tickets are $150.00 for VIATeC members and $200.00 for non-members.

Here is the launch trailer for Hothead Games‘ latest entry into the digital download realm. Swarm is scheduled for release on PSN March 22nd (March 30th in Europe) and XBLA worldwide on March 23rd. This is definitely one game I’m looking forward to getting my hands on – I’ve been hoarding most of the MS Points I was given for Christmas just so I can see how many ways there are to squish and dismember these little blue guys.

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

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will already know that Swarm is an action-platformer that allows you take control of 50 utterly fearless Swarmites and drive them through an intense, entertaining and often suicidal battle of survival. Run, bash, huddle, boost, stack, jump, push and throw your way through gauntlets of death and destruction in an attempt to collect valuable DNA and ensure that at least one Swarmite survives.

Atari has released the second developer diary from its upcoming XBLA, PSN and PC download top-down arcade shooter Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime, which was developed at Behaviour Interactive. Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is out on XBLA and PC download on March 23rd and will launch on PSN on March 30th (even though the dev diary says it’s available now).

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

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is a four player, ghost-busting adventure that will take players on a brand new paranormal experience. Players will suit up with their proton packs and assume the role of a rookie hired by the Ghostbusters to save New York City from a disaster of ghoulish proportions.

The action-packed gameplay progresses as players complete jobs as fearless rookies who explore a series of haunted environments that must be cleared of any ectoplasmic threats. The gripping adventure rages on as players encounter gigantic bosses that require a concentrated effort to defeat using a medley of highly destructive weapons including the Proton Stream, Plasma Inductor, and the Fermion Shock. Rookie Ghostbusters will face the dangers of the eerie world alone or with a ghostbusting team of friends both locally or online through the game’s multiplayer capability.

Big Blue Bubble’s Burn The Rope is bigger and better than ever with a version for the iPad launching today! Now is the time to join in the flame-lighting fun with bigger graphics, brighter fire, and Wickman as you’ve never seen him before! Burn the Rope HD also features an innovative new touch control scheme exclusive to the iPad that lets players rotate the puzzle onscreen.

Burn the Rope is a casual puzzle title that was originally released on the iPhone in December 2010. The goal of the game is to burn as much rope as possible on each level – which is not as easy as it may sound. The fire only burns upwards, so the player must rotate the rope to keep the flame going – once all the flames are out, it’s game over! With clever, hard to master puzzle designs for each level and some insects that add to the gameplay in unique and interesting ways, Burn the Rope been one of the hottest apps in the App Store for the past several months.

With 116 exciting levels (and more on the way), Burn the Rope is incredibly fun and addictive, and the new features in Burn the Rope HD for iPad let players experience the game in a whole new way

Additional HD Features Include:

• Apple Game Center support with 30 achievements and iTunes library support
• All-new Bug-Blasting Bonus Rounds!
• Lights Out! Mode – light the way as you burn!

BioWare will be releasing Mass Effect: Arrival, the thrilling final mission for Mass Effect 2 on March 29th. This conclusion to Mass Effect 2 and preamble to Mass Effect 3, Arrival will also include three new achievements (or trophies) for the Xbox 360®, PC and PlayStation®3. The PDLC pack will be available for 560 MS Points on Xbox 360, $6.99USD on PlayStation Network and also available for PC for 560 BioWare Points.

In Mass Effect: Arrival, Commander Shepard is sent to the edge of the galaxy to rescue an undercover operative who may have evidence of an imminent Reaper invasion that has been looming since the very beginning of the series. Returning and playing a prominent role in Mass Effect: Arrival is fan favorite Admiral Hackett, who is voiced by legendary science-fiction actor Lance Henriksen (Alien, Terminator).

“All year, we have been extremely honored and humbled by the reception we have received for Mass Effect 2 from players around the world, including our post release DLC”, said Casey Hudson, Executive Producer, Mass Effect series. “Mass Effect: Arrival is an exciting extension to Mass Effect 2 and will show players just how close the Reapers are to returning and completing their deadly harvest.”

Only two weeks after launching, TVO’s new applications for BlackBerry® smartphones for early learners and school aged-kids, have been downloaded from BlackBerry App World™ over 250,000 times.

Flower Frenzy and Polka Dot Shorts support learning objectives from the Ontario school curriculum and are teacher and classroom tested. Both are designed for BlackBerry smartphones running OS 5.0 and higher. Polka Dot Shorts is a sequence matching game for kids aged 2-5 that supports the early-learning and kindergarten math curriculum. Flower Frenzy is an entertaining and educational game with three levels of progressive difficulty that uses pictures of flowers to help kids ages 6-11 learn to create sequences.

Both apps teach kids pre-cursors to patterning skills which help build the foundational knowledge required for mathematics in later years.  Each app also has a safety feature to prevent young users from making phone calls or sending emails.

“We’re really excited that so many kids are embracing TVO’s latest digital media offerings,” says CEO Lisa de Wilde. “There is a real need for digital content that will engage kids in learning that complements what happens in the classroom environment. We’re happy to help fill the gap.”

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today simplified the process for Canadians who want to change providers for their television, home telephone, wireless or Internet services. Consumers will now be able to switch service providers with only one phone call. Once it has obtained the proper consent, the new provider will make all the arrangements on behalf of consumers to have the services transferred over. The CRTC requires that customer transfers be completed within two business days, except for wireless service where transfers must be completed within 2.5 hours.

“In a competitive marketplace, consumers are always encouraged to explore different options for their broadcasting and telecommunications services,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC. “The new rules will make the transfer process a seamless and convenient experience, while enabling Canadians to benefit from receiving retention offers from their current providers.”

If they prefer, consumers can also cancel their services by contacting their service provider directly, which can make them offers to retain their business. The CRTC reminds consumers that, when switching to a new service provider, they are still responsible for any termination penalties or other terms associated with their existing contract. Additionally, the CRTC has established safeguards to prevent service providers from sharing confidential customer information with their internal sales and marketing groups during the transfer process.

Following today’s decision, the CRTC has also launched a new proceeding seeking views on whether these safeguards are still in the best interests of consumers and whether they limit a consumer’s ability to receive offers from a service provider. Interested parties may submit their comments by April 18, 2011. They may do so by completing the online form, by writing to the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, or by fax at 819-994-0218.

Nominations are now open for the Sara Kirke Award for Woman Entrepreneurship, which is presented to the woman who has shown the most outstanding technological innovation and corporate leadership — leadership that has significantly expanded the frontiers of Canada’s advanced technology industry. The purpose of the Award is to celebrate innovation, entrepreneurship and create positive role models for women. The Sara Kirke Award for outstanding woman in technology innovation and corporate leadership for 2010 was awarded to Carol Leaman, CEO of PostRank Inc.

Sara Kirke is considered by many to be North America’s first entrepreneur. She arrived in Newfoundland in 1638 with her husband David Kirke, who was soon recalled to England. Sara, however, continued to reside in Avalon, and conducted business as usual from the Pool Plantation. Lady Kirke was a remarkable individual as she managed affairs at the Pool Plantation and became one of the most successful merchants on the English Shore — and was almost certainly North America’s first and foremost woman entrepreneur.

Submissions for the 2011 Sara Kirke Awards must be received at the CanWIT office by April 15, 2011, and all nominees must be a member of CanWIT, which is itself a Division of CATAAlliance. The 2011 winner will be announced at the 26th Annual Canadian Innovation and Leadership Awards Gala on May 18th, which are being held at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa.

The BCIC-New Ventures Competition: 2011 is now open for applications until April 18 at midnight, with the first seminar in the new nine seminar series taking place on April 4th. The competition dates and seminar schedule have been officially set and now it’s up to the competitors to invest $200 in their technology business idea and learn how to develop it into a profitable company.

As one of North America’s largest technology business idea competitions, BCIC-New Ventures attracts applicants from a wide range of industries including cleantech, media, Internet, information technology and life sciences. BCIC and the New Ventures BC Society invite BC entrepreneurs to submit their ideas to the 11th annual BCIC-New Ventures Competition offering the chance to win a share of the more than $360,000 in prizes.

Added to the mix of prizes to be won this year are the $15,000 Vancity Social Venture Prize and two prizes for Agricultural technologies, valued at $30,000 and $20,000. The competition has also launched a separate stream for Agritech competitors, with events starting March 30.

The competition is open to any BC person, resident or business with a technology-focused idea that has not yet secured significant financing from external investors (i.e. investors other than friends, family and company founders).

The series of nine business education seminars, open to both the public and competition applicants, will take place in Vancouver at the SFU Beedie School of Business beginning April 4, 2011. Students with valid ID can register to attend these seminars at no cost.

Register today to:

• Learn from some of BC’s top business experts at our business-education seminars
• Network with top professionals in business, law, finance, government and academia
• Improve your business and strategies during each round of competition
• Receive advice and insight from mentors In Round 3
• Present your condensed business plan to a panel of ‘angel’ investors, venture capitalists and industry experts in Round 4

Now in its eleventh year, the main BCIC-New Ventures Competition attracts applicants from a wide range of industries. This year we’re launching a new stream of the competition focused on Agritech ventures in the categories of: primary production, food, and bioenergy/bioproducts (for or from agriculture).

This new program is funded through Growing Forward, a federal/provincial agreement between the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, to support agri-food technology innovation and commercialization.

There will be two specific prizes – a $30,000 first prize and $20,000 second prize for Innovation in Agricultural Technology – plus specific events for Agritech competitors who proceed through the four rounds of the business competition. Applicants who register will also be placed into the larger competition with the chance to compete for more than $300,000 in additional prizes.

AOL Canada is proud to sponsor the Interactive Category of the 2011 National Advertising Awards (NAA) that celebrates and rewards outstanding Canadian advertising creativity, delivering fresh new ideas to Canada’s leading brands. In addition to the recognition they receive with the award, category winners will attend the 58th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival June 19 to 25, 2011 in France.

“Sponsoring the interactive competition aligns with our commitment to high-value, premium quality and creativity online,” says Graham Moysey, AOL Canada General Manager, “At AOL, it’s all about creating a vastly improved online consumer experience – what better way than to get Canada’s best and brightest creatives engaged?”

AOL is also working with agencies that are submitting entries to consider using AOL’s award-winning HD content delivery platform, Pictela, now available in Canada. Pictela provides agencies with a broad and highly unique canvas for demonstrating their creativity.

In the Interactive Category, participants are challenged with a brief from Biotherm to recruit new users to their BioLab Skin Solutions. All category briefs were made available on March 2 and the deadline for creative submissions is March 31. Winners will be announced at the National Advertising Awards Gala on May 5 in Toronto.

“Participating in the National Advertising Awards Interactive Category is a fantastic opportunity to submit the challenge of taking our BioLab recruitment animation to the next level to the best Canadian creative minds,” said Bradley Smith, Biotherm Marketing Director. “I can’t wait to see how they’ll translate Biotherm’s biological expertise and its strong Canadian heritage into a complete interactive brand experience that will attract new consumers to the brand.”

“The National Advertising Awards are unique because they are North America’s only major brief-based competition,” says Cam Gardner, President, Adcam Media Group, Owner of The National Advertising Awards. “It’s always a thrill to see the results of unleashed creative thinking against the needs of major Canadian brands. We’re grateful for the support of sponsors like AOL Canada who help make the awards possible.”

In-Touch Survey Systems Ltd. (“Ltd.”), which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has announced that In-Touch Survey Systems Inc. (“Inc.”), will change its name to In-Touch Insight Systems Inc., effective immediately. Inc is a wholly owned operating company of Ltd. The public company, Ltd will not change its name. The company also launched a new corporate website with a new domain name that reflects the new corporate operating name.

“In-Touch Insight Systems” instead of “In-Touch Survey Systems” better reflects the scope and breadth of our technology and our future direction. The company continues to expand its managed mobile software technology into markets far broader that the survey industry”, said Michael Gaffney CEO.

Newmarket company LassoSoft Inc. launched a new website today, offering the latest product versions of its web programming language, Lasso 8.6 and Lasso 9. It also united the various websites previously supported by the company, fusing its marketing message, developer support documentation, and client communication channels into a single source.

LassoSoft Inc. CEO Sean Stephens says the new website is about more that presenting a new version of the company and its products following a change of ownership in December 2010. His goal is to improve service to the international Lasso developer community from one central online venue. He emphasizes that he and his team have worked to create a resurgence of dialogue and enthusiasm in their clients and colleagues, encouraging input, feedback and constructive criticism to facilitate product development. They call this the LassoSoft “Ecosystem”.

“The Lasso community has shown incredible loyalty and support through the challenging times we have faced in recent years, and they have remained self-sustaining through all of the ups and downs,” says Stephens. “These talented developers are our lifeblood, so we intend to work with them to make Lasso more viable and innovative than ever before. They believe in the strengths of this product as much as we do, and we want them to know that their input is important to us as we move the company in new directions.”

The LassoSoft Inc. suite of products serves as an application server and scripting language to web developers internationally. It has been used on various platforms for diverse purposes, by many types of users, from individual developers to government and large-scale corporate initiatives. The three advantages it consistently asserts over other programming languages are: speed, security, and the “elegance” or simplicity of its code. The company now also cites improved communication and service as its latest offering to its developers.

US-based Global Experience Specialists (GES) today announced that its new operation in Vancouver, British Columbia is open for business. GES Vancouver offers a comprehensive suite of services, including decorating, material handling, graphics, and customs and logistics services to Vancouver and other areas of British Columbia, including Abbotsford, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Delta, Fort Langley and Surrey.

“GES’ full service operation in Vancouver allows us to continue to work with our existing national, international and U.S. clients in Vancouver and to grow our position in the active Vancouver marketplace,” said Executive Vice President, Mike Lecour. “Vancouver is an extraordinary destination, and we are excited to produce multiple events during the first and second quarters of 2011.”

GES’ Vancouver operation is already working on a considerable number of events for the first half of 2011. These include, but are not limited to, BioPartnering North America, Esthetique Spa International, Helicopter Association of Canada’s 15th Annual Convention and Trade Show, World Congress of Nephrology, Canadian Health Food Association Expo West and the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

“We congratulate GES on its new operations in Vancouver. We see this as yet another indication of the positive growth of the exhibition industry in the city,” said General Manager of the Vancouver Convention Centre Ken Cretney.

GES provides full service operations across Canada with offices in Quebec City, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Banff, and Regina with Canadian headquarters in Toronto. The new Vancouver office is located at Unit #4, 7978 North Fraser Way in Burnaby.

Taking a page from family fun nights, Clinton Beck from Beck Gold and Diamond Brokers in Edmonton recently attended a business fun night to increase the bottom line in his business. He had fun and learned a great deal from a night of the board game Leverage with other business owners in the area.

“It was a very interesting game that actually had a lot of strategy.” Says Beck “not only was it a lot of fun, but it gave me some great insight on how fine tuning minor things in my business can lead to big changes in my bottom line. As a business owner often I find myself so busy working in my business that the real running of my business is overlooked. As I was playing the game it made me ask myself some hard questions about areas in my business that could use some fine tuning.”

“Not everything has to be an app and downloadable. Human contact and conversation is a vital component to learning about your business and your competition. This kind of business fun night lets you talk to other people in similar situations and will ultimately help my business out.”

Clinton and several other business owners in the Edmonton area took part in a Leverage business board game night run by Laurie McNaughton and Brad Prince, two business coaches with ActionCOACH. The game of Leverage was developed by US-based ActionCOACH founder Brad Sugars, and is played all around the world.

Star Wars fans, it is time to channel your inner Wookiee for the special two-part season finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on TELETOON featuring the highly anticipated debut of Chewbacca! Part one of the season finale premieres on Friday, March 25 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT and will be preceded by a marathon of the previous three episodes beginning at 7 p.m. ET/PT. One week later, part two will premiere on Friday, April 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT with an encore presentation of part one at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

In order to make Chewbacca’s animated character as authentic as possible for the season finale, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars creative team enlisted the help of Peter Mayhew, the actor who donned the furry costume in the original Star Wars trilogy, to advise animators on the Wookiee’s movements and also helped to recreate his trademark growl.

“Bringing Chewie to The Clone Wars is very special for us, and it wouldn’t be right without Peter’s involvement and blessing,” said Dave Filoni, Supervising Director, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. “Peter and Chewie are one and the same; he brings so much of himself to the character and it was important for us to capture that. Otherwise, it just wouldn’t feel right. Having his input was great; he was able to add all the little mannerisms and details that he knew from living with Chewie for more than three decades.”

The third season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars has delved deep into the characters, conflicts and the Force itself, taking viewers behind the front lines of battle. In a season wrought by fragile allegiances and questionable loyalties, viewers have seen Star Wars in a whole new way through the exposure of stunning secrets and detailed insights into the prophecy and fate of the Chosen One.

The four episodes included in the March 25 marathon will be available on-demand on Monday, March 28. TELETOON is the exclusive Canadian home to Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Canadian tech powerhouse RIM along with other high-tech and recruiting companies will be looking for top talent when they participate in Communitech-sponsored recruiting events in Montreal on March 21st and Ottawa on March 22nd. Communitech represents more than 700 tech company members in Waterloo Region which currently has some 2,000 tech job openings. This is the first time Communitech has staged a recruiting event in Montreal, but the Communitech recruiting event staged in Ottawa last year was a major success, given Ottawa’s history in high-tech development.

“Tech companies involved in software and hardware development spanning everything from wireless technologies to all aspects of digital media have specialized talent requirements,” said Iain Klugman, CEO of Communitech. “We hold these recruiting events to help attract that crucial talent to Waterloo Region, which is a great place to work and live.”

Montreal: Monday, March 21, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. at the Delta Hotel, 475 Avenue President Kennedy
Ottawa: Tuesday, March 22, 11:30 a.m. — 1:30 p.m. new grads-focused event at the MVP Lounge, 683 Bank Street (in The Glebe); and 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. at The Holiday Inn & Suites in Kanata, 101 Kanata Avenue, for all qualified applicants.

Companies recruiting for talent are targeting both recent graduates from various post-secondary institutions as well as experienced professionals. Participating companies in the Montreal event will include: RIM, Desire2Learn, PROCOM; Talent Technology. Those same organizations along with Sandvine and Nuvation will be recruiting in Ottawa. Please see the Waterloo Tech Jobs web site for full event information and to register.

“We find these events work well to connect key employers with prospects as an initial point of contact and to give job-seekers a sense of the overall innovation culture in the Waterloo Region,” said Klugman.

Digital Alberta has put the call out for people who would be interested in serving on the association’s Board of Directors or helping out as a volunteer. Elections will be held at the Digital Alberta AGM, which is next month on April 19th. So, if you live in Alberta, have lots of energy and ideas, can contribute some time to the community, are interested in building your network in the areas of film, TV, gaming, music or mobile, the Association is looking for you. Areas of opportunities: marketing, sponsorship, events, funding, partnerships, finance. Interested parties are invited to submit a nomination form to Digital Alberta ahead of the AGM.

Staying with Alberta, the Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association is presenting an exciting and informative workshop sponsored by Telefilm Canada in Edmonton on April 1st and Calgary on April 2nd. The session, titled How to Create Compelling Digital Extensions for Feature Films and Television will be lead by Productions Speaker Matt Toner from Zeroes to Heroes Media.

These sessions are designed to highlight the impact and opportunities offered by digital media, and is ideally suited for those filmmakers who have already had some experience (good or bad) in this area. Building on practical examples, highlights of this session will include:

• an analysis of new media approaches that have begun to truly enhance feature films and television productions
• tactics that will make new media relevant to your film production, regardless of the budget
• an overview of how you can identify, understand and pre-build an audience online
• the top five mistakes you might make when selecting a new media partner
• some tell-tale signs that your digital strategy is succeeding… or failing dismally

Edmonton Location: World Trade Centre,  6th Floor – 9990 Jasper Avenue, 2-4pm
Calgary Location: Delta Bow Valley Hotel, Salon A – 209  4 Avenue SE, 10am – noon

Tickets for the above event are $15.00 for AMPIA/Digital Alberta/FAVA/DOC AB members  or $20.00 for non-members.

The National Film Board of Canada will be presenting an interactive and linear information NFB Now session from 2-4pm on March 25th at Fort Calgary. At this information session, you’ll see how the NFB has broadened its definition of “creator” to also include people working outside of the film industry.  In addition to filmmakers, the NFB now collaborates with interactive directors and designers, photographers, writers, computer programmers, social media producers, and a new generation of visual artists exploring both film and digital formats.

Come and be inspired by the work that Canada’s public producer is involved in. Executive Producer David Christensen and Producer Bonnie Thompson will showcase some of the new documentary, animation, and digital projects happening at the NFB right now – ground-breaking work that will inspire you to think about your own ideas for film and interactive platforms. RSVP here to register.

INplay 2011 has announced its first four confirmed speakers for the May 17th – 18th conference.

Ewan McIntosh, Director, NoTosh Limited (Edinburgh)
* He was Scotland’s first National Advisor on Learning and Technology Futures and a member of the Channel 4 New Media Education Advisory Board.
* He is also the founder of 38minutes.co.uk, the creative industries platform for the North of the UK.

Dr. James M. Bower, Ph.D., Founder, Chairman & CEO, Numedeon Inc. (Texas)
* After a postdoctoral fellowship at NYU and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Dr. Bower was a professor at the California Institute of Technology for 17 years.
* In addition to his technical and scientific achievements, Dr. Bower has also had a long-standing interest and involvement in science education at all levels and especially for children.

Nic Mitham, Founder & CEO, KZero Worldswide (Cambridge UK)
* KZero developed one of the first ever branded virtual goods campaigns inside a virtual world.

Josh Koppel, Founder & Chief Creative Officer, ScrollMotion (New York City)
* Architect Maya Lin hailed Josh as “the Woody Allen of cyberspace.”
* This company has more than 11,000 apps in the App Store, Scrollmotion has been at the forefront of mobile app creation and industry trend forecasting since 2008.

Early Bird pricing is available now through April 14th, and one lucky Early Bird will win a shiny new Nintendo 3DS. Being held at the Liberty Grand in Toronto, INplay 2011 will feature three major streams, each covering a different dimension of working with properties for kids aged 2-12:

*Inspiration – creativity and content stream
*Investment – business stream
*Insights – research and e-learning

As the week draws nearer to a close, there is no sign of slow-down in Canadian digital media activity. Tonight Scott and Mike will be checking out an event at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre hosted by AnnexPro and Avid, while I’ll be over in Yaletown at a Women In Games Vancouver board meeting. Don’t forget that our Women In Games March Martini night (sorry guys, ladies only) is next Thursday, March 24th at Rogue.

Congratulations are due to the Ubisoft Montreal Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood team, who picked up the BAFTA in the UK last night for top Action Game and to the Bioware team who garnered the Best Game award for Mass Effect 2.

I keep forgetting to tell you all about the huge Book Drive that’s been going on in BC, so I left the page open to the site to remind myself because I tend to be forgetful. The next big event is this weekend, March 19 & 20th, at the Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters located at 3833 Henning Drive in Burnaby. Drawing directly from the information on the Book Drive site:

“The Big Book Drive is a two-day event aimed to help the less-fortunate and low-income families so that they may gain a better education in the future. Oftentimes after we’ve read a book, we leave it lying around without touching it for years. This is wasteful of Earth’s resources, and it does not have to be so. These books can be used to help others, so make The Big Book Drive your way of giving back to the community. Our goal is to collect as many books as possible. The books will either be sold at used bookstores to generate proceeds, donated to the charities we’re working with, or recycled to be remade into new books. Either way, 100% of the proceeds will be donated, because we want to help others just as much as you do!“

I hope that if you are able to help out, you can. The organization is looking for textbooks, journals, comic books, novels, children’s books, magazines and catalogues. No adult material, newspapers or eBooks on CD/DVD, though.

Students in need of software should check out Microsoft initiative DreamSpark. Verified students can gain access to licensed Microsoft products, including XNA Studio 4, Visual Studio, Expression, Robotics Developer and more. You now have fewer reasons to not get out there and create something. Go, go, go!

Microsoft Canada also offers assistance to small-medium businesses with volume licensing programs designed to save money and get companies creating. It’s worth your time to check out what is available for you.

On Saturday March 19th, let the games begin as YTV WOW! Let it rip with non-stop action and adventure with Hasbro’s Beyblade: Metal Fusion Battle Zone. Beyblade fans can come out to the Real Canadian Superstore at 51 Gerry Fitzgerald Drive in Toronto and battle it out for prizes and gift packs from 10am until 4pm.

Speaking of availability, the Government of Canada has launched its Open Data Pilot Project, which is designed to improve the ability of the public to find, download and use Government of Canada data. You are invited to search the catalogue, download datasets and explore the possibilities of Open Data. This project could go a long way towards helping businesses gain access to research data they may require for such activities as market research or even finding new business partners.

As part of the Government of Canada’s efforts to drive innovation and economic opportunities for all Canadians, the Honourable Stockwell Day, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway launched the pilot project for an online Open Data Portal following public consultations on the digital economy strategy which saw Canadians asking for open data to be made available in more usable and accessible formats.

“The Government of Canada is launching its Open Data Portal to make a large amount of data accessible through a single window,” said Minister Day. “With this portal, application developers can reuse data for commercial or research purposes to benefit all Canadians in a variety of ways. We want to continue to make Canada one of the best places to do business by ensuring that Canadian entrepreneurs, researchers, academics and voluntary organizations have access to government data in useful formats to help foster innovation, job creation and community services for Canadians.”

This pilot portal will make more than 260,000 datasets from the following ten participating departments available to all Canadians: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Environment Canada; Department of Finance Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Library and Archives Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Statistics Canada; Transport Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat. The pilot phase will take place over a 12-month period, during which the government will continue to increase the number of datasets available to users.

I just found out about this service today, when the company began following me on Twitter, so I haven’t really had a chance to look very deep into the site and get all of the details, but Get George, which is based in Vancouver, looks like it may be a program that is advantageous to smartphone users. Get George is a free download in the iTunes and Android shops, and looks like it could end up saving people some serious money – but as I don’t have a smartphone, and haven’t yet investigated the services offered, please be sure to read the application’s FAQs and service conditions before use.

With the August 23rd release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution drawing nearer every day, Square Enix is looking for a location to open another Canadian studio. Personally I’m rooting for Vancouver, but Toronto and a second Montreal location are also in the running. I imagine that the publisher will be looking closely at incentives offered by each province, and while another studio in Montreal would be convenient for the Eidos Montreal crew, I’m hoping that the proximity of Vancouver to the Square Enix headquarters in Tokyo will give the city an edge in the running. The time line for the new studio looks to be for a 2012 opening, with an initial staff of 100.

Big Blue Bubble’s original, award winning and massively fun rhythm game Thumpies is now available in Apple’s Mac App Store. Now Mac owners can test their skills in correctly matching the beat of bouncing Thumpies, and those with the beat skills can progress through songs and the current 15 game levels, unlocking new Thumpies along the way. Suitable for all ages and already available in the iTunes App store, Thumpies uses a mechanic of bouncing in time instead of just a series of notes. The game features a quirky art design accompanied by a unique musical score composed by award winning industry veteran David Kerr sets Thumpies in a genre all its own.

Hoard™ from Big Sandwich Games will release via Steam for your PC and Mac on April 4^th, and will retail for $9.99USD. Pre-sales will begin on March 21^st with a limited time “fire-sale” discount of 25%.  In addition, sharing with your friends is rewarded, as a 4-pack of HOARD™ can be purchased for the low price of $28.00.  Steam Play is supported, meaning Steam users who own both a PC and a Mac only need buy the game once.

The Steam version includes the same fire-breathing fun as the PS3 console release plus some brand new features.  The game has 4 modes, over 35 levels, leaderboards, full multiplayer suites (4-player co-op and competitive), and 100+ Steam achievements. In addition, never seen-before features such as Night Mode (for vibrant fiery goodness), a Winter tile set, and new maps are added as a reward for PC and Mac fans’ patience.  Finally, cross-play allows PC and Mac users to compete or cooperate in their quests for gold.

zinc Roe’s latest release is now live. Created for the Family Channel, Hot Ticket is a game of musical and economic strategy. Players drag and drop locations onto a map to create “Famburg”, a rocking little town that plays host to shows by a wide variety of fictional acts. “The Temper Tantrums”, “Vagablonde”, and “The Jazz Hands”, are among dozens of hilarious characters created to animate locations like “The Golden Cocoon Mall”, The Hideaway” and “Das Beats Dance Club”. The game features colourful artwork, catchy melodies and an appropriate level of economic complexity for school-aged children. There is a demo version available to try out, and if you like the game, you can register to play the full version. Judging from comments posted on the game’s page, Hot Ticket is on its way to becoming a hit casual title.

D-Box has announced yet another expansion for this week, citing a new agreement with Germany-based FTT (the company’s first European distributor for its commercial theatre expansion) for two new theatres with Netherlands-based Jogchem’s Theatres known in the market as JT Bioscopen. JT Hoogezand and JT Arnhem will each equip its theatres with respectively 20 and 21 D-BOX MFX Seats. With the introduction of D-BOX at these newest locations, Jogchem’s Theatres will have a total of four movie theatres that offer D-BOX’s motion experience. In addition to the sale of these systems, this deal will also generate licensing fees payable to D-BOX in accordance with the systems’ utilization.

Conservatory Canada invites piano students from across Canada to put their compositional skills to the test for the first annual Creative Composer’s Competition. Launched as a partnership between Conservatory Canada, Mayfair Music Publishing and Long & McQuade Music Stores, the contest is a unique opportunity for budding composers of all ages to let their talent shine, says Conservatory Canada national executive director, Victoria Warwick.

“There are many students across Canada who love to compose music in all styles,” says Warwick. “We hope this competition will inspire and encourage them in this creative pursuit.”

Piano students of all ages have until May 31 to submit entries through the Conservatory Canada website. Submissions should be written in a contemporary musical style – Jazz, Country, Latin, and Broadway – as included in Conservatory Canada’s Contemporary Idioms Syllabus for Piano.

All submissions will be reviewed by Conservatory Canada examiners with compositional skills, Warwick says. Winners will be announced at Conservatory Canada’s national convocation ceremony in November, and winning compositions will be included in a new Mayfair Music Publication.

“Composition is a natural part of our Contemporary Idioms program,” notes Warwick. “The Creative Composer’s Competition will allow students to showcase their fine work, and by compiling the best-of-the-best in a new publication, teachers and students across Canada will be able to enjoy them.”

Well, not quite, but it was a very full house for a town meeting at our local high school last night. I know, you’re asking what this has to do with digital media. Well, nothing, really – but it has everything to do with Canadian content, and not just on this site, either.

Vancouver production company Force Four is looking for a town to be the focus of a show the studio currently has in development. The premise of the show is to find a Canadian town and assist that town and its residents to overcome challenges faced by the community in regards to economy, community, crime and more. The producers will bring in a variety of high-profile experts to work with the town’s residents to help them meet specific goals – not just on a town level but also on a personal level. They will provide guidance for financial challenges, business dreams and community pride. The premise of the show is to bring a whole town together to inspire other communities, to show others what can be accomplished when a town works together.

Aldergrove has made the short list of roughly a half dozen Lower Mainland communities, and tonight’s town hall meeting built on this area’s reputation of rising to a challenge, of people coming together to build, to support and improve. Speaking from their experience with other documentaries, the producers have found that the best ideas often come from the communities themselves, and to this end has requested that residents and business people

Now I know that some of you are thinking “wait a minute, you just lambasted the Township in the local paper last week.” Yes, yes I did – but that was not my community or my town – that was a portion of the local government who have trouble thinking outside the box – and incidentally, none of those members of Council were at the meeting – or if they were, I didn’t see them, which means they didn’t stand up and take part in the conversation.  To the Council members whom I know were there (and not part of the problem I have with local government), thank you for taking the time to support our town.

Force Four Productions is known for such productions as Village On A Diet, Cupcake Girls and Murder She Solved, to name but a few. The studio produces scripted, documentary, factual scripted and children’s programming. This new show will be presented to the Oprah Winfrey Network with the hopes of getting a greenlight for full production.

What did surprise me was the number of relatively new residents who came forward to share their views of our town. One 16 year resident – yes, that qualifies as “relatively new” for me, my family has lived here since 1873, homesteading a quarter section farm just west of the town proper – spoke of her first experiences after moving here with her family, and how a little rain didn’t dampen spirits during our Festival Days parade. People still lined the street to watch the procession and community groups still gave out strawberry shortcake. Another resident who moved here 6 months ago related a similar experience with the annual Christmas parade, except with the dispensing of hot chocolate. Read the rest of this entry »

Members of the game development industry have launched a site and Facebook group to help raise much needed aid funds for Japan. The group, called Play For Japan, is looking for gamerobilia (new word, like it?) that can be auctioned off. Please check out the site and the Facebook group and help out if you’re able. You can also find Play For Japan on Twitter.

Upcoming Event: 3Vis and Chaos Group will be holding three product seminars across Canada to give interested digital creators a preview of V-Ray 2.0 for Maya. The presentations will be held in Vancouver on March 29th, Montreal on March 31st and Toronto on April 5th. Pre-register now on the event’s Facebook page.

Announced: Trapdoor and Polytron have officially announced their co-publishing deal for Polytron’s upcoming XBLA game FEZ. Late last year Trapdoor announced a publishing deal with EA Partners for stealth action game Warp™, the company’s first console title. Warp premiered alongside FEZ at PAX East this past weekend in Boston.

Confirmed: The Canadian Games Conference has announced the first three speaker sessions for the upcoming May conference. Cyrus Greenall from Ubisoft Vancouver will present “Online Everywhere: Effectively Leverage the Competencies of Online & Develop Features that Appeal to a Wide Audience.” Matt Tanner from Snowed In Studios will present “Growing Your Game Studio Using Social Media Marketing” and Export Development Canada, RBC & Big Sandwich Games will present a panel titled “New Business Models-How to Self Fund Development.”

Now Live: SeniorsCircle.ca is Canada’s most comprehensive website exclusively servicing the needs of seniors and their families. The site focuses on five primary topics: Health & Well Being, Services for Seniors, Housing Options, Lifestyle for Seniors, and Community & Contests. Each primary topic features a customized and comprehensive online directory of contacts (service providers, associations and government contacts), informative news articles, and related links for further information.

SeniorsCircle.ca communicates and engages with seniors and families through a monthly eNewsletter, business promotions, humour and fun topics and contests. Specialized features such as “Ask the Expert” and an interactive forum (community discussions) engage the users while also increasing the quality of information available. Our vast audience includes anyone 20 to 80+ years old who is seeking information and resources related to seniors. The site is user-friendly and its convenient platform enables any user anywhere to access essential information and resources in one spot that is easy to navigate.

Tourism Vancouver is holding two three-day seminars designed to teach interested parties how to submit conference and event host bids. The seminars are designed educate you on what Vancouver has to offer as a meeting destination, what Tourism Vancouver’s complimentary Be a Host program can do for you, as well as the opportunity to experience our city from a delegate’s point of view. Professional guest speakers will be on hand to give you the most up to date and relevant information that covers bid strategies, international lobbying, raising sponsorship, financial budgets, and many other subjects. please contact Kathy Nicolay at 604-631-2886 for more information.

Two downtown Future Shop stores, one each in Toronto and Vancouver, will be celebrating the release of the Nintendo 3DS with midnight openings later this month. Nintendo Canada is hosting interactive launch parties in Toronto (at Yonge-Dundas Square) and Vancouver (TD Square Granville & Georgia) where customers will be led to downtown Future Shop stores before midnight to be among the first Canadians to own and experience the Nintendo 3DS. The Nintendo parties start at 6pm local time.

Customers in line at the two stores will have the chance to win $400.00 gift cards, which will more than cover the purchase price of a N-3DS, a game or two and some accessories. The Midnight Launch Event will take place on Saturday March 26th at 11:59pm at these two Future Shop locations:

In Toronto: 325 Yonge Street
In Vancouver: 798 Granville Street

If you missed our hands-on preview of the Nintendo 3DS, this new mobile gaming device is one of this year’s most exciting gaming technologies. The Nintendo 3DS comes in two colours and offers two screens – one of which requires no glasses to view in 3D, a telescopic stylus pen, motion and gyro sensors to detect motion, and much more. The Nintendo 3DS retails for $249.99, and can be pre-ordered now at Future Shop. Pre-orders also receive a free basic Starter Accessory kit as well. Some of the titles that will be available for the 3DS launch are from Ubisoft and Gameloft, including Asphalt 3D and Combat of Giants 3D. Assassin’s Creed Lost Legacy is scheduled for release on December 31st. A 3D edition of Splinter Cell has also been announced, but no release date has been given.

Parta Dialogue Inc., an organization specializing in Social Media and Social Learning for businesses and operators of Edu-Performance Canada Inc., has announced that at its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders held on February 15, 2011, the Shareholders passed a special resolution amending Parta’s Articles to change its name to Parta Dialogue Inc. This rebranding reflects Parta’s newly refined business offerings focused on “online engagement” and “employee engagement” through social media.

Many visionary businesses already employ PARTA’s solutions for internal and external online engagement. Among these are Renault, Orange, Astra Zeneca, Hydro-Québec, Iusacell (Mexico), the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Neslté Waters, and Fondaction.

D-BOX Technologies Inc. has finalized an agreement with China’s Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment Company to install 19 D-BOX MFX Seats at one of their prime Hong-Kong location. This transaction marks the first sale of D-BOX MFX Seats in Hong Kong and will generate licensing fees payable to D-BOX in accordance to the systems’ utilization. This installation will add to D-BOX’s presence in Asia as 31 motion systems are already installed at two different sites in Japan, with a further 35 agreements in place across North America and Europe.

“It’s very exciting to further expand in Asia with Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment Company,” declared President and CEO of D-BOX Technologies, Claude Mc Master. “With this breakthrough into a new and promising international marketplace, we look forward experiencing the same success and growth as we have elsewhere in the world. Furthermore, Orange Sky Golden Harvest Company’s vertical integration as a movie producer and their presence in several other Asian regions such as; Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore also represents very interesting growth opportunities for D-BOX. ”

Sierra Wireless has been chosen by next generation patient monitoring company PositiveID Corporation to provide AirPrime™ intelligent embedded modules which will power PositiveID’s iglucose™ mobile health solution for real-time diabetes management. Sierra Wireless will showcase the iglucose solution at its booth (1670) in the upcoming CTIA Wireless event in Orlando, Florida from March 22 to 24.

iglucose uses the power of Sierra Wireless’ AirPrime platform to revolutionize the way individuals with diabetes manage their condition. The size of a smart phone and has a rechargeable battery, iglucose can be used anytime and anywhere. Once connected to a data-capable glucometer, iglucose seamlessly communicates data to the iglucose database; blood glucose readings can then be shared in real-time with family members and health care professionals. iglucose completely eliminates the burden of keeping journals and empowers individuals with diabetes to be more engaged in the self-management of their condition.

Sierra Wireless will provide the AirPrime™ Wireless Embedded GSM (global system for mobile communications) module that powers the wireless communication of iglucose. Sierra Wireless AirPrime wireless modules offer a seamless integration of hardware, software and services that significantly simplifies and accelerates the end-to-end development of M2M applications. For solution providers like PositiveID, this helps to reduce development costs and deliver products to market more quickly.

Trend Micro Incorporated and Montreal-based Radialpoint, a Digital Home Services solutions provider for consumer technology brands, have formed an alliance to develop, market and sell new online and data protection services built for service providers around the world.

This alliance will drive business results for service providers in an increasing effort to meet consumer demand for a protected “digital home”. By integrating Trend Micro’s capabilities into Radialpoint’s end-to-end Digital Home Services Platform, service providers will now have a powerful tool for supporting their customers’ need to manage and protect their devices, connectivity and content.

The first offering, to be named Managed Internet Security, powered by Trend Micro™announced as part of this alliance integrates industry leading Trend Micro™ Titanium™ Maximum Security with Radialpoint’s Digital Home Services Platform. Trend Micro will leverage Radialpoint’s platform to deliver its consumer security offering to the ISP channel, offering unique value and benefits for both service providers and their customers, with Virgin Media already signed up for the new offerings.

Electronic Arts Inc. has announced that Dragon Age™ Legends, the ground-breaking Play4Free online RPG is now available to all Facebook® users worldwide. Dragon Age Legends, a collaboration between BioWare™ and EA’s Play4Free studio EA2D, expands on the award-winning action RPG franchise and introduces deep, high-quality gaming to Facebook. Dragon Age Legends also ties directly into Dragon Age II, currently available in stores. Players who complete specific quests in Dragon Age Legends can earn up to five exclusive items for use in Dragon Age II.

We built Dragon Age Legends with one goal in mind: to bring the AAA quality gameplay BioWare is famous for to the social space,” said Mark Spenner, General Manager of EA2D. “Dragon Age Legends brings true RPG combat and style to this massive social platform and delivers it at BioWare blockbuster quality, raising the bar for social games.”

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

Set in the Free Marches, the primary setting of Dragon Age II, Dragon Age Legends combines accessible and engaging turn-based tactical combat with gripping co-operative gameplay. By simply logging in Facebook, players can jump in to the online RPG to recruit their friends and embark on a battle-rich journey filled with challenging quests. Like all classic RPGs, players will earn loot and share rewards with their friends to grow their hero’s might and their kingdom’s power. The game includes a gratifying character-customization and upgrade system that allows players to tackle demons and darkspawn to become a legendary hero within the Dragon Age universe.

The exclusive quest offer expires March 31, 2012 and requires an internet connection, an EA account, access to Dragon Age Legends on Facebook, ownership of or access to Dragon Age II game for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or PC. You must be 13+ to play Dragon Age Legends, however Dragon Age 2 is rated M for Mature by the ESRB. This offer is valid everywhere Dragon Age II is sold, and the code may not be substituted, exchanged, sold or redeemed for cash or other goods or services. To access items in Dragon Age II, you must register on Dragon Age Legends using the same EA Account that you used to register your Dragon Age II game. Items are nontransferable and may not be combined with any other offer, gift card, rebate or discount coupon. Void where prohibited, taxed or restricted by law.

I’m not sure how I feel about this report. I don’t know if I should find it interesting, tantalizing or offensive. By offensive, I mean in the way the report is worded – or maybe it’s just because I haven’t yet consumed enough coffee. I personally don’t think that a sampling of 2000 women across the nation is a very good cross-section of the female population who use technology. While devices are convenient for both research and communication, I don’t go into any kind of massive twitchy fit or experience any anxiety if I’m away from Facebook, Twitter or even email for a day. For the record, I would willingly give up my cell phone before I would give up my PC, netbook, 360, DS or iPod Touch – because if I give up my cell phone (which, by the way, is not a smartphone), it would be harder for those at my day job to find me. 😉

Nearly half (46%) of Canadian women admit they could not go without their mobile devices for even a week, according to the 2011 MasterIndex™ on Women and Technology (PDF) released today by MasterCard Canada. The report indicates that women have become so dependent on their mobile phones, MP3 players and even digital cameras that they are willing to sacrifice the things they love in order to keep them.

The report reveals Canadian women over the age of 18 would rather give up coffee (24%), spa treatments (42%) and even chocolate (24%) than part with their mobile gadgets. Canadian women are avid users of digital cameras (85%), mobile/cellphones (73%) and MP3 players (50%), but how they use these devices is dictated by age and life circumstance.

“As a leader in mobile payments technology, MasterCard wanted to learn more about the relationship women have with technology and how this relationship is evolving,” says Betty DeVita, President, MasterCard Canada. “We know technology is important to women, but were surprised by how dependent they’ve become. This fascination with mobile tools is likely the result of their increased functionality. It goes beyond chatting with family and friends. Busy women can now access social media sites, keep track of their busy social calendars and view their favorite photos and videos from anywhere using these mobile tools.”

The report reveals that there are five distinct life stages that categorize women’s relationship with technology:

* Aspiring Adopters are women between the ages of 18 and 34 who are not employed full-time. This group is most likely to own MP3 players (81%) and smartphones (27%) and the second most likely to identify themselves as early adopters of technology (10%).
* Connected Careerists are employed women between the ages of 18 and 34 without children. These women are identified as the earliest adopters of technology (16%) and can afford to own digital cameras (92%), MP3 players (83%), portable video/gaming devices (36%) and smartphones (36%).
* Mobile Mamas, the majority of whom are between the ages of 25 and 49, often own a variety of devices including digital cameras (92%), cellphones (77%), MP3 players (65%), video/gaming devices (52%) and smartphones (21%). Some of these devices are for personal use, while others, such as gaming devices, may be used by their children.
* Established but Unimpressed who are between the ages of 35 and 54 but have no children are very reluctant adopters of technology (51%) and often only own a mobile phone (84%) which they view as a tool. They are neither impressed nor intimidated by new or changing technology, and you won’t find them with the latest and greatest gadgets.
* Silver Speakers are women aged 55+ who have no children of their own living at home. Women in this group are most likely to own cellphones (70%) and digital cameras (83%).

The research was conducted by Environics Research Group from July 22 – August 4, 2010, via a national online survey of 2,000 adult Canadian women aged 18+.

Yesterday Yannis Mallat, CEO of Ubisoft Montreal and Toronto announced during his speech at the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal that Ubisoft Montreal will be investing $200 000.00 annually over five years to support the creation of a research chair on artificial intelligence.  Named NSERC-Ubisoft Industrial Chair on Learning Representations for Immersive Video Games, the initiative will support about 30 students and researchers  who will work within Ubisoft production teams to bring together video game engineers and developers’ know-how with the research methods of professors and students at Université de Montréal.

The NSERC-Ubisoft Industrial Chair on Learning Representations for Immersive Video Games
Mr. Yoshua Bengio, Chairholder and Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Operational Research at Université de Montréal, will supervise research activities alongside Mr. Yves Jacquier, Executive Director of Ubisoft Montreal’s Production services studios. These two teams are already working on projects which have proven the relevance of combining academic work with practical applications.

“Today, players expect personalized experiences, adapted to their gaming style and level of experience. The combination of academic and practical knowledge will accelerate our efforts to develop high-level, interactive, dynamic, and adaptable content, Yves Jacquier says. Players will benefit from the research results as early as 2012 on games from Ubisoft’s greatest brands.”

The research, whose main goal is to further develop learning algorithms known as deep algorithms, should result in significant advancements in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“Our teams of professors and students have been collaborating for more than two years to advance research on data treatment for the creation of learning algorithms that modify in-game experience”, Professor and Chairholder Yoshua Bengio says. “The amount of technological data to process is always increasing and becoming harder for developers to deal with. Research work will not only help the quality and adaptation of content, but also the efficiency and productivity of developers responsible for the creation of the content.”

By analyzing data on the player’s in-game behavior, it will be possible, for instance, to offer him or her a new dimension of interactivity with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The AI will “learn” from the data and “adapt” the content of the games and the recommendations made to the player in accordance with his or her behavior.

“NSERC makes Canada a country of discoverers and innovators,” said NSERC President Dr. Suzanne Fortier. “Dr. Bengio is a world renowned leader in the field of machine learning. The second term of the Chair is focussed on applying advancements in this area to develop leading-edge technology for the video game industry. This research program will help us maintain our technological edge in the multi-billion dollar gaming industry, which holds a particularly large place in Canada’s economy, thanks in part to Ubisoft Montreal.”

The chair will focus on three activities:

* The collection of data for the creation of an improved, immersive experience customized in real-time, thanks to the generation of varied automated elements with the adaptable AI;
* The development of techniques to better equip artists and 3D animators in the creation of high-quality, immersive environments, namely the displaying of rich and flowing video content that takes into account the limitations of game consoles;
* The sharing of knowledge, experience and tools between academics and technologists, in order to stimulate creativity and innovation with the purpose of increasing the productivity of production teams.

Guy Breton, Université de Montréal Rector, says this partnership will further enhance research already conducted on campus: “By investing in the knowledge and talent development, Ubisoft and the NSERCC support our community’s unique scientific vitality and creativity.”

During his speech, Yannis Mallat said: “The creation of the chair is in line with partnerships between Ubisoft and Quebec educational institutions, for the advancement of the science behind the development of high-level interactive entertainment products. Indeed, Ubisoft hopes to help maintain Montreal’s status as a reference in video game production and R&D by actively participating in the development of a techno-creative community invested in innovative projects.”