Village Gamer

Toronto – SilverBirch Inc., today announced it has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Silverback Media Corp. to sell the assets and liabilities of Jambo Mobile Solutions Inc.. The proposed closing is scheduled for December 15, 2008 or at such earlier date as mutually agreed.

The divesture of this non-core business unit will allow the Company to focus on its core strengths and new business strategy in the gaming industry. The Company’s primary goal is to become a premier operator and publisher of Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) and video games for PCs and leading console platforms. The new corporate focus initiated recently will build upon SilverBirch’s existing operations including video game developer SilverBirch Studios, Netherlands-based interactive entertainment publisher Lighthouse Interactive, and a co-venture to operate licensed English language online multiplayer games. The company is also acquiring Red Mile Entertainment, publisher of console games Sin City and Heroes Over Europe, in a deal expected to close in early 2009, subject to shareholder, legal and regulatory approvals.
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Montreal – Today Ubisoft announced that Far Cry® 2, its open world first person shooter on Xbox 360™, PLAYSTATION®3 and PC, has already reached one million units sell-through worldwide in less than 3 weeks of availability at retail.

“The holiday quarter is off to a solid start with the successful launch of Far Cry 2,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “The game is well on track to achieve our expectations for the year.”

Developed at Ubisoft Montreal, the unique game play of Far Cry 2 has impressed players around the globe, offering a true open world environment that allows gamers to create their very own individual game experience. Built upon the acclaimed Dunia engine, they are offered a lush visual landscape, where they can live a realistic 24-hour day to night cycle in the beautiful African savannah.

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Eidos Montreal will open its studio doors for a public open house this Saturday, November 15th. Studio staff will be proudly showing off the home of DEUS EX 3 and their latest Phase II expansion. Along with the open house, there will be plenty of give-aways and a chance to talk with the development staff. The Eidos Montreal studio is located on the 6th Floor at 400 de Maisonneuve West in Montreal, Quebec.

Arcade Boxing Title Emphasizes Social Play

Vancouver – Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that FaceBreaker™ K.O. Party, developed at EA Canada in Vancouver, has shipped to retailers worldwide on the Wii™. An all-new intellectual property under the EA SPORTS Freestyle™ brand, FaceBreaker K.O. Party brings back the experience of old-school arcade boxing with the new-school controls of the Wii.

FaceBreaker K.O. Party drops you into a world filled with eye-popping stylized graphics and ego wielding characters that will have you raring to get your pummel on. With pick-up-and-punch controls, gamers of all skill levels can jump right into the action. From jabs to charged punches, every motion has been built to be both intuitive and responsive. Throw a flurry of punches with the Wii Remote™, or Nunchuk™, and watch as your character does the same.

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Ontario – G4Box Inc. and SilverBirch Inc. have launched the closed beta of the highly-anticipated free to play online game Cross Fire, the companies announced today. The closed beta of Cross Fire, is an award-winning, free-to-play, online military first-person shooter game for PCs. The 10,000 closed beta keys available were oversubscribed and gone in less than 10 hours.

The closed beta, which went live on November 7th, will run for approximately one month. During this time, Cross Fire will offer gamers an opportunity to play one of four high adrenaline game modes prior to the open beta planned for December 2008. The commercial launch is scheduled for January, 2009. Gamers can to continue to download the game for free at: www.crossfire-en.com

“The response to the English version of Cross Fire has far exceeded our expectations,” said Kevin Astle, Interim President and CEO of SilverBirch. “Cross Fire’s fast-paced action, superb graphics and compelling features have already made it a hotly anticipated game among English-language gamers.”

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Montreal – Ubisoft announced today that it has acquired from Activision Blizzard the assets and all of the personnel of esteemed Malmö, Sweden- based studio Massive Entertainment®, as well as the real time strategy brand World In Conflict®.

Created in 1997, Massive employs over 120 developers and was ranked as one of the top 50 best game studios in the world by Game Developers Research in 2008. The studio is world-renowned for its expertise in the RTS genre and for the quality of its innovative proprietary technologies. World in Conflict® was acclaimed by critics, receiving the Best Strategy Game of E3 2007 award, as well as being named Best Online Multiplayer Game of 2007 by IGN, and Most Innovative Game of 2007 by Gamespot, among many other awards.

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Cologne Germany – EndResult, Canada’s top Halo 3 team is now Number 1 in the World. They went 3-0-1 at the 2008 World Cyber Games Grand Finals to bring home the gold. The team defeated TSW.Flowen of New Zealand, Team_nBK of Mexico, Great Britain’s vVv.dignitas and LowLandLions from The Netherlands to win a berth in the Single Elimination (best 2 out of 3) Round. EndResult’s only tie in the preliminary matches was against LowLandLions.

In the final rounds, EndResult went undefeated beating out Italy’s Inferno_Esports in Round 8, American team Mob_Deep in the Semi Final, and France’s SSK in the Final to win top spot on the awards podium.

EndResult’s team members are: Kevin Garcia of Keswick, ON; Max Rawal of Scarborough, ON; Matt Warkentin of St. Catharines, ON and Chris Kerluke of Vancouver, BC. Chris was the only member of Team Canada who hailed from BC.

Team Canada finished 9th overall out of 83 participating countries.

Results for Team Canada’s other competitors:

NoPression (Quebec) – Counter Strike 1.6 – went 4-2-0 but were eliminated in Round 16 by the USA’s x3o

Nic Brownrigg (Ontario) – Project Gotham Racing 4 – eliminated with a 2-4-0 record early in the competition

Daniel Piacampo (Ontario) – Guitar Hero 3 – 4-2-0 but was eliminated prior to the semi-final rounds

Alan Joseph (Ontario) – Virtua Fighter 5 – eliminated early in the tournament with 1-4-0

Jonathan Garneau (Quebec) – Warcraft 3 – Frozen Throne – eliminated early in the tournament with 1-5-0

Crash is Back in Another Ginormous Adventure! Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant, developed by Vancouver’s Radical Entertainment, has hit store shelves worldwide and is available on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Wii™ home video game system, Nintendo DS™, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system.
In the deepest Crash adventure yet, Crash: Mind Over Mutant arms players with new features, including the ability not only to control enemies once they are ‘jacked,’ but to store the mutants in Crash’s pocket, upgrade them and utilise their unique powers. Players can also roam through Wumpa Island in a two-player cooperative mode with Crash’s sister Coco.
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Toronto – SilverBirch Inc. (TSX-V: SVB), a leading digital entertainment company, today announced the appointment of Mr. Kevin Astle as interim President and Chief Executive Officer. Under Mr. Astle, a seasoned business and marketing strategist with extensive global experience, SilverBirch will refocus exclusively on the fast-growing gaming sector. Mr. Astle succeeds Derek van der Plaat, who resigned today as President and CEO, and as a Director of the company.

The refocused strategy leverages SilverBirch’s core strengths in gaming. The company’s primary goal will be to become a premier publisher and operator of Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) as well as video games for PCs and leading console platforms. The new corporate focus will build upon the company’s existing operations including video game developer SilverBirch Studios, Netherlands-based interactive entertainment publisher Lighthouse Interactive, and a co-venture to operate licensed English language online multiplayer games. The company is also acquiring Red Mile Entertainment, publisher of console games Sin City and Heroes Over Europe, in a deal expected to close in early 2009, subject to shareholder, legal and regulatory approvals.
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