Village Gamer

Montreal – Interactive entertainment company Ludia Inc. today announced that its premiere game, The Price Is Right, has sold one million units across multiple platforms since its launch in March 2008. Based on information from retail and digital distribution channels, a Price Is Right game has been purchased on average almost every thirty seconds since its release online, in retail and on the Apple App Store.

“We are very proud that The Price Is Right game has given so many players countless hours of enjoyment on the platform of their choice, said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “The strong sales of this game show title in retail and digital channels proves that our multiplatform strategy can result in tremendous reach and ongoing sales potential.”

“After more than 37 years, The Price Is Right remains a highly successful television game show with phenomenal longevity,” said David Luner, Senior Vice President, Interactive & Consumer Products, FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), North America, the program’s licensor. “Ludia’s The Price Is Right game hitting this impressive milestone is very exciting to see, and is a strong affirmation that the brand continues to resonate in new ways with fans of all ages.”
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Vancouver – THQ Inc. today announced Warhammer® 40,000™: Space Marine®, from renowned internal studio Relic® Entertainment, will bring Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 science fiction universe to life on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system for the first time. The Action-RPG title will put players in control of individual units throughout a narrative-driven story campaign and in wide-scale online battles. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine will be unveiled at E3 2009 in THQ’s booth – number 5300 in the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

“The Warhammer 40,000 universe has a huge global following and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine will bring that world to life on the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 systems for the first time ever,” said Kevin Kraff, vice president, global brand management, THQ Inc. “Relic Entertainment is leveraging years of experience developing games within the universe to create an Action-RPG experience unlike anything seen before.”
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Vancouver – IUGO Mobile Entertainment is proud to release their newest Freeballin’ update – a new pinball table based on their ToyBots franchise. The table features artwork from ToyBots, and brings the number of table maps up to five.

I’ve been playing Freeballin’ since its release, and the game is truly fun to play. Each of the levels features highly detailed artwork and in-level missions to achieve. Each of these missions involves getting the ball to go where needed and hit specific targets, such as crushing cars. All of the level maps vary in setting from an inner-city locale to tropical jungles and a colourful dreamscape table. In true game play fashion, there are boss battles to win and high scores to make higher. The audio track for this game is energetic and fits each table perfectly. The only problem I’ve had with the game at all is sometimes pressing the screen a little hard for flipper control, and I keep waiting for the “TILT” message to light up.
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Gormley – For the first time ever, you can experience Don Bluth’s classic arcade game Space Ace, the follow up to the revolutionary Dragon’s Lair on your iPhone or iPod Touch, developed by Digital Leisure

This release of Don Bluth’s legendary animated arcade game features video transferred directly from the stunning high definition master, delivering the sharpest images and most vibrant colors ever – even far better than the original laserdisc release!

In Space Ace you play the heroic Ace who must stop the evil Commander Borf from taking over the Earth! Borf plans to reduce all of humankind to infants and take over the planet. Only two people have the courage and strength to stop Borf and save Earth: the beautiful Kimberly and the heroic Ace. But as they approach Borf’s stronghold, Ace is hit by the Infanto Ray, changing him into a child, and Kimberly is kidnapped by the evil madman! Armed with only a laser gun, Ace must find and destroy the Infanto Ray, rescue Kimberly and save the Earth!

The fate of Earth is in your hands! Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – Smoking Gun Interactive Inc. a premier independent video game studio announced today that it is collaborating with the award-winning writer Douglas Rushkoff for the story of its as-of-yet undisclosed new property. Rushkoff will work closely with the team at Smoking Gun, to develop story narratives across a range of media formats that can feed off one another and exist concurrently.

“Our vision at Smoking Gun Interactive has always been to deliver interactive entertainment content in new and exciting ways that push the medium forwards”, said John Johnson CEO and Creative Director of Smoking Gun Interactive, “We are delighted to announce our collaboration with Douglas. His astounding skill in creating compelling narrative is the perfect fit for the themes and scenarios we are introducing in our first property”.

Winner of the first Neil Postman award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, Douglas Rushkoff is a bestselling and controversial author, comic’s writer, intellectual, and documentarian. His ten books on new media and popular culture have been translated to over thirty languages. They include Cyberia, Media Virus, Playing the Future, Nothing Sacred: The Truth about Judaism, and Coercion, winner of the Marshall McLuhan Award for best media book. Rushkoff also wrote the acclaimed novels Ecstasy Club and Exit Strategy and graphic novel, Club Zero-G, as well as the recently released Life Inc: How the world became a corporation and how to take it back.
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Toronto – The Ontario government is investing nearly CAD$23 million in Starz Animation Toronto to help expand its studio and create or retain over 250 jobs. This investment in Ontario talent and equipment will help Starz Animation Toronto attract more international business. The company is also investing CAD$130 million over the next five years. Many of the new Starz Animation staffers will be local new media graduates

One of Canada’s largest 3D animation studios, Starz Animation Toronto creates computer-animated movies, TV series and commercials for clients. Ontario’s investment will help Starz Animation Toronto, a world-class studio, develop and produce its own feature films — allowing it to compete with the best studios in the world.
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Ottawa – NGRAIN, a leading provider of interactive 3D equipment simulation solutions that maximize the effectiveness of training programs and maintenance support systems, today announced it is opening an office in Ottawa. The NGRAIN Ottawa office, which will accommodate a regional staff of business development, sales, project management, instructional design, 3D modeling and customer support professionals, expands NGRAIN’s reach across Canada. The Ottawa team will provide direct support to NGRAIN’s local and east coast customers and partners.

“NGRAIN has been working closely with the Canadian Forces and leading systems integrators since 2002 to deliver innovative training and maintenance support solutions that incorporate 3D equipment simulations to improve job performance,” said Paul Lindahl, CEO, NGRAIN. “The opening of the Ottawa office is the natural next step in our corporate expansion. We are looking forward to becoming a part of the Ottawa community.”
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Montreal – Today Ubisoft® announced that it is collaborating again with Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White in Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage. Developed by Ubisoft Montréal, the game will be available exclusively for the Wii™ system from Nintendo and will be on store shelves for the holiday season in 2009.

“Working with Shaun on the first title was an excellent experience,” said Antoine Guignard, producer of Shaun White Snowboarding : World Stage at Ubisoft. “The great public reception of Shaun White Snowboarding and the wonderful collaboration with Shaun made it a slam dunk for us to reunite to create a fun, new adventure for fans.”

Players will hit the slopes with Shaun White and his crew, but this time the stakes are higher as you pursue the world’s top competitions from a half-pipe in the middle of New York’s Time Square to the most prestigious competitions of France, Canada and Japan.

“Ubisoft has been a great partner, and I’m excited for World Stage,” said action sports phenom Shaun White. “It’s cool to give people insight on what my life is like on the competition circuit.”
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Toronto – A group of six Canadian-based companies have come together to form a new alliance called The Committed to Growing Small Business Coalition or Committed. The coalition is focused on developing and offering resources to assist Canadian entrepreneurs and small business owners in building, maintaining and growing their companies.

Committed includes organizations from various industries and includes STAPLES Canada, Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co., Intuit Canada, Rogers Cable Communications, Citi Cards Canada and Silver Lining Ltd., a business development company for small businesses. Silver Lining is the catalyst behind this new coalition, which was assembled with the belief that the six companies are stronger together than apart.

“History has shown that small businesses are the engine that can drive economies out of a recession,” said Carissa Reiniger, founder and president of Silver Lining. “We realized that now is the ideal time to bring this group of established companies together with the objective of giving small businesses all the resources and training they need to flourish in these tough times.”
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Ottawa – Ladedo Visual Concepts picked up the Buyer’s Choice Award for portable displays and exhibits at the Exhibitor Show 2009 in Las Vegas. This new Glide exhibit offers a ground breaking new solution for the exhibitor with smaller spaces. Glide can also be used for interior solutions, providing large LCD screen capabilities to catch attention and tell the clients story.

Ladedo’s new Glide exhibit also combines the best of both portable displays and custom displays as it provides multiple options. The beautiful oval banner is sure to draw the attention of exhibition attendees and the large screen capabilities will keep the clients attention.

Instead of lightweight banner stands or pop up exhibits without weight bearing capabilities, Glide now offers a great way to present messages on a large screen with all its visual and audio benefits.  When creating designs, they can create a corporate presence on the large graphic banner and header, while designing specific messages to be presented on the large screen for maximum impact. No other portable can handle a screen this large.  You can dramatically cut your messaging costs. Tell your story with easily changeable digital content, instead of having to change printed banner graphics.