Village Gamer

St. Catharines – MP Rick Dykstra is thrilled to announce that nGen, Niagara Interactive Media Generator, will receive over $3 million from the Federal government’s Community Adjustment Fund.

The Community Adjustment Fund (CAF) is part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada’s strategy to ensure a quick recovery from the current economic downturn. By focusing on the creation of short-term employment to support communities and the sectors that contribute to their viability, CAF will play a distinctive role in relation to other economic stimulus measures included in Canada’s Economic Action Plan.

“This strategic investment is further proof of our government’s commitment to helping St. Catharines adjust to the economic realities of our time,” said Dykstra. “This money will help nGen continue to attract and retain much needed new media enterprises to our community, creating new jobs and supporting the growth of a knowledge-based economy for Niagara.”

The funds received will be allocated toward the much needed expansion of nGen, which would further capitalize on the expansion of the industry, making St. Catharines and Niagara an even more dominant player in the sector of digital interactive media. Since nGen’s inception, its programs have rapidly exceeded capacity and the initiative has now found itself in need of expansion in order to meet the needs of its emerging cluster. Through increased incubation and access to new technologies, nGen will be able to strengthen its sustainability as a hub for digital interactive media development in the St.Catharines and the Niagara Region. This is the vision of the Niagara Economic Development Corporation (NEDC) Strategic Business Plan and the St. Catharines-Thorold Prosperity Council’s Paths to Prosperity Report, to define new media as a pillar for economic growth and expansion in Niagara.

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Ottawa – Playbrains, an independent game development studio specializing in the digital download arena, are proud to announce that the PC version of Madballs in…Babo:Invasion (MiBI) has released today via the Steam digital download service for $9.99.

The spiritual successor to the massively popular freeware top-down Shooter BaboViolent2, Madballs in Babo:Invasion is an arena based 3D shooter offering players a satisfying and immersive experience in both single-player and multiplayer, including ‘Invasion Mode’ where players are able to design their own combat maps almost instantaneously by placing a combination of map tiles to create a never-before-seen map before gameplay starts. Truly, no two games are ever the same.

Featuring the recently re-released Madballs™ characters, Oculus Orbus™ and Horn Head™, from the popular 1980’s toys best remembered for their outrageously bad looks and graphically colourful names, Madballs in…Babo: Invasion is a gameplay rich, feature laden ‘casually hardcore’ action shooter which is also that rarest of gaming commodities; a genuinely unique title.

Some of the outstanding review scores and quotes lavished upon the recent Xbox LIVE Arcade release:

“…an impressive title for the XBLA system.” Team Xbox.com – 8/10
“Surprisingly slick with excellent online play.” UK Official Xbox Magazine – 8/10
“…Madballs in…Babo: Invasion is both a pleasing nostalgia trip and a surprisingly deep arcade shooter.” Computer & Videogames.com – 8/10
“…Madballs fully deserves a place among the finer titles on XBLA.” EDGE Magazine – 7/10

Key Features

• Single Player – Hours of repeatable gameplay through 10 epic levels
• 2-4 Player Online Co-op – challenge individual campaign levels with your friends or play the whole campaign in ‘Enduro’ mode
• 16 Player Multiplayer – 21 maps to match all game sizes
• ‘Invasion’ Mode – the signature mode of the game, players take turns placing map tiles to create a unique multiplayer map prior to each match
• Classes – 10 character classes (each with 2 special abilities) over two warring factions, with each faction having 5 unique weapons each with two distinct firing modes
• Madballs Characters – Oculus Orbus™ and Horn Head™ from the infamous 80’s toy craze as in-game characters
• 5 Archetypes – Assault, Heavy, Runner, Flyer, Support
• Deployables – active (rocket turrets) or passive (healing towers) can be placed in Invasion mode
• Unlocks and Secrets – 50 unlocks and 50 Secrets to find during campaign gameplay
• Action – emphasis on fast-paced, visceral action that is easy to pick and play, yet offers a real strategic challenge for hardcore gamers