Village Gamer

Vancouver – Yummy Interactive, Inc., developer of premiere digital distribution technologies, has partnered with Metaboli, Europe’s leader in digital distribution of PC games, to improve and enhance Metaboli’s class-leading online video game subscription services in Europe and in North America with GameTap.

“We’re very delighted to have partnered with Metaboli and to be helping them expand their subscriber base across the globe, especially with their many telecom partners in Europe and GameTap’s service in the United States. There is a strong fit between both companies regarding our culture and goals. Core to both of our company’s philosophies is creating the best experience possible for users playing games online,” says Nick Mellios, CEO of Yummy Interactive.

By integrating the Yummy Games delivery platform and associated APIs into its on demand service platform Metaboli has increased compatibility, download speeds and added more games to deliver exceptional value and ease of use for their customers such as British Telecom and France Telecom, along with their 50+ other white-label services.

Metaboli now offers support for games on 64-bit processors along with Microsoft Windows®7 compatibility. A variety of games will also support mods, patches, and custom maps adding even more value to Metaboli’s services.

“By partnering with Yummy we have been able to make a leap forward in our Games on Demand services. Because Yummy’s solution is so easy to integrate and feature-rich, we have been able to innovate for the next generation of online PC gaming, and we are now even better positioned to take advantage of the paradigm shift to downloadable game content,” said Olivier Decrock, CEO of Metaboli.

Edmonton – Bioware has updated the Dragon Age wiki with new information about Dragon Age: Awakening. Players can get more advance information about the enhancements coming when Awakening is released in two weeks for Mages and Rogues. It appears that there will also be new information coming soon for Warriors, Armour and Weapons, but those pages have not yet been added to the Wiki. In the meantime, here is the latest trailer which introduces Mhairi, one of the newest Grey Warden recruits.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWWEbxy8g8A]

Dragon Age: Awakening, rated M by the ESRB, is scheduled to hit store shelves on March 16th. I have my pre-order in place, have you got yours?

Montreal – The achievements list for Splinter Cell: Conviction has been released on the Xbox360 Achievements site. There will be 45 initial achievements worth a total of 1000 gamer points, with 18 of those achievements listed as Secret. Secret Achievements drive me crazy, because I’m always afraid that I will miss some little clue or pick-up that will unlock the secrets of the Secret Achievements. For the named achievements, it looks like there is a good mix of single player and co-op tasks to complete, so I hope that some of my regular Xbox 360 co-op partners are picking up this title. Part 3 of the Multiplayer video series for Conviction was posted last week on You Tube, so in case any of you missed it, you can watch it here:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhHzVrY924Q]

Splinter Cell: Conviction is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal and scheduled for release on April 13. This title is rated M by the ESRB.

Toronto – Registration is now open for Canada 3.0 2010, which is taking place in Stratford, ON this coming May 10th & 11th. Early Bird pricing closes on March 19th – attendees can register now for $495.00 + taxes and service charge. After March 19th, registration goes up to $595.00 + taxes and service charge. The Student Rate is $95.00 between now and May 10th.

Vancouver – If you’re like me and couldn’t attend the VX2010 speaker events which were held during the Olympics, you can now listen to the audio recordings on the Vancouver Experience web site. If you haven’t yet had an opportunity to visit the VX2010 showcase, again, the same as me, you’ll be happy to know that the showcase is still open. For more information about visiting the showcase, please check the Showcase Information page.

Vancouver – SoundOfMotion has officially launched AlpineSport – a mobile application for alpine sports: mountain bicycling, snowboarding alpine and cross-country skiing. AlphineSport debuted at the British Columbia Sport Technology and Innovation Show in Vancouver, which was hosted by the Government of British Columbia and the BC Innovation Council. The BC Sport Technology & Innovation Show highlighted home-grown BC sport technologies and innovation to international and domestic business visitors in Vancouver for 2010 Winter Olympic Games Winter Olympic Games.

Alpine sport athletes strive to know their speed or pace, altitude, climb or drop, time and distance and many other performance data to excel in their sports. Recreational alpine enthusiasts are also interested in performance data as well as mapping and sharing routes. Available now on Android Market, AlpineSport users can upload their data to the web portal and share with their friends via Twitter.

The AlpineSport application utilizes the power of smartphones with GPS and accelerometer. It provides sports performance monitoring, tracking, mapping and navigation for alpine sports. The application uses accelerometer to measure cadence in rotations per minute (RPM) for cyclists and strides per minute for cross-country skiers. It calculates G-forces (force of gravity) and air time (zero gravity) for skiers and snowboarders taking a jump.

All performance data, including speed, time, distance, GPS route, cadence, air time, G-force, strides per minute is recorded on the phone’s memory card in a simple CSV file and can be viewed on Google Earth in 3D.

Since the phone’s display is not easily accessible during the ride AplineSport application uses audible feedback for monitoring speed and pace, cadence, strides or air time. Users can record their own sounds and customize application when certain sounds should be played on external speakers or via a headset. By using audible feedback user can know important performance data without looking at the display.

Toronto – Conalgo, the folks who brought Tun3r to the world, have unveiled “Milk Crater” the world’s first real-time audio iPod browser. Unlike other iPod applications (including Apple’s own iPod application), Milk Crater allows the listener to browse an expansive tiled grid of their iTunes cover art. As the listener glides over a particular square, the audio switches in real time to the corresponding audio track. If the user returns to the same spot, she will hear the same track from where she left off.

Because the transitions between songs are seamless and uninterrupted, listeners are able to enter a mental state of “flow” when browsing music. It is this deeper level of immersion while browsing that becomes a new experience unto itself – not unlike creating music.

In order to assist users, Milk Crater also includes search functionality consistent with its ultra-fast interface. It is also simple and fast for the user to add tracks to playlists as they browse. Playlists can be saved for later or even exported.

“I’ve been bringing Milk Crater to parties and get-togethers and am always surprised by the reaction and how quickly people ‘get it.’ It’s been a great icebreaker,” said Neil Hepburn, GM of marketing.

Milk Crater has been translated into eight major languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, French, Japanese, German, Italian. The is currently on sale in the iTunes App Store for $2.99