Village Gamer

Select GameStop/EB Games locations across Canada are hosting exclusive Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies Tag Mode events on Saturday, July 31, from 2pm – 4pm. Along with trading maps with other attendees, players will also be able to download an exclusive map, and have the chance to win a Midnight Blue Nintendo DSi XL.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is the latest game for the Nintendo DS family of systems. The game combines imaginative game play with social fun, setting players out on an epic adventure. Maps allow players to find otherwise inaccessible special dungeons called grottoes, which can contain rare items or enemies. In Tag Mode, treasure maps and customized greetings can be exchanged automatically by players who come within range of one another. For a complete list of participating GameStop/EB Games locations across Canada please visit the Dragon Quest product page on the GameStop web site.

Ubisoft Montreal has announced an Assassin’s Creed comic book mini-series is currently in development and due for release this fall. Developed by Eisner Award nominees and Shuster Award-winning illustrators Cameron Stewart (Batman & Robin, Seaguy and Catwoman) and Karl Kerschl (Superman and The Flash), the Assassin’s Creed comic mini-series will be unveiled during a panel to be held on July 22, 2010 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. in Room 7AB at Comic-Con International: San Diego.

Moderated by G4TV’s Morgan Webb, the panel entitled “Assassin’s Creed: Behind and Beyond the Brotherhood” will include details of the new comic series and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood video game release. Featured panelists will include Stewart and Kerschl, along with Jeffrey Johalem, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood video game scriptwriter. Stewart and Kerschl recently visited Saint Petersburg, Russia on a research trip for the upcoming project. That visit, along with the teaser video released today, will give fans an inkling on where and when the new Assassin comic series will be taking place. Additional details on the project will be revealed at the Comic-Con panel.

The new comic series is part of Ubisoft Montreal’s UbiWorkshop initiative that encompasses a number of the studio’s projects related to leveraging Ubisoft intellectual properties in entertainment mediums outside of video games, such as comic books.

“We always thought that the Assassin’s Creed universe would be perfect for transmedia initiatives like this new comic series,” said Mathieu Ferland, transmedia senior producer at Ubisoft Montreal. “We are excited to have the fantastic and acclaimed artists Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl working on the project. Ubisoft is looking forward to showing Assassin’s Creed fans what these talented artists have been up to at next week’s Comic-Con panel.”

Following last week’s news that Zombrex Dead Rising Sun, the full feature film based on Capcom’s popular video game, Dead Rising, will be distributed in Europe and North America, we are pleased to confirm more details on when and where fans can view Inafune-san’s directorial debut. Split into a number of episodes that will be distributed over a number of weeks, Zombrex Dead Rising Sun, will be made available as a free download exclusively on Xbox Live from August 4th, before going live on www.deadrisingsun.com a week later. As an added bonus, certain episodes will begin with interviews featuring Inafune-san where he will provide insight into the film making process. The movie will also be available on the North American Dead Rising 2 Zombrex Edition as mentioned below.

The full schedule is as follows:

DATE	EPISODES	LOCATION
August 4	1,2,3	Xbox Live
August 11	1,2,3	deadrisingsun.com
August 11	4,5	Xbox Live
August  18	4,5	deadrisingsun.com
August 18	6,7	Xbox Live
August 18	6,7	deadrisingsun.com
August 25	8	Xbox Live
September 1	8	deadrisingsun.com

Canadian Dead Rising 2 fans will also be very happy to know that they will be able to nab the North American exclusive Dead Rising 2 – Zombrex Edition on day one of launch – September 28, 2010 – for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 for $79.99. Enclosed in a two-disc Steelbook case with its own special pack front, the Dead Rising 2 — Zombrex Edition will include cool collectible items and content that will dig deep into the Dead Rising 2 experience.

Available for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, there are some variations between the two editions:

PS3 Dead Rising 2 – Zombrex Edition

– Exclusive Two-Disc Steelbook case includes:
– Dead Rising 2 game disc
– Blu-Ray Disc featuring a High-Definition 24 minute “Making of” featurette
– Complete box contents include:
– Steelbook case (described above)
– Zombrex “Syringe” pen
– Zombrex “Prescription” notepad (25 pages)
– Zombrex “Safety” card
– Zombrex “Prospectus” Sales Brochure (16 pages).
– Dead Rising 2 Hardback Artbook (48 pages)
– Voucher for XMB Dynamic Theme

X360 Dead Rising 2 – Zombrex Edition

– Exclusive Two-Disc Steelbook case includes:
– Dead Rising 2 game disc
– High-Definition game disc with 83 Minute “Zombrex Dead Rising Sun” motion picture and 24 minute “Making of” featurette
– Complete box contents include:
– Steelbook case (described above)
– Zombrex “Syringe” pen
– Zombrex “Prescription” notepad (25 pages)
– Zombrex “Safety” card
– Zombrex “Prospectus” Sales Brochure (16 pages).
– Dead Rising 2 Hardback Artbook (48 pages)

ActiveState, the dynamic language experts offering solutions for Perl, Python, and Tcl, today announced a new Perl Developer Kit (PDK) designed to making it easier for developers to create, build and deploy Perl applications.

ActiveState Perl Dev Kit (PDK) provides essential tools for building and deploying Perl applications. PDK features cross-platform wrapping and application builders for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris*, AIX*, and now HP-UX* plus a suite of tools to speed development and improve code quality across teams. The comprehensive feature set includes PerlApp, PerlCtrl, PerlMSI, PerlNET, PerlSvc, PerlTray, Coverage Analyzer, Filter Builder, Graphical Debugger, PerlCritic and VBScript Converter.

ActiveState Perl Dev Kit 9 now includes:

* Support for the latest version of Perl and ActivePerl 5.12
* For ActivePerl Business, Enterprise and OEM Edition customers, PDK 9 now gives developers the ability to cross-wrap applications to HP-UX, HP’s UNIX operating system, along with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris and AIX.
* Support for 64-bit PerlNET, making it possible to build .NET components using Perl

A 21-day free trial of ActiveState Perl Dev Kit 9 is available for download. One user license pricing starts at $295 US but is being offered at introductory pricing for $245 US through August 15, 2010.

PDK 9 supports ActivePerl 5.8, ActivePerl 5.10 and the new ActivePerl 5.12. * Cross-wrapping to Solaris, AIX, HP-UX requires a minimum of ActivePerl Business Edition used in conjunction with PDK. In April 2010, ActiveState released ActivePerl 5.12 for both its Community and Business Editions. ActivePerl Enterprise Edition for 5.12 will be available before the end of 2010.

Teletoon Canada Inc. has announced its fall 2010 lineup for Teletoon, Teletoon at Night and Teletoon Retro. Launching on Monday, September 6, 2010, Teletoon’s new slate is full of comedy and action, with just the right amount of thrills, chills and belly-aching laughter.

“From kids and young adults to parents and families, we are bringing viewers of all ages more excitement and entertainment through a host of new series and returning comedy and action favourites this fall,” said Carole Bonneau, Vice President, Programming, Teletoon Canada inc. “In addition to breaking new ground with productions like Skatoony and My Babysitter’s A Vampire, we’re also bolstering our programming repertoire with a roster of new series, movies and the latest seasons of our hugely popular titles.”

The Teletoon lineup from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. consists of a wide-array of new programming, including the live-action/animation hybrid game show Skatoony, acclaimed reality-show parody Total Drama World Tour, the highly anticipated new series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, the return of fan-favourites Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and a new season of the hit series Johnny Test among other comedy and action series. Just in time for Halloween, Teletoon is also broadcasting My Babysitter’s A Vampire, the network’s first live-action feature as well the Canadian premieres of Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo and Scooby-Doo! Curse Of The Lake Monster.

Teletoon at Night, the network’s post-9 p.m. block, boasts a programming slate for young adults looking for a smart and irreverent comedy fix. This fall, the block features two new hilarious series The Dating Guy and Archer along with the unpredictable comedy of the Teletoon At Night Pilot Project and new episodes of the celebrated sketch comedy series Robot Chicken. For the nostalgic, Teletoon Retro brings back a blast from the past with returning classics such as The Smurfs, ThunderCats, The Flintstones and The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show.

Ernst and Young have selected the Cofounder, President, and CEO of ParetoLogic as a finalist for their prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award. Elton Pereira leads ParetoLogic as an expert in the security and utility software industry. The enormous growth of ParetoLogic coupled with Pereira’s commitment to charity and community earned him his position in the Information Technology category.

Also named as nominees this year for the Quebec Region are Antoine Carre, Founder & President of leading videogame quality assurance and localization services provider Laboratoires Bug-Tracker Inc. and Éric Brunelle, André d’Orsonnens, Bertrand Pelletier of Druide Informatique Inc., designers and distributors of consumer software, including the well-known program Antidote.

“Our Québec finalists are entrepreneurial leaders and visionaries who have created and built market-leading businesses,” says François Dufresne, Partner and Director of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards in Québec. “Their accomplishments have taken business excellence to new heights, helped create jobs and contributed to the vibrancy of communities across Canada.”

Nominees for the Atlantic Region include:

John Chisholm, President of Arcadia Entertainment, a television production company specializing in international factual content for National Geographic and other broadcasters that focus on ocean and expedition themes.

Michael Donovan, CEO of DHX Media Ltd., a studio with more than 28 years of experience creating, producing and marketing Canadian film and television programming.

Andrew Ayre, CEO of videogame and software developer Other Ocean Interactive, who has studios in Newfoundland as well as the USA.

SaskTel has rolled out an innovative DRM-Free music download service powered by LiveWire Mobile Inc. , a leader in managed personalization services whose head office is in Littleton, MA, with an office in Montreal.

The new service features music tracks from a broad range of major music labels. The company’s 550,000+ wireless subscribers have the option to purchase their music tracks individually or as part of a bundle with other assets ranging from wallpapers and ringtones to ringbacks and mobile apps. Consumers can browse the full range of applications and make their purchases from the SaskTel integrated online storefront, custom developed by LiveWire Mobile. The high quality downloads are available unencrypted in up to 256 Kb/s for purchase and delivery across both PC and mobile channels.

Telefilm Canada has announced that five Canadian directors will premiere at the 63rd edition of the Locarno Film Festival, held August 4 to August 14, 2010. Two features, Curling from filmmaker veteran Denis Côté and L.A. Zombie (Germany / USA / France) from director Bruce Labruce, have been accepted to the prestigious International Competition, where they will be among the 20 films from around the world competing for the “Pardo d’oro” prize (The Golden Leopard). The Festival’s official line-up was unveiled yesterday in the Italian-Swiss town of Locarno.

“Locarno has a long and important history as a hotbed for the new generation of international filmmakers,” said Sheila de La Varende, Director, National and International Business Development at Telefilm Canada. “So many Canadian productions competing on this prestigious world stage is proof of our unique voice and artistic vision.”

“Under three different artistic directions at the Festival, my work has always been encouraged and respected,” said Canadian filmmaker and Locarno veteran Denis Côté. “Without Locarno, the international visibility for my films would have been altogether different. It manifests as highly cinephile, which I am eternally grateful.”

Denis Côté has won five awards in five years at Locarno, including for the films Les États Nordiques (2005), Nos vies privées (2007) and Elle veut le chaos (2008).

Other Canadian films selected to present at this year’s Festival include:

Filmmakers of the Present Competition – competition for emerging filmmakers
Ivory Tower – Adam Traynor
Jo pour Jonathan – Maxime Giroux
You are There – Daniel Cockburn

Jeonju Digital Project (short films): Les Lignes ennemies – Denis Côté

Again this year, Telefilm organized screenings in Montreal for programmers at Locarno to present Canadian films submitted for the 2010 edition of the Festival.

Last week, from July 2 to July 10, six Canadian films were presented at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic. Catherine Martin’s Trois temps après la mort d’Anna made its world premiere in the Official Selection, the only North American film featured in the Festival’s Competition this year. Meanwhile, Patrick Demers’ feature film debut Jaloux had its world premiere in the Forum of Independents Competition.

Other Canadian films at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival included:

Open Eyes – features the latest outstanding work: Les Amours imaginaires – Xavier Dolan

Horizons – featuring recent productions from around the world: Chloe – Atom Egoyan

Another View – featuring films with unusual artistic approaches: Tucker and Dale Vs Evil – Eli Craig (Canada / USA)

Focus on Belgium: Mr. Nobody – Jaco Van Dormael, (Canada / Belgium / France / Germany)