Village Gamer

On any other Torontonian August Saturday, the streets would have been deserted. But on August 28^th, hundreds of fans of all denominations filled Front St. for their chance to get into the sixteenth annual FanExpo, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. The size of the crowds could have been anticipated from any stop on the TTC; en route, the t-shirts of eager guests-to-be displayed their franchise allegiances, with every voice loud and proud.

Volume turned out to be the common noun of FanExpo 2010; whether referring to the sheer deluge of people on the outside of the complex, the amount of amazing content provided to those canny enough to buy passes ahead of time, or the fever-pitch of cheering throughout the center’s amphitheatres, it is debatable whether any other Canadian convention could compare in terms of variety. With balanced attention paid to the five pillars of nerd culture, there truly was something for everyone. And with the lines outside the building never abating, it felt as though everyone knew it.

Upon arrival, most attendees headed directly for the second floor. Home to the convention’s merchandisers, artists, and largest corporate sponsors, guests could enjoy demos of a select few holiday video games while collecting comics and autographs. The demarcation of the booth depended predominantly on the weight behind it; while individual artists may not have been labelled prominently, there was no missing the booth of Tron: Evolution. Chris Whiteside, the lead design developer for the title at Vancouver’s Propaganda Games, was leading a demo when I arrived. The game is very much a fluid experience–any and all of the blockiness in Tron’s past has been done away with completely. Musings on the game’s inspirations led Whiteside and I to the subject of Canadian industry specialties.

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More than ever, PC Health Advisor from ParetoLogic is an indispensable tool for the home computer user. The all-in-one software recently enhanced its suite of tools with a driver update function and a file extension manager. Combined, the software now gives average computer users a quick way to stop errors and improve performance in the Windows registry, boost disk performance via disk defragmentation, remove privacy and junk files, destroy active Malware, speed up Windows startup times, update out-of-date drivers, and fix file associations, along with other Windows tweaks.

“This was always our plan,” explained Norman Eldridge, ParetoLogic’s Technical Product Manager. “PC Health Advisor keeps its users covered, no matter where their computer problems originate. These new tools allow us to further expand the ways that PC Health Advisor protects and improves users’ PC performance.”

Developers combined the driver manager with the main PC Health Advisor scan to make operation as easy as possible. After analysing a user’s system, the scan displays outdated drivers and connects users with the new and updated drivers that they need. New drivers have the power to revive broken hardware, improve performance, and stop hardware error messages.

The file extension manager, found under the Optimize tab, searches for unsupported file extensions and provides links to the programs needed to open them. This allows users to always open the files they need, no matter how unfamiliar the extension.

“Drivers and file extensions are some of the most numerous, confusing, and time consuming items that a PC user has to deal with. By including these tools with PC Health Advisor, we’re going to save our customers a lot of time – and money,” said Mr. Eldridge.

All downloads of PC Health Advisor will now include these tools as part of the new version. Current PC Health Advisor users will be automatically updated to version 2.

Stock photography is more popular with designers, businesses, web developers, publishers and artists than ever before, and the number of photographers who have found microstock to be a great source of part- or full-time income has increased steadily in the last few years. A new book, Taking Stock: Make Money in Microstock Creating Photos That Sell by veteran stock photographer Rob Sylvan, provides valuable insights into maximizing profit in this increasingly competitive industry.

An iStockphoto inspector since 2002, Sylvan helps determine which photos qualify to be sold on the most selective microstock site in the business. He has also had tremendous commercial success selling his own stock images privately. Sylvan writes the Under the Loupe column for Photoshop User magazine, and blogs about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® at Lightroomers.com. In Taking Stock, he shares his hard-earned insider knowledge on how to shoot, edit and keyword photos that sell in this growing high-volume, cost-conscious market.

“I’ve been helping new members get started selling stock for years, and this book contains everything they’d need to know to hit the ground running,” said Sylvan. “Beyond sharing the fundamental information needed for creating and selling stock imagery, I’ve included over 50 great examples of successful stock photos along with tips from many of their creators.”

Taking Stock helps readers look at their photos through the eyes of designers, photo editors, and other frequent buyers. It explains how to set up an effective digital workflow and, perhaps most importantly, how to focus on creating truly evocative imagery. It also covers:

* How to license photos as stock
* What type of images are in demand
* Effective use of titles, descriptions and keywords
* Tips on shooting food, people, places, nature, objects, and animals
* Editing techniques to maximize sales

Taking Stock retails for $35.99 (CAD) and is available at Chapters-Indigo, Amazon.ca, Black Bond Books and other retailers worldwide or directly via the publisher, Peachpit Press.

Congratulations to Big Blue Bubble, whose iPhone/iPad application Thumpies won the award for Mobile Entertainment of the Year at the Mobile Content Awards 2010 in Seoul, Korea.

Facing some stiff competition that included more than 110 companies from 15 countries, Thumpies emerged victorious against semi-finalists Fallen EP-1 from 7th Sense Studios in the United Kingdom and UBC Mobile from UBC in Korea. Present to accept the award and the prize money, Big Blue Bubble CEO, Damir Slogar stated “After receiving nothing but absolutely glowing reviews from the media, Thumpies reached another milestone – formal recognition from industry professionals. This will just fuel our enthusiasm to bring the game to many new platforms.“

Thumpies is a unique rhythm-based music game for players of all ages. By correctly matching the beat of bouncing Thumpies the player progresses through a song. Unlike typical rhythm based games, Thumpies uses a mechanic of bouncing in time instead of just a series of notes. The quirky art design of Thumpies XL is accompanied by a unique musical score composed by award winning, industry veteran David Kerr. The music was crafted with game play in mind, giving the player a harmonizing experience.

Vancouver Film School’s Game Design Expo 2011 is now accepting speaker proposals from game industry professionals who have a passion to share their expertise. Past speakers at the consistently sold-out Industry Speaker Day at Game Design Expo have included the makers of games such as Dead Rising 2, Halo, Mass Effect, ModNation Racers, and Saints Row 2 (amongst many others). The deadline for submissions is October 4th 2010, so download the Speaker Proposal Package (PDF) today and send your completed proposal in as soon as possible.

Telefilm Canada announced today a streamlined approach to submitting corporate information as part of an application.

Previously, four documents were required in order to provide all required corporate information with an application; now only one is required. The new Canadian Status of Corporation and Corporate Information Affidavit (doc file) now online replaces the following forms:

* Corporate secretary’s certificate naming the shareholders and the number of shares held by each
* Corporate secretary’s certificate naming the officers and indicating their signing authority
* Declaration of Corporate Information
* Canadian Status of Corporation Affidavit

Telefilm Canada is committed to providing effective and efficient service to its clients and as such continuously works to provide new ways in which to work with the industry.

The Mobile Institute, a Canadian organization that supports global mobile innovation, has officially announced (we first told you about it last week) the return of MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK, a week-long series of events that explores mobile trends and advancements from around the world. Between September 13-18 more than 150 mobile industry experts will present at various events around Toronto, making it one of the most significant mobile industry events globally.

“For one week, Toronto will be the centre of the Mobile universe,” said Michael J. O’Farrell of The Mobile Institute, founder and co-producer of MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK. “Canada is a mobile industry powerhouse, but Canadian talent and innovation are rarely exposed to local and international audiences. MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK 2010 will showcase our mobile prowess together with global mobile industry leaders, while also giving Canadian organizations the tools and information they need to take advantage of the emerging mobile universe.”

MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK 2010 will feature more than 150 speakers and over 100 interactive presentations, moderated sessions and workshops. More than 2,000 are expected to attend from Canada, the US, the UK, Germany, Brazil and other international locations. MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK 2010 includes featured presentations by Adenyo, Bell Mobility, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), comScore, Deloitte, Ericsson, Google, IDC Canada, KPMG, Microsoft, MyThum Interactive, OCAD University, RBC Financial, Research In Motion (RIM), Rogers Communications, Samsung, Sybase, Sympatico Mobile, The Globe and Mail, Visa, Yellow Pages Group and more.

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