Village Gamer

Banff World Media Festival organizers have released the lists of nominees for this year’s Rockie awards, and while congratulations are due those who made the cut, I’m a little disconcerted that there were no Canadian finalists in the Non-Fiction History & Biography, Investigative & Current Affairs, Popular Science & Technology, Youth (2+), Youth (13+) Categories.  Canadian productions were also shut out of the Fictional Animation, Continuing Series, Made For TV Movies and Soap Opera categories. I find it hard to believe that with the caliber of creative talent in our country, none were deemed worthy enough of  being named as finalists. Then again, I could be biased.

Canada fared better in the Comedy Category with three Canadian nominations going up against two UK productions. Nominated are:

CAUTION: May Contain Nuts – “Blowed Up Zombie Real Good” Produced by Mosaic Entertainment Inc. For APTN

lol 🙂 – Season 1, Episode 2 Produced by Quebecomm For TVA

TV With TV’s Jonathan Torrens – “Freak Shows” Produced by TV Torrens 2 Productions Inc.  in association with Canwest Network For TVTropolis

In the Music and Awards Show Category, the 2010 MTV Music Video Awards (USA), Jimmy Kimmel Live – “After the Academy Awards” (USA), Doctor Who at the Proms (UK) and Netherlands production X De Leeuw will be going up against two CBC productions, Battle of the Blades – “Finale Performance Show” Produced by Insight Production Company Ltd. in association with CBC For CBC and Season of Song: Canadian Tenors and Friends Produced by Suddenly SeeMore… Productions Inc. in association with CBC, also for CBC.

Joint Canadian/German production The Pillars of the Earth, produced by Tandem Communications and Muse Entertainment in association with Scott Free Films for For Starz, The Movie Network, Movie Central and CBC-TV was nominated in the Mini-Series Category. The show is competing against productions from Japan, Germany and the UK for the Rocky.

Call Me Fitz – “The Pilot” is the lone Canadian nominee in the SitCom Category. The show is produced by Amaze Film + Television in association with Entertainment One, for TMN/Movie Central. Call Me Fitz is up against three shows from the USA and two from the UK.

In the Children’s (2+) Programs, The Olive Branch – “Sleep” (USA), Hansel and Gretel (UK) and Angelo Rules – “Who Killed The Rabbit?” (France), are in the running against three Canadian entries:

Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More To Life, Produced by National Film Board of Canada in association with Warner Home Video For The Movie Network

Stella and Sam – “Night Fairies” Produced by Radical Sheep Productions Inc. for Family Channel and Playhouse Disney

Wingin’ It – “Hold the Dressing” Produced by Temple Street Productions in association with BBC Worldwide Distribution For Family Channel

In Youth (13+) Programs, Vacation with Derek by Shaftesbury Films Inc. for Family Channel Canada and Anash and the Legacy of the Sun-Rock – “Death and Peace”, produced by Panacea Entertainment and The Thing With Feathers Productions For APTN, ACCESS and SCN are vying against productions from Australia, Germany, Hong Kong and the UK for top honours.

For the Non-Fiction section, no Canadian titles would be representing the country in the Arts and Performing Arts Program Category but 6 Rides to Sunday, produced by White Iron Pictures Inc. For Rogers Broadcasting Limited (OMNI) got the nod in the Documentary-Style Reality Program Category.

Two shows, Tipping Point: The Age of the Oil Sands, produced by Clearwater Documentary Inc. for CBC and Architects of Change – “To Innovate is to Imitate” produced by Les Productions Vic Pelletier and Lato Sensu Productions for RDI, TFO, TV5 Monde, Ushaïa TV and TV8 Mont-Blanc are nominated for an Environmental Program award.

Dragons’ Den – Season 5, Episode 8, produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for CBC is the lone Canadian finalist in Reality Program Category, and as far as the Lifestyle & Information Program Category goes, two Canadian shows were named as finalists.  Income Property – “Mike & Antoinette” produced by RTR Media Inc. in association with HGTV for For HGTV US & HGTV Canada and X-Weighted: Families – “Adrienne” produced by Anaïd Productions Inc. for Slice  are up against the American-made Storage Wars and three UK-made entries, Embarrassing Bodies, Heston’s Feast and Young Talent.

In the Wildlife & Natural History Category, Beasts of the Bible, produced by Associated Producers Ltd. for Animal Planet and Vision TV is up against two shows from Germany as well as two from the UK and one from Austria.

One Canadian program was also named as a finalist for Social & Humanitarian Documentaries. Life with Murder, produced by JS Kastner Productions in association with the National Film Board of Canada for CTV is up against two British programs as well as one Australian, one French and one American show.

For the Interactive section I am very pleased to see Museum Secrets (Kensington Communications Inc.) named as a finalist in the Best Cross-Platform Project along with One Ocean Interactive (Merit Motion Pictures in association with Tactica Interactive) and The Dating Guy (marblemedia).

Congratulations as well to Jill Golick Enterprises for the naming of Ruby Skye P.I.  as a finalist in the Best Online Program – Children & Youth Category. Four Canadian productions are finalists in the Best Online Program – Documentary Category, and all four were produced by the National Film Board of Canada:

Highrise/Out My Window
Holy Mountain!
This Land
Welcome To Pine Point

And rounding out the Canadian finalists, nominated for Best Online Program – Drama are three Canadian productions:

Being Erica Season III Webisodes – “The Road Less Travelled” Produced by Temple Street Productions in association with CBC For cbc.ca

En audition avec Simon / Casting Call – “Julie Le Breton” a_ média For tou.tv

Temp mort:Saison 2 – Episode 1 Produced by Productions Babel in association with CBC/Radio-Canada

There were no Canadian productions named as finalists in the Best Online Program – Entertainment or Best Branded Entertainment categories.

The finalists in twelve categories were announced today for the upcoming Canadian Videogame Awards, which will be held in Vancouver on Wednesday, May 18th at the Centre for the Performing Arts.

More than 70 nominations were received this year from all parts of Canada, with 31 submissions represented in the list of finalists.  Winners will be voted on by a body of industry experts from across the country.

Members of the public can get in the game and cast their vote online for Canadian Game of the Year now.

The Canadian Videogame Awards will be held the night before the Canadian Game Conference (formerly GDC-Canada) in Vancouver. As the third largest developer of video games in the world, the show will celebrate Canada’s spot on the world stage as a leader in interactive entertainment. Video Games Live will be back to provide the entertainment for the evening and the show will broadcast across the country on Citytv and G4 Canada through the Rogers Network.  Tickets start at $30 and are now on sale at the event website.

The Canadian Videogame Awards are sponsored by in part by Kinect for XBOX 360, G4 Canada, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 3DS, Entertainment Software Association of Canada, The Georgia Straight and the Canadian Studios of Electronic Arts.

FINALISTS

Game of the Year

·       Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
·       Dead Rising 2
·       FIFA 11
·       Mass Effect 2
·       Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

Best Console Game

·       Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
·       Dead Rising 2
·       FIFA 11
·       Mass Effect 2
·       Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

Best Game on the Go

·       Lil’ Pirates
·       Osmos for iPad
·       Scrabble for iPad
·       A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks
·       Trainyard

Best Downloadable Game

·       Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
·       Deathspank
·       HOARD
·       Shank
·       A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks

Best Audio

·       Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
·       Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising
·       Mass Effect 2
·       Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
·       Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

Best Social/Casual Game

·       Dex Hamilton: Alien Entomologist
·       GardenMind
·       Mercenaries of War
·       Pocket God on Facebook
·       Pot Farm

Best Game Design

·       Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
·       Deathspank
·       Mass Effect 2
·       Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
·       Trainyard

Best Technology

·       Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
·       Kinect for XBOX 360
·       Mass Effect 2
·       Scrabble for iPad
·       Your Shape Fitness Evolved

Best Visual Arts

·       Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
·       Mass Effect 2
·       Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
·       Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
·       Tron: Evolution

Best Writing

·       Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
·       Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising
·       Mass Effect 2
·       Prince of Persia – The Forgotten Sands
·       Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

Best Student Game

·       Codex
·       Ginkgo
·       Hootlin
·       WOMP!

Innovation Award

·       Kinect Joy Ride
·       ModNation Racers
·       Scrabble for iPad
·       Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
·       Your Shape Fitness Evolved

For full event information please visit:  www.canadianvideogameawards.com or follow along on Facebook or Twitter.  The Canadian Videogame Awards are produced by Reboot Communications in partnership with Greedy Productions and are officially endorsed by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada and DigiBC. The producers are joined by a national committee of developers, leaders, and associations from the Canadian interactive entertainment industry.