Village Gamer

Fifteen open, online textbooks in subject areas ranging from math and chemistry to marketing, psychology, and business have been reviewed by post-secondary faculty and are now freely available for download from BCcampus. More than 38 instructors and professors from post-secondary institutions around the province reviewed existing open textbooks for quality and relevance in British Columbia. These 15 textbooks have been found to be of high quality and appropriate for use in B.C. institutions (complete list below). Read the rest of this entry »

Five major Canadian digital media funding organizations have joined efforts to facilitate international digital media co-productions through the creation of a shared and simple framework (PDF 125KB) that sets the basis for co-producing digital media projects with Canada and to access their respective funding programs. The new framework was developed by the Canada Media Fund, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, the Independent Production Fund, the Quebecor Fund, and the Shaw Rocket Fund. It provides a unified administrative approach to ease negotiations between Canadian producers and their foreign partners. Read the rest of this entry »

Quebec’s Squeeze Studio Animation has released its first Live Wallpaper on Google Play. The app, which is on sale for 99¢, features Fernutz the dancing farmer, one of the studio’s original characters. Fernutz Latino Dancing is a fun Live Wallpaper showcasing a highly detailed funny 3D animated character, challenging the studio’s artists with some crazy meringue-inspired dance choreography. More than a simple Live Wallpaper, Fernutz Latino Dancing proposes a cool ‘Match the Pose’ mini-game triggered by a quick touch of the on-screen joystick icon. Read the rest of this entry »

Nearing its one-year anniversary, Microsoft Corp.’s all-in-one music service, Xbox Music, continues making strides to deliver all the music people want, wherever they want it played. Today, Microsoft announced its plans to bring Xbox Music to iOS and Android devices, as well as free streaming on Xbox Music via the Web – see below for further details and conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

Game industry veteran Raphael van Lierop has announced the formation of independent developer Hinterland Studio, a new creative studio located in the picturesque Northern Vancouver Island wilderness. With a roster of established industry veterans who have collectively worked on over 40 triple-A games, the studio is also pleased to announce development of its first title, The Long Dark. A first-person post-disaster survival simulation, The Long Dark is set in the aftermath of a geomagnetic super storm that has destroyed North America’s technology infrastructure. In the first season of this episodic series, players experience this grim new reality through the eyes of bush pilot William Mackenzie, isolated with other survivors in the Northern wilderness as a result of the event. Gameplay emphasizes exploration to gather resources and knowledge about the world, while mastering a deep survival simulation to overcome the myriad natural and man-made hazards of the new frontier. Players will also face difficult moral choices that will affect the outcome of gameplay, story, and ultimately, the course of humanity’s recovery. Read the rest of this entry »