Village Gamer

I have never printed a letter to the editor on this site – probably because I haven’t really had any, other than press releases. So, new year, new feature. Here is our first official Letter To the Editor:

Dear Editor

On January 31st, Community, Sport, and Cultural Development Minister, Bill Bennett announced the $6.25 million in funding for young people involved in artistic ventures. He also said during this announcement – “Can we immediately match the tax film credits available in Ontario? The cost to the taxpayer in B.C. would be $100 million to do that, and so, as I’ve said in the many, many meetings that I’m having, and will continue to have with the industry, we can’t do that.” Read the rest of this entry »

Held at the Hilton Hotel, the Montreal International Games Summit took place over Tuesday and Wednesday (November 13-14) with jam-packed days of informative sessions spanning Business, Art and Visual Effects, Audio, Design, Production, and Technology.  Originally created to service the Quebec video game industry, speakers and participants hailed from far and wide outside the provincial borders. Here is part two of the event recap.

Read the rest of this entry »

Held at the Hilton Hotel, the Montreal International Games Summit took place over Tuesday and Wednesday (November 13-14) with jam-packed days of informative sessions spanning Business, Art and Visual Effects, Audio, Design, Production, and Technology.  Originally created to service the Quebec video game industry, speakers and participants hailed from far and wide outside the provincial borders. Read the rest of this entry »

As those of you who follow us on Twitter will be well aware, DigiBC hosted a town hall meeting Tuesday night for the BC game development community. It was encouraging to see such an excellent turnout for the event, and kudos to Whitney and Carly for putting the event together. The evening featured a panel of local creative devs with Lance Davis taking on the role of moderator. Opening remarks for the evening were presented by Rick Griffiths, Audit and Assurance Group partner with PwC. I will touch on only a few of the highlights from the evening, simply because the conversation moved quite quickly and because we did tape the event. The video is now available and embedded below; I have also pulled many of the tweets into a board on Storify. Read the rest of this entry »

In what can only be tagged as cruel irony, Activision has announced the release of Radical Entertainment‘s Prototype 2 for PC in the UK today – and below is how a site for game journalists listed the announcement in its daily email of the latest press releases. Naturally, nowhere in the news release does it mention that Activision has ravaged Radical and turned it into a dark shadow of its former creative and vibrant self. According to the publisher, Prototype 2 hadn’t “found its audience” – well, if versions of the game are still being released, wasn’t the action taken against Radical a tad premature? Read the rest of this entry »

Shaw Media has sent out three press releases outlining the network’s plans for the 2012-2013 television season, and before I delve into them, let me say that I am extremely disappointed for two reasons. One is that Endgame Season Two is nowhere to be seen, and Shaw has still not added Investigation Discovery to its channel lineup. It’s good to see that, like Rogers’ announcement yesterday, there are many shows I won’t be watching, Canadian originals or not. I don’t want cheap drivel time wasters whose content makes me shudder at the state of humanity. I want intelligent, engaging and entertaining programming. Like Endgame. And Alcatraz. Oh yes, and Ringer – which while shot in the USA, had a Vancouver connection in post-production. Read the rest of this entry »

INplay’s world is made of Lego. Or that is what Mark Surman, Executive Director of Mozilla Foundation, wants us to see.  Not a far reach for the kid creatives in the audience who were looking for inspiration and ideas at this year’s international event. Read the rest of this entry »

Shaw Media has announced an expanded partnership for Canadian digital sales with CBS Interactive. New premium digital websites joining the Shaw Premium Audience Network (S.P.A.N.) portfolio include the following properties: Read the rest of this entry »

There is a brand new web series in town – well, in Hamilton – that offers a whole new view of towing and family businesses. We had an opportunity to do some Q & A with the creators of Bill And Sons Towing, Mark De Angelis and Charles Ketchabaw from Toronto-based indie production company Ready Set Panic. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was written by Ananamoose and originally published on GuildMag – it has been reposted here with Rhonda’s permission. 

If you are a part of the Guild Wars 1 community (and even if you are not) you have probably heard about GWEN. No, not the Mesmer in Eye of the North. I’m talking about the Gaming World Entertainment Network!

GWEN is an online radio station that is also affiliated with Gamers Giving Back. Both organizations are run by the same person, M A L I B U Barbie, or Rhonda as she is known here on Earth. She has been running these organizations since January 2010. Her mission is to prove the stereotype of gamers wrong. We aren’t just sitting at home staring at a screen, we have big hearts and we are active in giving back to the world. Read the rest of this entry »