According to the Entertainment Software Association, female gamers are one of the industry’s fastest growing demographics, with women currently accounting for 40% of the overall gaming audience. Silicon Sisters plans to capture and grow this rapidly expanding market by tailoring games to these players’ daily lives and personal interests. Their target customers — women of all ages, from tweens and teens to hard-working women worldwide — comprise an audience that the company’s all-female design staff inherently understands.

“We’re not interested in ‘pinkifying’ games, which is how girl games are typically designed,” says Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, Silicon Sisters’ CEO. “It’s no coincidence that the games I and many other female gamers are most drawn to have had women involved in their development. Girls and women game differently than boys and men. Silicon Sisters has studied these differences so we can make games that truly appeal to and resonate with the female audience.”

It’s an objective perfectly suited to the founders’ backgrounds. During their combined 18 years in the industry, both have been vocal champions of female representation among video game developers and audiences. The former COO of Deep Fried Entertainment, Bailey Gershkovitch chairs the Vancouver chapter of Women in Games International (WIGeh) and sits on GDC Canada’s Advisory Board. Forbes, previously an Executive Producer at Radical Entertainment, has delivered eleven top-selling games and is a veteran industry advocate for girl gaming preferences.

“The video game industry is experiencing a rebirth of sorts,” says Kirsten Forbes, Silicon Sisters’ COO. “PC online gaming is up, social networking has become pervasive, and mobile platforms are ubiquitous. Women are adopting games on these platforms in droves. It’s time to get serious about delivering quality games into this burgeoning market.”

Silicon Sisters’ predominantly female team, which includes noted designer Brenda Brathwaite as a consultant, is working on two projects for PC and mobile platforms. This summer, company representatives will attend Casual Connect, GDC Europe, and GamesCom to pursue publishing opportunities for their own properties, as well as potential work-for-hire projects that correspond to Silicon Sisters’ corporate vision.

TransGaming, Inc. is crossing the Atlantic and entering the European market after securing its first in a number of active agreements to deploy GameTreeTV in the European market before the end of 2010. The first deployment will be with a European Managed Service Operator (MSO) who will begin releasing the new generation of set-top boxes to their subscriber base of multi-millions of households. Financial terms were not disclosed due to confidentiality reasons. TransGaming will be working closely with this MSO over the next few months to prepare for the commercial launch of GameTreeTV, which is currently slated for late 2010.

“This agreement is a major milestone and demonstration of TransGaming’s leading role in revolutionizing the delivery of high-end interactive content in the digital home,” said Vikas Gupta, President and CEO of TransGaming. “We are excited that European consumers will be the first to enjoy the ability to play great games directly through their set-top box and conveniently will be able to transact their games through a variety of consumer friendly business models.”

The GameTreeTV Gaming Platform is an on-demand video games service that gives consumers access to high quality games directly from the comfort of their living rooms through any Intel CE Media Processor based device. Consumers will be able to access a broad assortment of well-known, popular arcade, puzzle, family and adventure style games from the growing library at GameTreeTV. TransGaming first unveiled its GameTreeTV platform at the Intel Developer Forum in September last year while announcing a strategic collaboration agreement with Intel Corporation and an investment by Intel Capital.

Developers are invited to sign up for TransGaming’s Content Developer Program in order to gain access to their SDK game emulation tools, documentation, and hardware requirements to bring your games direct to consumers through the GameTreeTV Games Platform.

Big Blue Bubble Inc. announced today that Home Sweet Home Online, the next evolution in the Home Sweet Home series is released on Facebook.

Do you think you have what it takes to be a home decorator? Now you can with Home Sweet Home Online! Build your dream home and show it off to your friends and the rest of the Home Sweet Home users.

Home Sweet Home Online gives the player complete freedom when it comes to designing rooms, kitchens and bathrooms. They can paint objects different colors and they are not restricted to a grid when placing items. This freedom combined with thousands of furniture pieces allows the player to create a virtually infinite amount of different rooms!

Travel to your friend’s homes to see what ideas they come up with. You can even travel to their friend’s homes and check out what they’ve done. Meet new and interesting people and become an active part of the Home Sweet Home community!

The player can also play mini games to earn coins, unlock new furniture by gaining experience, and visit virtually everyone else’s home to rate their rooms get decoration ideas. With weekly updates of new content and features, players will continually try to outdo each other and win the Room of the Week prizes.

Features:

* Beautiful graphics and a vast variety of items at the players disposal
* Rate each other’s rooms for prizes
* Exciting mini-games help earn coins
* Unique furniture unlocking system
* Travel from neighborhood to neighborhood to find the latest trends
* Complete freedom when create rooms
* Buy new rooms, kitchens and bathrooms to create an even larger home!

The REAL Hockey Experience on Wii™, the unprecedented NHL® 2K11 cross-country tour is bringing the excitement to the Vancouver area on Thursday, July 22 and Friday, July 23.

Phoenix Coyotes center, Kyle Turris, will return to his hometown of New Westminster on Thursday, July 22 to face-off with fans as they get exclusive hands-on play with NHL 2K11 months before it launches exclusively for the Nintendo Wii system.

Traveling throughout the northern United States and Canada, The REAL Hockey Experience on Wii™ brings the excitement of NHL hockey to fans in a custom-designed NHL 2K11 recreation vehicle rigged with portable video game gear created especially for fans and gamers. The trail of pucks, prizes and playable demos will also feature appearances by NHL stars throughout the tour, including Vancouver Canucks® forward and NHL 2K11 cover athlete Ryan Kesler, Los Angeles Kings® defenseman Jack Johnson, New Jersey Devils® forward Travis Zajac and more.

Lower Mainland enthusiasts can meet up with the NHL 2K11 tour bus at the New Westminster Best Buy store at 805 Boyd Street on July 22 from 1 – 4pm, or at the Richmond Best Buy store (5300 No. 3 Road) on July 23rd, again from 1 – 4pm.

An Alien invasion, a clumsy janitor, a vat of rubber and a burst of radiation lay the groundwork for the latest release of “Elasticr, the Stretchiest Superhero” game for the Apple iPhone.

The games hero Elasticr could very well be the distant cousin of Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four or Helen Parr, aka Elastigirl with his powers of super body elongation, allowing him to fling himself acrobatically around a room to avoid evil aliens, devious traps and sharp spikes as he struggles to save the human race.

In the latest version of Elasticr, Montreal’s Dlux Studios has added twenty additional levels along with a level chooser, full OpenFeint integration, and significantly more hair gel to manage Elasticr’s super sized pompadour. The Elasticr app’s physics engine creates realistic flying, bouncing and stretching effects unparalleled in the app store.

Fun for kids from five to one hundred, Elasticr’s is rated 4+ and is both suitable and enjoyable for children. Higher levels will test the skills of gamers of all ages as Elasticr encounters increasingly difficult obstacles such as disappearing hand holds, spinning blades and numerous chances for electrocution. Please ignore the smell of burning rubber…

To experience the most fun with rubber since the first rubber band was shot across a room at a co-worker, find the Elasticr arcade game in the iTunes app store for only $0.99. Elasticr is compatible with all iPhone’s and iPod Touch devices running iOS 3.0 or higher. Go ahead and run it on your iPad too… Elasticr is more than happy to stretch onto the bigger screen for you.

As the iOS game market continues to expand, game developers are looking for ways to further promote their most popular games via a variety of methods, including mobile advertising, cross promotion in newer games, and pricing changes. With proper promotional support, changing an app’s price to free for a limited time can greatly build a game’s audience and improve its chances to grow revenue virally following the sale.

Get Set Games, creator of the successful Addicus game, recently faced this scenario with its Mega Jump title. Mega Jump was performing well in the charts, regularly pulling in over 2,500 downloads a day. However, the game struggled to break through the barrier and gain viral success, facing the same problem that every other app in the iOS ecosystem faces – getting discovered by players. Their solution was to temporarily make Mega Jump free and promote it on OpenFeint’s Free Game of the Day.

Downloads of the game jumped dramatically during the promotion, from 2,500 a day to over 1 million downloads while free for 3 days. The game went to #1 on the charts in over 25 countries. And the momentum continued once the game changed back to paid – with revenue growing 170% for the 3 weeks following the promotion.

“We wanted to feature Mega Jump on OpenFeint because we thought the network had truly viral promotion capability. We knew we’d get a bump in sales, but wanted to test this theory,” said Derek van Vliet, Co-Founder of Get Set Games. “The promotion was an amazing success. It’s been a great ride for our studio and has dramatically increased our revenue stream.”

“Free Game of the Day was a great experience for Get Set Games,” said van Vliet. “OpenFeint has created a very easy to use program that really helps drive game downloads.”

Free Game of the Day consistently drives games to the top of the charts. Of the 30 games featured in May, 13 reached in the top 25 and 9 more reached the top 50 in the U.S. app store. Developers interested in being considered for Free Game of the Day can visit the Free Game of The Day site to find out more.

Rusty Axe Games is proud to announce the availability of Dungeon Demon, a map design and editing tool for tabletop RPG, wargame and computer game map development. Early adopter pricing at $19.99 is available until Aug. 30, 2010 when Dungeon Demon will return to its normal purchase price of $29.99.

Dungeon Demon features:

* Free upgrades forever
* An easy to use editor that blends rapid tiling with object placement. The tiling tool allows users to rapidly drag out ground, floor and wall layers before using the stamper to drop down individual objects.
* Dungeon Demon ships with roughly 200 pieces of professional, royalty free artwork that you can use in your own map designs, and additional art packs are available. Royalty free licensing for commercial computer game development is available and include source art files in 32-bit alpha file formats for inclusion in game engines.
* Up to 9 user definable layers with no map dimension size restrictions!
* Dungeon Demon blends tiling and simple object placement to give you the best of both worlds in a fast and easy to use object oriented map editor. The grid system enables rapid tiling of wall and floor sections and graphic objects can be placed at any position in the map.
* Export maps as bitmaps or in XML format for use in computer games. Print maps directly from dungeon Demon or import bitmaps directly into your favorite paint program for further touch up.
* Use the legend tool to annotate your maps. Easy to use XML template system allows computer game designers to add additional map data with the legend tool.

EA Black Box has announced that Need for Speed™ World, the massively multiplayer online action racing game, will be available for digital download on July 27 for the PC. Need for Speed World combines the rush of illicit street racing, deep RPG style progression and vehicle customization into an immersive, socially-connected Need for Speed experience. Players can compete against any one of their friends, family or pick from thousands of top ranked players to challenge in intense online battles and police pursuits across 150 miles of sprawling open world.

Players can pre-order the Need for Speed World Starter Pack (Conditions & restrictions apply to this preorder offer. See the EA Store for details) today to gain early access to the game on July 20. Gamers will also unlock exclusive cars, earn double XP, reserve their driver names and have VIP status permanently displayed in their driver profile before the game officially launches.

On July 20, the Need for Speed World Starter Pack will be available for $20. The Starter Pack includes a credit for $20 worth of SpeedBoost (the in-game currency), full access up to level 50 and a bundled assortment of power-ups including Nitrous and Traffic Magnet to help players get started. Players can also purchase additional items like power-ups, double XP periods and even rental cars starting at just a few cents. (Conditions & restrictions apply. See details at point of purchase.) A free client download of Need for Speed World will also be available to give gamers a sample of the intense street-racing action with access to all races, pursuits and career progression up to level 10.

NBA Jam Session, an interactive basketball festival will travel across Canada this summer and bring free basketball activities to fans of all ages and skill levels. From August 21 to October 10, NBA Jam Session will make weekend stops in Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. Check out the tour’s Facebook page for regular tour updates.

“Basketball is more popular than ever in Canada following the record-breaking TV viewership of Game 7 of the NBA Finals,” says General Manager of NBA Canada Dan MacKenzie. “NBA Jam Session will allow fans in Canada to experience the NBA like never before through a great mix of basketball and entertainment.”

Free Saturday activities for fans at each NBA Jam Session visit will include:

- Appearances by NBA players, legends, mascots and dancers
– Performance by a world famous Harlem Globetrotter
– A free photo for each fan with The Larry O’Brien Trophy
– An NBA Fit clinic to teach attendees how to get in shape
– Dancing instruction from NBA dancers
– Measure up stations that give fans a chance to compare height, hand and shoe size with NBA players

Sunday activities at each NBA Jam Session visit will include:

- A full day 3-on-3 tournament. There is a $60 entry fee per team and registration is required.
– There will be four age divisions: Under 12 will be co-ed as well as separate male and female divisions for players ages 13-15, 16-18 and 19+
– The winners of the 19 and over tournament will win a trip to Toronto for the National Finals at Air Canada Centre during a pre-season Toronto Raptors game
– Registration will be on a first come, first served basis and will open July 23 at 10:00 a.m. EDT

The NBA Jam Session Tour Schedule:

Halifax (Waterfront) August 21-22
Montreal (Crescent St.) September 11-12
Winnipeg (The Forks) September 18-19
Calgary (Olympic Plaza) September 25-26
Vancouver (Granville Sq.) October 2-3
Toronto (Yonge-Dundas Sq.) October 9-10

NBA Jam Session partners include: American Airlines, Colgate-Palmolive, EA Sports, Family Channel, Gatorade, HP, Life Science Nutritionals, Parmalat Canada Inc., Rogers Communications and Spalding.

Toronto-based international eCommerce solution provider PayPro Global has announced that it has secured $1.7 million USD in funding. The new funds will be used to further develop the PayPro EasyCommerce platform, through technology and infrastructure advancements, support marketing efforts, and drive sales.

Enabling PayPro Global to make a huge investment in eCommerce technologies development has the potential to dramatically improve the way modern online software sales are managed, providing vendors with a safer, more efficient alternative. Well known as an innovative eCommerce provider, PayPro uses cutting edge technologies to deliver the best tools and services for selling software online.

PayPro’s EasyCommerce platform was designed to help sellers grow their business in global markets. PayPro services reduce the possible risks of online transactions, and ensure high sales conversion rates and customer satisfaction rates, using techniques available only through PayPro.

“The success of PayPro Global is directly related to the success of our client’s online software businesses, and this drives our continued development and expansion of the PayPro EasyCommerce platform,” said Matthew Silverman, CEO of PayPro Global. “This is an unprecedented opportunity for us to go far beyond building the most reliable, safe, advanced, and easy-to-use system for selling software online.”

Since its foundation, PayPro Global has put great effort into constructing a powerful end-to-end eCommerce solution with flexible architecture to meet the demands of companies of all sizes worldwide. The EasyCommerce platform includes comprehensive sales data reporting functionality that lets clients build custom reports and easily identify methods for improving sales. In addition, PayPro is known for providing personal attention to its clients and advising clients on effective ways to increase revenue.

“We’d like to invite all fans of history and strategy to come out to our booth at Origins and give Hegemony a try,” says Rob McConnell, lead programmer at Longbow Games. “We’re going to have multiple game stations available where guests can play the full game as well as free demo cds to take home and big discounts for those who purchase Hegemony at the show.”

Hegemony: Philip of Macedon lets you conquer the ancient Greek world in this PC RTS war game that follows the rise of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. Players campaign continuously, unfettered by load screens, across a satellite-accurate map of ancient Greece encountering the full range of warfare from reconnaissance to raids to field battles to mountain blockades. The game also features:

* Innovative supply system – Siege and starve the enemy by cutting their supply lines or burning their crops, all the while building and protecting your own supply network to support your growing empire.
* Steeped in history – In-game pedia and 100+ historical objectives recreate the rise of the Macedonian empire.
* Detailed and Stylized World and Map – Transition smoothly between the detailed 3D world and the stylized board-game map while maintaining complete control over your empire.
* Subjugate your enemy – Chase down and capture routed enemy units to create slave gangs to work your mines or build your forts. But don’t leave them unguarded or they could rebel and wreak havoc in your empire’s heartland!
* Conquer the seas – Build or capture a fleet of triremes to protect your coastlines, raid enemy merchants, or drop an army at your enemy’s backdoor.

After passionate campaigns across the country and more than one million votes from Monopoly fans from Kelowna to Kawartha Lakes, 22 of Canada’s favourite cities now have a home on the new Monopoly: Canada Edition game board. Chatham-Kent, Ontario now represents the coveted Boardwalk spot, with Saint-Jean-Sur Richelieu Quebec capturing Park Place to round out the prestigious dark blue property group in the popular game invented by Charles Darrow in 1935.

“We are thrilled to celebrate Canada Day with this new all-Canadian edition of the world’s favorite family game brand featuring cities voted by Canadians!” said Michelle Sinclair, Brand Manager of Games & Puzzles for toy and game-maker Hasbro Canada. “We hope that Canadian Monopoly fans will enjoy playing on a game board that includes an interesting mix of our cities featuring all of the dynamic cultures, sights and history of this country.”

Votes were cast during a six-week period in early 2010. The first four weeks of voting determined 20 of the 22 cities featured in the game, picked from 65 pre-selected cities based on the population size of the province in which they resided. The remaining two spots were reserved for a wildcard vote for any city across Canada. Ten cities with the most nominations for the wildcard faced off for two weeks in February 2010 and Beauceville, Quebec and Banff, Alberta earned the brown property spaces on the game board, traditionally occupied by Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue.

The following 22 cities earned spots on the Monopoly: Canada Edition game board, and are listed with the highest rent properties first:

- Dark Blue: Chatham-Kent, Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu
– Green: Calgary, Sarnia, Edmonton
– Yellow: Windsor, Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres
– Red: Medicine Hat, Gatineau, Shawinigan
– Orange: Kawartha Lakes, Chilliwack, Montreal
– Magenta: Kelowna, North Bay, St. John’s
– Light Blue: Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver
– Brown: Beauceville, Banff

Along with the 22 property spaces featuring great Canadian cities, the game will include updated Chance and Community Chest cards that highlight events and culturally relevant scenarios from Canada. Players may take flight at the International Balloon Festival in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, skate along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa or win big at the casinos in Niagara Falls. The new Monopoly: Canada Edition also features an Electronic Banking unit with cards instead of cash. Players can collect rent and buy their favourite Canadian cities with the touch of a button!

Today, the Monopoly brand provides entertainment experiences for players around the world. Whether they play the board game, digital or online games, or participate in casino or lottery gaming, there is a Monopoly experience to fit every lifestyle. Stemming from the strategic alliance between Hasbro and Electronic Arts Inc., EA has created digital versions of Monopoly which are available for download for mobile phones or free online at Pogo. Monopoly is also available for console gaming systems, including the Nintendo Wii™, Xbox 360™, PlayStation®2 and PLAYSTATION®3. The new Monopoly: Canada Edition will be available in stores across the country, in both English and French on June 28th, 2010 for an approximate retail price of $39.99.

SEGA® of America’s Super Monkey Ball™ 2, which was developed by Other Ocean Interactive, has been updated with two brand new mini-games. The first mini-game, Monkey Target, is a high-flying experience that launches you into the atmosphere. From there, it’s up to you to guide your character back down to a safe landing while grabbing as many bananas as possible along the way. Monkey Golf lets you hit the links with your simian friends and play your way through a full 18-hole course. Remember to watch out for those sand traps!

Artificial Mind & Motion and 505 Games have released the official launch trailer for Naughty Bear, which comes out this coming Tuesday (June 29th) for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game features seven episodes, each with a set of four challenges, and as players make their way through the episodes, they will unlock special costumes that can later be used to their own advantage in multiplayer campaigns (see below). Competitive online play gives players the opportunity to experiment with new traps and power-ups. The Paint Trap covers opponents in fluorescent paint, preventing them from taking refuge from Naughty Bear by hiding in the woods. Power-ups like the Rage Capsule makes players stronger, while the Speed Capsule makes players run faster.

While killing bears is certainly extremely naughty, terrorizing foes through a wide variety of creative tactics helps players achieve the most Naughty Points possible in Naughty Bear. With over 250 ways to be naughty, gamers can quickly build up and maintain their points multiplier. Players can also amp up on Naughty Points by ensuring other bears witness naughty acts, or by leaving injured bears to wander and frighten others into a state of intense anxiety. Clever scares are awarded even more points, so cunning players will be rewarded for their efforts through the game’s complex AI and responsive game engine.

Weapon choices in Naughty Bear also give players extensive gameplay options. From baseball bats, bear traps and guns to frozen legs of meat and even heavy machinery, the bears provide Naughty with plenty of ways to achieve sweet justice.

Naughty finds himself facing a motley assortment of foes as the bears call for reinforcements in each episode. Through sabotage, Naughty Bear can also lure in new victims as they rush to the scene to correct his acts of vandalism. As Naughty’s rage progresses throughout the game, police officers and ninjas are only the first line of defense for the island’s inhabitants. Naughty will face foes from all corners of the world and beyond as they unite in their attempts to try to put a premature stop to his brutal vengeance.

Current mulitiplayer modes include:

Assault mode, which pits two teams of red versus blue bears against each other as one team attempts to destroy an iconic statue in the Island of Perfection while the other team tries to protect it. Each team rotates from either defending or attacking the statue in two-minute rounds. Teams can use any tactic, including the strategic use of traps, barricades or hiding in the woods, to prevent their opponents from destroying the statue.

Cake Walk, where players attempt to hold the Glorious Golden Cupcake for as long as possible. Holding the cupcake puts the player in a vulnerable position where he can’t attack or defend himself. A typical game starts with a mad dash to the prize and then, once someone has the Cupcake, it’s a battle to maintain possession as long as possible. The player that holds the Glorious Golden Cupcake for the longest period of time wins.

The Golden Oozi of Doomness is a gun with unlimited ammunition, and the only way to gain points in this mode is by using it to kill enemies. This unique scoring system makes players work as a team one moment to destroy the current wielder, and then backstab each other to steal the prized gun. The winner of this mode is the player that racks up the most kills using the Golden Oozi.

The Jelly Wars scenario features cooperative gameplay and intense strategy as there is no coming back from the dead in Jelly Wars mode! Three players take on the roles of Daddles, Cozy and Sunbeam and bring jelly desserts to a giant mixing machine in order to create the most awesome jelly of all time. Watch out though, as Naughty Bear will try anything to stop them! The bears will have to protect each other, transport delicate objects, call back up, repair objects and heal others while Naughty attacks them, disables their tools and hides their jellies. The winner decided when the bears collect five jellies if Naughty Bear annihilates them all first.

Another made-in-Canada humour-based game will also be hitting the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 soon. Hothead Games‘ highly-anticipated and long-awaited Ron Gilbert title DeathSpank is scheduled for release to PSN and XBL on July 14th. Anticipated cost for the downloadable Action/RPG game is $15.00 on PSN or 1200 MS Points on XBL. Upon completion of the “Confirm Your Download” Level, players will be launched into an epic story of puzzle-solving, justice-dealing and loot-collecting, whereby those handling the controller can vanquish evilness either alone or with the aide of sidekick Sparkles The Wizard. At least he’s not a vampire…named Sparkles…there’s already been enough of that in the current entertainment market.

With DeathSpank complete, Hothead Games can now turn its full attention on Swarm, which is the basis for a recently announced agreement between Hothead and Ignition Entertainment. Heading for a major cross-platform release in 2011, Swarm was conceived via The Great Canadian Game Competition, which was sponsored by Telefilm Canada, and has since Swarm has gone on to become “a unique comedy action game in which players control entire herds of strange, daft little characters as they clash in chaotic and hilarious situations.”

EA Sports announced today that Oklahoma City Thunder small forward, Kevin Durant, will be the cover athlete for NBA EliteE 11. A 2010 NBA All-Star, Durant became the youngest player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring this past season, and he helped lead the Thunder to an impressive 50 win season and an NBA Playoffs berth. NBA Elite 11 is currently in development under the EA Sports™ brand by EA Canada in Burnaby and will be available worldwide this October for the PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360®.

NBA Elite 11 introduces significant gameplay changes that promise to revolutionize the basketball videogame experience. Hands-On Control is an innovative new control scheme that allows for one-to-one responsiveness of a player’s movement and actions on the court, as opposed to predetermined animations from the past that require users to wait while a scenario played out before making the next move. Hands-On Control is unique to NBA Elite 11 and it is used to manage everything within a player’s offensive and defensive arsenal, including: dribble moves, dunks, drives to the basket, fadeaways, mid-air adjustments, blocks, steals and more.

“I’ve always been a fan of EA Sports,” said Durant. “This has been an exciting year for me and the team, and capping it off with being on the cover of NBA Elite 11 is cool.”

“Durant is a game changer,” said Jordan Edelstein, VP Marketing, EA Sports. “There has never been a player his size with his skill set, and there has never before been a basketball videogame like NBA Elite. Just like we see Durant as the future of the NBA, NBA Elite 11 represents the future of basketball videogames by providing a gameplay experience you simply won’t find anywhere else on the market.”

Picked second overall in the 2007 NBA Entry Draft, Durant has accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments in his short professional career, including being named the 2008 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year. Additionally, he will be representing the USA in the 2010 FIBA World Championships this summer in Turkey. Durant is only the third player in EA Sports history to be featured both on the pack of an NCAA and an NBA licensed product. Durant was featured on the cover of NCAA March Madness 08.

Victoria’s NetroMedia has added Apple iPad streaming to its suite of online broadcasting services. This new feature was launched as part of the company’s Multi-platform strategy, in order to maximize online streaming media coverage.

Released in early 2010, the iPad is Apple’s latest addition to the Tablet PC market, achieving an impressive one-million sales in its first month. It is considered by Apple to be a “magical and revolutionary” device designed for easy Internet surfing and media consumption.

Streaming to the iPad (Apple iOS) is done using H.264 video compression with AAC (Main Profile level 3.1) audio via RTSP/RTP. NetroMedia uses packetizing technology to prepare the stream for iPad viewing.

The encoding profile used to reach Apple’s iPad can also be used to serve the iPhone, PC and Mac computers. Both on-demand and live streaming are supported. 24/7 access to an online self-management streaming portal is included with NetroMedia’s services. This is where users manage and provision channels “in the cloud”, as well as analyze their project’s usage statistics.

Earlier this year NetroMedia announced the transition from bandwidth-based services to a pooled-bandwidth environment across channels. This move prepared the ground for a cost-effective Multi-platform streaming solution, in additional to increasing the distribution of unused bandwidth within accounts.

The goal of the game is to quickly serve as many customers and collect tips and bonus points in each of the 35 timed levels. Using the bonus points earned from each level, players are able to purchase items to upgrade the bar and their bartending skills. By the end of 35 levels, the small, one roomed bar the game starts with will be transformed into a full fledged bar. Featuring an original score, stunning graphics and a deep story line, BarStar is an immediately addictive and engaging game.

“The gameplay is obviously something we have strived to keep engaging and entertaining throughout the entire experience,” says Wes Tam, founder and CEO of GlitchSoft. “Our biggest accomplishment was the innovative, multi-touch approach to mixing drinks that brings you deeper into the game.”

Features include:

- 35 levels of frantic bartending gameplay
– Mix drinks using our innovative multi-touch system. Drinks include beer and wine in the early levels and cocktails including Screwdriver, Caesar and Strawberry Daiquiri in the advanced levels.
– 12 unique customers and 4 secret guest stars with different styles and tastes
– Bar and skill upgrades based on performance with over 200 upgrades (??)
– Made especially for your iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch

BarStar is available internationally, and is currently on sale at an introductory price from the App store for $2.99.

Today at E3, Ontario game developer Silicon Knights announced its exciting collaboration with McMaster University, the Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH) and Mohawk College. The partners will work to create a new research institute around interactive digital media that will pioneer and shape cutting-edge advances in the interactive entertainment arena. The initiative, called “Eight: The Hamilton Institute for Interactive Digital Media,” will be located at McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton and will debut in 2011.

The joint venture centers on the development of the “8th Art,” art that develops technology and creativity beyond the moving image, i.e. film, and adds interactivity. The Institute’s focus will be on the creation and integration of new technologies, new design and innovative artistic concepts for digital media applications. “Eight” will provide a nucleus where staff of Silicon Knights and the AGH and faculty and students at Master University and Mohawk College can move seamlessly between organizations on shared research projects and digital media development. Staff of Silicon Knights and AGH could participate in research, course development and teaching at the new Institute.

“By adding interactivity to moving images such as film (the ‘7th art), we are creating what Silicon Knights’ has dubbed for many years as the ‘8th Art’,” said Silicon Knights President Denis Dyack. “We have been promoting the ‘8th Art’ for many years, and are beyond excited to have aligned with three outstanding partners – McMaster University, AGH and Mohawk College – that share the same vision, and understand the need to grow the talent and resources in this arena.

The partnership brings together several prominent groups whose talents and synergies will result in a groundbreaking initiative. Silicon Knights, one of the leading independent game developers in the world, brings its development and creative expertise, which complements the talented faculty at McMaster, a leading research-intensive university with a track record of world-class research and education capabilities. AGH, a leading public art gallery that positions digital art as one of its key artistic activities through research exhibition and education, has a solid track record of engaging, stimulating and enriching the community through art, and this expertise will be compounded by talented faculty and staff at Mohawk College, with its keen focus on and responsiveness to industry and market trends.

McMaster University’s President, Peter George, believes the partnership will be a catalyst in developing a critical mass of expertise in digital media. “We want to be known as the “8th Art” university, but to achieve that distinction will depend on effective collaboration with great partners,” he said. “Capitalizing on one another’s strengths will create unlimited opportunities for research commercialization, education and training, and economic development and job creation for our region.”

The council of Canadian Academies has identified new media as having the greatest momentum and the highest growth prospects of Canada. Worldwide the digital media sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the knowledge economy, projected to be valued at US $2.2. trillion over the next five years. This program will help grow the innovation and commercialization efforts in this key strategic sector of the new knowledge and creative economy.

“Mohawk College is pleased to be a part of this exciting new initiative that will bring together the best and brightest in the field of digital media,” says Mohawk College president, Rob MacIsaac. “It’s an initiative that will build on Mohawk’s long-standing partnership with McMaster University, draw on our college’s strengths in applied learning and research and leverage our ability to stay responsive to employer needs and industry trends.”

“Many innovative art forms today already incorporate practices and techniques from other disciplines, said Louise Dompierre, president and CEO of AGH. “A key difference here is this partnership extends to the entire process from research, production, dissemination, training and marketing of the end product. It will be most enriching for artists, students and the community to have the opportunity to work closely with world renowned researchers in science and technology and for the AGH to present their accomplishments as it proceeds in the context of an art gallery.”

CreativeMix is offering the chance for you to promote your creative project or venture this November 4th at CreativeEX, the exhibition at CreativeMIX – Vancouver’s annual ideation and creative collaboration conference.

They are looking for proposals from creative people who want to showcase their creativity and innovation in an engaging and interactive environment. If selected, you will get to use one of ten 10‘x10’ display walls, and will be given two conference passes, a dedicated page on the conference website, a special feature on both the blog and e-mail newsletter, and be interviewed on the main stage. This exhibition package is valued at $800. I like the whole offering – except for that “interview on the main stage” part…

The conference has also put out a challenge to graphic designers for confidential design submissions:

“Design our poster and you could win $250 plus a whole bunch of promo-love. This September we’ll be distributing 400 posters around Vancouver and we’re looking for a fresh take on this year’s design. If you’re a graphic designer and have been looking for a new way to market your talent then here’s a great way to spread the word. Winning this contest would be a great addition to any designers portfolio because the competition will be tough and we’ll be promoting the winning design (and designer) through our social networks (aka brag). If you’re already totally awesome then why don’t you prove it; we dare you.”

Next week Canadians will find out if their city has made it onto the new MONOPOLY: Canada game board. Before the online voting was blacked out a few months ago, do you remember where your Canadian city ranked on the leaderboard?

Mr. Monopoly and the Hasbro team will reveal the 22 Canadian cities that were voted onto the new Monopoly: Canada game board in a live event from Ottawa on June 22nd, beginning at 11a.m. ET.

The BCTIA has sent out a request for input in regards to the formal submission the Association is developing for the federal government’s Digital Economy initiative. This submission, which is due on July 9th, will build on previous position papers that the BCTIA has developed with input from its members, including excerpts from the Advanced Technology paper, prepared as part of the Business Council of BC Outlook 2020 Discussions, and their recent TechTalentBC labour demand study.

In preparation for the consultations, the federal government has drafted a very good discussion paper that is split into 5 sections; each section asking very pointed discussion questions. The BCTIA submission will focus on two key sections: Growing the information and communication technology industry, and building digital skills for tomorrow. Your input is requested to develop this paper. The BCTIA needs you to help fine-tune the recommendations and add real-world experience and evidence that will support the claims and recommendations outlined in the BCTIA paper.

Tecmo Koei Canada Inc. has announced Warriors: Legends of Troy, a tactical action game where two great armies clash not over home and country, but for the love of a single woman. The fates of these civilizations now stand upon the razor’s edge.

3000 years ago, a poet sang of heroes strong enough to stand alone against an army.

For love, they sailed the world.
For family, they made the greatest sacrifices.
For honor, they stood and faced the will of gods,
And fought a war which shook the earth.

In the age when Zeus Almighty ruled over immortals and men, what begins as a truce between two cities quickly erupts into a massive war that will shake the very foundations of Olympus.

Game Features

* Choose Sides: Do battle as the Trojans or the Greeks. With two unique storylines, players will see the war from two unique perspectives.
* Epic Battlefields: Clash with legions of soldiers on glorious battlegrounds that reach for miles throughout the ancient world.
* Strategic Carnage: Do anything to survive. Grab a sword from a fallen enemy and hurl it at a soldier bearing down on you. Smash an opponent with shields, and then run your spear through him. Or just throttle them with your bare hands.
* Legendary Battles: Battle larger-than-life heroes and even confront mythical creatures sent by the gods themselves.
* Brutal History: Among the inspirations for the game are The Iliad, Homer’s epic poem from the 9th century BC, and in-depth research of the ancient battlefields of the Trojan War.
* Ancient Heroes: Play as infamous heroes such as Achillies and Odysseus from Greece, as well as Hektor and Paris from Troy.

Warriors: Legends of Troy will be available this fall for the PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360®. The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Easy Projects .NET announced today a comprehensive update to its web-based project management and collaboration suite, Easy Projects .NET Version 7.0. Designed and developed with extensive user feedback, this new version of Easy Projects .NET focuses on delivering an improved web-based project and resource management functionality. The update introduces several new features aimed at optimizing the end-user experience and efficiency. Easy Projects .NET Version 7.0 represents the company’s dedication to its clients by delivering software built to suit the needs of businesses and organizations world-wide.

New features include:

• Improved user experience – usability improvements to the interface, built-in video tutorials, shortcuts and contextual menus make end-user workflow easier and more efficient.
• Resource workload display during activity assignments – provides project managers a visual representation of how the particular user is utilized over the current month on all projects.
• Weekly View grid for Time Logs – allows users to quickly add billable and non-billable time log entries for the entire week.
• Improved batch operations – quickly select and un-select all projects/activities when performing batch operations such as delete or copy activities.
• Changing user roles for all projects
• Polish translation
• Optimized activity and project progress – provides project managers accurate, up to the second information on their on-going activities and projects.

“It is our fundamental belief that listening to your client’s feedback is crucial in creating effective and successful software.” says Vadim Katcherovski, CEO and founder of Easy Projects .NET. “In developing this new version, our goal was to analyze and improve on the existing functionality of Easy Projects .NET. The feedback we gathered from our users over the course of last year has tremendously helped us in achieving that goal.”

Easy Projects .NET Version 7.0 is available as a hosted or in-house solution starting at $24.99/month per user or less – with a Free Trial sign-up available.

Cross Media Toronto has revealed a stellar line-up of industry executives and technology experts who will be speaking at its event this July 21st. In partnership with NATPE, the MaRS Discovery District, and the CFC Media Lab, headline speakers include SVP Director Digital for Random House of Canada Lisa Charters, Head of Agency Relations for Google Canada Sabrina Geremia, Senior Business Development Manager for RIM Pete Watson and CBC’s Director of Digital Music Steve Pratt. Other special guests include Akamai’s Chief Strategist Chris Van Noy, and Transmedia Consultant Dr. Siobhan O’Flynn.

Senior Vice President for Random House of Canada Limited, Lisa Charters is responsible for the development of new ebusiness initiatives and digital strategies, as well as overseeing online sales and promotional efforts to continually enhance value and expand the company’s relationship with readers. Random House of Canada Limited is a division of Bertelsmann AG’s Random House, the world’s largest publisher of fiction and nonfiction for all ages, in a full range of formats that include hardcover, trade paperback, mass market paperback, audio, electronic and digital.

Sabrina Geremia is Head of Agency Relations for Google Canada. She is an international marketer, sales leader and integrated communications specialist. She joined Google in the UK in 2006 to set up the UK Consumer Products and Healthcare sales team. After returning to Canada in 2007, she began working with a wider range of customers spanning from CPG and Finance to Media and Entertainment. In 2009 Sabrina built the Canadian Agency Relations strategy and team. This team works with large media and creative agencies to help them make the most out of their relationship with Google.

In addition, Steve Pratt, Director of Digital Music at CBC and the director of CBC Radio 3, will be speaking at Cross Media Toronto’s event. Radio 3 is a multi-platform unit of Canada’s public broadcaster that focuses on emerging Canadian music.

These featured heavyweight media industry executives and technology experts will discuss specific ways their respective media sectors can begin to collaborate with one another. Cross Media Toronto is designed to give attendees an opportunity to network with other media sectors as well as learn how the other sectors function in order to foster cross media collaboration in the emerging digital landscape.

”We want the gaming people to meet the TV people, the publishing people to meet the web video people, and everyone to meet the advertising people, but let’s be honest, in the end, it’s all about the money,” says conference founder, Gavin McGarry, a veteran digital media executive. He was part of the global content team at the web video start up JOOST, and former head of Cross Platform Business Development for ENDEMOL. Currently McGarry runs Jumpwire Media, a cross media agency that helps companies profit from the emerging digital platforms.

Conference co-founder Jennifer Harkness has been in the media and event business for over 20 years. Jennifer was the Executive Director of the Banff World TV Festival and is currently Head of Development, Factual and Reality, at Temple Street Productions and has advised on international events such as NATPE and KidScreen .

What is community in relation to the web? Community is beyond a blog, and a few people following you on Twitter. This evening will help you realize what the new meaning of an online community is, and why it holds an important spot at the new marketing table. Find out how the experts are building, engaging, and managing their communities for themselves and their clients. Tickets for this event are available online at a cost of $35.00 for Wired Woman members and $40.00 for non-members. It is worth noting that you can save $5.00 by signing up for free and becoming a member of the Wired Woman network.

Panel:
Briana Tomkinson – Tenth to the Fraser and Fjord West
Carisa Miklusak – SoMedios
Chris Breikss – 6S Marketing
Mhairi Petrovic – Out-Smarts Marketing
Sibylle Tinsel – Club Fat Ass

WaveFront has partnered with the Mobile Computing Promotion Consortium (MCPC) of Japan, and they are inviting Canadian mobile developers to take part in a unique opportunity for facilitated access to the Japanese wireless market. This two-part programme begins with one-on-one coaching sessions to be held at Discovery Park in Vancouver this June 21st through 23rd.

Following the information session on June 21st, selected participants will meet with visiting MCPC representatives for product assessments and structuring assistance, as well as an overview of marketing strategies over the remaining days of the visit. The information sessions are free to interested companies, but do require registration. If you are unable to attend in person, you can attend via the virtual event which will be hosted on Mingleverse. Part 2 of this partnership will offer those selected companies the opportunity to participate in the 8th annual MCPC Solutions Fair in Tokyo in November 2010.

Paris Metro passengers have a new way to navigate the transit system in the palm of their hand. Developed expressly to assist passengers with special needs, the Mobile Transit Companion, a made-in-Canada mobile application, uses context-aware self-adaptive computing to deliver live, customized data to passengers en route. The inclusive application, complete with useful information for all passengers, was created through a partnership between Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ) and Sweden’s Appear Networks.

Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) commuters can now download the free software and set up their user profile. Information is then automatically sent to their mobile phones according to their profile and contextual information. For example, they can receive notifications such as the location of station elevators and Metro transfer points; facilities and nearby businesses; updated schedules for connecting trains; and availability of services at each station. For blind and low-vision passengers, the Mobile Transit Companion uses a speech-enabled, gesture-driven user interface. For other user groups, including the elderly, deaf or hard of hearing, or passengers with reduced mobility, the application offers an intuitive and easy-to-use visual interface.

“At Ryerson we see a very niche use for context-aware computing in public transit and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS),” said Hossein Rahnama, project leader, Ryerson postdoctoral student and DMZ Steering Committee Member. “We are specializing in context-aware consumer applications in airports, airlines, trains, subways, buses, etc. and will be working with Metrolinx on a project for GO Transit here in the fall. With RATP, our focus was on passengers with special needs because those communities could really benefit from such applications, even though they are often not considered when developing apps.”

The Mobile Transit Companion’s positioning function is integrated with a web-based monitoring service so that public transit staff can easily locate and assist passengers with special needs. The only existing social tracking application for public transit passengers, this monitoring service has the capability to be shared with friends and family. Using the interface, the transit authority can message selected passengers, which is particularly helpful for Deaf or hard of hearing passengers who can’t hear announcements made over the PA. Messages are communicated to each passenger according to the information on his in her profile, e.g.: the message will be interpreted from text to speech if s/he has indicated Low Vision.

The project was part of European research consortium developing an open-source middleware platform. Ryerson was the only North American player. “There are a lot of advantages to research collaboration with international partners in the Information and Communications Technologies sector,” said Rahnama. “In fact, one of our key objectives in this project is to demonstrate those advantages, such as combining the smartphone popularity and development of North America with the digital mobile telephony advances of Europe. The success of the MUSIC platform has inspired another project with Europe, slated for fall 2010.”

The Mobile Transit Companion is currently being piloted on Android phones in 10 stations along Line 14 of the Paris Metro. Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone at Yonge Dundas Square provides Ryerson University students with the opportunity to develop their digitally based ideas into consumer products with help from mentors and industry.

Hasbro has announced several new and innovative licensing programs supporting global powerhouse brands such as Transformers, Nerf, Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony, Monopoly and PlaySkool. As part of its presence at the International Licensing Expo which takes place in Las Vegas over the next three days, Hasbro will showcase major entertainment and lifestyle licensing initiatives underway in the areas of television, movies, digital gaming, performance sports, and apparel as well as programs that are driving increased market traction in key international territories, including France, Mexico and China.

“The lineup of Hasbro-branded digital games underway for release in the coming months will raise the bar in terms of creativity, immersion and innovation,” said Mark Blecher, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media and Gaming at Hasbro. “With EA’s success in selling more than eight million units of Hasbro-inspired games globally at retail and many of its mobile games ranked consistently in the Top 10 paid apps, as well as fans logging in 350 million Hasbro game sessions on Pogo, it is clear that consumers have liked what they’ve seen and played. We are very eager to deliver this next wave of titles underscoring that the Hasbro-branded play experience just keeps getting better.” 

For Hasbro board game fans, EA will deliver a spate of titles for all major platforms through the end of the year. For aspiring real estate moguls, the stakes will get even higher this fall with a dynamic 3D gameplay environment in Monopoly Streets for the Wii™, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. Rounding out the Monopoly digital lineup will be the release of Monopoly Classic for the Nintendo DS™. Hasbro Family Game Night 3, a digital title with a collection of five games – The Game of Life, Clue, Mouse Trap, Twister, and Yahtzee Hands Down – will also land at retail this fall. Hosted by Mr. Potato Head in a theme park setting, this title will rally family and friends around the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for hours of casual fun as well as fierce competition. For Xbox LIVE Arcade fans, three additional Hasbro Family Game Night titles, including Jenga, Pictureka and Connect 4×4, will also be released this summer.

In addition, world domination will be achievable this summer on Xbox LIVE® Arcade with Risk: Factions and Risk for the iPhone® and iPod® touch is also in development. Other expected summer releases from EA Mobile™ include Lite-Brite and Operation for the iPhone and iPod touch.

In another area of licensing that could lead to work for our VFX studios, Hasbro has announced that they have several big screen projects in the works aside from 2011’s Transformers 3 (DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures). Universal Pictures will bring iconic super hero Stretch Armstrong and an epic Battleship live-action film to the big screen in the summer of 2012, and Hasbro has also signed on to produce films based on some of their other game brands including Monopoly, Candy Land and Ouija.

Carina Press, a digital-first publishing house and imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., officially launched today with the release of their first ten titles. Carina Press offers ebooks which are sold direct to consumers through the Carina Press website and numerous third-party websites.

“As a digital-first publisher Carina Press is a natural extension to our business; it builds on our digital strength and leadership position. It gives us greater flexibility in the type of editorial we can accept from authors and offer to readers. As such, we expect to discover new authors and unique voices,” said Donna Hayes, CEO and Publisher of Harlequin. “As well, we hope to reach a new group of readers with niche editorial.”

Carina Press will begin by publishing 37 books in its first month–approximately 10 books a week–across a broad range of fiction with an emphasis on romance and its sub-genres, including science fiction, fantasy, erotica, gay/lesbian, mystery, suspense and thriller. Carina Press ebooks vary in price from $2.99 to $6.99 depending on the length of the work, which can range from 20,000 to more than 100,000 words.

“More and more readers are migrating to the digital world,” said Angela James, Executive Editor of Carina Press. “They’re as interested in refreshingly original stories, told by authors with truly distinct perspectives, as they are compelled by the immediacy of digital publishing. With a click they can have the book right in front of them on their computer or portable device. There’s no waiting for a book to arrive and it’s never out of stock.”

Carina Press ebooks are available on the Carina Press website and through third-party retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Carina Press ebooks are published in the ePUB format and can be read on a variety of devices, including computer, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, nook, Kobo, BlackBerry and mobile phone. Carina Press does not utilize digital rights management so readers are able to share stories between devices. Carina Press also offers digital review galleys through NetGalley.

Audible Inc. will produce unabridged audio versions of many Carina Press titles and make them available at Audible.com, iTunes and Amazon.com beginning in July 2010.

Carina Press is currently accepting submissions in all genres of commercial fiction. Carina Press will consider shorter length stories, genre novels from 50,000 to more than 100,000 words and complex narratives of over 100,000 words. Carina Press will also acquire books that have been previously released in print form, but for which the author has either retained digital rights or had digital rights revert to them.

Vancouver

Ottawa – The Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) has released its annual Knowledge-based Industry Survey. The study indicates that as of December 31, 2009, the number of companies in Ottawa’s knowledge-based sectors has increased by nearly half of one per cent while the number of employees has decreased by 1.3 per cent. The most current data, garnered from 13 industry sectors, indicates a slight increase of 0.4 per cent in the total number of companies to 1,857 up from 1,850 last year. The survey garnered responses from 88 companies whose primary business focus is in cleantech, contact centre/customer centre, convergent medical devices, defence and security, eBusiness, health and drug discovery, knowledge-based support services, photonics, semiconductor, software, telecommunications, wireless and digital media.

“We certainly expected 2009 to be challenging so we are not surprised by the decrease in employment but we also know that the best time to start a new business venture is during tough economic times. With 222 companies added to the database and a notable increase in employment for small and medium sized businesses we see that the support programs and tools available to new companies and entrepreneurs here in Ottawa are having a positive impact,” says Claude Haw, President and CEO, OCRI. “The entire city has rallied to provide support to help our companies become successful and there are examples of great collaboration all around us. Of course, we must continue to create an environment that is attractive to investors and actively leverages the various funding programs available for small and medium sized companies in order to fuel innovation and propel our economy forward.”

Ottawa’s cleantech sector demonstrated the greatest growth for the third year in a row, with several companies adding more than 50 employees to their staff base. This translates to a 25.2% increase in job positions for this industry sector. Also of note is Ottawa’s recent designation as one of the world’s top seven intelligent communities by the Intelligent Community Forum.

The OCRI report also points out the strength of the region’s digital media industry, stating that “the digital media sector has been gaining traction in our region. In October, Ottawa hosted the International Animation Festival, proving to many who weren’t already aware that Ottawa is a hotbed for digital media creativity. The cluster features 63 companies that have identified digital media as their primary industry and more than 120 others see digital media as their secondary industry. As a result, a formal digital media cluster, GENERATOR, was launched in December.”

Vancouver – Hive is a board game originally designed by John Yianni and released by “Gen Four Two Games” in 2001. Independent developer Lotusland Studios has developed Hive as a mobile game, and it is now available in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone™ and iPod touch®. Hive is categorized as an abstract strategy game and is highly unique as the pieces are simply placed on a flat surface without the limitations and constraints of a traditional game-board.

The objective of Hive is to surround the opponent’s queen bee while preventing your own queen from being captured. Whichever player accomplishes this task first has won the game. The game is made up of hexagonal tiles representing the contents of the hive. In total, Hive features 22 pieces, 11 per player, including 1 queen bee, 2 spiders, 2 beetles, 3 grasshoppers and 3 soldier ants – each having different methods of movement and abilities.

Hive is suitable for players of all ages: it is quickly learnt but hard to master, and as levels are completed, others become unlocked. Interface elements clearly indicate where players may move or position pieces and the game can be enjoyed as a single-player experience featuring four levels of difficulty, including an introductory setting against an artificial opponent gently allowing beginners to become familiar with the rules of play, and a multi-player feature against another human opponent.

Hive can be played using no less than four distinct sets of tiles: A wooden tile-set with the official 2nd edition board game artwork, a plastic set with the official 3rd edition board game artwork, a tile-set designed by the developer Lotusland Studios, and finally a high contrast black and white Carbon set primarily designed for outdoor play. Players can set the play surface background color, with an optional hex grid to aid visualization. Hive features a soundtrack by John Tennant, including “Depths” – “TypeCaste” and two exclusive remixes of “Project of Science” from the album “Early Ambient Works”.

The touch version of Hive clearly displays where each piece can move, making the different pieces easy to learn for beginners. Game options include tournament rules and the new Mosquito expansion to Hive: a parasitic new player piece that takes on the abilities of its neighbors, use your mosquito cleverly as an extra ant, beetle or spider!

Orillia – The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Anti-Rackets Branch is investigating an Internet-based fraud scheme and warning the public to exercise vigilance when dealing in business transactions with unknown individuals over the Internet and/or by telephone.

The investigation has revealed that an Ontario resident recently applied online to a job advertisement for an Accounting Assistant/Payment Representative position posted at an employment centre.

The position professed to involve working from home by contacting legitimate companies via the Internet on behalf of a fraudulent company and receiving cheques purportedly from these companies that were mailed to the new employee by the fraudulent employer. A company representative then instructed the victim via email or by telephone to deposit the cheques to her personal bank account and retain a 10 per cent fee for her work and the remainder of the money was to be deposited to a specified account or sent via email money transfer.

Fortunately, both the victim and her bank reported this matter to police when they became suspicious of the excessive amount on one of the cheques. The investigation also revealed that the cheques received by the victim originated from legitimate Canadian businesses and the OPP have since linked these cheques to reported incidents of cheque theft and cheque duplication.

The OPP is warning the public to refrain from engaging in any business transactions with individuals they do not know, over the Internet, even if they provide a telephone number and email address. If you have any information or if you are a victim of this scam, please report it to your local police service or contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre at: 1-888-495-8501 or online at www.recol.ca.

This next news bit is from the USA, and while we don’t usually carry international news, this project from Time Warner carries an important message about education and could possibly inspire students everywhere. If any of you out there know of any Canadian projects comparable to the one mentioned here, please let us know about it.

Time Warner Cable has released the first in a series of videos designed to bring the cool factor back to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The videos, which are part of the company’s Connect A Million Minds (CAMM) program feature a flying car and Microsoft’s new video game project, code-named “Project Natal.” In both videos the people working on the project talk not only about their job, but about how important STEM education has been to their success.

Tessie Topol, Director of Strategic Philanthropy for Time Warner Cable said, “We want to remind kids and their parents that many of the things they consider cool require a background in STEM to work on. You can’t build a flying car if you don’t know anything about engineering and you can’t be on the team that is creating the coolest and most advanced video game ever if you don’t study math and computer science.” Ms. Topol added that “80% of the jobs that today’s kids will be applying for will require a high level of STEM education. The Connect A Million Minds (CAMM) program is designed to give kids and their parents easy ways to spark an interest in STEM.”

The videos  are rolling out in conjunction with a new PSA entitled And The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth, which is available on the Connect A Million Minds website. Those who are interested in the latest developments are urged to check out Connect A Million Minds on Facebook and follow @connectminds on Twitter.

Toronto

The voting began last night at midnight ET, with Monopoly fans casting their ballots for  their favourite Canadian cities to help create a new Monopoly Canada game board. Sixty-five great Canadian cities have been pre-selected for the top 20 city vote and Canadians are invited to cast their ballots for 3 of these great cities each day of the vote, which will be open until February 7, 2010. The city that receives the most votes will be placed on the highest rent property traditionally held by Boardwalk.

The 20 cities that receive the most votes will be part of Monopoly history as the first cities selected to be on the Canadian game board through a consumer vote. However, two spaces on the board will be reserved for cities that are nominated through a wild card vote, which means any city in Canada can be nominated for these property spaces. Once the top 20 city vote is complete, the top 10 nominated wild card cities will also be put to a vote and the wild card winners will occupy the low-rent property spaces traditionally held by Mediterranean Avenue and Baltic Avenue. The wild card vote will take place from February 8, 2010 until February 21, 2010.

“Monopoly is the world’s most popular branded board game and it transcends cultural barriers,” said Michelle Sinclair, Brand Manager for Monopoly. “More than 750 million people have played the game since it was first introduced 75 years ago and its popularity shows no signs of slowing down.”

“The final result of the Monopoly Canada Edition will be surprising and only time will tell how the vote will turn out. We hope that fans will vote early and often for their favourite Canadian city” added Michelle.

The 65 cities pre-selected for the nation-wide vote are:

At CES: Palm released details about their developer kit for webOS during their 3D gaming announcement at the Expo, where they introduced several graphics-intensive game titles for webOS, from leading game developers EA Mobile™, Gameloft, Glu Mobile and Laminar Research. Demonstrated at Palm’s CES event, the games will be available today in the Palm App Catalog for Palm Pre customers.

“We are very excited about the potential of webOS as a platform for mobile 3D gaming,” said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. “This is a key application category, and we’ve worked closely with some of the leading game developers to deliver a great game experience for our customers.”

“Recent improvements to Palm webOS represent major advancements in enabling world-class mobile gaming,” said Travis Boatman, vice president of Worldwide Studios for EA Mobile. “These innovations have allowed us to quickly bring our best IP to the platform.”

The developers introducing titles today have had early access to the Palm webOS Plug-in Development Kit (PDK), which extends the Palm webOS Software Development Kit (SDK) with a set of tools, documentation and APIs that let developers write plug-ins for their webOS applications. The PDK lets developers easily integrate C and C++ code into their webOS applications, enabling new functionality, including immersive 3D games. A public beta version of the webOS PDK is scheduled to be available to all developers in March.

“The performance of the platform allowed us to create these great games in a limited timeframe,” said Baudouin Corman, vice president of publishing, Americas, Gameloft. “webOS allows us to deliver an outstanding gaming experience, and we look forward to bringing our best games to Palm customers worldwide.”“We expect the plug-in model to play an important role in the evolution of the webOS platform, just as plug-ins have with web browsers,” said Mitic. “And with this plug-in, we are making it super-simple for developers to bring the hottest games to webOS.”

The Palm App Catalogue currently offers more than 1,000 webOS applications for download. Palm’s unique over-the-air model also makes it easy for customers to get webOS updates and new features delivered directly to their phones. For example, at CES today, Palm announced that video recording, editing and sharing capabilities will soon be available for users of webOS phones. This new video capability will be delivered automatically to current and future Palm Pre™ and Palm Pixi™ products via an over-the-air update.

Palm also demonstrated Flash content in the browser on a Palm Pre and expects a free Adobe Flash Player 10.1 plug-in to be posted to the Palm App Catalogue in the coming months. Palm expects webOS to be one of the first mobile platforms to support the full Flash Player in the web browser.

Montreal – Meridian4 has signed a digital publishing agreement with German game developer Headup Games to publish two of their action-packed titles,  GREED and Gear Grinder. *Note – Meridian4 is also nominated for a Readers’ Choice Award!

“Knowing Meridian4 for quite a while now, I cannot imagine a better partner to place our titles efficiently in the online field. We are very excited on the upcoming releases of Gear Grinder and GREED in the overseas market and are confident that the expertise knowledge of Meridian4 will support our endeavor to make our games available to ambitious gamers worldwide.” said Dieter Schoeller, Managing Director of Headup Games.

“Meridian4 is really excited to be working with Headup Games. These two titles are adrenaline-fueled, non-stop action and were an instant hit with us. We know that the same quality that Headup Games has shown us in our partnership is also in every one of their games and we are sure that these titles will be a success with gamers.” said Andy Sher, CEO at Meridian4.

GREED is a science fiction themed action-RPG, where in the futuristic universe of GREED, the discovery of new interstellar travel possibilities has led to a new age of colonialization. The five largest colonial powers are entangled in a full-scale war over a new element called Ikarium, the recently discovered rare source of nearly unlimited energy. As a former member of an elite military unit, you will fight a battle for your survival not knowing that your actions will lead the fate of all mankind into dramatic consequences…

Features:

• Three entirely different character classes to choose from
• A huge variety of different levels in three unique settings, each playable on 3 difficulties, inhabited by fierce and deadly creatures & screen-filling end bosses
• Upgradeable skills in three categories per character class – the simultaneous use of these categories causes thrilling skill combinations
• Upgradeable character attributes with direct game play effect
• Hundreds of items to collect that upgrade weapons and amour
• Online and local cooperative multiplayer mode for up to three players

In Gear Grinder, players can buckle up and enjoy fully motorized mayhem with GearGrinder, the new incarnation of an underrepresented genre of arcade racing action. Take full control of a powerful truck, mounted with the most devastating weapons available, malicious mines and more nifty gadgets, and complete over 45 versatile and thrilling missions, leaving a trail of devastation wherever you go.

Features:

• Unique combination of breakneck speed racing & furious shooter action
• Adapt to any situation: Transform your truck from racing to combat mode in an instant
• Countless primary and secondary weapons, mines, engines, structures and other tuning options to unlock
• Includes mini games for great stress relief: Slalom, Bowling, Arena and more
• Multiplayer-modes (LAN) for up to 8 players
• Enormous single player content with over 45 missions and different game modes

Longueuil – D-BOX Technologies Inc. has announced that its fifth film with movie studio giant Warner Bros. to feature its motion-enhanced seating with the studio’s latest film will be Book of Eli, which is in theatres this coming January 15.

With 13 movie theatres throughout the U.S. and Canada equipped with D-BOX MFX seating, Book of Eli marks the high-tech company’s tenth movie overall since its world premiere back in April 09. Creating subtle, refined motion sensations, D-BOX Motion Code™ is especially designed for each individual movie, frame by frame, by D-BOX Motion Designers who spend hundreds of hours to develop this completely one-of-a-kind, realistic movie viewing experience.

“The continued support of Warner Bros. with five new releases in just 10 months is an extraordinary accomplishment for us,” said Claude Mc Master, President and Chief Executive Officer of D-BOX Technologies. “It speaks to the industry-wide acceptance D-BOX has earned due to the success experienced in cities throughout North America. So far more than 50,000 moviegoers have experienced D-BOX and continue to come back for new motion picture releases.”

Montreal – Polymamcer® Studios has announced that the latest issue of their game industry newsletter Polyglot, the most recent episodes of DiceCast, and the complete rules of the miniatures wargame PUMMEL! are all available for free download.

The latest issue of Polyglot™, Polymancer Studios’s game industry newsletter is now available. This issue is packed with all the latest news, releases, and other tidbits from companies across the hobby game industry and the computer/console game industry as well. The team at Polymancer would like to remind you that Polyglot is always free to download, free to distribute, and free to post to.  Free Subscriptions are available by sending an e-mail to them and say you want a subscription.

Any company that makes roleplaying games, miniatures, wargames, board games, LARPs, comics, graphic novels, mangas, computer games, console games, or related products can send a press release, product announcement, or other news piece to PolyGlot as well. This is free, and images are both welcomed and encouraged – and another great way to promote your products!

DiceCast™ is Polymancer Studios’s official podcast, and subscriptions are available at the iTunes™ music store and by RSS. The latest episodes include an overview of 2009 and a string of interviews with game industry luminaries. The DiceCast Special Holiday Episode features a discussion about the late Dave Arneson, the recent fragmentation of the D&D™ fan base, the revival of Wizkids™, and other important events from 2009.  DiceCast Episode 7 is an interview with Adam Jury of Catalyst Labs. Mr. Jury offers some great tips about freelancing in the hobby game industry, and what working for a game company is really like. DiceCast Episode 6 is an interview with Jess Hartley, a freelance writer known for her extensive work with White Wolf. Jess Hartley’s anecdotes and musings give some insight into how a successful game writer works, and DiceCast Episode 5 is discussion of making props for a roleplaying game or LARP.

PUMMEL! Is a rules-light, fast-paced, but complete miniatures wargame. The acronym stands for “Pick-Up, Multigenre Miniatures, Easy to Learn.” and you can grab the quickstart rules for PUMMEL!™ from right here.

Further down the line, PolyGlot says that a new issue of Polygraff™ (V1 I#2), an anthology of short fiction in fantasy, sci fi, horror, and other imaginative genres will be in stores soon. This issue includes great new short stories by many undiscovered articles and an exclusive interview with Gor series creator John Norman.

A new issue of Polymancer magazine (V2 I#10) is also scheduled to go into stores soon. This issue contains a full-length anime-style superspies ghost-hunting adventure scenario, as well as articles about super fantastic heroes, deviant roles, and tips on campaign map-drawing.