Village Gamer

Montreal – NDi Kids is proud to announce that its’ own property, Hans Hans the Biking Viking, has found a home with Nickelodeon Kids. Hans Hans was originally conceived by Meinert Hansen and developed further with the creative team at NDi.

Hans and friends will appear on Nick’s in a puzzle game called Leaving Loki’s Lockup. Hans Hans, Freya and Thor must coordinate their unique powers to solve Loki’s crazy conundrums.

Vancouver – British Columbia-based performer Janyse Jaud voices Marvel Comics character ‘Hela’ in the new Lionsgate/Marvel animated DVD’s “Hulk Vs Thor”, and ‘Lady Deathstrike’ in “Hulk Vs Wolverine”.

Hela, daughter of ‘Loki’ and ruler of the mythical worlds of ‘Hel’/’Niffieheim’, first appeared in Marvel Comics “Journey Into Mystery” #102, (March 1964) as a 7 ft. tall beauty, weighing 500 lbs with green eyes and grey hair. By the decree of ‘Odin’, ruler of the ‘Asgard’ gods, Hela was crowned absolute ruler of the spirits of the dead.

‘Yuriko Oyama’, aka Lady Deathstrike, created by Dennis O’Neil/Larry Hama and developed by writers Bill Mantlo/Chris Claremont, received her original ‘cyborg’ look courtesy artist Barry “Conan” Windsor-Smith. Debuting in “Daredevil” #197 as Yuriko and as Deathstrike in “Alpha Flight” #33, Lady Deathstrike’s father ‘Lord Dark Wind’ created the ‘adamantium’ process that was forced onto ‘Wolverine’. The villain ‘Spiral’ then bonded adamantium to Lady Deathstrike’s frame, with additional cyber-genetic enhancements.

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Toronto – Cookie Jar Entertainment is heading into MIPTV 2009 (booth 17.01) with a wide range of properties to offer global broadcasters. Cookie Jar is expanding its slate with more-live action, tween-targeted programming, including its first ever movie of the week, “Tales From Cryptville.” Building on the success of “The Doodlebops”, Cookie Jar is launching an animated version of the hit preschool show. New seasons of “Caillou”, “Johnny Test”, “Busytown Mysteries (Hurray For Huckle!)” and “Arthur” also are currently in production.

“Tales From Cryptville” is the latest adaptation of the classic EC horror comic book series Tales from the Crypt. Still narrated by the bitingly funny master of scare-emonies, the Cryptkeeper, this latest incarnation tells the tale of teenager James Frost who upon moving to the small, snowy, sleepy and fictitious town of Cripvale, discovers he has stumbled unto a decades old mystery. This 90-minute made for TV movie will premiere on TELETOON in Fall 2009.

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Ottawa – Singapore’s One Animation and Canada’s Amberwood Entertainment have signed a co-production deal for the animated preschool series Rob the Robot.

The 52 x 11 minute 3D series based on a set of Australian books follows the adventures of Rob and his friends as they explore the fantastical planets of the Robot Galaxy which are ripe with humour and fun. “We are delighted to be co-producing with One Animation.” says Chantal Ling, Executive Vice-President at Amberwood.

“They are extremely talented and will no doubt ensure that Rob the Robot is brought to life in an exciting way.”  Phillip Stamp, Executive Producer at One Animation stated, “Amberwood is a great studio with a history of producing many successful shows. We’re very pleased to share in the creative vision for Rob the Robot, and look forward to combining the extensive experience of both studios in bringing the series to an international audience.” Rob the Robot has been developed for and commissioned by Canada’s TV Ontario.  Both SRC and the Knowledge Network are also on board for the property which moves into production this spring.

Vancouver – *content warning – please see below* – Over 22 uncensored animated films including great titles such as the recently acquires masterpiece “Eleven Roses”, “Home Honey, I’m High”, “Fantaisie in Bubblewrap”, “Happy Tree Friends”, “Washington”, “Crab Revolution” “The Mosquito Who Gave Up Blood” & “Dr. Tran” will be featured during Spike & Mike’s Sick and Twisted Animation Festival which opens on February 20th at The Rio Theatre in Vancouver.

It’s been over ten years since Spike himself made the trip up to Vancouver he will be present opening weekend to sign “everything” and introduce the show. The Sick and Twisted Animation Festival will include a few of the all time classics plus a ton of premiers! Spike handpicked the films himself and invites everyone to watch ninety minutes of the sickest, most brilliant, artistic and funniest animation shorts he’s ever put together!

Show Times: February 20th – March 5th will have daily shows at 7 and 9pm with weekend matinees at 4:30pm. Friday and Saturday will also feature midnight showings with Bar Service provided by R & B Brewing for the late shows on opening weekend. There will also be FREE Spike & Mike DVD’s to the first 25 people Fri & Sat night as well as free Happy Tree Friends swag PLUS you can get in FREE if you bring your refrigerator with one of the Festival’s flyers attached to it. There will also be some in-house contests happening with great prizes.

*Content Warning – Content on the Spike & Mike Festival Website and at The Sick & Twisted Animation Festival may offend some viewers. We are not responsible for the content on their site or at their Animation Festival.*

Ottawa/Toronto – Amberwood Entertainment and Xenophile Media are proud to announce the launch of the RollBots Online Gaming Experience accessible through YTV.com.

This fully immersive experience will allow kids to create their very own RollBot avatar to explore Flip City and the world of RollBots which is featured in the YTV original series. RollBots Online is available at www.rollbots.ytv.com and the series premiered Saturday, February 7th at 7:30am on YTV’s CRUNCH.

In making the announcement, Jonathan Wiseman, Vice President, Sales & Acquisitions at Amberwood said, “RollBots Online is a wonderfully rich gaming world that features original content and games that will be updated throughout the broadcast of the series. Xenophile Media has created an innovative online experience for the future fans of RollBots.” Read the rest of this entry »

Airing Six Days a Week, the New CG Animated TV Series OLIVIA Begins Monday, February 23 on Treehouse

Toronto – Treehouse invites children into the life of the
adventurous, can-do 6 3/4 year-old girl named Olivia with the Canadian television debut of the CG animated series OLIVIA. Based on Ian Falconer’s award-winning book series, which has sold six million copies to date, OLIVIA premieres on Treehouse Monday, February 23 at 5:45 p.m.

Olivia is a today’s girl. She believes she can do anything and sees every day as an opportunity to try new things. Her real life revolves around friends, family and school, while her vivid imagination takes her to Egypt, the Wild West and even to outer space! Though Olivia’s imaginary adventures are bigger than life, her day-to-day challenges are preschool size and her unique ways of dealing with these obstacles provide moments of fun and drama. Olivia demonstrates how kids can use their imagination to work out what’s happening in their own world, because she experiences the same daily trials and triumphs as they do.

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Montreal – Spread 3D art across the internet: having become the destination site for 3D artists looking to show off their artwork in 3D, Presto3D.com extends these frontiers by allowing 3D previews to be embedded anywhere on the web. Presto 3D is a marketplace for digital 3D models. Models can be submitted for sale by anyone, and are sold royalty free, with the artist earning a commission on each sale.

Like on YouTube or many other websites, anyone can embed a preview of a 3D model on any website or blog. The preview will appear just as it does on Presto3D.com, and contain links back to other work by that artist.
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Mississauga – NEEZO Animation has completed the show introduction to Positive Living in time for the show’s launch January 2009.

Executive Producer Aida Memisevic has created Positive Living to inspire and educate viewers to achieve fulfillment and happiness in their lives.  It is essentially about the science behind success, and each half hour episode will feature internationally acclaimed authorities who will discuss these principles.

NEEZO has created the complete broadcast design for Positive Living, as well as an animated character that will be used within the show for various purposes.

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Atomic Cartoons, creators of the international hit series Atomic Betty, partners with high powered creative team, Punktuition LLC, to develop and produce Sally Boyden’s new CG kids’ comedy series, PUNKTUITION

Vancouver – Atomic Cartoons, creators of world famous Atomic Betty have announced a partnership with New York-based Punktuition LLC on the new animated comedy series, Punktuition. Vancouver-based Atomic will debut the project to buyers and broadcasters at the 2009 Kidscreen Summit in New York in February.

Punktuition is the brainchild of Australian singer-songwriter, Sally Boyden, a former child star and Jason Lake, son of British icon, Diana Dors. The colorful comedy has been developed for television by Sally Boyden and former UK Daily Mail writer, Tania Shakinovsky. Creative consulting was provided by Christopher Cerf (Sesame Street, Between The Lions) and Atomic Cartoons co-founder, Rob Davies. “We are very fortunate to be guided by such high caliber creative advice in bringing Punktuition to fruition. says co-creator, Sally Boyden.” And in Atomic Cartoons we know we have a partner with as much passion for the project as we have.”

The series is random comedy with a dose of adventure about a cast of fun young characters who are lost on a purple planet in the center of the Luniverse, not knowing how they got there or why they now bear more than a passing resemblance to punctuation marks. As if that wasn’t perplexing enough, they were in possession of mysterious super powers that definitely weren’t there before. The central theme of Punktuition is the gang of friends finding their way home, and on the journey Read the rest of this entry »