Village Gamer

Am I the only one who finds the Top Ten ratings list released yesterday by Global TV to be more than a little disheartening? While I admit I do watch some of the shows on that list, why is it that not one Canadian-produced TV show other than Hockey Night In Canada made the Top Ten? Where is Flashpoint? Once Upon A Time? What about Endgame? Oh wait, Showcase cancelled that one – and as specialty channels don’t seem to enter into this ratings game, you could argue that Endgame doesn’t count – but it was a really good show and I still hold a grudge against Showcase for shutting it down. Human Target and Rookie Blue would’ve looked nice on that list too – if they hadn’t been cancelled. Read the rest of this entry »

With the success of book-to-screen adaptations, particularly on the young adult side (Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga, now The Hunger Games), it’s no wonder that HBO smelled a hit in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series when it bought the rights seven years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

Ubisoft Toronto is the “start-up in disguise,” as Jade Raymond calls it. The studio head and managing director of the year-and-a-half-old studio now houses almost 200 employees, and is well on its way to hitting the planned 800 over the next 10 years. We caught up with Raymond at WIFT-T’s inaugural International Women in Digital Media Summit in Stratford, ON to talk about the people she wants to bring on board at the growing AAA game company, her strategic goals for the next few years and how Ubisoft has handled its IP across different platforms. Read the rest of this entry »

Bullying is older than mankind. It’s been around since the first animal was forced to leave the pack, pushed away from home and family in what has become a seemingly natural animalistic practice. This instinct, so ingrained in the world of animals, has become part and parcel of the human world. The difference is that as time has moved forward, many of us have come to no longer accept bullying as an okay part of our daily lives.  What follows is a look at bullying and how the system has let down friends of our family. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday MacLean’s published an article titled Grand Theft Tax Break, written by Jesse Brown. This article, as you can guess by the title, was a disparaging piece about the tax credits and incentives received by the video game industry in certain regions of Canada.

I am going to overlook for a moment the entire tax incentives debate, mainly because I am not a developer or studio owner and I’m not a policy wonk – there are simply too many areas of the incentives program that I don’t entirely understand, so it’s best to skirt around that issue for now and get to what really got my dander up in that article. I will also overlook the inherent problems within the industry itself, because like any other industry in this country, there are work-life balance issues that need to be dealt with, but they don’t really come fully into play here.

I have to wonder what Mr. Brown has against the game industry, or if he has any friends who work in game development. If that article had been about an ethnic group or any type of visible minority, it never would have been published containing the insults and general slurs it does. It is one thing to be angry about something the industry receives, it is another to wipe a wide brush of insult across those who work in the industry. If the article was in any way meant to be a satirical rebuttal of the New York Times article Mr. Brown uses as reference, in my opinion the author fell far short of his mark. Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday night Scott and I wandered down to the Vancouver port area to check out the Launch event for Gears of War 3 – which will also have a special Midnight Release event at the Best Buy on Cambie Street. The launch event actually began a number of weeks ago, when gamers were asked to partake in some training demos. In those demos were codes to be deciphered, which resulted in a phone number to be texted and a name to be followed and interacted with on Twitter, which led to more deciphering, which somehow ended up with participants receiving a very unappetizing packet of “Locust Meat” from Save On Meats on East Hastings and a VIP ticket with a QR code. The QR Code led to a web site which revealed the location of The Barge, where the Launch Camp was located. Vancouver was chosen as a Launch Event location due to the strong gamer market in the Lower Mainland. Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend has seen a coming together of the fans of Endgame, a TV series produced by Vancouver’s Thunderbird Films for Showcase, a Shaw Media television station. This ragtag group of people, who hail from all over the globe have been chatting up their love for the show and its actors on Twitter, FaceBook, through hangouts on Google+ and on IRC, hoping beyond hope that there will be at least a Season Two for the show – especially now that the show has been nominated in five categories by the Gemini Awards, including one for the interactive episode that puts you behind the eight ball with a challenge to solve the crime.

The fans of the TV show banded together when it was learned that Showcase had cancelled the quirky crime drama after its inaugural season. Prior to the nomination announcements, Showcase had removed Endgame from its show list, but it was hastily re-added to the site shortly after the Gemini Awards press conference.

For those not familiar with the show, Endgame is set and filmed in Vancouver, with the Westin Bayshore taking on the central role as The Huxley, a hotel in which Russian chess master Arkady Balagan (Shawn Doyle) has unwittingly become imprisoned. At the start of the season, and in small clues doled out as the weekly drama unfolded, viewers would learn that Arkady’s beloved fiancee Rosemary (Lisa Ray) had been the victim of a violent and lethal attack in front of the hotel. Witness to the attack and her death, Arkady has become an agoraphobic unable to walk out the front door of The Huxley.

As a chess master, Arkady has become adept at solving very difficult puzzles with his mind, and it is through this talent that he is able to remain the sole tenant in one of The Huxley’s penthouse suites – much to the chagrin of hotel security chief Hugo (Patrick Gallagher) and hotel manager Barbara Stillwell (Veena Sood), who would much rather see the self-absorbed and world-renowned barefoot genius vacate the hotel. Arkady works his way through each episode’s puzzle – everything from a kidnapped boy to saving a polar bear from ending up as bear steaks – with logic and visualization. With his inability to leave the hotel, Arkady depends on hotel staff members to assist him in finding the missing pieces to bring each case to the right conclusion.

Arkady’s right hand man is college student Sam (Torrance Coombs), who is studying to become a game designer. As a fan of the chess great, Sam willingly runs errands and gathers information in exchange for chess matches with Arkady. Also aiding Arkady are bartender Danni (Katharine Isabelle) and chamber maid Alcina (Carmen Aguirre). Added to the mix are security assistant Gurjit (Gary Gill), and Rosemary’s sister Pippa (Melanie Papalia).

As the season unfolds, viewers are brought deeper into the lives of each of these central characters, catching glimpses of their pasts and personal mysteries. The central plot to the show is of course who killed Rosemary, and web journalist Pippa is determined to solve the crime, often butting heads with the grieving Arkady, who alternates between wanting to solve the one puzzle whose solution eludes him and wanting to let go. Pippa continues to overturn rocks, often disturbing what lies beneath, and the first season ended with a cliffhanger that saw a staff member dead and Arkady bound with duct tape, driven around the city, threatened,  before being dumped on The Huxley’s front drive.

Fans of the show, ourselves included, were extremely disappointed by Showcase’s decision to drop the show, and began a public-awareness campaign to reach Endgame fans around the world, calling them to action in a last-ditch effort to save the show. A web site was launched, followed by a petition, which led to the Facebook page and a growing community of viewers who did not want to see Endgame fade to black forever. The petition currently has 6137 signatures, with more added every day. Next came an auction of Endgame memorabilia, which is open for bids until September 21st, 2011. The community members held a vote, and decided that proceeds raised through the auction would be donated to the Canadian Mental Health Association in honour of Arkady Balagan and to draw attention to the very real conditon of agoraphobia.

What is perhaps most surprising is the number of international fans Endgame has won over – considering the show has only aired on Showcase Canada. Finding the show through various online channels, these people have come together to fight to keep Endgame in production. Over the course of this weekend, the fans have gotten to know each other on a more personal basis, talking together on irc – where they have been treated to conversations with some of the show’s stars – Shawn Doyle, Torrance Coombs, Patrick Gallagher, Melanie Papalia  and Gary Gill have all been present throughout yesterday and today, discussing Endgame’s plots as well as their careers – and expressing their thanks for the effort to get Endgame on the air with a new season. As I was writing this, efforts were being made to get Veena and Carmen to pop by for a visit as well.

They have all been real troopers, answering many, many questions (when they could) about life behind-the-scenes at The Huxley, what they’re working on now, as well as general chat. The actors have shown another reason why they, and Endgame, are fan favourites – their chemistry and camaraderie both on and off the set, their approachability, excellent humour and all-around human-ness. Also stopping in for a brief chat was Alyssa Campanella – the reigning Miss America, Canucks fan and significant other of Torrance Coombs. She came in for a visit while awaiting her flight to the Miss Universe Pageant taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The chat room has also seen a few Vancouver actors stopping by to express their support for Endgame.

Since the Gemini nominations, Endgame has been getting more and more attention, being listed as the Number 1 show to watch by the Globe and Mail in its daily “5 Shows to Watch Tonight” feature on August 9th, and several publications, including The Vancouver Sun, have taken note of the efforts to keep Endgame going. It is the group’s  firm belief that with proper promotion and an appropriate time slot, possibly on another network such as Global, Endgame and its story will flourish, and it is this belief that fuels the support of the show’s global fan force.

This weekend has proven the power of social media in bringing together a group of strangers from around the world, uniting them in a common cause to save not only a high-quality television show, but in putting their passion towards helping the well-being of those inflicted with mental health challenges.

Are you listening, Showcase? We’d like our show back. Thank you.

Village Gamer will be at SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver, and in keeping with our mandate of promoting Canadian digital interactive media, technology, film and TV to the masses we invite you to take part. We will be situated in Booth 1018, please see the map below to see where Orby is camping his spot.

We are looking for sizzle pieces and trailers that we can show in the booth, along with products and swag to put in gift baskets that we’ll be offering as prizes in business card draws. If you have postcards promoting your “Made In Canada” game, software, product, studio, association or services we are offering our booth as a point of distribution. If you would like to provide bags, pens or other swag to hand out, that is welcome too.

Ideally we would like to put together promo packs to give out encouraging businesses to Outsource to Canada. Please contact me with this special event address if you would like to help us help you. Your trailers must be available for us to download in the highest playable quality possible, preferably in 1080p – our screen is a 42″ HDTV, and we want to show your trailers in their best possible light.

For Vancouver area companies – if any of you have trade show equipment such as collapsible chairs,  TV stand, portable tables (like those tall, round, bar style), etc. that we could borrow for SIGGRAPH, we would be most grateful and of course acknowledge your contribution with promotional considerations. All equipment must be easily movable, as we have to move everything in by hand without the benefit of type of dolly cart unless we hire convention centre staff to move everything in from the loading dock, which we don’t have a budget for.

In keeping with our community theme, we’re trying for a “fireside chat” type of feel to the booth, so that our “on the spot at SIGGRAPH” interviewees can site comfortably while being interviewed on camera. If you are feeling generous and would like to help us purchase our own trade show equipment, we would also be eternally grateful – at the least we  will place your logo on our site as a supporter.

As mentioned above, we will be conducting in-booth interviews with Canadian attendees, so if you would like to represent, stop by and take a seat in front of the camera. Of course, we will also be covering as much of SIGGRAPH as we possibly can, and will have a roving video camera or two so don’t be surprised if you get recognized and hi-jacked while wandering the convention hall.

Also to be officially unveiled at SIGGRAPH will be our new project. We don’t want to reveal too many details just yet, but we can tell you that it will involve community, marketing and the creative Canadian spirit that has made this industry great. We will also be introducing our new collaborative partner, Code-name Alex  – and devs, Alex has an iPad – so, if you would like people to be able to play your game or try your app while visiting our booth and have a download code to spare, please send it via the contact link above, along with the game title, studio name and info page link, with the subject line SIGGRAPH iPad. Please note – this is only for games and iPad apps  made in Canada. Each of the games or apps loaded for SIGGRAPH will be included in our table-top info catalogue for attendees to browse through.
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We also have need of two or three more volunteers to work alongside Alex and our lovely booth hostess Megan and the infamous CaveChild and assist in promoting the Canadian interactive industry. Ideally, we are looking for students, recent graduates or those already working in the creative development sector – this would include game designers, entertainment business managers, project management, marketing, or film students (a stationary video cam with an external mic for the in-booth interviews would be most awesome too).  You would need to be available for expo floor hours, which are as follows:

If you are interested in this volunteer position, which will include a SIGGRAPH expo pass, please contact me with your information and reason for wanting to help out with the show, with SIGGRAPH volunteer as the subject line.

Vancouver-based CrowdFanatic is a relatively new web site with a strong and diverse team behind its development. This somewhat unique venture is full of trolls, but unlike other sites, trolls are (mostly) welcome here, provided they follow the protocol of being a troll with some honest debating skills. One of my first concerns was about those users who often like to take their opinions too far, falling into the nasty side of trolling, but CrowdFanatics does have its own moderation system and terms of use in place.

Unlike other debate-based sites, CrowdFanatic is far more lenient than many “traditional” debate communities and as such does not have a page (or pages) full of rules. To be honest, I really don’t feel that it needs formal debate rules. As I mentioned above, there are moderators, and a well-respected community tends to police itself quite efficiently. Like the majority of societal groups, CrowdFanatic members tend to keep the debates somewhat respectful without overly quelling the passions many people feel for their topics.

Here is a full description of what CrowdFanatic is, from the company’s blog:

“We’re bringing something new to the table in social media. Have you ever wanted to stand as a Democrat and take on a group of Republicans? Have you ever wanted to fight with a group of Yankees fans and tell off a group of Red Sox supporters over a social media battlefield? Now you have the opportunity to do that.  CrowdFanatic is that arena for you to stand tall as a group and confront your opposition. Do you want to be an opinion leader? CrowdFanatic is the perfect place to promote your group’s agenda and stand out from the crowd. All the tools that you need to be heard in the online world are at your disposal on CrowdFanatic.”

The topics (known as Confrontations) open for debate are wide and varied, from the predictable sports team rivalries to the hotness (or not) of stars and celebrities. There are political and religious debates, and of course the age-old Canada vs the USA debates. Each topic has supporters and detractors (a.k.a. rivals), as does each user. There is a rating scale for said support or non-support, and it’s easy to see who are the top debaters, you just need to look at the LeaderBoard. Every debater’s profile has a plethora of information in regards to Confrontations, Groups, posts and comments. The whole idea of the site, like any debate club competition, is to use logic, common sense, facts and a smattering of passion to support your argument, thereby winning support for your opinions.

For many, such debates are a way to educate themselves (or the masses) or to expand their own understandings of any given topic – and this is particularly true for many of the topic areas on CrowdFanatic. In fact it’s very difficult to look through the site without wanting to enter into many of the arenas open for participation and put thoughts to keyboard. If you can’t find a topic that quite fits what you want to discuss, members can open new topics (or Confrontations, as they are called on CrowdFanatic) and invite debate. Every Confrontation is a sub-category of an Arena, and of course the top Arena today is full of Google+ vs Facebook discussions.

The Hot Arenas and Hot Confrontations are constantly in flux – since I took the screenshot to the right about 45 minutes ago, the top four topics have changed, with the screenshot to the left showing the current Hot Arenas. Note that the Canucks Group is still in the top four – it is the over-all top ranked group on the site. Such a passionate group, Canucks Nation. By the time you read this, the rankings will again be different – there is never a dull moment on CrowdFanatics.

On each Arena page are listed the top discussions for the subject matter, along with the top supporter and top rival. Each Arena page also shows related topics of discussion, in case you want to branch out into other areas. Confrontations can also be found through Groups, which are another top-level category feature, and again, if you can’t find a Group that fits your area of interest, you can create a new one.

Users can even find Confrontations based on geographic location. According to the map feature on the home page (as shown in the top right image in this article), BC is an area full of Hot Confrontations. This is not surprising with many Vancouver Canucks discussions remaining consistently near the top of the popularity scale, even two weeks after the season’s final game. Oh, and yes, there are Confrontation topics in regards to the Game Seven Riot.

The CrowdFanatic team holds no topic sacred, and even took on the CBC Dragon’s Den team earlier in May, but with the network remaining mum on what transpired during the taping of Season Six, we’ll most likely have to wait until the Fall to learn more of what occurred on that Confrontational day.

CrowdFanatic is not for the timid and faint of heart – if you are not able to handle criticisms of your logic, are easily offended or can’t debate in an intelligent – albeit passionate – manner, then CrowdFanatic may not be the site for you. Personally I find the site quite intriguing, although I have not taken part in any of the debates myself, I believe the CaveChild hangs out there sometimes. That boy loves to argue.

I find CrowdFanatic to be a somewhat in-depth, cross-measuring look at the global modern society, and I also find it interesting to see what lengths people will go to in order to win – or refute – an argument. At the end of the day, I do encourage you to at least visit the site and take a look around; you never know, you may just find a topic that you’ve been itching for a good argument on, and CrowdFanatic is definitely the place to do it.

The short answer about why we want Endgame back is because it’s Canadian and we like it, but in greater detail, here’s the long answer. Earlier this television season, Scott and I began watching the brand-new Canadian TV drama Endgame from Thunderbird Films, and it rapidly became one of our favourites. We enjoyed the writing, the acting, the story-lines, the fact that it was made in Vancouver – and for once wasn’t pretending to be somewhere else like Seattle,  San Francisco or even Switzerland. The show’s premise is somewhat original – Russian chess master Arkady Balagan (Shawn Doyle) witnesses the murder of his fiancee Rosemary (Lisa Ray) outside The Huxley Hotel (The Westin Bayshore), and the resulting trauma turns him into an agoraphobic who experiences panic attacks if he even thinks about leaving the hotel.

From his hotel room and with the assistance of chess groupie Sam (Torrance Coombs), bartender Danni (Katharine Isabelle), hotel maid Alcina (Carmen Aguirre) and hotel security chief Hugo (Patrick Gallagher), the lovably naive yet egotistical genius Arkady helps people solve problems – from being accused of murder to getting hostages released to finding a missing child. While the crimes themselves may not be original, the methods used to solve them certainly are. While other crime shows have used “detective visualization” to look at solution possibilities, none of them puts the characters on a chess board and interacts with them, or constantly rewinds the image of someone pushed from the hotel roof to ask the victim questions or to see what minute clue was missed.

Of course, Arkady does have a motive for helping these people – it usually involves the payment of a fee or the winning of favours so that he doesn’t get evicted from his penthouse suite by hotel manager Barbara (Veena Sood). Added into the mix is Rosemary’s younger sister Pippa (Melanie Papalia), a blogger and freelance documentary maker. She is obsessed with solving Rosemary’s murder, and often butts heads with Arkady over the clues and possibilities she uncovers.

Endgame is lighthearted entertainment that makes the viewer think a little bit and chuckle often, so you can imagine our disappointment when we heard that Showcase had put the show on the chopping block. We’d already lost Human Target, which was another lighthearted and made in Vancouver television show which we enjoyed – even though it had the city being portrayed as locations around the world – I bet you didn’t know that  the new convention centre was really a Swiss bank, did you.

There are already far too many reality shows on the airwaves that we have absolutely no interest in watching – we don’t care who will be Canada’s next idol or who can dance and who can’t. We rarely watch to see who is the worst handyman or the worst driver, and we certainly have no interest in The Glee Project. Chances are if we’re watching a reality-based show, it’s shows like Electric Playground, Reviews on the Run, Museum Secrets, Daily Planet, Disaster DIY, Sarah’s House, Holmes on Homes or Income Property – and HGTV Canada viewing would not be complete without Colin & Justin, who will apparently be returning with a new Canadian show soon. Our one guilty-pleasure reality show is Gene Simmons Family Jewels, which technically has Canadian content.

While we are proponents of Canadian content, as anyone who is familiar with this site knows, we are particular fans of quality Canadian content, and Endgame is in that category, along with one of our other favourite crime dramas, FlashPoint (no killing off Ed or breaking up the team, CTV!). We also like Breakout Kings – and while it’s technically an American production, it is filmed in Toronto and has two Canadian actresses in the lead cast. Yes, we like a little humour mixed in with our murder and mayhem.

Shows often get pulled because a network says it has low ratings, yet time and again we see large and active fan bases fighting to keep their shows on the air while less-than-worthy shows get renewed season after season. This happened most recently with The Event (NBC), and while it’s not a Canadian show, we did watch it. Untimely demises also met CBS shows The Unit and Jericho, with the fan backlash at CBS over the cancellation of Jericho coming through loud and clear.

In my opinion, I think it’s fair to say that the Nielsen rating system, which seems to have much power in what shows stay or go, is in no way an accurate indicator of what people are watching, in part because their sampling is so small when compared to the population at large. Again in my opinion, the Nielsen Ratings System is archaic and has been the subject of much criticism. The ratings do not appear to accurately measure what people are watching online, whether it’s on their PC or their mobile device, and even time-shifting or PVRing a show can skew ratings.

The ratings certainly don’t count what we’re watching in our house – although I’d like to know how the networks know just how many people watched the Stanley Cup Finals – and was that just on TV or did they include those who watched it online like The CaveChild did because he prefers to watch his shows (like Pure Pwnage) online in his cave, while we tend to watch them on the TV. How do they know how many people in each house are watching a particular show? We have more than one TV in this house – sometimes we’re both watching the same show on one TV, sometimes we’re watching different shows on different TVs in different rooms, so how does Nielsen really know, and how can their count be an accurate reflection of what people are or want to watch? Do the Conspiracy Theorists out there have an answer for this?

According to Nielsen’s Canadian site, Nielsen TV Audience Analysis software offerings are built for today’s most pressing TV campaign and programming issues – but I could not find how many households are actually measured. Perhaps you have to be a client to get that information, or I just didn’t look in the right spot on their site.

Borealis enables detailed audience characteristics to be queried while accessing a national respondent-level database through a server based application. This powerful and easy to use analysis tool allows detailed analysis of Canadian television audiences.

SpotWatch offers the most in-depth advertising intelligence available for television in Canada.  A monthly commercial spot database available by product class, company, brand and/or creative theme.

Ad*Views provides the most comprehensive source of competitive advertising intelligence available with access to current and historical advertising data across 13 markets and 5 media types.  Ad*Views can be used to analyze occurrences, GRPs, dollars and television creatives in a single, easy-to-use system.

Why do networks not look at the overall engagement of a show’s audience? Isn’t each and every show a brand property? Or are brand properties measured differently in TV and film from how they are measured in the game development industry? Do they take into account internet activity surrounding a show such as fan sites, discussions, social media participation and brand mentions? Do they take into account how many people have experienced the Endgame interactive features and games? It wouldn’t seem so, because as I mentioned earlier, shows with an actively engaged fan base are repeatedly getting pulled off the air and replaced with drivel. Would not the measuring of total engagement be a major part of a brand’s influence? I thought it was – at least that’s what all of the marketing and branding experts have been saying.

Thus far I have not seen any announced new shows that will hold any interest for me the way Endgame has.  Will King? It’s too early to tell. Will XIII? I’ll get back to you on that.  I can safely say that I have absolutely no interest based on the advertising I’ve seen in Single White Spenny, Kenny Hotz and his Triumph Over Will or Almost Heroes. I have never been a fan of Trailer Park Boys and never will be – I prefer entertaining shows that have some modicum of class and intelligence. That said, and before you go thinking that I have little to no sense of humour, I completely enjoyed Kids In The Hall, The Royal Canadian Air Farce, Wayne & Shuster – and even that other guy, Rick Mercer. I liked The Beachcombers and loved Due South. Being a proper geeky type, I also like Big Bang Theory.

But getting back to Endgame, which ended its first season with a cliff-hanger. It seems that the leads Pippa has been following as she tries to solve her sister’s murder have caused ripples among those who reside on the underbelly of society, and a brutal warning was delivered to Arkady, making it appear that Pippa’s line of investigation has hit a few nerves. How can the network be that uncaring about its viewers to leave Endgame fans hanging with absolutely no sense of the whys or wherefores?

For all intents and purposes, it would appear that Showcase has a total disregard for what Endgame’s engaged fans want from the network. If I’d been able to attend the Banff World Media Festival this year, I would have been front and centre with their representatives, telling them exactly how I feel about the axing of Endgame. Then I would have let Thunderbird’s creative staff know that I want Endgame to continue and will gladly support any movement to keep Endgame on the air. There is hope that perhaps Global, as part of the same Shaw Media family as ShowCase, could possibly pick the show up. This would make us happy viewers. If they don’t, it will cause our Shaw Satisfaction metre to dip – and while you may think that the majority of people at Shaw don’t care how the public feels, trust me, they do.

Do you want to show your support for Endgame? Check out (and Like) the Endgame and  Save Endgame Facebook fan pages or sign the petition (yes, we did). You can also follow Endgame on Twitter – along with Shawn Doyle, Torrance Coombs, Patrick Gallagher, Melanie Papalia, Thunderbird Films, Showcase and Shaw Media TV.