Widgets Odyssey II represents the conclusion of Frima’s “Summer of the PlayStation Mini” in which Widgets Odyssey and Young Thor were also released.

“What a summer! I think with the release of Widgets Odyssey and Young Thor, we have shown the gaming world at large that the PlayStation Mini platform is one worth paying attention to,” said Steve Couture, CEO and co-founder of Frima Studio. “We’re proud to continue that tradition with Widgets Odyssey II, and we can’t wait to see the reaction from gamers looking to play the next great Mini.”

In the Widgets Odyssey saga, five robots aboard their space vessel have just one simple mission: to save the universe from the tyrannical Yagor and his evil henchmen! Armed with the abilities of Spad, Cosmo, Bruce, Helmut, and Monk, players will guide each robot along their exciting adventures filled with puzzles, mazes and minigames.

There is a new age in computing dawning, a redefinition of the computing user experience and PC software needs to catch up. The old methods of getting, installing and using software no longer apply. Edmonton-based Beamdog defines the new model for the PC software lifecycle.

Beamdog is about fun, about finding great games and playing them. “When I want a new game I just want to find it, get it and get playing as fast as possible.” says co-founder and President Trent Oster. “I don’t want to physically go to a store, browse the limited selection on shelves and go home with a “passable” game. I don’t want to sit through a lengthy and pointless installation. I want a great selection of the best games ever made, all in one place and I want to get playing fast; that is what we intend for Beamdog.”

Founded by industry veterans Trent Oster and Cameron Tofer, Beamdog connects customers with games quick and easy. With an exclusive focus on digital distribution, Beamdog supports game developers and publishers in connecting with their audience. Beamdog represents the start of an open, transparent and rapidly-expanding digital market and they want you to know that they are open for business.

Actor Spike Spencer will be appearing as a guest at the Anime Evolution Anime Convention in Vancouver August 13-15. Anime Evolution 2010 at the University of British Columbia is Vancouver’s premiere Asian popular cultural event where audiences and industry interact directly in an informal setting.

The three-day convention is expected to draw close to 6,000 attendees this year and brings together art, animation (anime), comic books (manga), video games, film and music in a celebration of Asian popular culture and multimedia. Events take place starting Friday, August 13, and end Sunday, August 15. Everyone is welcome to register as attendees. The price for a three-day pass is $55 CAD for a three-day pass and daily passes are available.

The convention highlights Vancouver’s local creative talent as well as showcasing the work of artists from Canada and abroad. Convention attendees can attend Q&A’s and workshops with voice actors, directors, artists, animators, comic books publishers and game developers. Video screenings, video game rooms, a cultural festival and live performances by DJs, bands and improv actors are sure to keep guests thoroughly entertained.

New for this year is the Artist’s Villa, a sizeable space devoted to creative talents of all kinds, including writing, drawing, and performances. Cosplay is encouraged. Gutsier attendees can participate in a fashion show or take part in the highly- competitive singing contest, Anime Idol. Those looking for official merchandise, like comic books or videos, should definitely make a visit a dealers area one of their top priorities.

Vancouver-based social comparison shopping engine TinyMassive has completed a private placement of 3,430,000 common shares at a price of $0.05 per share for aggregate proceeds of $171,500, which will be used to in the operation of operations of TBwaP, Inc. TinyMassive currently owns 49% of TBwaP, a free community website and weekday e-mail newsletter for new and expectant moms. Tight Bod with a Pod aims to create the insider’s guide to pre- and postnatal fitness and healthy living – from work out regimens and yummy snacks on-the-go to the best baby gadgets and family travel ideas, all written and approved by chic, modern moms. Although pregnancy and motherhood know no borders, Tight Bod with a Pod is currently located in Los Angeles. TinyMassive is in negotiations to purchase the remaining 51% of TBwaP, and plans to close a second private placement to raise up to an additional $230,000 within the next 10 days.

Inspire 2 Go, a new Ottawa-based website that inspires travelers with “Top 10″ style lists and personalized recommendations for destinations, hotels, and other places, announces the Best of Canada Awards 2010 contest. The contest, open to public voting until August 31, seeks the best cities, towns, and national or provincial parks in Canada in 5 categories:

Best Family Destinations
Best Romantic Destinations
Best Nature Destinations
Best Beach Destinations
Best Golf Destinations

Anyone can vote for as many places on each list as they like and add new places if their favorites are missing. The winners in each category will be featured on Inspire2go for the rest of the year.

Japan is the 3rd largest market in the world for gaming industry sales; in 2009, sales of game hardware and software in Japan were US$5.9B. The Tokyo Game Show is the largest videogame show in Asia with annual attendance of 185,000 participants over four days. Attendance at this show is an opportunity for BC organizations to market their products and services to the Asian market and forge new business relationships with companies from Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan.

Recognizing the changing nature of videogames in society, TGS 2010 will also focus on next-generation mobile game devices, smartphones, PCs and other new interface models for home consoles. For BC organizations wishing to attend TGS 2010, the BC Trade and Investment office is pleased to offer the following support:

· Booth space at Tokyo Game Show in the BC Pavilion
· Bilingual staff (Japanese/English) to facilitate on-site meetings
· On-the-ground support for business matching
· Assistance with logistics in planning your trip and preparing to do business in Asia

If you are interested in participating in the BC Pavilion, the BC Trade and Investment office needs to hear from you by the end of July so that they can secure adequate resources and booth space for this event. Please contact Rob O’Brien, Japan Manager with the BC government’s International Relations and Business Development branch via email or at 604-505-5896 to express interest, ask questions, or obtain more information about costs involved.

Our congratulations to Sarah Thomson, who has been promoted to the position of Vice President of Business Development at IUGO Mobile Entertainment. Sarah has been with the premium games developer for nearly 3 years, and since her joining, IUGO has significantly elevated its reputation and awareness amongst industry peers and mobile game enthusiasts. They also have seen success in the challenging App Store marketplace for iDevices.

“This was a well-deserved move for Sarah,” states IUGO’s CEO, Hong-Yee Wong. “She’s grabbed the reins here and produced significant results for IUGO. I have no doubt she’ll continue to take IUGO into new and exciting areas of growth and prosperity.” Thomson has also been speaking regularly at industry conventions, most recently Casual Connect in Seattle.

“I’m very excited and proud of my accomplishment,” beams Sarah. “The company as a whole has been working very hard to make our mark in this competitive space. I feel like we’re only getting started. IUGO’s foray into social games currently and in the future is going to usher in our next phase of success. I am grateful to lead the company towards its next evolution.”

Digital Leisure Inc. has entered into a partnership with Minnesota game developer and publisher Destineer to develop Dragon’s Lair Trilogy, bringing three timeless arcade adventures together on one disc for Wii™: Dragon’s Lair, Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp, and Space Ace. For the first time ever on a console platform, you can experience the stunning visuals and engaging storylines from all three of these classic arcade games created by legendary American animator Don Bluth.

The Dragon’s Lair Trilogy will be completely arcade authentic with the original arcade gameplay modes
and remastered animation. There will be standard and wide-screen editions, an all-new movie guide for beginners and a watch mode which will let you check out all of the Dragon’s Lair awesome animation without playing the game, which will be available for the Wii this fall.

Digital Leisure also has a new title coming out on DSiWare this coming Monday, August 2nd. In Match Up gamers will reveal shapes, colors and even hidden bonuses with a new take on a childhood favorite. Quick hands and a sharp mind are the only way to beat the clock and disarm the explosive cards riddled throughout. For a bit of a slower paced gameplay, you can opt for classic concentration play. Match Up will be available for 200 DSiPoints.

New policies in regards to Performance Envelope Calculation Factors were sent out by the Canada Media Fund late yesterday. As a result of the consultation with the industry and funders of the Canada Media Fund (CMF), and in view of the policy direction from the federal government, the Board of the CMF has determined that the following factors will apply in the calculation of the performance envelopes for 2011-2012:

·Audience success (calculated on total hours tuned)
·Original prime time first run
·Historic performance, formerly historic access
·Above threshold licensing
·Regional licensing
·Digital media investment.

The new factor weights are defined as follows:

·Original first run is defined as the first airing of a project (or series of episodes that make up that project) by an eligible broadcaster. Eligibility will be determined based on whether the broadcaster participated in the initial financing structure of the project. This, in essence, allows participation in this factor by second and third window broadcasters who licensed the project, but excludes acquisitions.

·Prime time is defined as the period of time between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., 7 days per week. A project for which the majority of the telecast airs between these hours is considered to be airing in prime time. In the case of single-feed specialty broadcasters, this time period will be extended to the hours of 5:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., 7 days per week.

·For the digital media investment factor, credit will be earned for each dollar of cash financing and CMF envelope contribution provided by a broadcaster to a rich and substantial digital media component, as defined in section 3.2.DM of the Performance Envelope Program Guidelines.

The specific percentage weights to be assigned to each of the performance factors will continue to be assessed. Further consultations with the industry and funders will occur in September and the percentages of each factor will be announced following the final determination made by the Board.

The Dutch government is inviting 15 IT and new media companies to visit Holland from 20-25 September to explore this creative hub to Europe. The week will be packed with matchmaking and networking events including PICNIC festival.

The Netherlands is widely recognized as mainland Europe’s creative hub, and Amsterdam – the capital city- is one of the TOP 5 most creative cities in the world. The stunning broadband and mobile infrastructure, and the low cost of communication services make that 85% of the Dutch population is connected to broadband. The 16 million inhabitants are extremely web savvy as proven recently when they managed to make their parliament election trending topic on twitter and constantly challenged Twitter’s capacity during the countries World Cup football matches.

The international oriented business culture is also reflected in high adaptation rate of business networks, LinkedIn for example has 1 million Dutch members. Not surprisingly LinkedIn opened their first mainland Europe office in the Netherlands last year and Tijmen Kos, Managing Director EMEA, Sun Microsystems states: “We chose the Netherlands because of the multilingualism, the education level of the working population and the excellent telecommunications infrastructure.”

With a multilingual educational system and an international economic focus as part of their history, the Dutch have embraced the digital technology to pursue a global citizen lifestyle. The country is in fact one big digital test bed, where a successful creative industry sprouted that is combining creativity, innovation and technology. It is also known for its diversity, with Creative Business Services, Media & Entertainment and Arts as the three main divisions in which the Dutch excel.

To offer an inspirational platform and bring together the national and international innovative community, Amsterdam annually hosts PICNIC festival. Thousands of people across the globe gather to share ideas, get inspired and work together on exciting topics. The festival blurs the lines between creativity, science, technology and business to explore solutions in the spirit of co-creation.

During this week there is a special business package available for a limited group of Canadian and US new media, social media, web 2.0, mobile and creative companies. For these 15 North American companies there is a Dutch government grant, so they can join this week filled with matchmaking, network, pressure cooker events and PICNIC festival for free!

The grant is made available by Agency NL EVD International, and companies that want to explore the Dutch/European market or are looking for Dutch business partners can apply by sending an email or at Creative Cradle.

Vancouver-based i.Core Technologies Inc. announced today that it will introduce a free on-demand delivery and billing platform in September, 2010. i.Core’s latest offering, nDebit, provides a comprehensive solution that includes billing, provisioning, customer management, authentication, CRM, real-time rating engine and other services.

“We have supported hundreds of service providers over the years. Our customers range from a SOHO with basic requirements to the world’s largest WiFi aggregator who was provided a multi-currency, multi-lingual and multi-channel solution,” says i.Core’s COO Amrit Dhillon. “nDebit is the culmination of years of experience delivering solutions to demanding customers.”

nDebit enhances productivity and profitability by including a collaborative module for marketing and sales teams. Shared online project calendar, contacts and tasks makes it easy for the entire team to stay on schedule. nDebit decreases time to market, increases efficiency and enhances customer loyalty by enabling providers to introduce services rapidly, quickly modify pricing, offer innovative options for prepaid and postpaid billing and uplift customer experience via a self-service center.

Indigo Rose Software has announced the immediate availability of Autorun MAX 2.1. Autorun MAX is designed to make it easy for software developers to create autorun menus for use on CDs, DVDs and USB drives. Like its bigger brother, Autorun MAX features a completely visual drag and drop development environment with built-in support for video, photos, text, buttons and music. It can launch any kind of file, from executables and installers to PowerPoint, PDF, Word and Excel documents. It can also open web browsers, email programs and much more.

This professional autorun creator software is from the developers of the industry-standard AutoPlay Media Studio. Autorun MAX shares many of the same features, and all of the same reliability, but in a more streamlined form. It was designed so that even non-programmers can use it to create visually-impressive multimedia autorun menus for software, training applications and presentations.

Unlike AutoPlay Media Studio however, there’s no programming at all. In fact, it’s easy enough for anyone to use. Simply drag and drop your media content onto a blank page and arrange the layout with your mouse. Then, simply choose from a drop-down list what you’d like to happen when one of your menu items are clicked on. There’s no programming knowledge required. Autorun MAX makes it fast and easy to author and distribute professional multimedia software, even for absolute beginners.

Autorun MAX includes a gallery of professional templates and ready-to-use content, including backgrounds, buttons, panels and sound effects to get you started. With templates included for software installation, document browsing, CD business cards and more, it’s quick to get your autoplay project off on the right foot with even more features that are normally only found in much more expensive products. Things like page transitions, custom window shapes, multi-channel audio mixing, image transparency with full alpha blending, spell checking, integrated CD burning and publishing to an email or web-ready single-file executable.

With its drag and drop design, software developers will be able to quickly create dozens of popular multimedia projects like CD business cards, computer based training (CBT) applications, CD autorun menus, custom web browsers, interactive presentations and more. Autorun MAX is available now for use with Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. Pricing starts at $49 (US) for the Home Edition or $129 for the Business Edition, with online ordering available.

Intertainment Media Inc. has announced the availability of Ad Taffy’s location-aware solution for online advertising. Through Ad Taffy’s location enhancement features, advertisers can now instantly provide key location information based on a consumer’s present geo-location and connect the consumer and vendor by telephone, outside of the browser automatically. Ad Taffy has completed its beta trials and is now working with key US and international agencies and advertising networks to begin commercialization.

A highly engaging SaaS (Software as a Solution) platform, Ad Taffy can quickly and easily be adapted to run within existing advertising campaigns without requiring new or standalone creative. Ad Taffy can be monetized on a CPM (impression), CPC (click), CPA (action) or CPE (engagement) basis, maximizing efficiencies and budgets.

Current market solutions require consumers to click on ads and go through as many as 15 steps and spend up to 6 minutes to try and reach the desired live contact with the retailer or service provider.

Ad Taffy reduces the friction and frustration experienced by streamlining the engagement process between a consumer and advertiser, instantly providing a map location with the consumer’s current geo-location clearly identified, points of interest and an intuitive navigation process, allowing the consumer to quickly and automatically connect from the ad to the location by telephone via their online, mobile or landline. The automated telephony connection from the browser to online, mobile and land lines is provided by itiBiti, Intertainment’s proprietary communications technology platform.

“Ad Taffy represents a truly innovative way for brands to capitalize on the intent to purchase. Consumers no longer have to continuously click through ads to find information and connect to the vendor. Ad Taffy provides a fluid user engagement experience,” said David Lucatch, CEO of Intertainment Media Inc. / President Ad Taffy Inc. “As a SaaS (Software as a Solution) application, Ad Taffy provides brands and agencies with a simplified solution for greater consumer engagement.

Ad Taffy is built using Microsoft’s Silverlight platform, Bing Maps and Intertainment’s propriety communications technology suite, itiBiti. Silverlight is a powerful development platform for creating rich media applications and business applications for the Web, desktop, and mobile devices.

EnStream LP has announced a number of changes for domestic person-to-person (P2P) money transfers utilizing Zoompass. These transfers are now free through the Zoompass Mobile Wallet, and by removing the fees on domestic money transfers along with increasing sending limits, the Zoompass Wallet brings us a step closer to realizing the vision of a cashless society.

“There is no cost to consumers for transacting with cash today, so in this sense we feel it’s appropriate for us to remove the P2P transaction fees for the same transaction that could be done electronically through the Zoompass Mobile Wallet,” said Robin Dua, President of EnStream LP.

“By removing the P2P fees when sending funds from a Zoompass account, we open up a whole new market opportunity associated with micro transactions,” said Dua. Zoompass users can now pay back friends for a coffee, lunch or even the office lottery pool without incurring any fees. These everyday transactions can now be done electronically, more conveniently and at no cost via the Zoompass Mobile Wallet.

With recent changes to account limits, Zoompass Wallet users can also use the service for larger transactions. Zoompass users can now pay their nanny, send money to their kids off at university, or pay for their hockey league team dues all with just a few keystrokes on their mobile phone.

EnStream is a partnership of Canada’s leading wireless carriers, Bell, Rogers, and TELUS. The company launched the award-winning Zoompass Mobile Wallet in 2009 and began offering Canadians a revolutionary way to send, receive, and request money using the mobile phone.

The Zoompass wallet is now pre-loaded on many mobile phones and is also available online for download – there is no cost to open a Zoompass account.

While sending money from your Zoompass account is free, sending funds through Zoompass from a credit card will incur a 3.5% fee. The new maximum individual transaction amounts through Zoompass are now $750.00 (daily), $1 000.00 (weekly) and $2 500.00 (monthly) with a maximum allowable balance of $2 500.00 in your account at any given time.

The Zoompass wallet will continue to expand with exciting new capabilities that will change the way people transact and interact with their money. “We have been working very hard and look forward to soon announcing several new services that will further demonstrate the convergence of the leather wallet and mobile phone,” stated Dua.

Koolhaus Games announces Voting for Round One of its International Contest for Unsigned Bands. The Top 25 Favorites in each Round are being decided by voters to the site. The Top 10 Winner’s Songs will be included in the new soundtrack of their popular iPhone game – iMP:Surf the Music and the groups will earn royalties from game sales.

Just visit the site, click on the Contest link – and go to “Fans: Vote and Enter”. Check out the bands and vote for your favorite by August 23, 2010. Then, Enter to Win an iPod Touch. Enjoy all the great new songs and be part of getting these Unsigned Acts the exposure they deserve! There will be several Rounds and one Voter from each round wins an iPod Touch.

The National Film Board of Canada returns to 2010 Hiroshima International Animation Festival (August 7–11) with six films in competition. In the running for the Grand Prix are Lipsett Diaries and Drux Flux, two films by Theodore Ushev; Jeu de forme by Malcolm Sutherland; The Spine by Chris Landreth; Runaway by Cordell Barker and Retouches by Georges Schwizgebel. Ushev will be in Hiroshima, and Internet users can stay in touch with him via his blog.

The festival offers several programs in addition to the official competition. No fewer than 11 NFB films are featured at special presentations: Neighbours by Norman McLaren screens at the opening gala; Vive la rose by Bruce Alcock, co-produced with the Canadian company Global Mechanic, screens at the Best of the World program; and When the Day Breaks by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, Village of Idiots by Rose Newlove and Eugene Fedorenko, The Big Snit by Richard Condie and Ryan by Chris Landreth, co-produced by the Toronto-based company Copperheart Entertainment, are among the films selected for the program celebrating the festival’s 25th anniversary.

Theodore Ushev’s, Lipsett Diaries uses a series of imagined diary entries to trace the life of the brilliant filmmaker Arthur Lipsett, beginning with his solitary childhood and culminating in his suicide in 1986. The film is narrated by Xavier Dolan. Lipsett Diaries premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2010 and received a Special Distinction Award. Ushev’s second film Drux Flux calls into question industry’s supremacy over humanity. Both films are produced by Marc Bertrand at the NFB’s French Animation Studio.

Runaway, by Oscar-nominated director Cordell Barker follows a wild escapade on a train with no conductor. The film garnered awards at Cannes and Annecy in 2009. The Spine by Academy Award-winning animator Chris Landreth, follows a man and woman trapped in a self-destructive relationship. Jeu de forme, directed by prolific Montreal filmmaker Malcolm Sutherland is a playful creative exercise. Georges Schwizgebel’s Retouches (co-production with Studio GDS) is a stylistic exercise based on the progressive transformation of images through a series of repeated movements.

Itibiti Systems Inc., a wholly owned division of Intertainment Media Inc., along with presenting sponsor McDonald’s Canada, today announced the debut of Launch Pad® – Canada’s first fully-integrated social media, entertainment and communications app for the desktop.

Representing the shared vision of developers Itibiti Systems and Canada’s premiere media agency, OMD Canada, Launch Pad® for McDonald’s sets a new standard in customized consumer engagement programs for global brands. The innovative, infinitely scalable platform defines an important new environment where a deeper relationship with consumers can be managed creatively and effectively.

FREE to download & use, Launch Pad’s customized page opens on the desktop as soon as the computer is turned on. With just one tool, consumers will now have instant access to an exclusive mix of content, services and communications features. Users can talk for free with friends and family across North America, stay connected with built-in social media favourites, click a premium selection of news & information feeds, access on-board MSN Live Services featuring Bing Search, enjoy VIP access to the latest promotions and updates, follow McDonald’s on Twitter and more.

“We’re very excited by the boundless possibilities of Launch Pad to engage, inform and inspire our customers”, said Hope Bagozzi, Director, National Marketing, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada. “We are always looking for ways to provide value to our customers, whether it’s through our menu offerings, a great restaurant experience or sponsoring new innovations such as the Launch Pad.”

Big and bold, the Launch Pad lets users add their own personal Facebook feed to the app, in addition to offering a premium suite of content with Splash Celebrity News, Citytv’s Breakfast Television, top movie trailers from tribute.ca, automotive reviews and information from the experts at Kelley Blue Book, the hottest stories on the web from the digg reel, and the ultimate in personal tech reviews/previews from the popular team at AppJudgement.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to be working together with the thought leaders at OMD Canada and McDonald’s Canada to debut this program nationwide,” said Brad Parry, Chief Marketing Officer – Itibiti Systems Inc. / Intertainment Media Inc. “Itibiti has created a powerful social media platform that can enhance digital strategies and achieve greater audience connection for brand clients globally.”

Telefilm Canada is pleased to announce that once again it has been recognized for its 2008-2009 annual report “Action”. Honoured by the 2010 International Arc Awards, an international annual report competition organized by MerComm, Inc., the Awards recognize outstanding achievement in annual reports from a variety of industries. Telefilm received the a Gold Award in the Non-Traditional Annual Report – Government Agencies and Offices category.

“To be recognized by yet another international competition is an honour for all of us at Telefilm,” said Carolle Brabant, Executive Director. “Each year, the annual report is the product of a good deal of time and energy on the part on many Telefilm employees, across many departments. It is extremely satisfying to then have that work acknowledged internationally.”

Telefilm Canada worked with the Montreal-based marketing agency CG3 for the creative concept and execution of the 2008-2009 annual report. The International Arc Awards has recognized Telefilm Canada on numerous occasions in the past, including in the 2009 when the organization’s annual report won the Bronze Award in the same category.

This is the second award competition that has recognized the annual report “Action”. Earlier in July, the 2009 Vision Awards awarded Telefilm with the following:

* Gold Award: Government Organizations – Annual Revenue of $100 million to $1 billion
* Silver Award: Best Agency Report – Americas Region
* Ranked 97th: Top 100 Annual Reports of 2009

The 2010 International Arc Awards will be handed out at an awards banquet in New York, NY on September 16, 2010.

Cisco is pairing its wireless technology leadership with the Flip Video™ simplicity-in-design approach to launch Valet™, a breakthrough product line that makes home wireless simple and accessible to everyone. Valet is designed to transform how families use the Internet in their homes so they can enjoy the freedom of wireless access without the usual frustration and complexity of setting up a home network.

“Valet is home wireless made easy,” said Jonathan Kaplan, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Consumer Products. “With complementary backgrounds and expertise, our Cisco and Flip teams have combined forces to change the rules for home wireless with a product line that empowers consumers to easily set up, enjoy and manage all of their wireless devices anywhere in the home.”

While consumer demand for wireless products is on the rise with a tremendous array of new devices in the market, research from IDC Canada (Source: IDC Canada estimates for 2009, based on wireless home router ownership and use among total Canadian households) reveals that only 39% of Canadian homes are currently set up for wireless use.” This surprisingly slow adoption of home wireless is largely due to the complexity of offerings that are too technical for the average consumer to install and manage on their own. At the same time, the demand for wireless-enabled products – such as mobile phones, gaming systems, and music players – is extremely strong, according to ABI Research data reporting that more than 264 million of these types of devices shipped worldwide in 2009.

“Consumers have felt powerless and frustrated with the entire process of home wireless, but with Valet we are tearing down the walls and opening it up to everyone,” Kaplan added. “The market for wireless-enabled products is exploding, and now mainstream users will be able to take full advantage of all the new opportunities.”

Valet is the first wireless product line to make it simple for anyone to set up and manage a home wireless network. Consumers who have high-speed Internet access simply insert the included Easy Setup Key right into a USB port in their PC or Mac, and the Cisco Connect software takes over. Unlike other wireless products that require 20 to 30 complicated steps to set up a single computer, Cisco Connect takes you through three steps from start to finish. The Easy Setup Key retains all setup information and can be easily inserted into additional home computers to seamlessly add them to the home’s wireless network.

Once set up, Valet gives consumers a simple way to manage their family’s home wireless experience. The included Cisco Connect software makes it easy to: 1) add additional devices to the network, 2) set parental controls, 3) provide Internet access for guests on a separate guest network and 4) customize personal security settings such as passwords.

Valet also provides a new level of control for parents with simple tools to manage their family’s online experience. Valet’s Cisco Connect software lets parents easily set controls on the fly, so they can modify Web usage for certain days and times of the week, or even for temporary periods. For example, if teens are spending too much time on social networks or gaming systems, parents can modify their wireless access so that they cannot go online after 9 p.m. on weeknights. For each personal device connected to Valet — whether computer, gaming system or smart phone — Internet access can be individually controlled or changed, and inappropriate content can be blocked altogether.

In addition, Valet makes it easy to set up guest wireless access when friends or family come to visit. With a completely separate wireless connection, guests can use their laptops or mobile phones around the house, while the main Valet home network remains highly secure and private.

The new Valet line is offered in two models – Valet and Valet Plus – based on the size of the home and the mix of wired and wireless devices. In addition, there is a simple Valet Connector to update older computers without built-in wireless capabilities or to upgrade to Wireless-N. Valet users have access to Cisco’s award-winning 24/7 phone support in the unlikely event they have a question or problem. The Valet product line is available at Best Buy, Future Shop, Staples, London Drugs, The Source and select other retailers

* Valet – For small to medium-sized homes with primarily wireless device $99.99
* Valet Plus – For medium-sized to large homes with a mix of wireless and wired devices $129.99
* Valet Connector – Upgrades an older computer to wireless; an ideal complement to Valet or Valet Plus $69.99

Cisco has also unveiled a new line of Linksys® wireless routers in Canada, designed to let its core audience of tech experts and enthusiasts take their home networking experience to the next level. The streamlined product lineup sets a new precedent for simplicity, power and performance and makes it easy for consumers to find the right technology to fit their needs. The line also includes new Cisco Connect software, which gives users tools for easier customization and control of their home wireless experience.

With the addition of the new Cisco Connect software, the new Linksys E-Series is designed to make it easier for users to customize and control their wireless network settings to match their preferences. With a quick and easy setup, the software auto-assigns the WPA security passkey and SSID. Once those are configured, users can use Cisco Connect to easily manage their wireless home network.

And in other news, the Research & Analysis division of analyst firm Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment, LLC (FADE) gaming on Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) grew by double-digit numbers during the first half of the year, after a sluggish start in January and February which saw numbers down year over year. Overall, the XBLA market place grew 13% to $46.1 million USD by the end of June. June 2010 capped off the first half with an impressive 36% increase compared to last year’s June 2009.

FADE reports that the major turning point in 2010 for XBLA came during the heavily promoted ‘Block Party’ event, which started in March and featured four titles: ‘Toy Soldiers’, ‘Perfect Dark’, ‘Scrap Metal’ and ‘Game Room’. ‘Toy Soldiers’ and ‘Perfect Dark’ both took in over $2 million USD during the first half, placing each among the top five by revenue. The free-to-download classic title destination ‘Game Room’ also saw success, with over a million downloads shortly after release.

March started the positive trend, posting a strong 41% year-over-year increase in revenues, which began a consecutive 4-month run of double digit gains in revenue when compared to 2009. Starting in April, Microsoft began to aggressively promote price drops on dozens of titles, starting with the ‘Inventory Blowout’ sale which ran for one week in April, and included 10 titles. Throughout the second quarter, multiple sales were offered on titles, totaling over 40 titles offered on discount. These sales were seen as a success, as many titles saw revenue increases of between 50-200%. “We saw Microsoft take a very different approach to product deployment strategies this year,” said Benjamin Schlichter, Director of Research and Analysis for FADE. “The second quarter of the year has traditionally been their weakest, and they made great strides to improve the performance during the period, as revenue increased 24% compared to the year prior during a period when much of the rest of the industry is down.”

FADE maintains that Xbox Live Arcade will realize an estimated $130 million to $140 million by the end of the year, following strong hardware sales due to a solid holiday lineup, the new Slim console, and marketing for the motion-sensing Kinect hardware. Most notably, Microsoft’s 3rd annual ‘Summer of Arcade’ is anticipated to be met with impressive sales, following the implementation of their new ‘Destination Arcade’ UI.

Kinect brings an air of unpredictability to the mix. FADE research believes that Kinect pricing may dampen sales for the hardware slightly, but the possibilities of the platform may yield impressive revenues for Arcade developers looking to leverage the new platform for mini-games and unique, affordable experiences.

FADE Top 10 Estimates for H1 2010, by Revenue (USD)

* Toy Soldiers (Signal Studios) – $4.6 million (1200 Microsoft Points)
* Trials HD (RedLynx) – $4.4 million (800 – 1200 Microsoft Points)
* Castle Crashers (The Behemoth) – $2.9 million (800 – 1200 Microsoft Points)
* Battlefield 1943 (EA DICE) – $2.5 million (800 – 1200 Microsoft Points)
* Perfect Dark (4J Studios) – $2.4 million (800 Microsoft Points)
* Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Capcom) – $1.8 million (800 – 1200 Microsoft Points)
* Family Game Night (EA Bright Light) – $1.7 million (400 – 800 Microsoft Points)
* Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment) – $1.2 million (800 – 1200 Microsoft Points)
* Magic: The Gathering (Stainless Games) – $900,000 (800 Microsoft Points)
* Call of Duty Classic (Infinity Ward) – $800,000 (1200 Microsoft Points)

Toon Boom Animation and Sci-Fi industry community MyOuterSpace.com are joining forces to make the greatest talent in the creative galaxy come forward and shine! This contest will challenge your creativity and originality and show the universe your support for MyOuterSpace.com. With the animated William Shatner starring in your lead role and three audio voiceovers to choose from, this is your opportunity to showcase your skills as a top-notch animator. Watch this video for more information about the upcoming contest, which will open for entries in August 2010:

Not exactly a contest, but still worthy of mention, the Gemini Awards are looking for your best artwork. In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Canadian Gemini Awards, organizers are creating a very special piece of Canadian art. According to their web site, they are looking for a unique way to tell the story of the 25 years of excellence in Canadian programming behind us, and many more years of innovation to come. This will take shape with ‘Gemini Nights’ which will in part be made up of user submitted images that are iconic in nature and instantly recognizable. It could be a show title, a screen shot from a promo poster, a character everyone knows, or a logo that speaks to success. Organizers ask that images be submitted by Wednesday, August 4th via their online form. Take note that you must have rights to any images which you submit for consideration.

Want to pitch a product to and get feedback from the likes of Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and TELETOON? Get yourself over the Ottawa International Animation Festival’s web site and find out all of the details. The deadline to apply is September 1st, so don’t delay.

Pitch Participation Requirements:

* Project synopsis, including target audience, technique, format, rough budget, (1-2 pages)
* One episode synopsis
* Bios of key executives
* Short paragraph indicating your current stage of development and any additional information (i.e. interactive components, merchandise, etc.)
* Concept art (2 or 3 images)

XMG Studio would like you all to know about the upcoming launch of Cannon Cadets, its latest mobile game available for iPhone and iPod Touch users, rocketing into Apple’s App Store in early August 2010.

From the award-winning company that brought you Drag Racer, Little Metal Ball and Marine Sharpshooter, XMG Studio’s Cannon Cadets is a supremely addictive physics game with 80 visually stimulating and diabolically devious levels to challenge children and adults alike.

In this new game, you are Rocketboy, who must save your team of Cannon Cadets from Gordo, an evil lab monkey, and his robot army, that are determined to rid the universe of all that is fun. Players will shoot their cadets at the robots, trying to knock them out while dealing with complex structures that follow advanced physics rules including rolls, slides and hinges!

Each level is a new challenge, from basic structures to complex Rube Goldberg-esque machines that will test the skills of even the bravest cadet. As players advance, the Cannon Cadet team members will need to rescue fun new friends and add to the player’s arsenal of special powers to use against Gordo.

Features of Cannon Cadets include:

- 80 beautifully illustrated mind twisting levels on four unique planets
– 4 playable characters (RocketBoy, RocketGirl, Pop, and Granati)
– Hidden Bonus Levels
– Amazing game physics including hinged and moving objects, as well as complex chain reaction style challenges

Other Ocean Interactive invites you to challenge the speediest puffins on the island for the title of Fastest Flyer in Puffins: Let’s Race in their latest Nintendo DSi release. Race against the clock or go head-to-head with your opponents in a battle to the finish line. Use cleverly placed power-ups like the squawk shot to get ahead of the pack and claim victory. Race through four different game modes on eight different tracks to prove your skill, or challenge up to three of your friends via local wireless play. Do you have what it takes to become the race champion of Puffin Island, or will you be left behind with the rest of the flock? Let’s Race! is available now on DSiware for 500 DSi Points.

VanArts presents an Animation & Story Development Masterclass on September 24 & 25th in Vancouver with instructors Story Artist Matthew Luhn and Animator Andrew Gordon, both from Pixar Animation Studios. This exceptional opportunity will offer participants a rare and exciting opportunity to learn from the industry’s top talent. This class has toured the world, and this is one of only two North American stops in 2010.

Geared toward animators and storytellers, experienced professionals, students, and enthusiasts alike, this masterclass provides you with the tools needed to create your own stories and feature-quality animation, plus offers a great opportunity to meet and network with others in the industry. The course will be held at the Fletcher Challenge Theater – Simon Fraser University, 515 West Hastings Street in Vancouver. Registration for this two day masterclass is $499.00, with early registration highly recommended.

Maid Marian Entertainment Inc. announces a major update to Sherwood Dungeon, its free-to-play, browser-based MMO game that all bow-loving players will appreciate.

As a completely new addition to Sherwood Dungeon, players will gain access to Bow & Arrows at level 21. Players will earn two additional equipment slots for these items, as well as the ability to purchase magic arrows (Fire, Ice, Poison, Night) from the local weapons merchant. In addition to the new weapons, this update includes numerous changes such as AI improvements, economy and item rebalancing, and a complete dungeon overhaul, replacing old maps with new ones.

Fitting the grassroots nature of Sherwood Dungeon, this update was made possible through the direct support and feedback of Sherwood Dungeon’s loyal fan base, which beta tested the update and helped work out any bugs. Lacking the need for a high-end gaming PC, a credit card or login, Sherwood Dungeon proves that high-end fantasy gaming doesn’t need a box, a download, or a monthly subscription fee to deliver high quality gaming for casual MMO players. To join the more than one million players continuing development of this high-quality, 3-D experience, visit the Sherwood Dungeon MMORPG web site.

EA Sports announced today that there are now two ways to play FIFA 11 Wii—traditional 11 versus 11 football matches plus a new street football mode. Hit the pitch for a Wii-specific take on customary 11 versus 11 football matches with over 30 officially licensed leagues, 500 teams, more than 15,000 players to choose from. Or, hit the streets to compete in 5 versus 5 street matches with the world’s elite players.

FIFA 11 Wii features numerous gameplay enhancements that bring the beautiful game to life on the Wii console. An all-new attacker vs. defender trick system creates head-to-head battles as you move up the pitch, performing dozens of elaborate new tricks to throw the defender off-balance. The new button-based shooting mechanic puts control back in the users’ hands – and with new shot types and animations you’ll find all-new ways to score each game. Blast, finesse, chip or tap it by the keeper for the goal that lifts your team to glory!

Hit the Streets with players decked out in street wear. Each player boasts a distinctive style of play with unique abilities to match. Use the wall to jump past defenders or bank passes to teammates. Choose to play arcade style and you can build up and then activate your power meter to blast shots, ignite a speed burst or send shockwaves over your opponents.

Challenge your rivals in the hottest locales around the world, everywhere from Brazil to London to the streets of France. The stage is set for victory with a soundtrack that brings the culture of the area to life. Plus, for the first time on Wii, test your game in an indoor setting. Customize the game to suit your style of play. Choose from different match types—first to score, Tug of War or timed—and from a variety of different goals to test your skills, including elevated nets for lofted touch shots, wall goals for continuous action and mini nets to test accuracy.

Autodesk, Inc. has released three new training modules as part of the Autodesk Animation Academy 2011 curriculum (terms & conditions) for secondary schools. The modules provide students with tools and a curriculum to help develop the skills needed to create mobile game applications. Separately, Autodesk has also announced new instructor certification for Autodesk Softimage software, as well as a new cost-effective cross-certification program for trainers wanting to teach multiple Autodesk Digital Entertainment Creation (DEC) products.

The three new Animation Academy modules provide students with an easy learning path to help master 3D tools for interactive content creation. The modules are designed to be used with Academy Award–winning Autodesk Maya software, and focus on storytelling and game creation using both Unity3D game engine and Maya Cloth and Fur. The modules add 180 hours of free training material to the Animation Academy program, which now comprises four full semesters of coursework.

* Environmental Storytelling — Students learn to model an environment inspired by an historical event. A character model is included along with an overview of the pipeline for mobile game production.
* Game Creation — Students learn how to create a game with the assets created in the Environmental Storytelling module. They can export their level and props directly into the Unity3D game engine.
* Ricky 2.0 Superhero — Pre-existing modules in the series enable students to hone their animation skills based around a unique character named “Ricky the Rat.” In this newest character module, students learn how to use Maya Cloth and Fur.

This new material extends Autodesk’s latest post secondary games curriculum, which was released in March 2010. All curricula created for the Autodesk Animation Academy are now available on the online Autodesk Education Community, where students and educators can also download free (subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that accompanies the software) copies of Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Softimage, Autodesk MotionBuilder, Autodesk Mudbox and Autodesk SketchBook Pro software.

Carl Callewaert, Lead 3D Instructor at The Gaming and Animation Institute of Fredericton and Director of Animation at motion capture company Measurand, worked with Autodesk to co-develop the new game creation modules.

“I have been teaching Autodesk technology for over 10 years, and I was eager to extend my experience teaching college-level game design to high school students,” said Callewaert. “These new courses provide students with the building blocks for creating their own game, a valuable knowledge base that will help prepare them for future real-world job opportunities and further studies in the game development field.”

Callewaert adds: “Autodesk has done a great job in making this curriculum and their tools accessible to high school students. Any student can download a free copy of Maya software and begin to create games immediately — it’s that easy.”

The Autodesk Certified Instructor (ACI) program — offering coaching, mentoring and accreditation services for instructors teaching Autodesk software — is now available to instructors of Autodesk Softimage software. Qualified program candidates will receive an ACI Workbook along with access to downloadable training guides and online courses to help prepare for three online certification tests. After the exams are completed, candidates are required to attend and pass a three-day observational assessment seminar to qualify as an ACI.

A new, cost-effective cross-certification program helps trainers certified in 3ds Max, Maya, Autodesk Flame, Autodesk Lustre or Autodesk Smoke software apply for certification on other Autodesk DEC products by passing the application-specific certification exams, all without having to participate in another training workshop.

Telefilm Canada announces its support of the 35th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, held from September 9 to September 19, 2010. Telefilm Canada’s participation enables TIFF to deliver a first-class event to a growing audience of film aficionados and industry members, in addition to providing prime networking and business development opportunities to Canadian and international representatives from the audiovisual sector.

“The Toronto International Film Festival is an internationally recognized and immensely respected film festival, bringing the world’s attention to the filmmakers it showcases during its eleven days of programming while also offering valuable development and business opportunities to emerging and established film talent alike,” said Sheila de La Varende, National and International Business Development Director at Telefilm Canada. “We are proud to once again support the Festival, and are pleased to see that Canadian titles will be prominent in this year’s selection, including on opening night.”

This year’s opening night Gala film will be the world premiere of the Telefilm-supported Score: A Hockey Musical. Written and directed by Michael McGowan (One Week, Saint Ralph) and starring Olivia Newton-John and songwriter Marc Jordan alongside newcomers Noah Reid and Allie MacDonald, the film also features cameos from Nelly Furtado, George Stromboulopoulos (The Hour with George Stromboulopoulos, CBC), Evan Solomon (CBC), legendary hockey-dad Walter Gretzky, and hockey star Theo Fleury among others.

The 35th edition of the Festival will also mark the return of industry initiatives such as Telefilm Canada PITCH THIS!, a pitching competition open to aspiring Canadian filmmakers, and TIFF’s Talent Lab, an artistic development program that provides emerging talent with the opportunity to learn from the world’s best film artists. The Festival’s full schedule will be made available online as of August 26, 2010.

Open Text Corporation has announced the availability of Web Site Management 10.1, featuring usability enhancements to accelerate common tasks and make it easier for website managers to integrate with corporate information and resources along with a sample project that speeds up delivery of new websites. It also offers integration points to many consumer social applications including Facebook and Twitter as well as enhanced native social capabilities with Open Text Social Communities.

The latest release of Web Site Management is the next iteration of Web Solutions 10, a major release introduced last year. A key member of Open Text’s industry-leading portfolio of Web Content Management (WCM) products, Web Site Management is a powerful, easy-to-use Web site application that empowers employees to keep content fresh and relevant and offers extensive multiple-language support and social tools.

“At the core of an engaging Web experience is vibrant, relevant content and an immersive social community integrated with internal business processes and infrastructure,” said Lubor Ptacek, Vice President of Product Marketing at Open Text. “Web Site Management makes this possible with rapid implementation, a strong reputation for usability, and a useful set of integrations with content sources. As demonstrated by the release of 10.1, our strategy is to continue building on these strengths.”

One of the focus points for Web Site Management 10.1 was to not just make it easier for editors and administrators to complete website management tasks, but to actually accelerate daily editorial work. For instance, a new redlining component allows editors to quickly and easily make an editorial assessment of page content. Enhanced drag and drop capabilities allow editors to change the order of content in lists and visualize results of edits immediately. A new asset management panel with SmartEdit, and drag and drop speeds up work with digital assets.

On the back-end, Web Site Management 10.1 features a number of enhancements to servers for management and delivery of content, including a new graphical user interface that aligns the different server components. A new online help for administrators offers advanced search functionality and a clear navigation structure so information can be found more quickly and easily. Also contributing to lower support and training costs and allowing faster deploying of new sites is a new best practice project that provides an extensive set of pre-defined content classes and templates, along with SAP Portal examples.

On the integration front, Web Site Management 10.1 allows users to fully tap the extensive social capabilities in Open Text Social Communities (formerly Vignette Social Media) and lets them take advantage of Open Text Media Management 7 for managing digital media assets from across an enterprise. It also enhances third-party application integration with extended portlet connectors. Using a new HTTP connector, any type of social media component, such as Facebook or Twitter, can be added and administered.

Score Media Inc. and NuLayer have launched theScore iPad Edition, and it’s already up at the top as one of the leading free sports apps just days after launching in Apple’s App Store. TheScore iPad Edition offers the latest stats, news, scores and standings from every major sports league, while integrating the best content from The Score’s multiplatform properties – The Score Television Network, theScore.com, Hardcore Sports Radio (HSR) and ScoreMobile all in one app.

A hybrid of Score Media’s leading sports app, ScoreMobile, and it’s newly relaunched website, theScore.com, theScore iPad Edition brings iPad users the best of both platforms while offering original video and audio content from The Score Television Network and HSR.

“theScore iPad Edition takes advantage of all the great features the iPad has to offer and leverages its native performance and flexible web views,” says Jeff Brenner, Co-Founder, NuLayer. “It’s an awesome app that provides a socially-integrated way to explore the sports world. Fans are going to love it.”

theScore iPad Edition is the perfect companion for watching sports on TV or sitting around with your friends discussing the latest trade and stories of the day. It also gives users unlimited and immediate access to up-to-the-minute stats and entertaining content including:

* Real-time scores, breaking news and updates
* Original digital video segments available exclusively to iPad users like The Score’s hit web show, The Break and The Footy Show, a news program and podcast dedicated to covering all of the latest soccer news and highlights
* Integrated social tools for sharing articles, blog posts and videos
* The Score’s entertaining television content offering unique interviews with top athletes along with iPad exclusives from The Score’s world renowned reporter Cabral “Cabbie” Richards as well as the popular, irreverent NBA web show, The Basketball Jones
* A slick interface designed specifically for the iPad with an intuitive and clean navigation structure

Trailpeak, Canada’s premier interactive trail mapping network, has unveiled two features to support hiking, biking, climbing and paddling enthusiasts who visit the site for information on trails across Canada and the U.S.

Trailpeak’s innovative “hyperlocal widgets” feature allows visitors to customize their individual outdoor-adventures webpage, according to location and preference of the user. The gallery of hyperlocal widgets to choose from includes new and popular local trails, outdoor events, weather conditions, Craigslist, and Google maps.

“Our hyperlocal widgets feature has been designed to simplify information-gathering,” said Kurt Turchan, founder of Trailpeak. “Instead of searching different pages of our site for trail, event or member information and browsing external sites such as Craigslist and YouTube, we bring it all together on one page.”

The Trailpeak widgets page can be adapted by the user to include information and locations of particular interest to them. For example, a user in Calgary can track events in that city and can also go to the widget gallery and add the events or classified advertising widgets for Banff.

Trailpeak has also developed a video feature that allows members to upload video content by simply copying and pasting the embed code from any YouTube or Vimeo video. “We can’t wait to see the footage that our members will be providing for the benefit and enjoyment of their fellow adventurers,” said Turchan.

Next month, Turchan, and four Trailpeak editors will embark on a 10-day tour of Newfoundland and Labrador to explore some of the world’s most breathtaking scenery. The team will be equipped with hands-free, high definition head cams, allowing them to capture the landscape and trail conditions of a variety of adventures such as shipwreck survivor trails, sea kayak routes and hikes on Fogo Island and Terra Nova National Park. Video footage and trail data collected by the team will be added to Trailpeak’s database of over 10,000 outdoor trails and GPS logs across Canada and the U.S.

Outdoor enthusiasts and armchair travellers have been sourcing Trailpeak.com for information on thousands of trails ranging from tranquil paddling trips to spine-tingling downhill-mountain biking adventures for almost ten years. There is no fee to browse trail listings and video content on the community website that is maintained by hiking, biking, climbing, kayaking, canoeing, skiing, and snowshoeing enthusiasts across Canada and the U.S.

Set two years after the Willamette incident chronicled in the original Dead Rising® and three years before the start of Dead Rising 2, Chuck along with his young infected daughter, Katey, find themselves trapped in the zombie infested desert town of Still Creek. It’s up to Chuck to find a way out of town, and locate the Zombrex Katey must take to prevent her from joining the ranks of the undead.

Just like in the full game, players in Dead Rising 2: Case Zero will use Chuck’s handyman skills and a roll of duct tape to combine two items to create powerful combo weapons. Not only do combo weapons make killing zombie sprees more fun but they also have the added benefit of earning Chuck additional ‘Prestige Points’ which in turn result in quicker leveling up.

Players who download Dead Rising 2: Case Zero and then go on to buy Dead Rising 2 will be able to carry over character attributes earned such as ‘Player Level’, to a maximum of five, ‘Prestige Points’ alongside skills, ‘Combo Cards’ and a number of alternate outfits.

“With Dead Rising 2: Case Zero we had two goals: provide newcomers with an easy point of entry to the Dead Rising universe, and give fans of the series an insight into what took place after Frank West survived the outbreak at the Willamette Mall,” said Keiji Inafune, Capcom’s Head of R&D Management Group and Executive Producer for Dead Rising 2. “We have certainly achieved both of these ambitions but I am equally pleased that we are able to give gamers so much unique and entertaining content at such a great price.”

For all of you developer types with iPads, Endloop has released the newest iteration of iMockups. With lots of bug fixes, iMockups v1.08 also has loads of new features, some of which are featured in this short video:

iMockups is available now in the iTunes App Store for a very reasonable $9.99.

According to Big Stack’s last tweet, Ph03nix New Media has just launched their latest Facebook game, Solitaire and the City. I can’t find much in the way of information about the game other than an icon and its Facebook page thought, which is a little disappointing as this makes it difficult to give you any advance information you’d like to have before giving the game a try.

Mafia® II (2K Games), a title which Vancouver’s Massive Bear Studio had a hand in, will have a downloadable demo available worldwide on August 10 for the PlayStation®3, Xbox 360® and Windows PC. Set in the fully realized and immersive 1940’s and 1950’s American urban cityscape of Empire Bay, soon all gamers will be able to experience the decadent and meticulously crafted atmosphere, intense shooting and driving gameplay, and character narrative in the M rated Mafia II that is set to be released on August 24 in North America.

The Mafia II demo invites gamers to dive into the “Buzzsaw” level, where Vito and his buddies, Joe and Henry, are sent to take out a mobster known as “The Fat Man”. While the epic game spans two decades, the Buzzsaw demo takes place during the summer of the ‘50s – a time considered the “Birth of Cool”, and with it, rock ‘n’ roll, hot rods, and rebellious attitudes. The demo showcases the type of vibrant edge-of-your-seat action, as well as a slice of the expansive city of Empire Bay in the colorful era.

Mafia II looks to be the industry’s most compelling action crime game to date. Players take control of Vito Scaletta, who is making a name for himself on the streets of Empire Bay. He’s someone who can be trusted to get a job done. Together with his buddy Joe, he is working to prove himself to the Mafia quickly escalating up the family ladder with crimes of larger reward, status and consequences… the life as a wise guy isn’t quite as untouchable as it seems.

Wavefront AC has just announced a Rogers Ventures Matchmaking Session for Canadian entrepreneurs and innovators that will be held in Vancouver on August 23rd. To reiterate the Wavefront announcement, this is a great opportunity for wireless and new media startups looking for Seed or Series A funding. On average, Rogers Ventures invests $250K-$1M in companies and investment can go larger or smaller depending on the company’s requirements and the opportunity.

Rogers Ventures will be pre-selecting companies to participate in this matchmaking session. Wavefront will notify selected companies on August 16th to coordinate meeting time and preparation details. Each participant company will have 15 minutes to pitch their idea and a 15-minute Q&A session afterward. Please see the Wavefront information page for complete details on how to apply and to see if you have what Rogers Ventures is looking for in a startup.

The incredible Kinnear Centre for Creativity & Innovation opens at The Banff Centre on July 24, 2010, capping a six-year, $100-million capital project at the renowned Rocky Mountain arts and conference centre located in Banff National Park, Alberta.

This 21,000 sq. ft. facility will be the new hub of The Banff Centre, with three levels of learning and meeting rooms, innovative rehearsal and performance space, plus informal gallery areas, cafe/lounge and the Paul D. Fleck Library & Archives.

Building in a UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Park has its challenges, and the architecture firm was well prepared, having already done the Banff Centre Master Plan (2004) and the Centre’s Sally Borden Building (2007). “The multi-disciplinary purposes of the Banff Centre and its setting have guided the design to ensure the protection of the natural beauty, wildlife and environment within the park”, said Jack Diamond, principal with Diamond and Schmitt Architects. The Kinnear Centre is a welcoming and inspirational space suffused with natural light that fills the atrium. Classrooms and meeting areas have floor to ceiling windows offering exceptional mountain views with balconies and exterior wood slats to mitigate glare that might otherwise disturb wildlife migration through the park. A zinc cladding resembles the extant weathered cedar of other buildings on campus.

The Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives, one of Canada’s premier arts libraries, is home to thousands of music scores and recordings, a rare collection of art books, and more than 75 years of historical cultural documents accumulated since the inception of The Banff Centre.

The building scheme employs a variety of sustainable initiatives including an efficient exterior building envelope, sun shading to reduce energy use and a storm water management system, all of which meets the requirements for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver standards.

“The Kinnear Centre is an interdisciplinary crossroads – a meeting place where innovative arts and ideas, and creative leadership will flourish,” said Mary E. Hofstetter, President & CEO, The Banff Centre.

Dignitaries attending the opening ceremony include HRH The Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, The Honourable Donald Ethell, Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta, Jeff Kovitz, Chair, Banff Centre Board of Governors, Mary E. Hofstetter, President & CEO, The Banff Centre and Jack Diamond and Donald Schmitt, principals at Diamond and Schmitt Architects.

I would like to personally thank Victoria Hayes, Neil Swain and Duane Robson from our federal Trade Commissioner Service for the opportunity to finally meet many of the developers from eastern Canada whom I had previously only known through email, twitter and Facebook. A special shout-out to my twitter buddy Sasha, who toils daily at the creative studios of marblemedia, and to another twitter friend, Rob Anderson, a.k.a. the “head cheese” at New Brunswick’s Noise2Signal. I also had the chance to chat briefly with  Dan Kratt, Senior Designer at Ph03nix New Media/Big Stack Studios, creators of my current match 3 addiction, Sigma for the iPhone.

Many thanks to the government and association representatives from Ontario, Quebec and of course BC for their support and interest in what we’re trying to accomplish here at Village Gamer. The social gathering at the Canadian Consulate was great. It was great to catch up with Cerebral Vortex President Keith Makse, whom I met at last year’s Casual Connect. By the way, if you’re in the Toronto area, Cerebral Vortex is hiring, and if you’re a fan of word games, grab their iPhone game Word Burst from the App Store.

Once again the Casual Connect team has offered a top-notch venue for the global casual gaming industry to share experience and find new opportunity. If you are a Canadian casual game studio and didn’t attend this year’s event in Seattle, may I suggest that you put it on your conference schedule for 2011.  Of course, a day trip to Seattle and no internet access means that I am now a day behind in what’s been going on north of the 49th, and there’s plenty going on across this vast country of ours.

I got a sneak peek at how things are going with Untold Entertainment’s new word puzzler Spellirium. I can safely say that what I saw looks very polished, colourful and high quality – much nicer than the mock-ups I’ve been playing through with each iteration’s beta test interface. What I saw of the more finished product makes me all the more impatient for another high-quality word game to challenge my word-making abilities.

One other thing I did learn while visiting with Sandy Spangler and Murray McCarron from A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games – the WipeOut game recently released by Activision was – you guessed it, developed by A.C.R.O.N.Y.M., an apparently little-known fact as there was no mention of the studio in Activision’s game launch press release. I received that email, but as you all know, we are a Canadian content site, and as I received no reply from Activision to my question of where the game was developed, the news went unannounced on this site.

Rated E by the ESRB, Wipeout: The Game for Nintendo DS^TM and Wii^TM is based on the Endemol USA produced hit TV show Wipeout. Wipeout: The Game  features the contestant demolishing Dreadmill to the fan-favorite Big Balls, pitting friends and family against each other in the world’s largest, messiest, and most hilarious obstacle course out there.

“When developing the game our goal was to capture all the elements that people love about the hilarious reality ABC show, and to above all make it fun,” said David Oxford, Activision Publishing. “So far, we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from fans, who clearly can’t wait to step up to the challenge of the obstacle course.”

Furthering the complete Wipeout experience that fans have become accustomed to is the inclusion of witty commentary provided by the show’s hosts John Anderson, John Henson and co-host Jill Wagner. In Wipeout: The Game, up to four players can battle against each other in the game’s many challenges. As they compete for the ultimate win, players will get down and dirty with their opponents as they hurl objects and insults with the game’s signature Trash Talk Generator.

Capcom and Blue Castle Games would like to invite you, the internet traveler, to Fortune City, Nevada – the city of zombified fun and setting for Dead Rising 2. Fortune City has plenty to offer in the way of world-class hotels,dining, entertainment, gambling and more. It’s important that you check out all of the amenities offered at area hotels, because we all know how important it is to have a ready supply of Zombrex and bullets.

The Canada Media Fund has released its 2010-2011 funding decisions for the Aboriginal Program (PDF) and the Francophone Minority Program (first closing date, PDF), which are part of the Convergent Stream. As stated on the CMF site, the decisions and funding commitments posted on the website are preliminary, as all requests must undergo a contracting process. Funding is not final until contracts are signed. An updated list will be published once contracting is complete.

Magmic has released its lastest iPhone puzzler. Abyss is a strategic game that requires you to slide coloured pieces around the playing surface and then navigate pearl orbs from point to point.  Available in the iTunes App Store for $1.99,  the simple concept of Abyss tests your strategy, problem solving skills and reaction times by increasing the difficulty of each level as you progress. You can compete against yourself or a friend via the scoreboards – just remember that the faster you complete each level, the more points you receive and the higher up the ladder you will climb. Abyss also features unlimited levels and has several different theme and sound options.

In celebration of the launch of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty,  all Future Shop outlets across Canada (except in Sudbury and Quebec) will be hosting “Midnight Madness” events this month. Gaming enthusiasts are invited to visit their local Future Shop stores on the eve of the release date to obtain their copies of the game at midnight on Monday, July 26, 2010. The first 20 people in each line will receive a free gaming headset; the first 50 people will receive a Starcraft II hat and poster. Future Shop is also offering a free copy of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty to any gamers who trade in two used games from from Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3 or Xbox 360.

The Unity development team is holding its 4th annual dev conference Unite 2010 this November 10-12 at the historic Marché Bonsecours in Montreal, immediately following the Montreal International Game Summit. As at the previous Unite conferences, it’ll be three hard-core intense days of learning to get the most out of Unity as well as being exposed to (and getting to hang out with) some of the coolest people in the Unity world. Early Bird tickets ($300.00) are available until September 10, with the regular ticket price of $400.00 kicking in on September 11th. But that’s not all – Unite and MiGS have partnered up to offer a special price category for those who want to attend both conferences. If you purchase both of your tickets now through the Unite 2010 registration page, attending Unite 2010 and MiGS will cost $750.00.

The official release dates for Klei Entertainment’s highly anticipated downloadable action game Shank, have been announced. Shank will be available for download on August 24 for PlayStation®Network ($14.99) and August 25 for Xbox LIVE® Arcade (1200 MS Points). Shank blends classic side-scrolling action gameplay and unique stylized 2D art direction with a revenge story penned by award-winning game writer Marianne Krawczyk.

“We committed ourselves completely during the development of Shank and it’s been extremely gratifying to see the support we’ve received from the gaming community and press,” said Jamie Cheng, CEO of Klei Entertainment. “Watching people play and seeing them smile; it’s fantastic to see them latch onto the things we love most about Shank — the art, the story and of course the gameplay.”

Shank tells a classic story of gangland betrayal through a mature, pulp-fiction lens. Gamers will play as Shank, getting their hands bloody as they uncover the secrets behind Shank’s past and the reasons he is hell-bent on revenge. With a deep and intuitive combat system, players unleash a tremendous number of creative combinations as they take down the waves of enemies standing in their path. Shank also features a special co-operative mission, designed to be played with a friend locally, which tells the backstory to frame the revenge plot. This prequel mission allows players to play as Shank or his partner-in-crime Falcone, with deadly double-team moves and gameplay that encourages teamwork.

Continuing on an EA Canada theme, it appears that the company’s studios are cranking up the development heat just a bit.

Bioware has just announced some very sparse details about the next DLC expansion for Mass Effect 2, Lair of the Shadow Broker. When Commander Shepard “died” two years ago, Liara T’Soni fought in a desperate struggle against the Shadow Broker to recover her former Commander. Now that Shepard is back, Liara and Shepard will be out to even the score – and that’s all we know so far. Definitely very sparse details – no estimated release date or whether this DLC will be free for Cerberus Network gamers or if it will cost extra.

EA Sports™ has been very busy forming new partnerships and announcing new titles. Earlier today Electronic Arts announced its new partnership with Barclays Premier League, which will see EA Sports become the Official Sports Technology Partner of the Premier League and the extension of their current Electronic Game License.

Under the partnership, EA Sports will expand its current relationship with fans of the Barclays Premier League with exclusive enhanced experiences and even greater authenticity inside of EA Sports Football products. EA Sports branding will be featured on all live on-screen broadcasts of Barclays Premier League fixtures, and EA Sports will work with broadcasters to develop enhancements for match day broadcast analysis and increased fan interaction. EA Sports will also sponsor the Player Performance Index and will explore new ways to utilize more in depth Barclays Premier League statistics than ever before in future iterations of EA Sports Football products.

As the most watched domestic football competition in the world, the Barclays Premier League delivers tremendous global exposure and direct access to one of the most passionate football audiences in the world,” said Matt Bilbey, Vice President of Football, EA Sports. “Partnering with the Premier League further establishes EA Sports and its FIFA franchise as the ultimate, authentic football gaming experience. We look forward to adding further in-game authenticity with the direct access to the Player Performance Index as well as releasing new ways to leverage our technology to enhance the fans enjoyment of Barclays Premier League football on and beyond match day each week.”

In the exclusive role as Official Sports Technology Partner of the Premier League, EA Sports will explore new ways to leverage actual match and performance data to deliver improved interactive football experiences that match the complexity, finesse and excitement of a real world football match. Examples include:

The EA Sports Player Performance Index: EA Sports will sponsor the Premier League Player Performance Index that will soon expand to include new performance data that will now account for time and distance measurements. This will allow for detailed statistics such as the speed at which a shot is hit, the force of a ball as a keeper makes a key save, the height of a jump, the speed at which a penalty is struck and more. This technology will be introduced at all Premier League club stadia this season. EA Sports will have direct access to the Player Performance Index to further extend the authenticity and depth of its football franchises including EA Sports FIFA in future versions.

EA Sports Team of the Week: Available online, the Premier League and EA Sports will publish the EA Sports Team of the Week. The team will be based on ratings from the EA Sports Player Performance Index after each round of the Barclays Premier League and will be integrated into EA Sports Football games.

Barclays Premier League Broadcast Branding: EA Sports branding will appear on-screen, linked with live match statistics, during all Barclays Premier League broadcasts in the UK and overseas.
Barclays Premier League Match Broadcast Enhancements: Using EA Sports graphics, animations and interactive technology combined with real-time, real world data feeds, EA will work with broadcasters toward enhancements for match day broadcast analysis that will bring football fans closer and deeper into the action direct from their sofa.

Premier League Director of Sales & Marketing, Richard Masters, said: “We are extremely pleased that EA Sports has had the foresight to enter into this exciting new partnership that will connect with Barclays Premier League fans in new and inventive ways. Fans have a thirst for statistics and information and that is something that the Premier League, working with EA Sports, will provide to a level not seen before in professional football.”

The EA Sports Active team over at the Burnaby campus is very busy as well. They’ve been developing EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp for the Wii™, a football-based training program that put users right into the football drills and conditioning workouts of an NFL training camp. Developed in collaboration with NFL strength and conditioning coaches, users will experience the thrill of competition while challenging friends and family in authentic NFL football drills. EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp with Total Body Tracking uses the included heart rate monitor and wireless motion tracking to provide a challenging workout and help deliver measurable results. It will link to the EA Sports Active online hub where users can share training results and challenge others to beat their personal best, as well as track progress toward specific fitness goals. (Internet connection and EA account required.) EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp brings the real NFL training camp experience right into the living room, and will be available at retailers on November 16.

“EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp delivers an authentic NFL experience that is fun and engaging, while providing a challenging workout,” says Andrew Wilson, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Development, EA Sports. “It exemplifies our commitment to both NFL football and the fitness space, as well as delivering new experiences for new audiences.”

EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp includes over 70 drills and challenges designed to improve strength, power and conditioning, as well as reaction skills, agility and first step quickness, which are key areas NFL players focus on. Users can choose their favorite team, step into a stadium and train alongside their favorite players.

The EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp virtual coach will encourage users through the drills and challenges for additional motivation, and to take it to the next level, users can participate in the NFL Combine 60 Day Challenge. To enhance the competitive experience, users can get their game on in multi-player mode where they can go head-to-head in NFL training camp drills, including the QB Window Challenge and Field Goal Challenge, or with an online connected console, users can compare personal stats with friends and challenge them to beat their best results. In addition, as part of the NFL’s commitment to youth health and fitness, kids and families can choose special NFL Play 60 drills and exercises specially designed for them.

“We’re excited to be collaborating with EA Sports on the development of EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp,” says Ray Anderson, NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations. “EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp delivers a fantastic new and authentic experience for NFL fans, allowing them to train like the pros and compete against their friends, family, and other fans across the globe.”

EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp joins the EA Sports Active 2 suite of interactive fitness products that focus on improving muscular strength, endurance and flexibility, as well as improving cardio. EA Sports Active 2 is in development for a number of platforms including the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Kinect™ for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Wii and iPod touch®.

Not to be outdone, the EA Sports Fight Night team is developing the latest iteration of the long-running Fight Night franchise, entitled Fight Night Champion, at EA Canada in Vancouver. Fight Night Champion will set a new standard in sports videogames by delivering the most dynamic simulation fighting experience to date, pushing visual boundaries and redefining the single player journey for the category.

The EA Sports Fight Night franchise has consistently delivered one of the best sports experiences with each iteration”, said Andrew Wilson, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Development, EA Sports. “EA Sports Fight Night Round 4 was a genre defining game, and led the way as the industry transitioned to physics-based sports games. EA Sports Fight Night Champion will again forge new ground and deliver a sports experience unlike anything seen in the genre to date.”

Fight Night Champion will break the mold of what is expected in a single-player sports game. Players will be introduced to an entirely new way to step between the ropes and experience the drama, emotion, excitement and tragedy of world championship boxing.

Featuring a refined physics-based animation system that incorporates improved locomotion, punching and stamina mechanics, Fight Night Champion will enable users to move, attack and dodge with the speed and power of the best champions, contenders and pretenders in the world of boxing. In addition, an all-new control scheme, dubbed Full Spectrum Punch Control, will deliver the most realistic punching system ever seen in a simulation fighting game, while still delivering an accessible experience that will make Fight Night Champion the most user-friendly title in the franchise’s history. Fight Night Champion will set a new standard for visual presentation with the most realistic boxer-likeness to date, fluid animations and damage that truly conveys the brutality of the sport of boxing. Fight Night Champion will be available in 2011 for the Xbox 360™ and the PlayStation®3 and has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Canadian Netflix members will be able to instantly watch a broad array of movies and TV episodes right on their TVs via a range of consumer electronics devices capable of streaming from Netflix, as well as watching on PCs and Macs. In addition to representing its inaugural international market, Canada will also mark the first streaming-only service promoted by Netflix.

At the time of launch, the Netflix Canadian service will be available in English only, but the company said it expects to add French language capability over time. Canadians interested in Netflix can sign up to receive an email from the company when the service launches in Canada this fall.

Vancouver’s Yummy Interactive, Inc. a veteran leader in online PC games distribution for over 10 years today introduced its turnkey game service, Yummy Games Quick Launch, which provides portal operators and online communities with a quick-to-market Games on Demand solution.

The Yummy Games Quick Launch system enables multiple business models packaged under one umbrella. Consumers can play their favorite games via subscription, full-purchase download and limited-time PC game rental. Quick Launch partners can choose from one of Yummy’s custom design themes for their website, and customize elements throughout the site. They will then be able to select their game inventory from Yummy’s licensed catalog of over 1,000 titles and even supplement their library with their own proprietary or licensed game content.

Yummy’s full spectrum of applications, back-office tools and digital distribution technology are all leveraged to engage customers in buying and playing games. If you are at Casual Connect in Seattle this week, be sure to stop by Yummy’s booth and say hi.

The Yummy Games platform includes:

* Yummy’s Progressive Streaming – this technology permits end users to begin playing a game before it has been fully downloaded. This buffering also reduces bandwidth usage, lowering overall hosting costs.
* Games Player – as both a web-based and desktop application, users can access their service and download, launch and save games through the Player from their desktop or their favourite web browser.
* Games Website – the website includes a complete array of pages that highlight the product catalog, service features and support. It includes all meta data on games, search tools, advertising and dynamic web services that will automate lists of games such as Top Played Games, New Releases, and Recommendations.
* Account Management – customers can establish user accounts which are fully managed, secured, and maintained and can be connected to outside databases.
* Automated Updates – content changes, game patches, application fixes are all managed automatically for users every time they log in.
* Digital Rights Management – game executables are wrapped and protected with Yummy’s GameShield™ technology and data is encrypted alongside session-based authentication and IP detection for user account access.
* Cloud Computing – a selection of games can now be saved to the Cloud, so users can access their game saves remotely.
* Real-time Reporting – revenue reports, statistics on player usage, network traffic, most played games, and network activity (session length, time of day, installs, playtime, geographic locations) are included.

The Quick-Launch system also manages hosting, delivery and e-commerce support as part of the overall white label package.

“With Quick Launch, Yummy offers online retailers and resellers an easy and cost-effective way to immediately engage in digital distribution,” says Nick Mellios, CEO of Yummy Interactive. “Our customers can participate in sales, rental or subscription of games online, and focus their sales efforts on engaging their audience, while our Quick Launch solution provides them the complete infrastructure for content delivery online.”

World Cyber Games Canada announced a partnership with École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), who will host the 2010 WCG Canadian Championship on its campus, downtown Montréal. The event will be held on Labor Day weekend, September 3rd to 5th 2010.

More than 400 gamers from coast-to-coast are expected to attend this year’s event. The top players and teams will compete for a chance to represent Canada at the next World Cyber Games Grand Final in Los Angeles, USA.

“We are thrilled to partner with such a world-class university. Many ÉTS graduates have contributed to WCG Canada’s recent successes and it’s only fitting that Canada’s most prestigious e-sport event be held here”, said Stephan Richard, Executive Director, WCG Canada. “It is the third time in the past 5 years that Montreal is host to our national final. As one of the world’s largest hubs for producing video games, we couldn’t have found a better place to celebrate WCG’s 10th anniversary.”

“World Cyber Games’ Canadian Championship provides ÉTS with such a unique opportunity. Lan ÉTS’ success, being the largest annual LAN event in Eastern North America, the growing popularity of our IT and software engineering programs, and the increasing demand for graduates and co-op students in those fields confirm that video games and engineering are a great match”, said Yves Beauchamp, Professor and CEO of ÉTS.

This year’s WCG National Final will feature Counter-Strike 1.6 (PC), FIFA Soccer 2010 (PC), Guitar Hero 5 (XBOX), and Forza Motorsport (XBOX). Other non-official tournaments will also be featured as part of a special edition of the Lan ÉTS, including Counter-Strike Source and Quake Live. Prizes will be given away to winners. To register online at LAN ÉTS.

Game Bridger Entertainment, a global publisher and distributor of interactive online entertainment media based in Markham, has announced that the closed beta test for its highly-anticipated free-to-play parkour racing game, FreeJack, will begin on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 13:00 EST. Players will be able to download the closed beta client early from the new FreeJack homepage launching Monday, July 19th, 2010. The FreeJack closed beta will be playable for both North American and European players.

“FreeJack’s parkour racing offers a wholly unique gameplay experience,” said Matthew Denomme, Marketing Manager at Game Bridger Entertainment, “it blends the addictive combo systems of classic extreme sports titles with the hectic multiplayer antics and accessibility of familiar kart racers – all wrapped up in a hip and vibrant package that truly captures the spirit of the underground sport on which it’s based.”

To ensure a seamless beta experience, Game Bridger Entertainment has launched the FreeJack official website on GamerKraft, so that players can register for the beta in advance and begin discussing FreeJack on the GamerKraft forums. On Monday, July 19th, 2010, the FreeJack closed beta client will be released for download and closed beta keys will be distributed through select gaming sites. Details on how to obtain a limited quantity closed beta key will also be announced via the FreeJack website on Monday, July 19th, 2010. Players will be able to start playing FreeJack when the closed beta servers go live on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 13:00 EST.

FreeJack is a free-to-play parkour racing game for Windows PCs supporting Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Players race head-to-head across the urban metropolis of New Jack City as one of four hip characters, bustin’ stylish flips and tricks to increase their speed and gain access to hidden pathways and shortcuts. Players can personalize their character with fresh outfits and running gear and even customize their own unique in-game living space with cool furniture and accessories to show off to friends! FreeJack also supports online leaderboards, a club/clan system, in-game friends lists, and more! FreeJack is launching in July 2010 from GamerKraft. GamerKraft. Play Free.

THQ has selected commerce solution provider Live Gamer to power the e-commerce solutions for the company’s PC-online and mobile games in North America. Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes® Online, launching later this year in the United States and Canada, will be the first THQ title to integrate Live Gamer’s Elements platform for monetizing its virtual economy. Other scheduled projects include multiple social game titles for Facebook.

“In-game virtual items have become increasingly popular with gamers today, and not only offer them a more immersive experience, but also give game publishers a viable and profitable revenue stream,” said Martin Good, THQ Executive Vice President, Kids, Family, Casual Games, and Global Online Services. “Live Gamer offers the most complete platform for integrating a virtual economy into our games. We view this as a critical component of our complete online game delivery platform for THQ’s growing portfolio of online games.”

“Major game publishers like THQ are tapping into the growing virtual goods market more than ever,” said Andrew Schneider, President and Co-Founder, Live Gamer. “We’ve watched this industry evolve since its inception and today, virtual economies have become the driving force in the online gaming business. THQ is at the forefront of game development across the globe, and we look forward to helping them grow their business model for years to come.”

Telefilm Canada is today announcing that Web-Ciné 360, a pilot initiative that aims to encourage the incorporation of online marketing and use of social media tool in distribution business practices for Canadian films well ahead of their release, will henceforth be offered to the English-language market, for the next two years. The Telefilm Canada initiative has been offered to the French-language market since January of this year.

Eligible distribution companies will obtain financial support from Telefilm for designing promotional campaigns that include online marketing by making use of search-engine optimization or Web technologies in general; by producing a content-rich website; by creating content for such social media tools as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; or by using online advertising. In order to measure the strategies’ effectiveness, distributors will be invited to make use of recognized online marketing and Web audience analysis tools, and even to use companies with expertise in this area.

“We’ve noticed that Web-Ciné 360 has elicited a lot of interest within the industry in the French-language market,” said Michel Pradier, Telefilm Canada’s Director of Project Financing. “This has hastened the adoption of new interactive tools and their integration into existing distribution strategies. Based on our experience since the launch of the pilot initiative, and following discussions with the industry, we are today extending the initiative to the English-language market. Our aim is to support Canadian producers and distributors in the ongoing improvement of their feature-film promotional and marketing strategies.”

“Telefilm, with Web-Ciné 360’s introduction in English Canada, continues to foster a vibrant Canadian film industry,” said Bryan Gliserman, Co-president, E1 Entertainment Canada.

Telefilm’s initiative for the English market is aimed at distribution companies eligible for the organization’s feature-film Marketing Program, for projects having recently obtained production support. Distributors have until October 29, 2010 to submit a project.

Telefilm Canada has also announced the seven French-language feature-film projects that have been selected to receive funding under the Web-Ciné 360 pilot initiative, which aims to encourage the incorporation of online marketing and use of social media tools in distribution business practices for Canadian films, well ahead of the films’ release. Telefilm launched the initiative in January of this year in order to accelerate the industry’s adoption of these new interactive tools intended to strengthen film promotion and marketing. In light of the initiative’s success to date, Telefilm is extending Web-Ciné 360 for a second year and is also announcing the launch of an identical initiative targeting the English market (see news release issued today).

“Web-Ciné 360 has elicited a lot of interest within the industry-from producers as well as distributors-and we’ve received high-quality proposals during this first round,” said Michel Pradier, Telefilm Canada’s Director of Project Financing. “The projects selected under the initiative will be the first to benefit from major online marketing campaigns involving French-language films in Canada. These campaigns should produce meaningful results at the box-office and will certainly inspire more and more producers and distributors to invest in these kinds of online strategies. In light of the success the initiative has had in its first few months, we are extending it so that a larger number of projects will have the opportunity to obtain the support and resources they need to develop and implement Web and social media campaigns for their projects.”

“When it comes to marketing home-grown films, online marketing is the way of the future,” said producer Denise Robert, one of whose projects was selected to receive funding under the Web-Ciné 360 initiative. “I think now is the time for the industry to have access to an initiative aimed at implementing effective online strategies that are integrated very early on in a film’s distribution cycle.”

“Online marketing holds a lot of potential for the distribution of feature films,” stated Victor Rego, Vice President, Marketing for Quebec at Seville Pictures. “The timing is good for Canadian distributors and producers to benefit from the positive impact of campaigns such as these. And Web-Ciné 360 is an excellent initiative in terms of raising awareness among the industry.”

The seven projects selected for 2009-2010

Telefilm’s initiative for the French-language market is aimed at distribution companies eligible for the organization’s Marketing Program for French-language productions, for projects having recently obtained production support. Distributors wishing to benefit from Telefilm support under the Web-Ciné 360 initiative must include online marketing in their promotional strategy by making use of search-engine optimization or Web technologies in general; by producing a content-rich website; by creating content for such social media tools as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; or by using online advertising. In order to measure the strategies’ effectiveness, distributors will be invited to make use of recognized online marketing and Web audience analysis tools, and even to use companies with expertise in this area.

MaRS is proud to announce that one of its clients, Jigsee, has secured funding from a consortium of angel investors. The funding will allow Jigsee to commercialize and deploy its media delivery platform in India, where the mobile value added services market is expected to generate $2.7 billion this year. The Indian mobile market is the fastest growing in the world – there are currently over 600 million subscribers and that number is expected to reach 1 billion by 2014.

Jigsee has developed a proprietary platform that enables efficient, secure and reliable delivery of content to a wide selection of mobile phones. Its technology accommodates large user volumes while making efficient use of available network resources when streaming Videos-On-Demand (VODs). Jigsee plans to rapidly expand its presence to other emerging markets following its pilot deployment in India. Currently, the mobile industry in emerging countries is mired with challenges in congestion, low bandwidth and handset incompatibility.

“As an investor, I was impressed with Jigsee’s combination of market trend, partner traction and their experienced team,” says Graham Matthews, President and CEO of Upper Canada Ventures Inc. “They are at the front of an emerging wave related to channel partners. Most importantly, the Jigsee founders clearly show a vision and passion for their business and have a demonstrated track record of success,” says Matthews.

“Our technology makes significant strides in the way end-users in emerging markets are able to utilize their mobile phones. One of Jigsee’s competitive advantages in emerging markets is its ability to transform basic low-cost phones from simple calling gadgets into devices capable of receiving video of any length, whether it be live sporting events, educational courses or even Bollywood movies,” says Ray Newal, CEO of Jigsee. “We are also very proud to have MaRS working with us as a partner throughout this entire process. The MaRS advisors were able to help us identify key issues and solidify our market focus.”

Co-founders Ray Newal, former VP of Business Development and Content Acquisition at Yahoo! Canada, and Gordon Jekubik, former CFO of Microsoft Canada, became MaRS clients in 2009. “It’s a pleasure to work with companies with innovative technology focused on large growing mobile markets such as India,” says Krista Jones, Practice Lead for the MaRS Information technology, Communications and Entertainment (ICE) practice. “Jigsee also brings an outstanding management team that has achieved an impressive amount of market traction through key partnerships in the Indian mobile market.”

Dublin’s Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Nintendo Co., Ltd: Corporate Analysis” company profile to their offering.

This company profile is a premium company information product offering an unmatched depth and breadth of content. It analyzes the strategic positioning of the company – how the company has evolved and how it has been performing over the years.

Sectional Highlights:

* – Structure of the organization, partnerships, mergers & acquisitions and recent developments have been examined
* – Business segments of the company have been explored along with analysis of key products and services
* – SWOT Analysis highlights the weaknesses of the company and the threats to which it is exposed; the strengths of the company and the way the company has positioned itself to take advantage of the opportunities
* – Business and marketing strategies boosting earnings, brand value and competitive edge have been discussed
* – Key financial indicators have been analyzed
* – Competitive positioning of the company has been evaluated in terms of sales, profitability and stock performance, as compared to its competitors

Key Benefits:

* – Provides input for strategic business planning
* – Targets business opportunities & risks
* – Exploits competitive intelligence

Key Topics Covered:

1. Company Backgrounder 1.1 Corporate Overview 1.2 Key Facts 1.3 Corporate Timeline
2. Business Focus 2.1 Major Segments 2.2 Products & Services
3. Corporate Overview 3.1 Organizational Structure 3.2 Executive Biographies 3.3 Ownership Structure 3.4 Subsidiaries 3.5 Key Partnerships 3.6 Mergers & Acquisitions 3.7 Significant Developments
4. Strategic Analysis 4.1 SWOT 4.1.1 Strengths 4.1.2 Weaknesses 4.1.3 Opportunities 4.1.4 Threats 4.2 Strategic Focus
5. Financial Analysis 5.1 Financial Performance 5.2 Sales and Earnings Analysis 5.3 Ratio Analysis 5.4 Stock Performance
6. Competitor Analysis 6.1 Major Competitors 6.2 Peer Comparison at a Glance 6.3 Financial Comparison 6.4 Stock Chart
7. Company Outlook 7.1 Revenue & Income Estimates

Canada’s biggest travel app for smartPhones has just been released by Pedersen Productions, a Canadian production company with deep roots in film and television production. goExplore Canada will show you where to go, what to see, where to stay, where to eat and just “where the heck am I?” and has just been released in the Apple app store, with an Android version coming out towards the end of this month.

Developed by Austin, TX company BarZ Adventures, the free app uses detailed maps and includes more than 3,000 Points of Interest in Canada — searchable by province, territory and city with sections for nature and adventure, history, fun things to do, eating, sleeping, night life, transportation, essential services and more.

“Our goal was the most complete travel app for Canada,” said Mark Pedersen. “If you’re traveling in Canada, this is the app you want to have.”

And with their roots in film, television and multimedia, the producers have made sure there’s much more than text.

“Travel is rich with visual possibilities,” said Jon Pedersen. “Stills and video are very effective when it comes to exploring places and in our app we’ve made good use of both. This is a very pretty app.”

One of the challenges was to build an app this big and make sure it didn’t crash. But working with their software developers, the Pedersens have come up with an app that occupies little space on the phone and runs fast.

goExplore Canada has been developed with the co-operation of attractions and venues, using material they’re already displaying on the web. With pins, go Explore Canada locates each attraction on a searchable map of Canada, and since smartPhones have GPS, users can see where they are in relation to any attraction.

Commercial attractions, hotels, restaurants and others have signed up to be on the map as well and the brothers hope this modest revenue stream will cover the substantial costs involved in licensing the software.

Jon is a self-taught filmmaker who, early in his career, was honoured with the Lieutenant-Governor’s Award of Excellence in Cinema and who, for many years has shot and directed documentaries and features, both independently and for the National Film Board, TVOntario, CTV and others.

Mark is a journalist who worked for The Canadian Press, CBC Radio and then CBC Television as an on-air political reporter, then as a producer and eventually Executive Producer. Later, he established Pedersen Productions and independently produced (with Angus Street Productions) 78 episodes of the Canadian Antiques Roadshow as well as documentaries for both CBC and CTV.

Open source tools designers 49 Research is pleased to announce the launch of a new and improved website featuring an extensive summary of the Company’s results from over a decade of accumulated project experience. The services section offers a breakdown of 12 targeted industries with detailed descriptions for potential clients and customers.

“We are an active member of the open source community. Our open source tools have an application in everything from online advertising technology, bioinformatics, and development tools.”, said Charles Iliya Krempeaux, co-founder of 49 Research. The open source software tools are listed in the code section of the 49 Research website.

Job seekers will find an improved careers section with a variety of posted job opportunities. The Insights blog contains a wealth of information for everyone from software developers, members of the media, and laypeople looking to learn more about the software industry.

Speedware, a leading provider of IT modernization solutions, today announced the addition of StrongHold to its portfolio of migration offerings. StrongHold is an automated software product that converts Cognos PowerHouse code to Java. This announcement is a result of Speedware’s recent alliance with Brains2B, a Netherlands-based company. Through this agreement, Brains2B grants Speedware exclusive worldwide distribution rights to its StrongHold software.

PowerHouse is a legacy 4GL application development technology developed by Cognos and used by organizations to develop business applications. Under the terms of the partnership, Speedware will become a solution provider for customers interested in modernizing their legacy PowerHouse applications by converting the code to an enterprise Java solution. Legacy modernization projects are performed to resolve the current challenges facing organizations operating critical business functions on legacy platforms. For the PowerHouse user community these challenges include high license fees and support costs, platforms that have become obsolete, being locked into a technology that is dependent on legacy skills, and the rising costs for resources. Through IT modernization, PowerHouse customers are able to adopt leading-edge systems and technologies without losing the investment in their legacy systems.

As part of the agreement Speedware will provide all-encompassing solutions that address data and databases and third-party technologies as well as providing worldwide support. The partnership also covers marketing, sales and joint development efforts to support automated migrations.

“We have seen an increased demand from the PowerHouse user base for solutions that can modernize PowerHouse applications to Java,” said Christine McDowell, Manager of Strategic Alliances at Speedware. “The StrongHold automated software can do this with reduced risk and less cost when compared to other options such as rewriting the code or replacing the legacy applications with packaged applications,” she explained.

“I am very happy to combine our StrongHold product with Speedware’s experience in modernization solutions,” said Dennis Groenendijk of Brains2B. “Speedware’s expertise in the process and methodology of modernization is what makes them such a valuable partner. Their ability to deliver end-to-end modernization solutions that are integrated into the customer’s IT environment adds real value to our automated software,” he added.

Protecode, Inc., a solution provider for managing open source software licenses, today announced Protecode System 4™, the latest refinement of a suite of capabilities that enables all sizes of enterprise businesses — small, medium and large — to efficiently and cost-effectively identify open source content in their source code and determine their licensing obligations. System 4 installs as a simple overlay on existing design, development and testing environments without changing any existing workflows.

The core of System 4 is the Protecode open source reference database that matches source code against a comprehensive list of 450,000 open source software projects. Using a modular architecture to enable a wide variety of deployment possibilities, System 4 comprises a set of lightweight clients installed throughout an organization with minimal overhead on IT infrastructure and technical staff. System 4 can be easily customized for individual company divisions, product lines, or geographic offices with this architecture, including centralized or project-level user group, role, permission and license policy administration.

“Despite the increased use of open source and other third-party software, Protecode is among only a few vendors capable of analyzing code through its use of source code signature databases,” said Jay Lyman, enterprise software analyst with The 451 Group. “Software such as Protecode’s System 4 can enable enterprises to adopt and use open source software more effectively and safely.”

“In the last year some big names have been involved in legal cases because they overlooked their open source license obligations. We developed Protecode System 4 to prevent that sort of problem,” said Mahshad Koohgoli, CEO, Protecode. “Now organizations can scan all incoming source code and outgoing software products to make sure their licensing view is up-to-date and their legal obligations are being managed.”

Protecode System 4 delivers substantial improvements in three key areas: scalability, a new user interface and improved data relevance. Enterprise users can now instantiate multiple virtual instances of Protecode System 4 enabling different groups within an organization to set up their own open source management systems with specific roles and intellectual property policies. System 4 offers a completely revised web UI that delivers streamlined download, installation, and configuration as well as substantially improved navigation of software components and corresponding license obligations for greater ease of use and efficiency.

Additionally, Protecode System 4 provides multiple dimensions of analysis targeted to business, technology and legal domains. Aside from generating a comprehensive software inventory report, the system fully cross-references all licensing and copyright attributes to illuminate the full set of licensing obligations the enterprise is legally responsible for and includes significant algorithm advances to ensure highly accurate identification of open source code.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is the latest game for the Nintendo DS family of systems. The game combines imaginative game play with social fun, setting players out on an epic adventure. Maps allow players to find otherwise inaccessible special dungeons called grottoes, which can contain rare items or enemies. In Tag Mode, treasure maps and customized greetings can be exchanged automatically by players who come within range of one another. For a complete list of participating GameStop/EB Games locations across Canada please visit the Dragon Quest product page on the GameStop web site.

Ubisoft Montreal has announced an Assassin’s Creed comic book mini-series is currently in development and due for release this fall. Developed by Eisner Award nominees and Shuster Award-winning illustrators Cameron Stewart (Batman & Robin, Seaguy and Catwoman) and Karl Kerschl (Superman and The Flash), the Assassin’s Creed comic mini-series will be unveiled during a panel to be held on July 22, 2010 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. in Room 7AB at Comic-Con International: San Diego.

Moderated by G4TV’s Morgan Webb, the panel entitled “Assassin’s Creed: Behind and Beyond the Brotherhood” will include details of the new comic series and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood video game release. Featured panelists will include Stewart and Kerschl, along with Jeffrey Johalem, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood video game scriptwriter. Stewart and Kerschl recently visited Saint Petersburg, Russia on a research trip for the upcoming project. That visit, along with the teaser video released today, will give fans an inkling on where and when the new Assassin comic series will be taking place. Additional details on the project will be revealed at the Comic-Con panel.

The new comic series is part of Ubisoft Montreal’s UbiWorkshop initiative that encompasses a number of the studio’s projects related to leveraging Ubisoft intellectual properties in entertainment mediums outside of video games, such as comic books.

“We always thought that the Assassin’s Creed universe would be perfect for transmedia initiatives like this new comic series,” said Mathieu Ferland, transmedia senior producer at Ubisoft Montreal. “We are excited to have the fantastic and acclaimed artists Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl working on the project. Ubisoft is looking forward to showing Assassin’s Creed fans what these talented artists have been up to at next week’s Comic-Con panel.”

Following last week’s news that Zombrex Dead Rising Sun, the full feature film based on Capcom’s popular video game, Dead Rising, will be distributed in Europe and North America, we are pleased to confirm more details on when and where fans can view Inafune-san’s directorial debut. Split into a number of episodes that will be distributed over a number of weeks, Zombrex Dead Rising Sun, will be made available as a free download exclusively on Xbox Live from August 4th, before going live on www.deadrisingsun.com a week later. As an added bonus, certain episodes will begin with interviews featuring Inafune-san where he will provide insight into the film making process. The movie will also be available on the North American Dead Rising 2 Zombrex Edition as mentioned below.

The full schedule is as follows:

Canadian Dead Rising 2 fans will also be very happy to know that they will be able to nab the North American exclusive Dead Rising 2 – Zombrex Edition on day one of launch – September 28, 2010 – for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 for $79.99. Enclosed in a two-disc Steelbook case with its own special pack front, the Dead Rising 2 — Zombrex Edition will include cool collectible items and content that will dig deep into the Dead Rising 2 experience.

Available for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, there are some variations between the two editions:

PS3 Dead Rising 2 – Zombrex Edition

- Exclusive Two-Disc Steelbook case includes:
– Dead Rising 2 game disc
– Blu-Ray Disc featuring a High-Definition 24 minute “Making of” featurette
– Complete box contents include:
– Steelbook case (described above)
– Zombrex “Syringe” pen
– Zombrex “Prescription” notepad (25 pages)
– Zombrex “Safety” card
– Zombrex “Prospectus” Sales Brochure (16 pages).
– Dead Rising 2 Hardback Artbook (48 pages)
– Voucher for XMB Dynamic Theme

X360 Dead Rising 2 – Zombrex Edition

- Exclusive Two-Disc Steelbook case includes:
– Dead Rising 2 game disc
– High-Definition game disc with 83 Minute “Zombrex Dead Rising Sun” motion picture and 24 minute “Making of” featurette
– Complete box contents include:
– Steelbook case (described above)
– Zombrex “Syringe” pen
– Zombrex “Prescription” notepad (25 pages)
– Zombrex “Safety” card
– Zombrex “Prospectus” Sales Brochure (16 pages).
– Dead Rising 2 Hardback Artbook (48 pages)

ActiveState, the dynamic language experts offering solutions for Perl, Python, and Tcl, today announced a new Perl Developer Kit (PDK) designed to making it easier for developers to create, build and deploy Perl applications.

ActiveState Perl Dev Kit (PDK) provides essential tools for building and deploying Perl applications. PDK features cross-platform wrapping and application builders for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris*, AIX*, and now HP-UX* plus a suite of tools to speed development and improve code quality across teams. The comprehensive feature set includes PerlApp, PerlCtrl, PerlMSI, PerlNET, PerlSvc, PerlTray, Coverage Analyzer, Filter Builder, Graphical Debugger, PerlCritic and VBScript Converter.

ActiveState Perl Dev Kit 9 now includes:

* Support for the latest version of Perl and ActivePerl 5.12
* For ActivePerl Business, Enterprise and OEM Edition customers, PDK 9 now gives developers the ability to cross-wrap applications to HP-UX, HP’s UNIX operating system, along with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris and AIX.
* Support for 64-bit PerlNET, making it possible to build .NET components using Perl

A 21-day free trial of ActiveState Perl Dev Kit 9 is available for download. One user license pricing starts at $295 US but is being offered at introductory pricing for $245 US through August 15, 2010.

PDK 9 supports ActivePerl 5.8, ActivePerl 5.10 and the new ActivePerl 5.12. * Cross-wrapping to Solaris, AIX, HP-UX requires a minimum of ActivePerl Business Edition used in conjunction with PDK. In April 2010, ActiveState released ActivePerl 5.12 for both its Community and Business Editions. ActivePerl Enterprise Edition for 5.12 will be available before the end of 2010.

Teletoon Canada Inc. has announced its fall 2010 lineup for Teletoon, Teletoon at Night and Teletoon Retro. Launching on Monday, September 6, 2010, Teletoon’s new slate is full of comedy and action, with just the right amount of thrills, chills and belly-aching laughter.

“From kids and young adults to parents and families, we are bringing viewers of all ages more excitement and entertainment through a host of new series and returning comedy and action favourites this fall,” said Carole Bonneau, Vice President, Programming, Teletoon Canada inc. “In addition to breaking new ground with productions like Skatoony and My Babysitter’s A Vampire, we’re also bolstering our programming repertoire with a roster of new series, movies and the latest seasons of our hugely popular titles.”

The Teletoon lineup from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. consists of a wide-array of new programming, including the live-action/animation hybrid game show Skatoony, acclaimed reality-show parody Total Drama World Tour, the highly anticipated new series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, the return of fan-favourites Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and a new season of the hit series Johnny Test among other comedy and action series. Just in time for Halloween, Teletoon is also broadcasting My Babysitter’s A Vampire, the network’s first live-action feature as well the Canadian premieres of Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo and Scooby-Doo! Curse Of The Lake Monster.

Teletoon at Night, the network’s post-9 p.m. block, boasts a programming slate for young adults looking for a smart and irreverent comedy fix. This fall, the block features two new hilarious series The Dating Guy and Archer along with the unpredictable comedy of the Teletoon At Night Pilot Project and new episodes of the celebrated sketch comedy series Robot Chicken. For the nostalgic, Teletoon Retro brings back a blast from the past with returning classics such as The Smurfs, ThunderCats, The Flintstones and The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show.

Ernst and Young have selected the Cofounder, President, and CEO of ParetoLogic as a finalist for their prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award. Elton Pereira leads ParetoLogic as an expert in the security and utility software industry. The enormous growth of ParetoLogic coupled with Pereira’s commitment to charity and community earned him his position in the Information Technology category.

Also named as nominees this year for the Quebec Region are Antoine Carre, Founder & President of leading videogame quality assurance and localization services provider Laboratoires Bug-Tracker Inc. and Éric Brunelle, André d’Orsonnens, Bertrand Pelletier of Druide Informatique Inc., designers and distributors of consumer software, including the well-known program Antidote.

“Our Québec finalists are entrepreneurial leaders and visionaries who have created and built market-leading businesses,” says François Dufresne, Partner and Director of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards in Québec. “Their accomplishments have taken business excellence to new heights, helped create jobs and contributed to the vibrancy of communities across Canada.”

Nominees for the Atlantic Region include:

John Chisholm, President of Arcadia Entertainment, a television production company specializing in international factual content for National Geographic and other broadcasters that focus on ocean and expedition themes.

Michael Donovan, CEO of DHX Media Ltd., a studio with more than 28 years of experience creating, producing and marketing Canadian film and television programming.

Andrew Ayre, CEO of videogame and software developer Other Ocean Interactive, who has studios in Newfoundland as well as the USA.

SaskTel has rolled out an innovative DRM-Free music download service powered by LiveWire Mobile Inc. , a leader in managed personalization services whose head office is in Littleton, MA, with an office in Montreal.

The new service features music tracks from a broad range of major music labels. The company’s 550,000+ wireless subscribers have the option to purchase their music tracks individually or as part of a bundle with other assets ranging from wallpapers and ringtones to ringbacks and mobile apps. Consumers can browse the full range of applications and make their purchases from the SaskTel integrated online storefront, custom developed by LiveWire Mobile. The high quality downloads are available unencrypted in up to 256 Kb/s for purchase and delivery across both PC and mobile channels.

Telefilm Canada has announced that five Canadian directors will premiere at the 63rd edition of the Locarno Film Festival, held August 4 to August 14, 2010. Two features, Curling from filmmaker veteran Denis Côté and L.A. Zombie (Germany / USA / France) from director Bruce Labruce, have been accepted to the prestigious International Competition, where they will be among the 20 films from around the world competing for the “Pardo d’oro” prize (The Golden Leopard). The Festival’s official line-up was unveiled yesterday in the Italian-Swiss town of Locarno.

“Locarno has a long and important history as a hotbed for the new generation of international filmmakers,” said Sheila de La Varende, Director, National and International Business Development at Telefilm Canada. “So many Canadian productions competing on this prestigious world stage is proof of our unique voice and artistic vision.”

“Under three different artistic directions at the Festival, my work has always been encouraged and respected,” said Canadian filmmaker and Locarno veteran Denis Côté. “Without Locarno, the international visibility for my films would have been altogether different. It manifests as highly cinephile, which I am eternally grateful.”

Denis Côté has won five awards in five years at Locarno, including for the films Les États Nordiques (2005), Nos vies privées (2007) and Elle veut le chaos (2008).

Other Canadian films selected to present at this year’s Festival include:

Filmmakers of the Present Competition – competition for emerging filmmakers
Ivory Tower – Adam Traynor
Jo pour Jonathan – Maxime Giroux
You are There – Daniel Cockburn

Jeonju Digital Project (short films): Les Lignes ennemies – Denis Côté

Again this year, Telefilm organized screenings in Montreal for programmers at Locarno to present Canadian films submitted for the 2010 edition of the Festival.

Last week, from July 2 to July 10, six Canadian films were presented at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic. Catherine Martin’s Trois temps après la mort d’Anna made its world premiere in the Official Selection, the only North American film featured in the Festival’s Competition this year. Meanwhile, Patrick Demers’ feature film debut Jaloux had its world premiere in the Forum of Independents Competition.

Other Canadian films at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival included:

Open Eyes – features the latest outstanding work: Les Amours imaginaires – Xavier Dolan

Horizons – featuring recent productions from around the world: Chloe – Atom Egoyan

Another View – featuring films with unusual artistic approaches: Tucker and Dale Vs Evil – Eli Craig (Canada / USA)

Focus on Belgium: Mr. Nobody – Jaco Van Dormael, (Canada / Belgium / France / Germany)

The Apple Canada App Store recently added a new app category entitled, “Great Canadian Apps“. This feature, as the name implies, recognizes apps created by Canadian-based companies. Only 29 Canadian-made apps have made the short list thus far, for everything from navigating Montreal to finance and productivity. It would be really nice to see a Made In Canada game feature as well, although searching for Canadian games in the App store does yield some interesting results…

All Seeing Eye Games announced today the release of a title update for the Xbox 360 game Drum Studio. The update for the award-winning drum recording game adds full support for velocity-sensitive drum kits. This new feature allows players with supported Xbox 360 drum kits to control the volume of their in-game drums by how hard they hit their real-life Xbox 360 drum pads.

Lead Programmer Darren Joe says, “This title update is a thank you to all the players who have made Drum Studio a success. For those with compatible drum kits, it adds a whole new dimension to Drum Studio’s already unparalleled recording tools.”

Drum Studio is an award-winning virtual drum recording app for Xbox 360 that allows players to play, record, edit, save and playback their own song creations using their Xbox 360 drum kits or controllers. It features a powerful easy-to-use recording interface, hundreds of high quality drum sounds and fully animated characters. It has received widespread critical acclaim since its release, including an Editor’s Choice Award from teamxbox.com.

The title update also includes fixes for an incorrect sign-in change detection and a conflict with cymbal expansion kits. Drum Studio is available now exclusively on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 80 Microsoft Points or try the free trial on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Snow Day Games, a new game development studio based in Charlottetown has announced that its original title for iPhone and iPod Touch, Fly vs. Car, is now available. Snow Day Games has partnered with international charity “Child’s Play” to put games and toys in the hands of sick children all over the world by sharing 50% of the profit from sales of the game to charity.

“Fly vs. Car is a fun, casual game for players of all ages and that fits with our goal of making a game that can do good in the world for children,” said Matthew White, chief creative officer of Snow Day Games. “As players dodge traffic in homage to Frogger and other great games where you avoid getting flattened, they can also know that their gaming is helping others.”

In Fly vs. Car, players avoid oncoming traffic for as long as possible by moving their fly from side to side. It’s a challenging and fun, fast paced game where the faster your reflexes, the higher your score. Fly vs. Car features OpenFeint, Facebook, and Twitter integration, so high scores can be shared and players can compete against their friends on the leaderboards.

Cross Media Toronto has announced new additions to its line-up of industry executives and technology experts to speak, demonstrate and debate at its symposium this July 21st, 2010. The event is in partnership with NATPE, the MaRS Discovery District, the CFC Media Lab and Bell, with the additional support from Canadian Media Fund, Idea Couture, MarbleMedia and Bellfund.

Newly added speakers include SVP Managing Director of Arc Worldwide Richard Bernstein and Chief Digital Officer of TBWA Worldwide Colleen DeCourcy in a conversation on the future of the advertising industry titled ‘The Changing Agency: Evolution or Revolution. President of Digital Extremes Ltd Michael Schmalz rounds out the super panel which includes SVP Director Digital for Random House of Canada Lisa Charters, Head of Agency Relations for Google Canada Sabrina Geremia and Senior Business Development Manager for RIM Pete Watson, while Core Matrix Creator Jacob Blackstock, President and Founder of Secret Location James Milward and CEO of ES3 Douglas Edwards will be presenting technology demos which will explore the latest innovations in digital media.

Jacob Blackstock will demonstrate his project Bitstrips.com, a hugely popular online tool for creating original comics and cartoon characters. James Milward will demonstrate HERD which is a mobile application that enables participants to discover and tag GPS-enabled audio; and Douglas Edwards will discuss ES3’s ITV product catalogue. 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. Other special guests include Akamai’s Chief Strategist Chris Van Noy and Transmedia Consultant Dr. Siobhan O’Flynn.

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.

ServerBeach, a leading dedicated hosting provider that prides itself on being built ‘By Geeks, For Geeks’, today announced the availability of ServerBeach in Canada. Dedicated hosting in Canada through ServerBeach is now available for purchase worldwide and will be housed at PEER 1 Hosting’s flagship US$40 million data centre in Toronto, which opened earlier this year. PEER 1 Hosting acquired the dedicated hosting company in 2004 to help further its business by providing the necessary assistance to startups and small businesses around the world.

“We understand geographic location is an important factor for our customers when choosing where to house information,” says Robert Miggins, Senior Vice President, Business Development, ServerBeach. “We are committed to servicing our fellow geeks to the highest degree and are thrilled to be able to offer a full suite of services in Canada to support them, North and South of the border, as they grow.”

PEER 1 Hosting’s new 41,000 square-foot data centre is the most efficient data centre the Vancouver-based company has built to date, with increased power densities, high reliability and robust security. It also marks the first time PEER 1 Hosting will be offering all three hosting services – managed hosting, dedicated hosting and colocation – in Canada, enabling greater choice and flexibility to meet customer needs and current demands.

“While in theory hosting is a borderless business, in practice geography is very much a relevant factor. When it comes to choosing a hosting provider, where the data centre is located is a key part of a potential customer’s decision-making process,” said Philbert Shih, Senior Analyst for Hosting at Tier1 Research, a division of The 451 Group. “There are legal and regulatory issues to consider, while cultural and linguisitc factors should not be overlooked. There is also a comfort and convenience factor when it comes to where IT infrastructure is hosted, and distance to and from a data centre impacts performance and latency. Hosters that set up operations in multiple geographies and legal jurisdictions have a value propostion that will open the door to a wider range of opportunities.”

Unlike competitors, where service often ends once the server is connected, PEER 1 is focused on providing customers with continued support as their businesses grow, starting with dedicated hosting through ServerBeach, an inexpensive entry point for low traffic websites, through to colocation and managed hosting, which helps minimize internal IT pressures so businesses can put a greater emphasis on core business operations.

Although the hockey season is over, ServerBeach and PEER 1 Hosting is keeping the game alive with limited edition jerseys for its new customers. Beginning July 14, every new PEER 1 Hosting and ServerBeach customer in Canada will receive either an authentic PEER 1 Hosting or ServerBeach hockey jersey. Official jerseys are available through to the end of Summer 2010.

Tecagora Solutions Inc. is delighted to announce that Snapact Photo Manager has been selected as the winner of the “Best of Entertainment” category for the Intel Atom Developer Challenge 2010 taking home the award title and $10,000.

In January 2010, Intel announced the release of its AppUp Center and the Intel Atom Developer Challenge 2010 competition for software developers to create ground-breaking applications designed to operate on the Intel Atom processor that is found in many of the netbooks available in the marketplace.

“We are thrilled that Snapact Photo Manager has been selected as the winner of the Intel Atom Developer Challenge 2010 ‘Best of Entertainment’ award,” states Bruce Kwan, President and CEO of Tecagora Solutions Inc. “The Intel Atom Developer Challenge 2010 program is open to software developers on a world-wide scale, and to win the ‘Best of Entertainment’ category is a great achievement for the team behind the design and development of Snapact” says Kwan.

The AppUp Center is designed to be a storefront for games, software applications and utility tools that software developers have created and optimized for netbooks operating with the Intel Atom processor. All software titles available through the AppUp Center have been tested and certified to operate on Netbooks with the Atom processor. Netbook users can launch the AppUp Center and quickly browse, download, install, purchase and uninstall the optimized software titles available through the AppUp Center, saving time and effort in looking for software applications that may or may not work correctly on the user’s netbook. Categories of the Intel Developer Challenge 2010 “Best-in-Category Applications” include Best of Home & Lifestyle, Best of Utilities & Security, Best of Education & Reference, Best of Entertainment, and Best of Games. Tecagora has been a member of the Intel Software Partner Programme since December 2008, and a member of the Intel Atom Developer Program since the program’s inception in December 2009.

Kengin Consulting Inc., a mobile development consulting firm, has launched a new application for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users. Whether you are looking to build your own apps, acquire new skills for your resume, or just have some fun, you should check out SDKtoday now.

Kengin CEO Jacob Kennedy, was prompted to develop SDKtoday as a result of the experiences he encountered while developing his own iPhone apps. “When I was first learning how to make iPhone apps, I had to aggregate solutions from a variety of sources. There was no single place I could refer to that would provide me with everything that I was looking for. To get what I needed, I had to either buy a book or download an app… either way, I paid in full but needed only a fraction of the content. That’s why I like our app, and our approach. You can download it, demo the tutorial options, and decide what fits your needs. This way, you only end up buying what you need while being provided with a sweeter and swifter path to app development success.”

Dennis Volovic of dedovo Inc., collaborated with Kengin as SDKtoday went from design to reality. “We always wondered why something like this was never done before. As we began to work on our app, it became clear why! Conveying the depth and breadth of the tutorials in a way that is intuitive and scalable is not so straightforward. My excitement really piqued, and I knew we were on to something when the S2C2 methodology came together; Start It, Stub It, Connect It, and Complete It. It’s that easy! This approach is so incredible, that we immediately began using it for all our own personal app development!”

Kennedy & Volovic both agree that the “pièce de résistance” of the SDKtoday app, is the S2C2 learning methodology they created. The methodology was essential in streamlining the iPhone development process and provides a consistent learning experience throughout all tutorials!

SDKtoday App Features:

• Tutorials:

o The app gives you three tutorials for free. Tutorials 101 through 109 make up the “introductory series” of the SDKtoday tutorials. Once mastered, you will be in a position to apply this knowledge to build your own apps. The tutorials are packed with clear and practical info. They are architected around core development topics and techniques that illuminate individually and collectively.
o In the Tutorial Detail view you can Demo the App, learn to Build It, or Download the Code
o In the Build Detail view, you have the freedom to read through the materials or watch videos bringing the app to life utilizing the S2C2 methodology.
o Tutorials 104-109 are already available for purchase in the Store section of SDKtoday, with more to come.
o Every tutorial gives you the opportunity to learn by way of watching videos or reading, and each works towards development of an actual app.
o Status Indicator: Toggle the status button to keep track of your progress. There are three tutorial states; Not Started, In Progress, and Complete.

• Reference Section: Provides an extensive reference section offering tips and other Xcode related literature. You can review the Core Data Object nomenclature, brush up on your Xcode Keyboard Shortcuts, learn a few Debugging Tips, and much more.

• Store: In addition to the free Tutorial offerings, there is a store full of additional tutorials. You can buy these tutorials and expand your SDK knowledge even further, right in the app. You can go through the tutorials in order, or in the classic “choose your own adventure” fashion.

The call for submissions to present lectures, roundtables and panel sessions at the 2011 Game Developers Conference® (GDC) is now open through Wednesday, August 25th. Organized by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, GDC 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the game industry’s most comprehensive professionals-only event where game developers converge for a week of learning, networking and inspiration. GDC 2011 will take place February 28-March 4 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Session proposals can be submitted via the official GDC website. The GDC advisory board is looking for submissions in the following areas: Audio, Business and Management, Game Design, Production, Programming and Visual Arts.

The industry has seen the scope of gaming experiences evolve to include more connected social games and independently produced titles. The GDC 2011 advisory board has been expanded to address these areas and welcomes a slate of new members including Dan Fiden, (GM, Playfish San Francisco), Adam Saltsman (Co-Founder, Semi Secret Software ), Soren Johnson (Lead Designer and Programmer, EA Maxis),Siobhan Reddy (Studio Director, Media Molecule), Steve Theodore (Technical Art Director, Undead Labs) and Scott Selfon (Lead Program Manager, Microsoft). These new members join industry veterans such as Dave Perry (Gaika.com), Mark Cerny (Cerny Games), Chris Hecker (definition six), Rob Pardo (Blizzard Entertainment), Julien Merceron (Square Enix), among others on the advisory board.

“We pride ourselves on providing best practices for game developers of all genres and GDC 2011 will continue this tradition as the gaming space grows and adapts to the evolving market,” said Meggan Scavio, director, Game Developers Conference. “We’re excited to welcome our newest advisory board members and expect them to bring a healthy balance of their past experiences along with a fresh approach to the conference program. The forward-facing content, inspired sessions, and especially the insightful advisory board are what has kept the event thriving for 25 years, and will sustain it for the next 25.”

“While DeathSpank is definitely one of the funnier games out there, it’s more than a one trick pony,” said Vlad Ceraldi, Director of Game Development for Hothead Games. “We’ve built a game with fast-paced, addictive combat set in a world that has a tremendous amount of depth that is filled with dynamic characters, colorful environments and tons of cool weapons and loot. And yes, we still have ponies too — trick ponies!”

“The team at Hothead has really made the perfect experience for the summer,” said Jamil Moledina, Outreach Director, Business Development for EA Partners. “DeathSpank is a high-end and fun game, yet incredibly accessible. It’s very easy to pick up and play, both in terms of its classic arcade controls, as well as the convenience of downloading it straight to your console.”

Players who download the game, which is rated T for Teen, will be placed in the boots of the mighty DeathSpank, “Dispenser of Justice”, “Vanquisher of Evil” and “Hero to the Downtrodden”, embarking on his life long journey is to search for and find a mysterious artifact known only as, “The Artifact”. Along his journey, DeathSpank will rescue orphans, defeat a local tyrant, help an aging adventurer, and dive headfirst into an even deeper mystery. The game’s accessibility makes for a fun, addictive experience where players will find themselves solving crazy puzzles, collecting massive amounts of loot and hearing witty dialogue. For those with friends, DeathSpank also features local co-operative gameplay, allowing friends to jump in and out of fighting through this adventure on the same console as both DeathSpank and his trusty, magical sidekick, Sparkles the Wizard.

Dead Rising 2 Executive Producer, Keiji Inafune and Producer, Shinsaku Ohara, will be at Comic-Con in San Diego to unveil development stories and discuss the upcoming Zombrex Dead Rising Sun motion picture, with a Q&A session to follow. Their talk will take place on July 22 in Room 25ABC from 12:00-1:00 P.M. If you’re going to Comic-Con, Capcom will be in booth #4844, and the Capcom Store will offer items exclusive to Comic Con – including 10 of the Dead Rising 2 motorcycle jacket.

The Montreal International Game Summit has officially launched their 2010 site and confirmed November 7th & 8th as the date for its 7th annual event. Taking place at the Hilton Bonaventure in Montreal, MiGS offers over 80 sessions and activities, addressing continuing professional training needs, fueling the five main themes of the video game industry: business, arts and visual effects, design, programming and technical aspects. In addition to two keynote speakers, there will be an invited speaker for each of the themes.

Also new this year is a contest to win free admission to this year’s conference. If you want to attend quality conferences and workshops, in addition to meeting video game industry professionals, enter the Montreal Takes Control contest for a chance to win. Send a photo or a drawing on the theme Montreal takes control to Géraldine Philippin. The winner will be chosen based on originality alone. Only one photo or one drawing per participant is allowed. You have until July 27, 2010 to send in your work and your contact information. The winner will be announced August 3rd, 2010 via Facebook, Twitter, and the MiGS newsletter.

The Exhibition Zone is being renewed this year at MiGS. Divided into three distinct sections (Education, Recruitment and Demonstration) to facilitate the visit, the Exhibition Zone will also offer many activities. For this seventh edition, new activities are on the menu such as D3D (a friendly competition simulating the main stages involved in creating a video game) and an open recruitment activity (free access to over 200 students or job seekers in the field of video games, mini interviews with industry professionals). With new advantageous rates, entertainment and competitions, the Exhibition Zone will allow you to take control of your space and showcase your products and services.

Those interested in becoming show sponsors are welcome to organize a competition, activities by the heated pool or give out t-shirts bearing your corporate identity and that of MIGS. Check out the sponsorship opportunities or contact Sylvianne Pilon – customized sponsorship packages are also a possibility.

Ludia and FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) today announced the launch of the Family Feud for iPad® on the App Store for $6.99. The game brings an unparalleled Family Feud game experience to iPad owners, enhanced with eye-popping new HD graphics and incorporating Multi-Touch game play.

Based on one of the most successful family game shows of all time – which premieres its 12th season in syndication with new host Steve Harvey on September 13th (check local listings), iPad owners can now play anywhere, anytime as the leader of a ‘family’ in a contest to name the most popular answers to survey questions posed to 100 people. The game features all of the favorite elements of the show as played on television, including the scoreboard, face offs, strikes, stealing and ‘fast money’ rounds. Players also can enjoy Family Feud in multiplayer mode as they challenge family and friends head-to-head, or compete solo against the computer.

“We are excited to bring the Family Feud game, one of the most popular game shows of all time, to a device as immersive as the iPad,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia Inc. “This release further reinforces our cross-platform strategy of delivering high quality, family-friendly game experiences on the latest devices on which people like to play games.”

Family Feud for iPad features:

• Eye-popping HD Graphics designed and optimized for the iPad’s advanced capabilities.
• Two game modes: single and multiplayer.
• Fully customizable player avatars – choose hairstyles, clothing, accessories and more.
• Predictive text input and auto spell checker make typing answers lightning fast.
• Unlock bonus items as a reward for progress in the game.
• Authentic stage, theme music and sound effects create a true-to-show game experience.

“After more than three decades on television, the Emmy-award winning Family Feud continues to be one of the most beloved television brands,” said Olivier Delfosse, Director, Interactive, FME. “We are pleased to extend the franchise to devices like the iPad so that both fans and game show enthusiasts alike can experience Family Feud in thrilling new ways.”

MaRS is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its successful Angel program, created to help its start-up clients connect with new funding sources. Since the program’s inception, more than 50% of presenting companies have received funding, with more recent participants in ongoing dialogue with interested investors.

Five MaRS Angel breakfast events have been held since June 2009 at the MaRS Centre. Clients from three practice areas – ICE (information technology, communications & entertainment), cleantech as well as life sciences and health care) are invited to pitch to a group of accredited investors. Co-Chairs Jim Meenan (MaRS Advisor), Ron Close (MaRS Advisor) and Jim Rae (a prominent life sciences executive) facilitate the company selection process and host the MaRS Angel breakfast events. The participating angel investors are highly regarded in their respective industries, with many sourced through personal networks from MaRS advisors, staff and community stakeholders.

Program feedback from both investors and companies has been very positive. “The MaRS Angel event that we attended was a huge success for us,” says Ray Newal, Founder and CEO of Jigsee. “We raised additional angel funds for our recent investment round as a direct result of being selected to present to the group. We were amazed at the high profile investors that these meetings attract. We are also grateful for the guidance and pitch coaching we received from the MaRS team in preparing for this event.”

Canaccord Genuity, the leading independent advisory and restructuring firm in Canada, was the first company to come on board in a sponsorship capacity – providing the funds to launch the program.

“The MaRS Angel program is playing a vital role in connecting entrepreneurs with qualified investors. Given the need for early-stage funding that this new generation of companies requires, we’re delighted to be a supporter of this program,” says David Kassie, Group Chairman, Canaccord Genuity.

The funds raised from angels are often the first substantial source of financing for early stage science and technology companies. “Through our Advisory Services group, MaRS has a unique window on a new generation of emerging companies,” says Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of MaRS. “We are very pleased with the feedback from respected angel investors. They appreciate that presenting companies are very well prepared for these meetings. Furthermore, they view MaRS as a valuable resource to help them grow companies over the longer term. Given the financing deals completed over the first year in a tough investing climate, it is clear this process is working.”
Absolute® Software Corporation, the leading provider of firmware-based, patented, computer theft recovery, data protection and secure computer lifecycle management solutions announced today that they have won an International Stevie Award for Best New Product or Service of the Year – Computer Software – New Version for Absolute Manage in The 2010 International Business Awards. The International Business Awards are the only global, all-encompassing business awards program honoring great performances in business.

Nicknamed the Stevie® for the Greek word “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala dinner on Monday, 27 September in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey.

“Winning this award demonstrates that with the new features and functionality launched this year and those we continue to develop, including support for iOS 4, Absolute Manage is a world-class computer lifecycle management solution,” said Peter Frankl, Vice President of Lifecycle Management at Absolute Software. “Absolute Manage is one of the only computer lifecycle management solutions that can truly support a PC and Mac mixed environment while helping IT reduce costs and increase efficiencies.”

Recipients of International Stevie Award trophies were selected from more than 1,700 entries received from organizations and individuals in more than 40 countries.

“Despite the harsh economic climate, entries to the IBAs actually grew a bit this year, and that illustrates the increasing importance of The International Business Awards worldwide,” said Michael Gallagher, president of The Stevie Awards, presenters of the IBAs. “We congratulate all of the Finalists and International Stevie Awards winners, and we look forward to honoring them for their achievements at our gala awards dinner in Istanbul on 27 September.”

Revolutionary On-Demand software from Markham, Ontario’s Carlton Group is able to replace the traditional and expensive legacy systems many companies have used to manage employee recognition and service awards. On-Demand software is an alternative that provides a robust yet cost-effective solution to companies large and small. Now any size company can have the power to motivate and engage their employees, sales teams and channel partners with Carlton Group’s On-Demand solution called Power2Motivate (P2M).

In the past, companies have had little choice but to use expensive, inflexible legacy software systems to manage their programs. Costly to set-up and maintain, legacy systems require additional IT programming for every change, lengthy deployment times, and significant costs to reuse or transfer client-specific updates.

With Carlton’s breakthrough Power2Motivate solution clients can now launch programs quickly, deploying as many unique programs as they want, all within a simple pricing model. All P2M solutions are built and launch-ready – no IT required. A company simply adds their employee data and they’re ready to get started.

More importantly, P2M’s On-Demand design simultaneously deploys any new features, products and enhancements to all users globally. Over the past twelve months, P2M deployed more than 200 unique upgrades alone – all at no additional cost to clients.

P2M uses a “Collaborative Development” process that links client requests with the program design team. The team develops and then deploys these enhancements universally to be shared by the entire P2M user community. The result is a more robust technology system that benefits all its users.

Toronto’s Canada Type font design studio has come to a font distribution agreement with American distributor Ascender Corporation. The design studio, which was founded by Rebecca Alaccari and Patrick Griffin in early 2004, has created a variety of high-quality typefaces popular with design professionals and creative enthusiasts. The Canada Type fonts have appeared on everything from large corporate projects to small personal design work.

“We don’t believe people should have to choose between quality and creativity when choosing a font,” said Griffin, co-founder of Canada Type. “We feel Ascender shares this belief. It is reflected in their passion for creating and licensing high quality, innovative typefaces. We look forward to seeing where Ascender can take our font collection.”

The Canada Type font collection will add a number of enhanced versions of historical typefaces and expertly-designed original fonts to Ascender’s diverse collection of fonts. This includes an impressive lineup of popular script fonts and a variety of exclusive psychedelic fonts from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The Canada Type fonts are available in both TrueType and OpenType formats and can be found on the Ascender Fonts website. Ascender is also proud to offer the Canada Type fonts to its broad range of OEM/ISV customers including video game and Blu-ray publishers, software developers, web server application developers, and hardware manufacturers.

Following a recent announcement solidifying exclusive long-term distribution agreements for 10 new programs, Tricon Films & Television is pleased to let us know about the sale of three of its signature properties, Family Renovation, Marriage Under Construction and House of Bryan to leading US specialty networks.

HGTV US has picked up all three seasons of Marriage Under Construction (39 X 30), a docu-soap that follows the personal and physical struggle of a newlywed couple renovating their first home for the first time. The series is produced by Tricon Films & Television and airs on HGTV Canada.

Sold to DIY Network are Family Renovation (13×30) and House of Bryan (13 X 30). Both are currently airing on HGTV Canada. House of Bryan challenges renowned host of Disaster DIY, Bryan Baeumler, to build his own home from the ground up in just six months. The series is produced by SI Entertainment. Family Renovation, produced by Ocean Entertainment, follows one family’s home renovation experience while living through it.

These three new sales add to Tricon’s existing roster of programming sold to networks in the US and around the world, with distribution sales to-date reaching over 120 countries.