Village Gamer

Three B.C. and two California companies honored for their innovation

Richmond BC – Sierra Wireless and Wavefront, the community-based commercialization center for B.C.’s 1,000 wireless and new media development companies, announce the winners of the Sierra Wireless – Wavefront Developer Programme.

The Sierra Wireless – Wavefront Developer Programme was established to find best-in-class enterprise or consumer applications that take advantage of the mobile broadband and GPS capabilities built into Sierra Wireless PC cards, ExpressCards, and USB modems. Finalists created working prototypes and a team of six judges, including Parm Sandhu, TELUS; James Maynard, Wavefront; David Sonnen, Integrated Spatial Solutions, Inc (ISSI); Ed Schmit, AT&T; Steve Blaine, Sierra Wireless; and Trent Punnett, Sierra Wireless, chose the best-in-class winners.

Apisphere, Inc of Berkeley, CA – Apisphere for Outlook is a location-aware plug-in that enables Sierra Wireless users to automatically send and receive location-smart messages to their mobile devices and laptops based on their Outlook calendar and location.

Clevest Solutions Inc. of Richmond, BC – Clevest Solutions Inc, the world’s fastest growing mobile solutions provider for utilities, has developed a new breed of Mobile Field Force Optimization Solution for mobile workforces by integrating and leveraging the power of GPS/Automatic Vehicle Location, GIS Maps, Scheduling, Dispatch, patented and configurable forms, validations, and workflows.
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Vancouver – The Electronic Arts head office in Redwood City, California has announced further plans for its corporate restructuring plans, which includes consolidating studio facilities and reducing their workforce.

EA expects the restructuring plan will result in annual cost savings of approximately $120 million and restructuring charges of approximately $55-65 million over the next several quarters. The plan is intended to reduce EA’s worldwide work force by approximately 10 percent or 1,000 people. The majority of these actions will be completed by March 31, 2009. This represents a four percent increase from the six percent reduction EA announced on October 30, 2008.

The restructuring also calls for consolidation or closure of at least nine studio and publishing locations. Among the facilities to be consolidated is the Black Box Studio facility in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Black Box development teams and associated game franchises will move to the nearby EA studio location in Burnaby, British Columbia. EA is implementing a plan to narrow its product portfolio to focus on hit games with higher margin opportunities. The company remains committed to taking creative risks, investing in new games, leading the industry in the growing mobile and online businesses, and delivering high-quality games to consumers.

Submissions are now being accepted for the 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards, the most prestigious honours in videogame development. The ten awards will be given out at a ceremony produced by the Game Developers Conference(R) (GDC) and presented by Gamasutra.com and Game Developer Magazine on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at GDC. The celebration, held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival (IGF), will be hosted in the Esplanade Room in the South Hall of San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center. The nomination ballot and further details about the Choice Awards are now available online at http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/.

“Over the last eight years, the Game Developers Choice Awards have recognized excellence in videogame development with a peer-based voting methodology. The awards are for developers, by developers,” said Meggan Scavio, event director of the Game Developers Conference. “We’re honored to be keeping the tradition alive by hosting the awards at GDC where all the creative talent will be celebrated for yet another innovative year of games.”
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Digital Media Grabs 10% Share of $845Bn Global Media and Entertainment Business in 2008

Boston – Global revenues from digital media will exceed revenue generated by filmed entertainment – movie theaters and home video combined – for the first time in 2008, according to new research from Strategy Analytics, a research company which provides timely and actionable market intelligence focused on opportunities and disruptive forces in the areas of Automotive Electronics and Entertainment, Broadband Connected Home, Mobile & Wireless Intelligent Systems and Virtual Worlds.

The report, “Global Media & Entertainment Market Forecast, 2004 – 2012,” predicts that total worldwide revenues from media and entertainment – including television & filmed entertainment, recorded music, games software and advertising – will exceed $845 billion this year, with more than 10%, or $90.0 billion, coming from online and mobile channels. In comparison, the global filmed entertainment market will generate $83.1 billion in revenues this year.

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Interactive Ontario, the province’s digital media content industry’s association, will be holding their Annual General Meeting on Thursday, January 22, 2009. All IO members are welcome to attend. All Full Member companies can vote. Full Members have the opportunity to select board members via a vote that takes place during the AGM. Supporting Members are not permitted to vote. Membership fees are based on the size of the company. Since last fall, the Association’s membership has grown by 67%, to over 200 companies.

Following the AGM , IO will be hosting an iNTERACT networking event at The Gladstone Hotel. iNTERACTS are free for IO members and just $5.00 for non-members and include one drink ticket and munchies. The following day, Friday, January 23, IO presents iLunch 7.04, on The Digital Pangaea. Interactive Ontario’s mandate is to promote the interests of its members in the digital media content industry, and to enlist the support of government and private sector partners with a vested interest in its growth.

Montreal – Meridian4 and Frogames have been hard at work adding content to Penguins Arena, their action-packed, non-stop battle for survival – “There can be only one” – FPS (First Penguin Shooter) and have also added a little Christmas cheer.

Frogames have added three new larger battlebergs for your penguin tribe to combat others in the ultimate struggle for supremacy and survival. More room to run, to hide, to watch your dynamite fish grenade smack a penguin clear off the iceberg into the cold waters below and then to be eaten by a great white…ah memories. They’ve also decorated for the holidays, adding a few string of lights, some garland, a Christmas tree or two and some of your old favorites like Frosty and even St. Nick might make an appearance.
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Vancouver – Rainmaker Entertainment, one of the most prolific producers of CG animated films, announced the DVD release of their latest production, “The Nutty Professor.” “The Nutty Professor” is the animated sequel to the beloved 1963 classic and one of the great family franchises in movie history. “The Nutty Professor” debuted on November 25 from Genius Products, Rainmaker Entertainment and The Weinstein Company.

“The Julius Kelp character has always meant so much to me,” says Jerry Lewis. “And the chance to introduce him and “The Nutty Professor” to a whole new generation of kids and their families, and in a completely new way through animation, was very exciting. I loved working with the team at Rainmaker and found them to be fun, creative and very adept at creating comedy.”

Continuing its focus of developing and producing content, Rainmaker, in association with producer George Paige, approached Jerry Lewis with the idea of animating the characters from his 1963 live action film, which Lewis wrote and directed, and he enthusiastically agreed. The Weinstein Company signed on for financing and distribution. Evan Spiliotopoulos was brought on to write the script.
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Award Honors QuickPlay for its Work on Rogers Vision, a Market-Leading, Fully-Integrated Mobile Video and Radio Service

Toronto – QuickPlay Media, the premier provider of mobile TV and video solutions, announced it has been named a 2008 Mobile Excellence Award winner in the “Best Mobile Video” category. The Mobile Excellence Awards have recognized QuickPlay Media for its role in powering Rogers Vision, Canada’s first fully-integrated mobile video and radio service, offered exclusively from the region’s largest wireless provider of voice and data services, Rogers Wireless.

“To be recognized by a panel of mobile industry experts is an honor for our team and a compliment to the success of the Rogers Vision service,” said Wayne Purboo, president and CEO, QuickPlay Media. “As our recent quarterly consumption analysis showed, demand for mobile TV and video content is growing. A key catalyst for this growth is services such as Rogers Vision, which deliver an integrated media experience that makes it fast and easy for end customers to access relevant content.”
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This past weekend, several Made In Canada projects picked up awards.

At the Spike TV Video Game Awards, Burnaby’s EA Sports development team won the Best Team Sports Game category with NHL 09. FIFA 09 was also nominated in this category. Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland won the Big Name In The Game – Male award for his voice over work as Sgt. Roebuck in Call of Duty: World At War. Ubisoft Montreal won the Best Individual Sports Game category with Shaun White’s Snowboarding, beating out EA Montreal andEA Blackbox’s co-developed Skate It. Far Cry 2, also from Ubisoft Montreal was nominated for the Best Shooter category, but was beat out by a tie between Gears of War 2 and Left 4 Dead.

Vancouver – For the second year in a row, tickets to Industry Speaker Day (February 7, 2009) at Game Design Expo 2009 have sold out!

Missed out on tickets? For aspiring game designers and anyone interested in game design and development, Game Design Expo also features a free Open House on Sunday, February 8, 2009 at Vancouver Film School’s acclaimed Game Design programme.

Attendees will hear about the world-renowned one-year Game Design program, meet faculty, students, and alumni, play student games, and experience sample classes covering subjects like Level Design and Storytelling.

The day also features a special schedule of industry presentations – featuring speakers from LucasArts, Big Fish Games, and Vicarious Visions (Activision) – and an exclusive Women in Games panel, where you can be the first to hear the details of a $30,000 Women in Games Scholarship.