5th January 2009

Icron To Showcase New PC to TV USB Connectivity Technology

Unique Wireless and Powerline home connectivity solutions powered by ExtremeUSB will be showcased at Parks Associates Connections Reception, and the DS2 Booth on the CES Show Floor

icronBurnabyIcron Technologies (TSX Venture: IT), leading providers of USB extension and bridging solutions, today announced that it will be demonstrating new and innovative PC to TV connectivity solutions based on its patented ExtremeUSB(R) technology at CES. Demonstrations will take place on the CES show floor at the DS2 Booth (Booth No. 26129, South Hall 2) and at the Parks Associates CES Connections Summit Reception, taking place at the Las Vegas Hilton on Friday, January 9th from 6pm-8pm.

Icron’s Interactive PC to TV connectivity solutions demonstrate the ability for home users to interactively access all PC content and applications, including real-time Internet content, on TVs throughout the home. The solutions combine HD quality PC video along with full USB functionality, including mouse, keyboard, flash drive, webcam, and other USB peripherals, and extends them over standard 802.11n Wireless or Powerline networking technologies, enabling a true PC experience on the TV.
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5th January 2009

New ‘Transformer Cable’ from Clickfree For Truly Automatic Backups

Storage Appliance Corp.’s Latest Breakthrough Turns Any External Hard Drive from Any Manufacturer into an Effortless, Clickfree Backup Solution, Eliminating the Risk of Losing Precious Photos, Videos, Music and Data Forever

clickfreeRichmond Hill, ON – Storage Appliance Corp., the company whose portable backup systems made the otherwise laborious task of backing up computer data manually a thing of the past – today announced another breakthrough with the launch of its Clickfree Transformer Cable. The new Transformer USB cable instantly turns any competitor’s external hard drive into a Clickfree automatic backup device, completely eliminating the hassle and confusion of installing and configuring backup software. Like all Clickfree products, there is no software to install or configure, it is truly automatic – right out of the box.

“The Clickfree name has become synonymous with effort-free computer backup. Regardless ofClickfree Transformer USB Cable what the competition claims, our new Clickfree Transformer Cable is the only way to make a regular external hard drive easy to use, requiring no software or configuration, and immediately backing up everything that matters from your computer’s hard drive,” says Storage Appliance Corp. CEO, Bryan McLeod. “The Transformer Cable works with any manufacturer’s USB external hard drive to deliver automatic, no-click backing up. Finally, you can stop avoiding backup because it was too much trouble!”

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3rd January 2009

Call Of Duty: World At War

Call of Duty: World at War

Format: Wii (also available for Nintendo DS, Mobile, PS2, PS3, PC, X360)
Release Date: November 11, 2008
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Official Website: http://www.callofduty.com
ESRB Rating: M – Mature 17+

Introduction

Call of Duty (COD): World at War (WAW) is a very intense, brutal and addicting gameCall of Duty World At War that can be played with two players or with friends and strangers via Wi-Fi connection. Although the game is rated M for Mature, WAW does a very good job of not exaggerating the blood, violence, and language; however, I would recommend waiting for the kids to go to bed before playing this one.

Beginning

Picking up the campaign section of the game (if you haven’t played the other COD games) was very simple. The game gives you hints as you go along on how to master the skills needed for the mission you are playing. I used the Wii zapper for this game, which did make it much easier to aim and shoot. The down side of the zapper was it made it harder to quickly throw back grenades and to drop mounted weapons in order to run away from grenades. I took off the zapper for a period of time, and found myself doing much worse – I decided to stick with the zapper for this one.

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2nd January 2009

Puzzlegeddon

Official Website: Puzzlegeddon
Format: PC
Developer: Pieces Interactive
Publisher: Pieces Interactive
Genre: Action
ESRB Rating: E – Everyone

Puzzlegeddon

Puzzlegeddon features an inventive mix of puzzle, action and strategy. Select your island of choice and puzzle for resources to defend yourself and to defeat opponents throughout the many galaxies, game modes and challenges which await you in Puzzlegeddon.

When I was asked to review this game I had never heard of it or even seen any screenshots; I wasn’t sure what to expect. So when I read how the game functions, I was quite impressed. The main goal of the game is to defeat your opponents by solving a puzzle of different colors. As you solve the puzzle you will earn different resources to use against your opponents and decrease their health. Along with those resources that do damage to your opponent, there are also resources you can collect to protect yourself.

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2nd January 2009

Indie RPG Forumwarz Signs Up More Than 100,000 Players

In less than one year, the browser-based parody RPG Forumwarz has attracted more than 100,000 users. Supported primarily by user donations, it is one of the first browser-based games to successfully use a “shareware model” to sustain itself.

ForumWarzTorontoForumwarz, a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet, recently confirmed that it has surpassed the 100,000 sign-up mark since its public launch in February, 2008.

The game, which has been described by Wired News as “an offensive but deadly funny approach to lampooning the poor grammar, childish humor and bad manners of the web’s underbelly,” managed to attract a surprisingly large niche mostly through reputation, word-of-blog and favorable reviews from such sites as Gawker, The Onion A.V. Club, Digital Journal and Gamasutra.

Forumwarz skewers both internet culture and traditional MMORPG tropes by combining the two in an off-color and sometimes deliberately offensive mash-up. Players can choose classes such as Troll, Hacker, Emo Kid, Camgirl or Noob, while using a World of Warcraft-like attack bar to derail or “pwn” various internet forums.

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31st December 2008

Voice Over Industry Annual Report Released By Voices.com

VoicesToronto – What kind of a future does 2009 hold in store for voice overs and the language services industry? Quite a bright one indeed according to the 2009 Report (PDF) released by the experts at Voices.com, revealing that $10.9 billion was spent in 2008 on language services and voice recording, an industry that is expected to grow by 7.5% to $11.7 billion in 2009. Voices.com is an online workplace that connects buyers with sellers of voice over and audio recording services.

Alongside rising sales for MP3 players, mobile phones and gaming consoles, the demand for voice acting in podcasts, audiobooks and video games has naturally increased as a result, becoming even more relevant to everyday consumers as the applications soar in popularity and reach new market demographics.

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30th December 2008

Grand Theft Childhood – Review


Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do
Authors: Lawrence Kutner, Ph.D. and Cheryl Olson, Sc.D.
April 2008

I have mixed feelings about Grand Theft Childhood – it was not what I was expecting in a book whose subtitle offers help to parents who don’t know very much about video games, yet it was in its own way very in-depth and in the end, I can see it being helpful to uninformed non-gaming parents. While the studies and procedures are valid – the authors spend the first four or five chapters quantifying their research and comparing previous studies done by others – I feel that they rely too much on the processes and not enough on the advice they promised, which they don’t get to until Chapter 9.

Throughout the book, the authors show that kids are much smarter than we give them credit for when it comes to reality versus game environment. While there is that small percentage of the population who are effected by extenuating circumstances, that percentage is very small even when the playing of violent video games is added into the equation.

There is also a chapter about the government trend of trying to restrict or ban violent video games, and another on the rating system. As with every generation, there has to be some form of media which is adversely influencing our children, and this generation’s bad boy is video gaming. I was pleased to see that an abundance of feedback from the kids who were studied was included in this book – who better to help parents understand the attraction of video games than the kids who play them?

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29th December 2008

The Art of Game Worlds


The Art of Game Worlds
Dave Morris and Leo Hartas
September 22 2004

While this book has been out for a number of years, its content is very relevant to today’s game design. Authors Dave Morris and Leo Hartas have produced a volume of beautiful game environment artwork accompanied by in-depth interviews revealing the inspiration behind them. From the world as it was to the world as it may become, the artists behind the digital worlds we inhabit share their thoughts on the advances which have been made in game development. The importance of creating fantastical scenes while retaining some level of realistic relationship with the player is but one aspect of game art design covered in The Art of Game Worlds. Also discussed is using art, setting and lighting to elicit emotional responses from the gamer during play, as well as how the artists strive to add that “wow factor” with every new product.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the development processes for environment design. The amount of knowledge shared by industry greats such as Chris Bateman, Ernest W. Adams, Mike Jeffries, Yusuke Naora, Cathy Campos and many more, makes the price of this book well worth the expense.

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26th December 2008

Spark FX 2009 Film Schedule Announced

10 Films, 20 Speakers, 6 Days, 1 Fantastic Festival

Siggraph Vancouver Vancouver – The ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver Chapter has released preliminary details on the featured films which will be shown at the upcoming SparkFX Festival taking place January 21 – 26 2009 at the Vancouver International Film Centre (VanCity Theatre) in Vancouver, BC. In addition to these top VFX films, Spark FX will be showcasing 15 seminars and panels “with some of the most talented FX artists and researchers from Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and beyond.” Among the speakers will be Dennis Muren, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor at ILM, where he has worked since 1976. The winner of six Best Visual Effects Academy Awards, Dennis Muren has worked with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and James Cameron.

There will be a Festival Networking Mixer with music and a cash bar at 6pm on Friday, January 23 as well as the Festival Gala, which will take place at 8:30pm on Saturday, January 24.

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26th December 2008

Nintendo Takes 4 out 5 Top Video Game Sales Slots On Amazon.ca

Amazon Canada Due to an increasing number of Canadians who shop online, Amazon.ca has just finished its busiest holiday shopping season in six years. Canadians had purchased gifts for friends and family not only in Canada, but around the world. Amazon.ca shipped holiday gifts to 120 countries around the world, including Algeria, Aruba, Australia, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Egypt, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Malawi, Pakistan, Romania, Slovakia, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Vanuatu and Zambia. Within Canada, gifts were sent as far north as Grise Fiord, Nunavut, as far east as St. Brendan’s, Newfoundland, and as far west as Beaver Creek, Yukon.

“At Amazon.ca we are constantly working to offer our customers the best possible shopping experience, not just around the holidays, but throughout the entire year,” said Julie Todaro, director of Amazon.ca. “We are thrilled that we were able to provide our customers with an increased variety of products by opening the Electronics Store in time for the holidays, and would like to thank all of our customers for their support. We look forward to continuing to
offer great prices, a seamless shopping experience and one-stop convenience in the coming year.”

Amazon.ca’s five bestselling items during the holiday season in each product category (based on units ordered since Nov. 1, 2008) were:

Video Games

1. Nintendo Wii includes Wii Sports
2. Nintendo Wii Nunchuk Controller
3. Nintendo Wii Remote Controller
4. “World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King” Expansion Pack
5. “Mario Kart” Wii with Wii Wheel
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