Village Gamer

Vancouver – Hothead Games revealed today its plans for a one-of-a-kind model of collaboration with other top-notch independent developers. This unique collaborative effort marries indie studios’ creative game designs with Hothead Games’ multi-platform development and digital distribution expertise to bring award-winning titles to new gaming platforms.

Among the first to join in this effort is Jonathan Blow, whose 2008 launch of Braid via Xbox LIVE® Arcade amazed gamers with its innovative game play and distinctive art style. Hothead Games is partnering with Blow to bring his ground-breaking game to the Mac® platform and has secured exclusive digital publishing rights to that version.

Further, Hothead Games has forged a new fellowship with The Maw developer Twisted Pixel. Launched last month on Xbox LIVE® Arcade, Hothead will deliver The Maw to the Windows® platform, integrating special features to make the crowd-pleaser compatible with multiple as-of-yet-unannounced digital distribution platforms and services.

“We focus on finding new distribution opportunities so that they can focus on what they do best: developing their next great game,” said Hothead Games COO Joel DeYoung. “These two titles represent only the tip of the iceberg. We’re committed to working with indies and helping them be successful, so look for lots more announcements to come.”

Wii Gamers Get Their Own Taste of Zombie-laden Insanity with Humor, Hordes of the Undead and a Variety of Weapons at the Player’s Disposal

Vancouver – Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, is pleased to announce that Dead Rising™: Chop Till You Drop ships today for the Wii™ home video game system. Developed by Vancouver’s Blue Castle Games, and taking advantage of the same proven technology that brought Resident Evil® 4 so successfully to Wii, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop delivers a more intuitive and interactive experience as players use the Wii Remote™ to shoot, slash and bludgeon their way through a zombie infested shopping mall, fighting for survival. Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is rated M for Mature by the ESRB.

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop follows the harrowing tale of Frank West, an overly zealous freelance journalist on a hunt for the scoop of a lifetime. In pursuit of a juicy lead, he makes his way to the small suburban town of Willamette only to find that it has become overrun by zombies. Frank escapes to the local shopping mall, thinking it will be a bastion of safety but turns out to be anything but. A true struggle to survive the endless stream of enemies, players luckily have full reign of a realistic shopping centre and its varied stores offering an endless supply of real and makeshift weapons to fight off the flesh-hungry mob. If Frank is running low on health he can pay a visit to one of the many restaurants or cafes for a meal in order to restore his energy and continue the fight.

Read the rest of this entry »

Creative Control –  featuring LA-based composer, producer and product specialist Brian Carter

Vancouver –Annex|Pro invites you to join them at the VFS Cafe (390 West Hastings Vancouver) for this special presentation, where you’ll follow a music project from inception to completion, with LA-based composer, producer and product specialist Brian Carter.

Brian toured with several Grammy-winning acts, and brings with him years of studio experience, as well as an in-depth knowledge of Pro Tools and the recording process.

At this speaker session, you’ll learn how solutions like Pro Tools 8 and the C|24 control surface can bring new life to your productions, whether you’re a songwriter, film composer, or a serious hobbyist.   If you’re already using Pro Tools LE, HD or something else entirely, you’ll pick up some real-world tips that you can take back and immediately use in your own studio.

Agenda:

6:00PM – Come early for food and drinks
6:30PM – Annex|Pro presents “Creative Control” with Brian Carter

Everyone is welcome, but as space is limited, pre-registration is recommended.

Vancouver – GDC Canada Advisory Board Member and President of Radical Entertainment Kelly Zmak was interviewed on Electric Playground. Kelly shared his view about what GDC Canada means for the

local development community and highlights a few topics he is looking forward to this May.  Always a strong proponent for the game development industry in Vancouver and Canada, Kelly touches on the strengths, opportunities and future of our local game industry and how GDC-Canada ties into it all as an addition to the family of GDC international events. You can watch Kelly’s interview on the Electric Playground web site.

“The Evolution of the Canadian Game Industry: A Conversation with Don Mattrick”

Vancouver – Don Mattrick, leader of the Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows businesses at Microsoft, will kick of the inaugural GDC Canada with an exploration of the Canadian game development industry and the role it plays within the global community. With 25 years of broad industry and game development experience, Mattrick’s portfolio includes some of the most successful game franchises in the world, including “Need for Speed,” “Harry Potter” and “The Sims.” He will be joined onstage by Victor Lucas, creator, executive producer and co-host of

Don Mattrick

“The Electric Playground,” for an engaging interview and discussion on the dynamic changes and growing influence of Canadian game development.

Don Mattrick, who began his career in the video game industry at the age of 17, with the launch of Distinctive Software in Burnaby BC, has since held several leadership positions at EA, most recently as president of the publisher’s worldwide studios. Previously, he oversaw EA’s global studios and research and development in several major sites, including Redwood Shores, Calif. (Silicon Valley), EALA in Los Angeles, EA Tiburon in Florida, EA Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Montreal, and EA UK Studio in Chertsey, England.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Art Institute of Vancouver will be delivering its creative courses from a brand new location as of Summer 2009

Vancouver – The new campus will be conveniently located at the base of the Renfrew Skytrain station, at the corner of Renfrew Street and East 12th Avenue in Vancouver. The purpose built 80,000 square foot campus will feature two floors of classrooms and studios, allowing for increased space for students to create, design, and network, as well as expanded access to parking.

The Art Institute of Vancouver’s West Georgia and Dunsmuir Street campuses will relocate in 2009, to be joined by the Burnaby campus in 2010. The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Vancouver, along with the Culinaria Restaurant, will remain at its present location in the Canaccord Tower, on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver.

“We believe that our new custom built campus will benefit all students and staff, with its accessible location and modern facilities,” said Tom Kim, President of The Art Institute of Vancouver.

Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto – McCarthy Tétrault partners Barry Sookman and Steven Mason illustrate the challenges, concepts and approaches to copyright issues in their newly released casebook Copyright: Cases and Commentary on the Canadian and International Law. The authors draw on their experience in numerous high-profile intellectual property cases to show how copyright operates within various national legal systems and plays an important role in the creation and dissemination of valuable intellectual property assets.

Aimed at law students, law professors, librarians and practitioners, the casebook includes extracts from leading cases in both Canadian and international jurisprudence, and explains copyright matters to a broad audience through carefully selected court opinions and insightful commentary.

“Barry’s and Steven’s casebook reaffirms our team’s international expertise and ability to understand and resolve clients’ disputes regardless of jurisdiction,” said W. Iain Scott, the firm’s Chair and CEO. “It will be a valuable resource for anyone with an interest in copyright law.”

Published by Carswell, Copyright: Cases and Commentary on the Canadian and International Law can be purchased at Carswell’s online bookstore or by calling 1-877-750-9041.

At The Vancouver International Partnering Forum 2008, 600+ meetings were reported in just one day by top executives from international digital companies at the popular one-on-one sessions

Vancouver – This year, the number of match made 1+1s may just double, with an additional full day of programming that includes hand-picked B2B sessions, an International Keynote Luncheon, International Breakfast, Digital Networker’s Cocktail reception and exclusive international networking events.

So if you’re a digital company exploring global connections in mobile, Games, VFX, Web 2.0, Social Media, eLearning, Animation or a traditional media business planning new ventures into digital space, here’s a prime opportunity to meet the players who matter and identify opportunities to co-produce, invest, publish, aggregate, source or outsource projects.

Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto – E1 Entertainment (“E1”) today announced that its film and television content is now available on the iTunes Store in Canada, the US and the UK. E1 will launch its presence on iTunes with the recent theatrical blockbuster Twilight, which is now available for pre-order in the iTunes Store. Twilight is distributed by E1 in both Canada and the UK, and Summit in the US.

“We are excited to be able to offer film and TV enthusiasts the opportunity to rent or purchase E1 content on iTunes,” said Patrice Theroux, President Filmed Entertainment at E1. “We are expanding our digital offering on a multi territory basis and with iTunes we can provide consumers easy access to our library of films and television programs.”  iTunes customers in the US, Canada and UK can now enjoy a varied selection of E1-distributed new releases and catalogue titles including:
Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – Absolute® Software Corporation, the leading provider of firmware-based, patented, computer theft recovery, data protection and IT asset management solutions, has announced the official launch of Computrace® Mobile for the BlackBerry® platform. The new solution delivers asset management, data protection and geolocation tracking for the popular BlackBerry line of smartphones.

The launch follows a successful beta program that allowed select Absolute customers to test Computrace Mobile for BlackBerry smartphones within their live IT operations. One beta test customer, John D. Halamka, CIO, Beth Israel Deaconess & Harvard Medical School, commented, “I depend on my BlackBerry® to run five different organizations, $100 million in annual budgets, and 800 emails a day. The Computrace Agent enables me to track my Blackberry® via its internal GPS. Also, it enables my staff to track my location to an accuracy of about 20 meters. Over my 60 days of testing, it accurately tracked geolocation 24×7.”

“Our customers have the competitive advantage of being able to manage their laptops, desktops and smartphones from a single portal, helping to reduce operational costs and losses due to theft and inefficient allocation,” said John Livingston, president and CEO of Absolute Software. “We continue to extend our platform to ensure organizations have the visibility and protection they need to get the most from their investments in mobile computing.”
Read the rest of this entry »