18th June 2009

Meridian4 Links up with 2DEngine on Chains

Meridian4MontrealMeridian4 is thrilled to announce that they have signed an agreement with independent developer 2DEngine.com to digitally distribute their challenging and addictive puzzle game Chains.

“Working with Meridian4 is an excellent opportunity to gain the right exposure for our game which would not be possible otherwise. Most conservative casual portals would not appreciate how Chains is so Chainsexpressive and different from other puzzle titles.” Said Ivan Traykov, Lead Designer and Programmer at 2DEngine.com.

“We were instantly addicted to Chains the moment we played it and instead of getting no work done, we decided to sign the game so we had a legitimate reason for playing it. We also saw a great, challenging independently-developed game that needed to get exposure to a wide audience. This is one of those ‘just-one-more-level’ games that will have you playing for hours.” said Andy Sher, CEO at Meridian4.

Chains will be available in the coming weeks on most digital distribution channels. Village Gamer has reviewed this game – and recommends it for some challenging fun.

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17th June 2009

This Gaming Life – Review


This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities
Author: Jim Rossignol
May 2008
224 Pages

There is much about this book which I liked, particularly the fairly in-depth look at the Korean gaming culture and how it differs from that in the west. It was also interesting to read about the political movements within games and how they have been used as protest platforms. I feel that as a person who is both a gamer and a person who works in the gaming industry, This Gaming Life brings to light many of the reasons why people play video games – for the challenges, social experiences or to simply escape the stresses of every day life. One of the other reasons given by the author is that gamers game to stave off boredom.

Jim Rossignol raises some very valid points on how the activity of playing video games has grown to become a central part of today’s culture, such as the social components in today’s games and the scientific studies being conducted to better understand the effect of video games on the human countenance. He examines at length the pros and cons of becoming engrossed in games, as well as some of the educational aspects. Topics also covered are the varying levels of importance some game development studios put on gamer interaction with development through gamer-made mods or playing the game in ways not expected by the developers. This is something which I have heard discussed at many game development conferences – that gamers will always find some way to play the game that was outside of the project vision.
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17th June 2009

AnnexPro Announces Two Upcoming Events

Annex|Pro VancouverAnnexPro is pleased to be presenting two educational events this summer. First up is the Matrox MAXimum Roadshow on June 23 at the VFS Cafe. The seminar will be showcasing Matrox MAX technology for faster than realtime H.264 encoding for Blu-ray, the web, and mobile devices. Matrox MAX is available in the Matrox CompressHD accelerator card and in the Matrox MXO2 series of I/O devices for the Mac.

The second seminar is the AJA Ki Pro Worldwide Roadshow: From Lens to Post. You are invited to join AJA on July 14 at the Vancouver Film School for a demonstration of their latest innovation in workflow enhancing technology – the Ki Pro. Finally, shoot on the same codec as you edit with, full raster 10 bit Apple ProRes 422, built natively into Ki Pro’s stand-alone, portable hardware. You’ll get a high level overview of AJA and see a live demo of Ki Pro. Ask questions and get answers from AJA executives, and leading industry experts.

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17th June 2009

IUGO Hits 2 Million Downloads in the Apple App Store

IUGOVancouver – Fresh from E3 and Apple’s WWDC, IUGO Mobile Entertainment is proud to announce that its free and paid iPhone apps download total has reached 2 million units! IUGO’s first breakout hit on the iPhone, Toy Bot Diaries Entry 1, was released back in August 2008. Since then IUGO has released 5 other original titles made exclusively for the iPhone. “ IUGO has proven itself to be a major player and contributor in iPhone gaming”, states Sarah Thomson, Director of Business Development for IUGO. “ We are very proud of our 2 million downloads and counting and expect this number to soar past our latest milestone with A.D.D. and Starhogs’ approaching releases.”

IUGO plans to continue blasting out premium content for the iPhone and sees 3.0 features coming to its latest games soon. Keep an eye out for Starhogs and A.D.D., IUGO’s upcoming killer games to hit the App Store! You can check out our review of IUGO’s game FreeBallin’ in the  Game Reviews section.

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17th June 2009

Association News Briefs From Western Canada

British Columbia – Tonight’s ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver Chapter AGM has been postponed to a later date. The AGM was slated to take place prior to this evening’s soldout event, Watchmen Revealed.

Just a reminder that the Canary Derby will be running on June 27 in Vancouver and June 28 in Victoria.  Canary DerbyVillage Gamer is supporting Brenda Bailey, who is participating on the Wired Woman team – and we challenge you to support a team too! We have all lost loved ones to cancer – please get involved in supporting early detection research.

New Media BCNew Media BC is presenting a case-study on the Canucks Fan Zone, a user-generated editorial and fan media web portal followed by a good old fashion networking mixer in partnership with the Anton Sledgehammer Creative Agency. The seminar will take place on June 25, with a registration fee of $35.00 ($25.00 for NMBC members).WINBC

The joint Annual General Meetings of WINBC and Wavefront will take place on June 22 at Nokia’s offices at 9200 Glenylon Parkway, in Burnaby. They are combining the AGMs with the end of season MoMoVan party. The event will run from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm, and the AGMs will be held at 6:15 pm.

VictoriaVIATeC has two activities planned for July.  First on the schedule is a seminar to aid VIATeCbusinesses who need to work around fluctuations in the US dollar, and this July 7 seminar will help businesses to develop hedging strategies to protect technology businesses. This is followed by VIATeC’s July VIAFest event, which is an open house event at Contech. Come out for a tour their facility and view Contech’s unique designs as a provider of advanced animal training and control technologies for pets, their owners and gardeners worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »

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16th June 2009

Mad Dog McCree Gunslinger Pack For Wii Has Shipped

Digital LeisureGormleyMajesco Entertainment Company, an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today announced that the Mad Dog McCree Gunslinger Pack for Wii developed by Digital Leisure, has shipped to retail. When ruthless outlaw Mad Dog McCree goes on a rampage with a nasty pack of wanted fugitives in tow, they leave death and destruction in their wake. You are the only gun-slinging bounty hunter who can take him down in this three-in-one collection of classic arcade games that includes: Mad Dog McCree, Mad Dog 2: The Mad Dog McCreeLost Gold and The Last Bounty Hunter.

Players use their Wii Remote or Wii Zapper accessory as the ultimate six shooter in this Wild West adventure featuring live actors. Fast reflexes and precision shooting are the keys to survival when outlaws ambush from every angle and nail-biting showdowns are only a bullet away. As they pursue Mad Dog and four other wanted fugitives, players can choose from three different difficulty levels to hunt them alone or join forces with others in two multiplayer modes – Posse and Rebel. In Posse Mode, players work together with up to three friends in pursuit of a combined high score, while in Rebel Mode they work independently with up to four bounty hunters for individual high scores. Whether sharpshooting solo or with a posse, the Mad Dog McCree Gunslinger Pack lets players deliver their own brand of Wild West justice and walk away with their gun smokin’!

Mad Dog McCree Gunslinger Pack for Wii is rated T for Teen and packs three complete arcade classics onto one game disc. The game is available now for the suggested retail price of only $19.99.

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16th June 2009

PricewaterhouseCoopers Study Finds A Positive Outlook For Digital Media Growth

PricewaterhouseCoopersToronto – Over the next five years, digital technologies will become increasingly widespread across all segments of entertainment & media (E&M) as the digital migration continues to expand according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2009 – 2013.

Though the current economic downturn has, without doubt, impacted virtually every sector of the E&M marketplace it has also accelerated and intensified the digital migration among both providers and consumers of content.

*The global E&M market as a whole, including both consumer and advertising spending will grow by 2.7% compound annual growth (CAGR) for the entire forecast period to US$1.6 trillion in 2013.
*Canadian E&M spending projected to grow at a 2.2% CAGR to US$36.7 billion by 2013.
*Video game, internet advertising (wired and mobile) and digital everything to see biggest increases.

“What we are sure about is that this recession will last longer than previous ones due to a steeper downturn and that the impact on advertising will be particularly significant,” says Tracey Jennings, leader of the PwC Canada E&M practice. “E&M is not immune from the decline in consumer spending either – in Canada consumer spending in E&M will fall by a projected 4.9 % in 2009, remaining weak in 2010 and seeing only relatively low growth at 2.2% CAGR by 2013. Overall Canadian advertising spend will actually decrease a total of -0.5% CAGR by 2013 reflecting lower ad spending across traditional segments. Consumer spending, however, will rebound quicker from the recession. In fact, by 2013 consumer spend on E&M is projected to outpace GDP.”
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15th June 2009

NFB’s Runaway Awarded The Special Jury’s Prize At Annecy International Animation Film Festival

National Film BoardToronto – The National Film Board of Canada’s animated short, Runaway by Oscar-nominated director, Cordell Barker, was honoured with the Jury’s Special Award at the 2009 Annecy International Animated Film Festival on Saturday, June 13. Barker received this same honour in 2001 for his Oscar nominated animated short, Strange Invaders.

Runaway

Runaway

Annecy International Animated Film Festival is wholly dedicated to animation and is the biggest and most recognized event of its kind in the world, often being referred to as the Cannes of animation.

About Runaway

What would happen if the world were a driverless train thundering recklessly over bumpy tracks? Cordell Barker’s new short animation, the colourful Runaway, provides a caustic answer. Set to music by Benoît Charest, Runaway is Cordell Barker’s third animation film with the NFB. Born in Winnipeg, Barker made his first film, the much-loved musical animation The Cat Came Back (1988), at the NFB. Voted one of the 50 greatest cartoons of all time, the film went on to win over 15 awards and honours, including an Academy Award nomination. His second film with the NFB, Strange Invaders (2002), garnered him a further 15 awards, including a second Oscar nomination. Runaway is produced by Derek Mazur for the NFB. In May, it was awarded the Petit Rail d’Or for Best Short Film in Cannes. The general public is invited to download and share a copy of the film’s embeddable trailer available at http://www.nfb.ca/film/runaway_teaser/

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15th June 2009

Providential Pictures Announces New Paws and Tales Games MMOG Website

Paws & TalesToronto Providential Pictures has announced the launch of Paws and Tales Games MMOG, a faith-based website for children to play, watch and learn. Paws and Tales Games aims to provide a fun, safe and educational place online for children and families.

Paws and Tales Games aims to provide a fun, safe and educational place online for children and families. The Paws and Tales Games MMOG is based on Paws and Tales The Animated Series®.

Both the animated series and games website are designed for children as safe entertainment with faith-based values that parents can trust. Children can choose their favourite Paws and Tales character and interact with friends online.

Capable of supporting thousands of players simultaneously, the long term goal of the website is to enable players to cooperate with each other on a large scale and interact meaningfully with others around the world.

“Safety is our first priority and we have worked to ensure that we’ve created a safe online environment for children and their families.” said Product Manager Nelson Bodnarchuk. “We offer a chat that has a predefined menu of greetings, questions and statements for users to interact with. Users aren’t able to transmit personal data to other users. Those users who engage in inappropriate behavior can be suspended or banned from the Community.” Read the rest of this entry »

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15th June 2009

Zoompass – A Revolutionary New Mobile Payment Service Launched in Canada

EnStreamTorontoEnStream LP, a mobile commerce joint venture company owned by Bell Mobility, Rogers and TELUS — Canada’s three leading wireless operators, today launched Zoompass™, a breakthrough mobile money transfer and payment service. Zoompass gives Canadians a fast and convenient way to send and receive money securely using their mobile phone. The service is enabled through the Zoompass application on the mobile phone which combines an easy-to-use interface with an integrated contact manager that redefines how users send and receive money. Zoompass is a better way to pay than cash, cheque, or wire transfer.ZoomPass

“The launch of Zoompass represents an important milestone in financial services that makes the mobile phone the central device consumers use to transfer money and make purchases,” said Robin Dua, President of EnStream. “The Zoompass mobile service ushers in a new era in electronic payments that addresses a growing desire to move money quickly and easily between friends, family, and merchants.”

Zoompass makes it easy to split a lunch bill, request money from parents, collect sports team fees, solicit money for a co-worker’s gift, or even pay a babysitter – right from a mobile phone. With the groundbreaking launch of Zoompass, Canadians nationwide can expect to hear more people ask one another “Do you want me to Zoom you the money?”
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