Transatlantic Adventures, Turtles Reshelled, Pug Pharm Phunding And Other News
Vancouver – Deep Fried Entertainment COO Brenda Bailey has embarked on a big adventure with new hubby Eli Gershkovitch, owner of Steamworks Brewing Co., one of our favourite places to go in Vancouver. They took off from Vancouver Airport yesterday in their single-engine Cessna 172 for a transatlantic flight to Glasgow, Scotland. The flight path will take them over the northern Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, Iceland and then the UK. Brenda and Eli have planned stops in Williams Lake BC, Edson and Fort MacMurray Alberta, Stony Rapids Saskatchewan, with Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit in Nunavut being among their last stops in Canada. Then it will be over to Kangerlussuaq and Kulusuk in Greenland, Reykjavik, Iceland and Vagar in the Faroe Islands before arriving in Glasgow. You can track their flight on GPS and follow their adventures on BlogSpot. We here at Village Gamer wish Brenda and Eli a safe trip, and we look forward to hearing all about their big adventures through the daily updates.
The Turtles are back – Ubisoft Montreal has announced that the remake of 1991’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Reshelled (developed by Ubisoft Singapore) has launched on XBL Arcade today. The download costs 800 Microsoft points, and has made the resident cavechild very happy – this was one of his favourite games when he was younger – and of course he now needs a new points card.
Pug Pharm Productions Inc. has announced that it has received funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). This contribution, in addition to both technical and business-oriented advisory services provided by NRC-IRAP, will enable Pug Pharm to develop innovative games. The company’s strategic focus is on the intersection between social networking applications and online games – combining the best technical and design elements of both areas. Pug Pharm is committed to developing online games that combine the engagement of traditional video games with the technologies of social networking applications. Led by Bocska—formerly of Radical/Vivendi, EA/BlackBox, Disney Interactive, and co-founder of Hothead Games—Pug Pharm endeavors to leverage this combination into never-before-seen gameplay elements that appeal to global audiences.
“As a Canadian start-up, this generous support from NRC-IRAP is integral to our growth and development. It allows us to build new and exciting technologies that will facilitate deep, rich online social networking experiences,” stated Steve Bocska, CEO of Pug Pharm. “We are excited about the tremendous opportunities that are emerging with the convergence between online games and social networking technologies. We are looking forward to announcing specific games as they near launch.”
New Media BC has put out a call for entries for the Digital Springboard Mentorship Programme. This programme will pair successful applicants with a Mentor for 4 months or more to help you move forward with your company. Digital Springboard is a free advisory service and mentorship programme for emerging companies being administered by New Media BC and supported by the National Research Council – IRAP:
– 6 or more companies will be selected to be matched with veteran experts
– These mentors will provide free advisory service for at least 4 months
– They will help companies solve specific business/technical problems
– Deadline for submission: Aug 12, 2009
Eligible companies must be developing products for interactive entertainment (games), interactive design and marketing, digital animation/film and mobile content.
Audiokinetic will be taking Wwise on the road this fall, with stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver. The presentation will include presentations and training sessions for Wwise and SoundSeed, an audio post-mortem by an Audiokinetic customer and a networking cocktail. Wwise is the platform being used by Ubisoft to deliver the sound in Assassin’s Creed 2. Audiokinetic is also hiring – they are looking for a Senior C++ Designer/Developer and a Development Team Leader.