Village Gamer

Toronto-based developer Alien Concepts is excited to announce the launch of its first casual game Night of the Scarecrows. The rookie developers recently announced the release of the web and downloadable game through distribution portals Big Fish Games, MSN Games, Real Arcade, GameHouse and Wild Tangent among others.

With its striking cinematic sequences and an art style inspired by the likes of Tim Burton and Edward Gorey, this addictive puzzle game stands apart from its genre counterparts in the casual games space. The dark yet quirky art and design work by artists Jamie Richards and Bruno Amezcua are complemented by the moody soundtrack by composer Patrick Blakely. The game’s development team is rounded out by producer/co-designer Kala Ramachandran and Programmer Mike Darmitz.

“We were thrilled with how well the game demo was received at Casual Connect Seattle and at GDC San Francisco this past year”, said Kala Ramachandran, Alien Concepts co-founder and President. “We’re hoping to carry this momentum to our upcoming projects currently in the works.” The studio is currently hard at work on an iPhone version of Night of the Scarecrows, which is scheduled to hit the Apps Store just before Christmas 2009, as well as on an educational adventure game slated for release in late October.

*Mini Review*

I gave Night of the Scarecrows a quick play – okay I confess, the game is still open in another tab, I’m on level 3 and have a score of 16440. So far I am impressed with the game; it is a nice twist on the match three genre, with some very cute and comical characters who do a funky scary shuffle dance across the garden. I like watching the creatures almost gasp in horror when they realize they are about to be eliminated by a rampaging goat and clearing the garden with a burning torch appeals to the pyro in me. The death cringes of the characters as they ignite only adds to the amusement. Gee, that sounds just a tad sadistic, doesn’t it? It’s okay – they may be animated, but they are inanimate objects. No harm done, they’re only burning pixels. When the mystical power that pushes forth these Hallowe’en invaders fails to play nice and won’t give you any matches, you can call on the Power of the Crow. You can store up to three Crows by matching groups of seven creepy creatures or more, and when needed you can clear similar Scarecrows from one column. You can eliminate full rows by letting the Goat out of the pen. You can collect up to three Goats at any one time. Beware though – your Goat and Crow collections reset with each new level. The music and sound effects are well done and the audio is very clear. With the level of quality in this first title, you can be assured that I will be looking forward to more game products from Alien Concepts.

Toronto – Countries around the world are recognizing the need for a National Digital Strategy, but Canada has not yet embarked on this process. Digital technologies are bringing about transformative change in society; and, according to a new issues discussion paper released today from Nordicity, Canada must develop our own strategy to remain competitive.

“Without a national digital strategy, there will be no overall vision to guide such a social and economic transformation in the interest of all Canadians,” says Peter Lyman, Senior Partner at Nordicity. “Rather, debate will be mired in the arcane and fragmented languages of broadcasting regulation, copyright revision, technological innovation, cultural subsidies, and broadband infrastructure.”

According to the issues discussion paper, Towards a National Digital Strategy, a unified vision of Canada’s digital future is crucial. To make sure the debate is not fragmented, policymakers will need to shift their perception to a more constructive, collaborative and holistic one. Otherwise, solutions will continue to be piecemeal, and decisions will continue to be reactive and narrowly defined.

The paper attempts to sort out the different issues, and identify what a national digital strategy should address. The paper groups the relevant issues in three parts:

1. An overarching societal need for digital literacy and skills in the modern world.
2. The need for a transformation of our support for the creation and distribution of cultural content.
3. The need for appropriate investment in our broadband and communications infrastructure to provide Canadians access to broadband services. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver Innovation Camp is a series of four workshops which will take place on October 13, 15, 17 and 19 at the Kontent Creative office in Gastown. The workshops are “an opportunity to learn and practice creativity and entrepreneurial skills through a series of hands-on activities – no lectures.”

This series of workshops are very reasonably priced at $75.00, with a limit of 24 seats available per session. Evening sessions include sandwiches and beverages provided by Social at Le Magasin.

Themes covered during the workshop:

* Identifying opportunities
* Learning from failure
* Creativity – developing then expanding upon ideas
* Seeing problems from fresh perspectives
* Innovation – implementing and iterating ideas

A reminder that MoMoVan is happening this October 5th, and registration closes tomorrow. With a focus on the Monetization of Virtual Goods, MoMoVan will take place at the Local History Lab and patio at the Museum of Vancouver. This event is free to members of WinBC and New Media BC or $25.00 for non-members at the door.

Agenda:

-5:30pm-6:00pm: Registration and networking (pizza and beer)
-6:00pm-6:30pm: 3-minute fast pitches from:
– Work at Play (Jordan Willms, Sr. Analyst)
– Utherverse (Brian Shuster, CEO)
– REIXL (Roger Graham, CEO)
– Super Rewards (Chris Koziak, CEO)
– Backstage (Alex Mendelev, VP, Business Development)
-6:30pm-7:15pm: Panel Discussion (Moderator: Jordan Willms, Sr. Analyst, Work at Play)
-7:15pm-8:00pm: Networking

Pinball players from all across North America will compete for over $10,000 in cash and prizes, including the grand prize of a new NBA STERN pinball machine and the title: 2009 Canadian Pinball Champion. The tournament will take place this October 23 – 25 at The Playdium Store in Toronto. Gary Stern, president of the only pinball manufacturer in the world, Stern Pinball will be on hand to present awards to the winners. There will also be a Donkey Kong Challenge & Arcade Auction Sale held on Saturday October 24th along with a free pinball tournament for kids and a Masters Tournament for competitors over the age of fifty.

Alliance numérique has unveiled updates for the first SPIN event, a digital entertainment celebration open to the general public. SPIN attendees will have the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes view of the video game industry. The event will not only highlight gaming in Quebec, but also focus on all aspects of the industry, including the work of game developers and other gaming professionals. The event is also designed to promote rising talent and e ncourage future recruitment and employment in the industry. From November 13th to 17th, Montrealers will discover the hidden face of games through four activities: Cinematics, D3D, Portfolios and Open Doors.

SPIN will be held in parallel with the MIGS’ sixth edition, an event dedicated to gaming industry stakeholders that will take place on November 16th and 17th.

SPIN highlights the videogame industry’s strength: an industry that combines culture, arts and technology. SPIN’s aim is two-fold: making the industry more accessible to the public and encouraging interaction between the industry’s stakeholders and the recruits.

SPIN will include four activities:

D3D: A friendly competition between training centers, CEGEPS and universities. Visitors are invited to discover the major steps in game development.

Open doors: Video game industry virtual and on-site tours to give attendees a behind-the-scenes look at the industry.

Portfolios: This meeting ! with vid eo game industry professionals offers a showcase for people looking to make their mark in the video game industry. Developers, programmers, designers, animators, engineers, project managers and others will be able to mingle.

Cinematics: Unlike video games, cinematics are non-interactive animated sequences (trailers, animations, etc). During the whole evening, cinematics will be shown, promoting the talent of creators from Montreal and around the world.

Ubisoft Montreal has released another Game Dev video walkthrough for the highly anticipated Assassin’s Creed 2. This video highlights several new game play components, such as the weapons dealer and new weapons like the smoke bomb, as well as Ezio’s ability to swim and use gondolas. I’m grateful for the new swimming ability, because in Assassin’s Creed 1 I seemed to spend a fair amount of time falling into the water and drowning. Also new to AC2 is the hiring of thieves and other unsavoury characters to do some of the dirty work like distracting guards. According to the new video, which was created for the Tokyo Game Show, the missions are extensive and somewhat unpredictable. One of my favourite components of AC1 was game environment exploration. Players can look forward to an even more rewarding system for exploration in AC2, as Ezio hunts the city for treasure which will help him upgrade his armour and weapons. Slated for release in mid-November, this is one title that will be in hot contention in the Village Gamer household. Thankfully, I am the one with the vehicle and the ability to pick up our pre-order at the store – and the “your order is in” call goes to my cell – thereby enabling me to beat The Cavechild to the game.

In other Ubisoft news, Battle of Giants™: Dragons has hit store shelves. Battle of Giants: Dragons is the very first DS game that will allow young gamers to play with the most impressive creatures they have always dreamed of – Dragons.

Developed for younger gamers by Ubisoft Quebec, players can feel the adrenaline rush of creating, controlling, customizing and battling with their very own fierce creature. Combat of Giants: Dragons offers a full immersion into the fantastic and mysterious universe of magic Dragons. Feel overwhelmed by exciting combat views and realistic fighting scenes! Battle of Giants: Dragons is rated E10 by the ESRB.

Key Game Features:

* Realism of fight as a key for immersion, pushed by a real-time innovative and intuitive combat gameplay.
* Customize your creature to make it your very own: 4 elemental dragons within their natural land, 5 different attack possibilities per Dragon, up to 125 different gems find and choose from!
* Land exploration through ground seeking or aerial traveling!
* Multiplayer: organize duels or tournaments, up to 4 players, to see which dragon will be the strongest of all.

Toronto – Roundhouse Interactive (new site under construction) has taken the first step towards the release of the first player-developed console game with the launch of The Game Cartel.

The Game Cartel is the world’s first demographically driven game development co-operative. Utilizing a web portal and a fee-based membership; the Game Cartel empowers gamers and other interested parties alike, to develop next generation games for the retail market. Roundhouse Interactive President, Mike Montanaro says, “For less than the price of your average video game, users will have input into — and voting rights on — each and every aspect of game development, from genre through character development and game play.”

According to Roundhouse Interactive, The Game Cartel membership will also benefit from special “insider” offers from a select and growing list of partners and affiliates such as Alienware and HiTech Tattoos. In addition, every member will get their name listed in the credits and receive a copy of the final product.

Montanaro says, “Gamers are a very vocal group who pride themselves on knowing each and every detail of current and upcoming games titles. They are equally quick to decry the games they feel fall short of expectation. They take a sense of ownership in the games they play so it only seemed natural to give them a real voice in the games developed by making them a vested partner. I see it as a new direction for the industry, and a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

All member concepts submitted by the membership will be passed before an advisory board of industry professionals. All submissions will be reviewed to determine their viability and originality, selecting those that will go back to the members for voting and final inclusion in the game.

The membership will have exclusive previews of finished game play, be included in beta testing, and will get a special packaged version of the final game prior to the general retail launch scheduled just in time for Christmas in 2010.

The National Finals may be over, but there is still one more opportunity to participate in the World Cyber Games 2009 Grand Final in Chengdu, China. The recognized leader for global video game competitions, WCG is running a supplementary competition for the international smash hit TrackMania Nations Forever at this year’s Grand Final. From now thru October 14, gamers will battle online in TrackMania Nations Forever to determine two Global Preliminary Champions. Each champion will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Chengdu, China this November to partake in the largest and most prestigious eSports tournament in the world – the WCG Grand Finals. Once there, they will take center stage to race each other for World Championship title, as well as cash and other prizes.

Open to players from all WCG participating countries, the online competition will have two one-week rounds consisting of two tracks per round. For a complete list of participating countries and rules please visit the TrackMania page of the WCGZone.

“Through competitions like this, WCG will continue to explore the vast possibilities that are provided through the Internet,” said Hyoung-Seok Kim, CEO of World Cyber Games, Inc. “WCG will continue to strengthen its online channel WCGZone so that even more people from more countries can enjoy the competition.”

Those fans who are less racing inclined can show off their design skills in the WCG TrackMania Global Track Design Contest, which is open to participants worldwide. Held at the same time as the WCG TrackMania Global Preliminaries, artists who wish to join the contest should go to the WCG web site or WCGZone and TrackMania Exchange for more information.

Montreal – Wicked Studios and Majesco Entertainment are pleased to announce that the official game trailer of Dawn of Heroes, the upcoming Strategy RPG for Nintendo DS, is now available on the game’s brand new web site.

Dawn of Heroes – A new breed of SRPG

Brimthule is cursed, filled with malevolent characters, and separated into baronies. Cities have fallen, beasts of all weft and warp are becoming bolder in their attacks and the once beloved six Barons have become evil.

The once great Kingdom of Brimthule is in despair following the loss of its lord and champion. King Leroy sacrificed himself to entomb the great beast Ragnakore in a body of stone. Without its leader, the kingdom has split into baronies and is beset by curses, monsters, and misfortunes, with some believing Ragnakore, though trapped, is responsible. The time has come for new heroes to stand tall against the realm’s greatest foes; the time has come for the Dawn of Heroes.

Who’s going to clean this mess up? Heroes will!! Don’t they always? But where are they? Unwilling to deal with an old prophecy to save the realm, a disparate band of mercenaries will learn, through a hilarious adventure, that the reward of being Heroes cannot be counted in gold, jewels, or fame.

Dawn of Heroes features classic RPG concepts, character development, epic combat, quests and puzzle solving. Dawn of Heroes differs from other RPGs with hilarious dialogue, customizable parties, a variety of dungeons and items, and multiplayer features geared towards building a community of heroes all over the world.

• Travel through breathtaking 3D graphics whilst encountering a wide variety of characters from 12 different factions.
• Fight through over 60 missions with optional and hidden objectives.
• Experience a rich storyline filled with action, fun and humour.
• Select a team from over 25 playable classes.
• Test your strategies against other players and trade items through Nintendo DS wireless Play, or Nintendo WFC.

Vancouver – Game publisher Paradox Interactive has released more details on the upcoming action/RPG title from Kerberos Productions, Fort Zombie. In Fort Zombie, players will find themselves in Piety, Indiana, a small town facing a horrifying infestation of zombies with a relentless thirst for blood. Faced with no other choice but to find shelter from an impending wave of zombies migrating from a nearby metropolis, players will be challenged to choose a building to be their Fort throughout the entire campaign. By effectively focusing efforts on building up this structure, in between scouring town for supplies and searching out and training survivors, players will have a shot at surviving the massive zombie onslaught.

Of course, all of this must be achieved while fighting off hungry hordes of the gruesome undead, who will stop at nothing to make you part of their company. For the few remaining citizens of Piety, each new day brings more fear. Only the most prepared citizens of Piety will stand a chance against the zombie infestation. Choose from a variety of daily tasks and efficiently build up your characters stats and skills as you battle blood-thirsty invaders and attempt to avoid total infestation. But the most important thing of all is that you build up your Fort if anyone is to have any hope of surviving your last, big stand-off against the coming undead swarm.

Features:

• Take control of a single building in town as you prepare for total zombie infestation
• Gather supplies and find survivors by day, defend your building by night
• Players can engage in specific single missions within the campaign and spend hours building up the ultimate fortress
• Unique character building and reward system – each day brings new missions, each with different potential rewards. How you utilize and level up your survivors will greatly affect your chances of avoiding an ultimate zombie demise

Be prepared for the fight of your lives in Fort Zombie, available for PC this autumn through all major digital distribution channels.

Toronto – Know what the Emperor 1510 is? How about Headplay Personal Cinema System? Chances are, you don’t. But ask any hardcore Canadian gamer and they’ll tell you: they are some of the most extreme gaming gear available… in their dreams.

Intrigued? See for yourself this October when the Taco Bell truck rolls across Canada. Taco Bell Gaming Experts Craig Kennedy and Ryan Staples, founders of Canadian gaming company HALOphax – are visiting Taco Bell locations across the country with the ultimate, fully-equipped gaming truck.

Taco Bell FUOGG Tour

The Taco Bell tour is letting Canadians save their cash for tacos. FUOGG is Taco Bell’s contest for Canadians who want win the absolute ultimate gaming gear.

The grand prize? Model 0001 Emperor 1510 – the first ever Emperor 1510 in the WORLD – and a ton of other extreme gaming gear (total prize value worth over $10,000!). More than 300 prizes will also be won nationally

The FUOGG truck is making stops at Taco Bell locations across the country in the Late Night Gaming Tour.

Fans who stop by will be able to try out the gear, win swag and snack on Taco Bell favourites…all while waiting in line to test drive the big prize: the first ever (model 0001!) Emperor 1510.

How to Enter

Canadians who visit Taco Bell and buy a combo or a Big Bell Box meal will receive FUOGG pins – simply enter your pin online for your chance to win! Visit Tacobell.ca for more details.

FUOGG Prizes

Grand Prize

The first ever, custom, limited-edition Emperor 1510 – the most redonkulous gaming experience – plus one of each prize item (retail value approximately $14,000)

National Prizes to be won on Tacobell.ca

– Nokia N95 8GB phones + games (retail value $740.00) – the craziest gaming phones (not even on the market yet!)

– Headplay Person Cinema System (retail value $500.00) – simulates watching a 52″ television!

– Razer DeathAdder Gaming Mouse (retail value $79.99), Lycosa Mirror Limited Edition Gaming Keyboard (retail value $99.99) and Carcharias Gaming Headphones (retail value $99.99) – for gamers, by gamers…bring computer gaming to a whole new level. (I have a Razer Guild Wars gaming mouse and I love it)

– Gunnar Optik eSPORT Collection Glasses ($99.00) – lets you play longer…and better

– Limited Edition AMP Energy Pro Team (N49) Gaming Jerseys

– …and Taco Bell Fuel to keep you going!

Tour Schedule (become a fan on facebook and get full details)

The Tour has already been to Richmond Hill and is in Scarborough today, but here are the other upcoming Tour stops:

September 30: Milton On
October 1: Whitby ON
October 2: Brampton ON
October 6: Winnipeg MB
October 9: Calgary AB
October 10: Edmonton AB
October 11: Sherwood Park AB
October 14: Kelowna BC
October 16: Surrey BC
October 17: Coquitlam BC
October 22: Winnipeg MB
October 26: Waterloo ON
October 27: Windsor ON
October 29: Toronto ON

Toronto – Cutting-edge independent production company Chocolate Liberation Front (CLF) is rapidly establishing itself as the interactive developer and producer of choice, securing a number of key multi-platform projects with international partners in Australia and Canada.

Since launching only a few months ago, CLF has opened a studio in Toronto and has already been commissioned to create the interactive strategies for some high-profile projects, working with major international producers and broadcasters.

CLF is currently in production with the multi-platform extension of the new 8-part television series, Death Comes To Town, from well-loved Canadian comedy troupe, Kids in the Hall. Accent-KITH Productions has engaged CLF as the strategic interactive partner for this property, airing on CBC Television in 2010.

CLF is also developing the interactive strategy for Mark Lewis’ feature-length theatrical documentary, Cane Toads, a follow up to the 80’s cult classic. Shot in 3D, the film is being produced for Participant, Discovery Network US and ABC Australia by Radio Pictures. In addition, CLF is co-developing a linear TV series alongside interactive content for Vishus Productions’ original property Figaro Pho, based on the Logie award-nominated shorts originally created for ABC TV.

CLF’s Frank Verheggen says: “We are excited to be working with these brilliant partners. Each of these projects allows us to explore innovative new tools and technological approaches. We hope to continue to attract international partners looking for our unique cross-platform expertise.” These interactive partnerships follow hot on the heels of CLF’s first major development project, The World of Infinite Curiosity, which is a far-reaching multi-platform project for family audiences, currently in development as a triple-A videogame with funding from Telefilm Canada and Screen Australia and also as a prime time television series.

The star of The Infinite World of Curiosity is 11 year old Decklin, who is fascinated by Leonardo DaVinci. Toronto’s C.O.R.E. Digital will be providing artwork while other members of the development team include Vancouver’s Adrian Crook who has worked on titles such as The Outfit, Tony Reed, MD of Reed Interactive of Australia, who worked on Earthworm Jim, the Star Trek franchise as well as Command and Conquer. Naomi Janzen, a TV writer and producer for Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda and 7th Heaven will be contributing to the project, as well Australian Morgan Jaffit, founder of The Impossible Changing Brain Foundation. He has worked on such titles as Happy Feet and Teen Titans.