Village Gamer

Calgary – Digital Alberta has put together a new production reel highlighting and promoting the digital media services, animation, special effects, post-production, eLearning and game development industry in that province. The video highlights such studios as Bioware, Reel Girls Media, Fission Media Group and many more. Also highlighted in the reel are the benefits of locating a digital media studio in Alberta.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8S3VSJ43jM]

Burnaby – Future Shop is inviting all Canadians with a passion for photography to capture the spirit of their hometown and enter to win

First Prize

a Canon DSLR camera package worth $3,200. Take photos of your hometown that showcase what the community means and upload them to the Future Shop Community Forum.

The contest runs from May 1 through May 14 2009. To enter the contest, see full contest rules and information on Future Shop’s web site. There will also be ten secondary prizes of a Canon SD780 digital camera drawn randomly from the top twenty entries. The top twenty finalists will be judged by representatives from Future Shop.

Vancouver – Daylon Graphics® Ltd. has announced updates for all of its terrain modeling software applications. Leveller™ 3.1, Landshaper™ 1.1, and Landshaper Golf 2.1 are now available for new and existing users.

“The main improvement is better organization of the document data structure.” explains Ray Gardener, Daylon’s administrator. “Because a document can have multiple views, we stored certain things in view files. But after careful review we felt it was better to move several items up to the document level. Some flexibility was lost doing that, but nothing that anyone will really miss, and the benefits more than make up for it. We want to avoid flexibility merely for its own sake.

“Before, if you forgot to create and associate view files, documents would look different than from the last time they were opened. One would usually have to modify the appearance settings to get them back to what they were. Now that’s history; one can still use view files, but they’re no longer necessary to maintain appearance settings between work sessions.”
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Vancouver – The Vancouver chapter of Wired Woman is proud to present an evening seminar on the importance of data analysis in a variety of situations.

Recently, the volume of data produced by business operations has grown dramatically, primarily because of the increase in email and other computer information systems. When these business operations because the subject of litigation, arbitration or investigation, the process of gathering, analyzing and managing these potentially massive volumes of data presents a significant challenge. This can be extremely costly, time consuming and, if not done properly, can expose the organization to significant litigation (and reputation) risks. Understanding the technical aspects and strategies involved in eDiscovery can reduce a company’s financial risks and help protect their reputation.

This presentation will focus on:

What eDiscovery is, including the phases and challenges involved
Where electronic evidence can be found
The technical aspects of forensic data capturing
Best practices to keep in mind
The future of eDiscovery
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Vancouver – With two days of sessions, an expo, networking events, Future Play and the Game Career Seminar, GDC Canada is a must attend event for developers looking to learn, network and be inspired by their peers.

Download the GDC Canada preview guide and start planning your GDC experience now.

Events at GDC Canada

Passport to Prizes
Tuesday, May 12th, Starts at 10:30am & Drawing at 6:15pm
GDC Canada Expo
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Vancouver – Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc., announced today two new content packs for Need for Speed™ Undercover. The Challenge Series is free and features 60 events across two new game modes including the opportunity to earn up to three new cars. The premium Boss Car pack will give players access to Undercover’s specially customized boss vehicles for $5.00 (400 MS points).

The Challenge Series and Boss Car packs are available now on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and coming soon on the Xbox 360® videogame system from Microsoft and the PC. This new content reflects an ongoing commitment of post-launch support to Need for Speed fans.

Challenge Series:

• Highway Wars is the ultimate fusion of Undercover’s signature Highway Battles with the adrenaline fueled competition of sprint racing. In this mode, players will race at top speeds through traffic filled highways against three AI opponents in a winner take all battle to the finish line.
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Big Fish Acquires Premium Sim Developer Grubby Games

Vancouver – Big Fish Games™, the world’s leading online destination for games and interactive entertainment, announced today the acquisition of Grubby Games, an award-winning Vancouver games studio which was established in 2004.

“Big Fish Games has a remarkable culture and a unique, multi-platform development approach that aligns with our vision for creating a differentiated content.” said Ryan Clark, co-founder and CEO of Grubby Games. “We are thrilled to be a part of Big Fish Games and in just a few short weeks, we are fully integrated into the company.”

Known for several award-winning titles such as “My Tribe,” “FizzBall,” and “Incredibots,” Grubby Games stands out in the casual game industry for their innovation and success in challenging genres and for their proprietary simulation game platform.

“The creative minds at Grubby Games have generated a best-in-class approach to design that fits wonderfully within our studio,” said Patrick Wylie, Vice President of Big Fish Games Global Studios. “We have had the pleasure of working with Ryan and his team during the last four years and we are delighted to have them as part of our future.”

Gormley ON – Sharpen your sword and get ready to guide Dirk the Daring as he races through time to save the beautiful Princess Daphne from the clutches of the Evil Wizard Mordroc in Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp. This long awaited sequel to the award-winning game Dragon’s Lair has been completely restored and enhanced with an all-new 5.1 surround sound mix and is now available on Blu-ray from Digital Leisure.

From legendary animator Don Bluth (‘An American Tail’, ‘The Land Before Time’) Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp allows you to play the heroic Dirk the Daring, who must stop the Evil Wizard Mordroc as he has kidnapped Princess Daphne and taken her through time! But you must hurry, for once the Casket of Doom has opened, Mordroc will place the Death Ring upon Daphne’s finger in marriage and she will be lost forever… in the Time Warp!

Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp was authored in the Blu-ray Java environment (BD-J) and features completely remastered animation, and an all-new surround sound mix, creating a fully arcade-authentic experience.
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Toronto – Although the economy has slowed and the unemployment rate has risen locally and nationally, employers are still hiring in the information technology sector. MSEmploy Canada — Canada’s only Microsoft-focused job and training portal – is sponsoring a Career Fair in Mississauga on May 6 to connect job candidates with expanding IT companies.

When: May 6, 2009 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Microsoft Canada Head Office at 1950 Meadowvale Blvd.  Mississauga, ON

The focus of MSEmploy Canada and the career fair are positions associated with Microsoft technologies, such as .Net, SharePoint, Hyper-V, and Dynamics. Some of the types of jobs being sought are .Net Developer, System Engineer, Technical Support, Project Manager, and Network Administrator.
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Vancouver – Just a reminder to our readers – there is only one more day of voting left for the NMBC PopVox Awards, which will be presented next month during Vancouver Digital Week. Tickets for the PopVox Awards are still available through the PopVox web site. After a quick email verification process, members of the public can vote for their favourite entry in the following categories:

Best Student Project
Best Start Up
Best Do-Gooder (Social Change Initiative)
Best Company Use of Social Media
Best User Generated/Crowd-sourced Content Site
Best Mobile Application
Best Game (Handheld)
Best Social Media Application
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