Village Gamer

Vancouver – IUGO Mobile Entertainment has announced a brand new title for Blackberry and iDevices. Escape is a tranquil game which offers limitless Zen puzzles. The objective is to help your character jump from stone to stone to eliminate all of the stones and solve the puzzles.

According to the game’s information page, Escape will feature:

* Endless levels and gameplay
* 3 difficulty levels for replayability
* Simple controls for all ages
* Minimalist graphics for maximum appeal
* Unique cerebral game play complimented by relaxing audio and visual effects
* Surprisingly addictive!

Alberta – Exalt Studios, and indepedent game studio operated by one-man development team William Sworin, is pleased to announce its debut title, Silas – a kart racing game for the PC. Silas delivers an immersive and fast gameplay experience that brings much needed innovation to the kart racing genre. Silas is scheduled for release on May 20, 2010.

Silas is the name of the planet the game takes place on and around. There are many different characters and creatures from this planet and others. In the fast paced gameplay you will discover many unique weapons and possibilities to win the races. There is also a great deal of gameplay options, customization and modes beyond racing.

Looking to fire 10 rockets into the air, control them in-flight, then bring them down on your enemy? You can do that. Or maybe you just want to grab a glider, take it to the skies, and chain gun someone to death? You can do that too. Or, switch into turret mode, and shoot a barrage of lasers 360 degrees? Why not and while you’re at it, deploy stationary guns, launch projectiles, blast cannons, place ice traps, and escape it all with a well timed boost! This is Silas. Get ready for one of the most fun and addictive multiplayer and single player experiences you will ever have!

Play online or through your LAN with up to 12 players. With 18 weapons to choose from, Silas really packs a punch. Use infinite strategies, plan your attacks, or just go in guns ablaze. Take the battle to the skies, form teams, capture flags, or just duke it out in classic deathmatch, whatever you’re into, Silas has it all! And if you like to race, yes, you can do this online as well. Or go solo, and chase after golden trophies all by yourself. Of course, this just scratches the surface of what Silas has to offer. Silas is a large game, with 20 different levels, a full 26 song soundtrack, hundreds of sound effects, 13 characters, and much more.

London – Info-Tech Research Group has launched a nationwide contest to recognize and reward both Canada’s smartest and greenest mid-market IT departments.

“In the true spirit of community, we’re issuing a challenge to Canadian IT professionals to share their stories, best practices, tips and aha moments through our website and social networks so that departments across the country can get smarter,” says James Alexander, Senior Vice-President for Info-Tech Research Group and one of the campaigns resident ‘Smart People.’

During the four month campaign the research firm will comb the country searching for and interviewing Canadian IT departments with a smart story to tell. The interviews can be viewed on YouTube and Facebook as well as at our Smartest IT web site.

A short nomination form is available on the contest website to make entering yourself or a friend quick and easy. Along with bragging rights, rewards include having your story featured along with your company logo in CIO Magazine and Computerworld Canada and a night of celebration as the country’s smartest and greenest come together at an awards gala in Toronto.

In addition to awarding the best of the best, The Quest for Canada’s Smartest IT promises to engage and educate mid-market organizations on the smart use of technology, to drive value for themselves and the communities in which they live and work. Podcasts, webinars, whitepapers and online discussion groups are all available on the contest website for those looking to improve their IT operations.

Vancouver – Just a reminder that the VEF is presenting a panel discussion on the outlook for venture capital financing in 2010 tomorrow night (January 26) at the VanCity Theatre. After several quarters of reduced investing the VC market in BC has some good news with new funds being introduced and new partners announced for the BC Renaissance Fund. So, is the economic crisis still affecting the technology sector and venture capital financing or are recent exits in the US a sign that the market is turning around? But against this backdrop, everyone knows that great companies and great returns emerge from troubled financial times. Is the venture capital market poised to rebound? Are angels and VCs going to be more active? What can companies do to increase their chance of raising money? What creative financing strategies are emerging on both sides of the border?

VCs from Canada and USA will get to the bottom these questions and more. The evening is moderated by Andrew Lugsdin of BDC Venture Capital. Panellists include Tawfiq Arafat of JLA Partners / Blackberry Partners Fund, Ping Li of Accel Partners, Sandy Scott of Tandem Expansion Fund and Mike Walkinshaw of Chrysalix Venture Capital.

The Vancouver Enterprise Forum (VEF) is the premier networking forum for technology entrepreneurs. The VEF holds eight events each year – usually on the fourth Tuesday of the month. These events provide attendees with an opportunity to network and learn. The evening involves a feature presenter covers a topic especially relevant to technology entrepreneurs such as financing and CEO war stories. Networking sessions are included before and after the presentation for speakers and attendees to connect with each other.

Pre-registration tickets are $45.00 each, door registration tickets are $50.00, memberships at $200 for a one year period includes admission to our eight events per year.

Toronto – A five judge panel of the Court of Appeal for Ontario has unanimously dismissed two appeals brought by Dell Canada Inc. seeking to enforce a mandatory consumer arbitration clause and to prevent a class action lawsuit from proceeding. The decision was released on January 20, 2010. The Toronto law firm of Rochon Genova LLP represents approximately 119,000 class members.

Customers of Dell Canada who purchased Dell’s 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 and 5160 Inspiron laptop computers between March 2003 and May 2005 initiated a class proceeding against Dell in 2007 alleging that the laptops were defective. Dell sought to stay the class action in favour of multiple mandatory arbitrations in motions before the Ontario Superior Court. In two decisions released in 2009, Justice Joan L. Lax of the Ontario Superior Court dismissed Dell’s motions and allowed the class action to proceed. Dell appealed the stay decisions.

In dismissing the appeals, Justice Robert J. Sharpe, on behalf of the Court of Appeal, concluded that:

“Clauses that require arbitration and preclude aggregation of claims have the effect of removing consumer claims from the reach of class actions. The seller’s stated preference for arbitration is often nothing more than a guise to avoid liability for widespread low-value wrongs that cannot be litigated individually but when aggregated form the subject of a viable class proceeding.”

“This decision represents an important step forward for Dell customers and other consumers who would have been otherwise subject to a unilaterally imposed and unfair arbitration process” said Joel P. Rochon, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs.