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  • 3vis Presents The Foundry Sessions and ICBC Launches Creative Contests

28th October 2010

3vis Presents The Foundry Sessions and ICBC Launches Creative Contests

3vis3vis would like to invite you to a presentation about The Foundry, a leading innovator of visual effects and image processing technologies that boost productivity in motion picture and video post-production. The Foundry’s technology touches most Hollywood blockbusters that reach our screens, as well as numerous television and commercial productions. Discover all the ways the latest suite of software opens up new opportunities in film production and television. See the latest technology from NUKE, MARI and the new STORM digital production hub.

Pre-registration is required, and the first 50 arrivals get a free gift. There will be three free-to-attend sessions held across the country:

November 3: Toronto – The Fieldhouse at The Berkeley Church
November 4: Montreal – Centre des Sciences – Le Hall Panoramique
November 23: Vancouver – Caprice Night Club

icbcTurn on your camera or pull out your sketchpad – ICBC is calling on artistic youth to help spread road safety messages to their peers and, in return, they’ll be eligible to win some cool prizes. It’s clear that safer roads are a priority in B.C. with new laws introduced this year to ban handheld electronic devices while driving and tougher impaired driving laws and excessive speeding penalties.

“Car crashes remain the number one preventable cause of death for youth in B.C and that’s why we’re looking to youth to help create advertisements that will reach their peers and express the importance of making smart driving decisions,” said ICBC’s Nicolas Jimenez, director of road safety.

ICBC has launched two contests: the 180 Film Contest, for 19 to 25 year olds and the Your Ad Here contest, for high school students in grades 8 to 11. The contests ask these groups to create either a short film or a print ad on one of three road safety topics: impaired driving, speeding or distracted driving.

For the 180 Film Contest, the winners of the top three films in each safety category will receive prizes amounting to about $35,000 worth of filmmaking equipment and software. By visiting 180filmcontest.com, you can vote for your favourite entry and the most popular film will receive a people’s choice award. The contest closes December 31, 2010.

High school students with a passion for art are also being called on to get inspired and create a print ad for the Your Ad Here contest. The top winner in each region of B.C. (Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, North Central and Southern Interior) will win an Apple Macbook and their ad will be displayed on next year’s high school agendas in their region. Visit icbc.com/youradhere to vote for your favourite ad. The fan favourite will win an Apple iPod touch and the school with the most participation will win an Adobe Creative Suite CS5 software package. The contest closes on January 14, 2011.

voicesEarlier this week Voices.com rolled out Local Voices, a new service offering voice over talent an opportunity to market themselves directly to potential clients within their own city.

Local Voices utilizes Google Maps, Bing Local, and Yahoo Local Search, employing local map listings, Internet yellow pages (IYPs) and local franchise advertising. Voice talent who sign up for the service are able to expand their online visibility and drive qualified contacts to their profiles so that they can work with local producers in addition to the online casting calls that the site already delivers on a daily basis.

Local Voices helps streamline the casting needs for producers wanting to work with local talent, saving them time and money in audition costs. Local Voices eliminates the need for ‘cattle-calls’, allowing businesses, producers, casting directors, and agencies to do the preliminary research online, pinpointing the voice over talent that they would like to work with in a local recording studio.

“Local Voices brings our online presence offline, expanding Voices.com’s reach and enabling people to find talent through local searches on Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other prominent engines.” said David Ciccarelli, Voices.com co-founder/CEO.

This service is available to members of the Voices.com website who are at the Platinum or Premium level. To be included in the Local Voices service, members log in to their accounts, fill out the Local Voices form, and follow the simple directions.

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28th October 2010

New Titles Trailers and Expansions

Wild Games Studio Inc. has released the first Wild Games Studiotrailer for Dhaila’s Adventures, featuring Dhaila, a young girl and her extraordinary powers. She can absorb the DNA of other creatures, making the heroine able to acquire its shape at any time.This is the first of 2 trailers that follow and form a story.

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Orphaned in the fantasy world of Martania, Dhaila possesses unknown extraordinary powers. She has special skills, including one which can absorb the energy of nature directly through its DNA. She can also absorb the DNA of other creatures, making the heroine able to acquire their shape at any time. Living in one of these valleys, the village seems protected by an unknown magical force, more powerful than in other villages. Dhaila will leave to research her origins, while trying to release Martania of the influence of Dysan, a tyrant who has subjugated the people, forcing them to labour under the threat of the dragons he also holds sway over.

Wicked InteractiveLike most free-to-play games and massively multiplayer games in general, Mission Against Terror, published by Wicked Interactive, is serving up its own batch of Halloween goodies this year. New weapons, masks, costumes and items will be introduced for a limited time to spice up the battlefield and add a few tricks to everyone’s treats.

Halloween weapons include the “Hellfire Green” edition of the M134 minigun which is effective against hordes of evil mummies; the Mummy’s Talons which are replica mummy claws with real blades to slice and dice unsuspecting victims. Of course, what would a Halloween frag party be without Pumpkin Smoke Grenades. Permanent additions to gun shop include the M4A1 Silver and an urban-camouflaged AWP.

Players who enjoy getting their costume on will be able to don scary Halloween masks to strike fear into the hearts of their opponents. The Eclipse Mask, Goblin Mask, the Gothic Phantom Mask and the Keres Mask set the tone for a festive Halloween. Those that want to utilize the art of seduction from afar can dress up as the scary yet sultry Bloody Enchantress or the Obsidian Succubus, distracting their opponents before they go in for the kill. Festive taggers will be able to spray paint the “Demon Child” and “Witching Hour” images on the floors and walls.

DreamCatcherDreamcatcher Games has announced that it will be publishing two new PC game titles:

The Guild 2: Renaissance – Anno Domini 1400: The sway of the church and nobility are dwindling and the simple folks are acquiring more and more wealth and power. Immerse yourself into the world of the renaissance, choose your profession, enter politics and lead a dynasty to the height of civilization! This title is a stand-alone add-on for the popular Guild 2 game series.

Features: Guild 2 Renaissance

·8 completely new professions: mercenary, grave digger, stonemason, juggler, innkeeper, banker, miller and the fruit grower
·New goods, buildings, ambient details and effects
·All new scenarios (“Transylvania”, “The Rhineland” and “The Alps”) & bigger world maps
·Improved AI, title and nobility system as well as new options (e.g. “God Measures”, levels of difficulty)

Jekyll & Hyde – London, 1894: A strange contagion has been sweeping through the population of the poor districts of the city but curiously, all the children seem to be unaffected. The young Dr. Jekyll is in search for a cure. Unfortunately, the serum he develops does not yield the desired result – as he tries the serum himself he uncovers the dark alter ego Mr. Hyde.

After he accidentally discovers an entrance to an extensive tunnel system, his investigations lead him deeper and deeper in a mysterious world underneath the city. Bit by bit he stumbles upon an ancient secret sect, who has a dreadful plan…

Features:Jekyll and Hyde

·Classical adventure with action and skill gaming elements
·Exciting storyline based on the well known “Jekyll & Hyde” novel
·Several sinister places to discover in and around London’s underground world
·Mysterious riddles and puzzles based on the Greek mythology
·2 playable characters with completely different skills
·Real 3D engine featuring a lot of different special effects
·Dynamic camera movements and suspense focused directing guarantees a high level of excitement
·Mini laboratory to mix special potions giving the characters new abilities

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28th October 2010

Open Text Acquires StreamServe

Open TextWaterloo’s Open Text Corporation today announced that it has acquired Burlington, Massachusetts company StreamServe Inc., a leading provider of business communication solutions. The acquisition will add complementary document output and customer communication management software to the Open Text ECM Suite, while enhancing Open Text’s SAP partnership and extending its reach in the Nordic market. The transaction is valued at approximately USD $71 million, subject to customary purchase price and holdback adjustments.

StreamServe offers enterprise business communication solutions that help organizations process and deliver highly personalized documents in any paper or electronic format. The company’s powerful solutions enhance the customer interaction capabilities of the Open Text ECM Suite by enabling the automation of business processes for B2B and B2C markets, including financial services, the public sector, telecommunications and utilities.

Designed to address the “last mile” of communication between an organization and its customers, StreamServe’s solutions excel at improving and expanding business relationships. With StreamServe’s software, companies can automatically create documents through rules-based dynamic assembly and present them to customers, partners, and suppliers, in multiple formats and through whichever channel they prefer.

StreamServe offers solutions that scale across a company’s document-driven business processes. The company’s solutions are designed for easy integration with ERP and supply-chain systems and applications, including SAP. Open Text and SAP have a 20-year partner relationship, and SAP resells a wide range of Open Text ECM solutions. Like Open Text, StreamServe has an established reseller partnership with SAP making it a natural fit with Open Text’s SAP partner strategy.
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28th October 2010

Soundtrack for Brotherhood Scored by Jesper Kyd

Assassin's Creed BrotherhoodBAFTA award-winning composer Jesper Kyd has composed an original music soundtrack for Ubisoft®’s Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, the next iteration of the critically acclaimed, multi-million selling video game franchise. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is inspired by historical events during the occupation of Rome by The Borgias in 1503. Kyd’s new music score for Brotherhood draws influence and authentic instrumentation from this Renaissance period, immersing players in Ezio’s adventures to liberate Rome from a corrupt and tyrant regime. The Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Original Soundtrack will be available for digital download from iTunes on November 16, 2010, to coincide with the North American release of the game on Microsoft Xbox 360® and the Sony PlayStation®3.

“Researching the history of the Borgia Family it became clear early on that Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood would require a very dark score in order to match the Borgias’ aspirations to become the rulers of Italy. The music reflects the compelling story of Ezio as a Master Assassin going up against the Borgias,” said Kyd.

Kyd’s globally acclaimed score for Assassin’s Creed® 2 continues to receive top honors for Best Original Music including the Gold Spirit Awards, Hollywood Music In Media Awards, GameSpot Readers’ Choice, GameSpy Editors’ Choice, Game Audio Network Guild Awards as well as recognition from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, International Film Music Critics Association, Golden Joystick Awards and Spike TV VGAs.Jesper Kyd Photo by Wes Bender

In Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood the critically acclaimed single player experience of Assassin’s Creed is back and better than ever as Ezio returns in an enduring struggle against the powerful Templar Order. Now a legendary Master Assassin, he must journey to Rome, center of power, greed and corruption to strike at the heart of the enemy. Defeating the corrupt tyrants entrenched there will require not only strength, but leadership, as Ezio commands an entire Brotherhood that will rally to his side. Only by working together can the Assassins defeat their mortal enemies. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is also the first time the franchise has featured a multiplayer gameplay experience, which has already received numerous industry awards.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is a worldwide production effort led by the Ubisoft Montreal development studio in collaboration with Ubisoft studios in Singapore, Bucharest, Québec City and Annecy.

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28th October 2010

Frima Studio Chosen By Adobe as Pre-Release Partner for Molehill

frima studioFrima Studio has revealed that it has been selected to participate in the pre-release of Adobe’s new 3D Flash technology, “Molehill”. Announced this week at Adobe’s annual Max 2010 conference, “Molehill” is a new set of low-level, GPU-accelerated 3D APIs that will enable advanced 3D experiences through the Adobe® Flash® platform runtimes while providing advanced 3D and 3D engine developers the flexibility to leverage GPU hardware acceleration for significant performance gains.

Frima Studio has produced numerous demo videos utilizing the new “Molehill” technology, the first of which was for their highly popular game Zombie Tycoon, which was presented by Adobe Flash Player Engineer Sebastian Marketsmueller at Max 2010.

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“This opens up endless possibilities to creating the next generation in-browser entertainment, where the visual quality is equivalent to console and mobile platforms like iPhone and Wii,” said Steve Couture, CEO at Frima Studio. “Adobe has called upon the expertise of Frima and we are proud to work in partnership with them on this launch. This opportunity poises Frima to continue strengthening its position as a leading-edge Flash developer. ”

Frima is adapting and improving its existent technology platform to support all the new features and Zombie Tycoonpossibilities included in this new 3D Flash technology. Utilizing the revolutionary “Molehill” technology, Frima is now able to create in Flash a wide variety of atmospheres like static and dynamic lighting, shadows, fog, and mirror effects. Additionally, “Molehill” delivers the ability to create, add texture and animate hundreds of avatars simultaneously without losing performance as well as generate advanced special effects never before seen in a Flash game, like explosions, rain, and particle systems.

As one of the chosen pre-release participants, Frima is directly collaborating with Adobe on the structure, performance, optimization and design of the upcoming API. Adobe plans to extend “Molehill” to the rest of the development community in the first half of 2011.

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