Village Gamer

Toronto – SixPack App™, a free iPhone application released late last week has become a smash success around the globe, reaching the #1 position in over ten countries in the iTunes Health and Fitness category.

Developed by Robert Maran and Deirdre Jones, the innovative iPhone/iPod Touch app features a comprehensive list of over 100 exercises (PDF), 400 pictures, and a “SixPack” of features, including:

* Photographs of steps of each weight training exercise
* Detailed step-by-step instructions
* Helpful overview information
* Tips on how to vary the exercises and target specific parts of muscle groups
* Impressive detailed vector illustrations of muscles worked
* A unique “Don’t” tab that describes what Not to do when performing an exercise

Exercises in SixPack App have been handily categorized by category, so a user can easily navigate exercises by muscle type. Categories include chest, back, legs, shoulders, biceps, triceps, abs and a large section of stretching exercises. The application also contains a handy collection of eight pre-configured workout routines.

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Edmonton – BioWare, makers of the highly anticipated video game Dragon Age: Origins, has created a powerful toolset that will allow gamers to easily create their own Dragon Age: Origins levels and adventure modules to share online with the world. Applications are now being accepted for this rare opportunity to test the Dragon Age toolset and help BioWare fine tune it before its release later this year.

To select beta testers, BioWare is seeking a wide range of computer systems, testing experience and technical expertise. It doesn’t matter if a gamer has never used a toolset before – BioWare is looking for testers with different levels of experience, as well as fans who are simply curious about building their own adventures for the first time.

Fans can register with the BioWare Community and apply for the Dragon Age Toolset Beta test online.

Background

The Dragon Age toolset follows the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset that created one of the biggest and most successful communities in the gaming world with an enormous amount of stunning fan-created work. This next generation toolset takes user-created content to the next level by featuring more depth, more functionality and more ways to make the adventure you want to make.

BioWare has big plans for game, website and toolset integration to bring the talented Builders in the community together to plan, organize and team-up to create new worlds.

Montreal – I received a mysterious digital transmission today. It contained very little intel, but all the same, its message is very intriguing. It’s the first teaser trailer for Ubisoft Montreal’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed 2, the sequel to, naturally, Assassin’s Creed. I am seriously looking forward to the continuation of this franchise, and will have to revisit the original to prepare for Part Two – I believe there may even be one or two achievements I have not yet achieved, and that simply cannot be permitted. Needless to say, I am awaiting a firm release date and of course more information. I am very curious as to how far the storyline will venture, and what, if any, new elements will be introduced to the gameplay.

Toronto – The Adventure Company and JoWooD Productions, leading publishers of adventure games worldwide, are pleased to announce The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft is under development for Wii™ set to be released September 2009.

The Adventure Company and JoWooD have a partnership with Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing to develop a series of interactive games based on the works of the popular boy detectives.  The company released The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft for Windows® in 2008.

The Hardy Boys for Wii is an excellent choice in games suitable for the whole family.  It incorporates an enjoyable story, likable characters and challenging puzzles,” said Dan Dawang, Product Manager at The Adventure Company.  “It’s a non-violent video game option that players of all ages and fans of The Hardy Boys book series can become a part of with the immersive gameplay style of Wii.”

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Ottawa – The New York Times launched today a new crossword application for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch models. Developed by Ottawa’s Magmic Games, the crossword application is designed to closely mirror the print crossword experience, with a simple user interface and three different puzzle views. It features the daily puzzle from the newspaper, 30 classic puzzles edited by Will Shortz, crossword editor, The New York Times, and an archive of more than 4,000 puzzles.

Other features include the ability to:

* Send messages and compare solve times with other users
* Compete against top players through the online leader board
* Write in pen or pencil
* Solve puzzles on the grid or directly from the clues list
* Highlight related clues automatically

The New York Times crossword application is available for a one-time cost of $9.99 through the Apple App Store. Magmic is also developing a NY Times version of Sudoku.

Vancouver – IUGO has announced the upcoming release of two new titles which have been originally designed “from the ground up” specifically for the iPhone. Due out this spring, these two games will be available in the Apps Store for purchase and download.

Starhogs

Rig up your hogs, strap yourself in, and head out into orbit for the fiercest battles this side of Uranus. Obliterate the competition with a Cruise Missile or close in for some potshots from your Vulcan gun with this turn-based strategy experience. Not your style? Don’t worry, you’ve got more than 20 ways to kill someone. Nuke some asteroids for an extra payday, but remember, they’re the only thing protecting you from a re-entry hangover you won’t wake up from.

Take out some chumps and unlock heaps of new gear in 32 campaign levels, or ride into the online arena to face curly tails from all over the universe. But remember, in space no one can hear you squeal. Starhogs is due for release in April 2009.

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Toronto – DreamCatcher Games and JoWooD Productions, leading publishers of interactive entertainment software worldwide, are pleased to announce that Yoga for Wii™ is under development and set to be released October 2009.  Fans of yoga and those interested in improving their overall fitness and well-being will be able to practice Yoga from the comfort of their own home.

Utilizing the Wii Balance Board™ and following step-by-step instructions from a variety of in game Yoga Gurus, players will be guided through a variety of popular Yoga exercises. Players will be able to monitor their progress with a dynamic tracking system and set up a schedule to follow.  The yoga guru, acting as your own personal trainer, will make suggestions to you based on your progress and computations taken from the Balance Board.  The Wii Remote™ and Balance Board will be used for many poses to determine the player’s balance and any movements or shifts in weight by the player will be detected and recorded once the pose is complete.

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Title: Larva Mortus
Developer: Rake In Grass
Publisher: Meridian4
Released: March 19 2009
Platform: PC Windows
Genre: Action/Horror
Current Price: $9.99 through their site (also available on Steam)
Rating: Not Rated

In the end of XIX. century dark forces shade the world once again. A brave agent experienced in exorcism and combat comes to face the incoming evil and fight loathsome supernatural monsters and horrific spawns of black magic

Larva Mortus is very reminiscent of the types of games I liked to play way back in the early days of computing – usually on that little-known OS called Windows 3.1. While some in this day and age of heavy 3D graphics may find those early games unbelievably poor in quality, Rake In Grass has

QUEST INFORMATION

managed to develop a fun-to-play action-horror quest and combat property. They’ve included many of the elements which make for a highly addictive and re-playable game – one which I thoroughly enjoyed playing. Okay, so I’m still playing it – but that’s an homage to the developers for the great job they’ve done.

First and foremost I would like to make mention of the soundtrack. It is extremely well-written and produced, and adds much to the spookiness of the environment. It is non-repetitive and won’t grate on your nerves after the first few minutes of play. One thing that I always check at the start of game play is the Options area. I do not usually like to play games in Full Screen mode on my PC, as I usually have other things going on at the same time. I was happy to see that Rake In Grass included that all important Screen Mode choice in their options, allowing me to play in a smaller window.  For those who do not like gore in their games, it’s also possible to turn off the gore. I happen to like gore, so that control remained active.

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Panel of Judges Picks Nitobi’s PhoneGap As One of Five Chosen from Over 80 Applications

Vancouver – Nitobi Inc. has announced that its PhoneGap project has won a coveted spot in Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco’s Launch Pad taking place Thursday, April 2 during the Web 2.0 Expo, in San Francisco.

Nitobi will present PhoneGap along with four other companies to a panel of industry experts including Anand Iyer of Microsoft BizSpark, Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb and Matt Marshall of Venture Beat. Nitobi CEO, Andre Charland, will showcase PhoneGap in front of a live audience at Web 2.0 Expo, the leading global gathering of developers, designers, marketers, and business professionals building the next generation Web. John Battelle, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Federated Media and Program Chair of Web 2.0 Summit, will host the live competition where each company will present for five minutes for feedback from both the judges and audience members.

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Montreal – Interactive entertainment company Ludia Inc., and CBS Consumer Products announced today that Ludia will create video games based on the seven-time Emmy® award-winning “The Amazing Race” television series. The North America-wide deal will see the reality TV sensation launch games across multiple platforms in tandem with the show’s 14th season.

“The heart-pounding adventure, around-the-world competition and postcard worthy settings of ‘The Amazing Race’ are perfectly suited for video game adaptation,” said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia. “We are thrilled to add such a high-energy, suspenseful franchise to our slate, and we will infuse those key elements into a highly social, team-based multiplayer game that unites duos in cooperative game play to compete against rivals.”
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