DigiBC will be hosting another town hall meeting at the BC Showcase in Robson Square on the evening of Thursday, February 6th. Introduced in 2010, the IDMTC legislation is set to phase out in 2015 pending a review by the BC government in 2014. Your DigiBC Committee on Public Policy is actively discussing and working to ensure the program not only continues, but is expanded to meet the current and long-term needs of our evolving industry. Read the rest of this entry »
The SIGGRAPH 2014 Mobile Pavilion in Vancouver is the place where the mobile, embedded, and low-power industries come together: the leading IP companies, top app developers, device manufacturers, and mobile operating-system developers. With the unparalleled capabilities of modern mobile devices, this market is enjoying unprecedented growth and generating access to untapped revenues for organizations that are committed to this technology. Read the rest of this entry »
SIGGRAPH 2014 will take place next 12-14 August in Vancouver, and if you book your space now, you’ll pay only $37.00 USD per square foot with a 10% deposit due on booking. The price goes up on September 4th to $38.00 per square foot, and a 50% deposit will be required to secure your space if you apply after September 12th. Exhibit applications submitted after February 15, 2014 will require payment in full. SIGGRAPH 2014 in Vancouver is an incredible marketing opportunity for Canadian companies – this is your chance to show off Canadian talent and innovation to a global audience – on our own turf. Personally I hope to see a much higher percentage of Canadian companies exhibiting at SIGGRAPH 2014 than in 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
The integration of GenAudio’s AstoundSound® for Gaming with Audiokinetic’s award winning Wwise game audio engine offers game developers the ability to provide a new dimension in audio performance ranging from stereo enhancement to full-blown, immersive audio spatialization. Read the rest of this entry »
Montreal’s Audiokinetic Inc. and Audio Ease B.V., a company from Utrecht in The Netherlands, have released details on a partnership where Audiokinetic will distribute award winning Altiverb Impulse Response packages for the Wwise convolution reverb plug-in. The first package will be available before the end of this year and will contain 49 impulse responses mostly oriented for the reproduction of outdoor environments. Reproducing outdoor environments is probably one of the most difficult tasks for sound designers today and this package arrives at the right moment for professionals seeking quality and realism in their games. Read the rest of this entry »
For those of you visiting the site today and wondering where all of the great Canadian news is that I usually share with you, well, we’re at SIGGRAPH 2011 with limited internet access, so posting any news is going to be a challenge. That said, there are lots of awesome Canadian companies (or international companies with a Canadian location) at SIGGRAPH this year, so I hope you stop by to visit. I’ve listed those with booths below. We are in Booth 1018 – please stop by for a visit and an interview.
In the meantime, we have soft-launched our new project. Right now you can only look at our announcement, because there just aren’t enough hours in the day for the two of us to work on the new project, work on Village Gamer, get ready for SIGGRAPH and put in appearances at our paying day jobs. So, without further ado, please visit Canadian Creative and sign up for email notifications (we won’t be selling, renting or giving away your addresses) so that you know when the front door is unlocked and the coffee is on.
Hothead Games and UTV Ignition Entertainment Ltd. have confirmed that Swarm is coming to both PlayStationNetwork and Xbox LIVE Arcade in early 2011. The as-yet unrated Swarm lets players take control of 50 utterly fearless Swarmites and drive them through an intense, entertaining and often suicidal battle of survival. Run, bash, huddle, boost, stack, jump, push and throw your way through gauntlets of death and destruction in an attempt to collect valuable DNA and ensure that at least one Swarmite survives.
“Swarm is perfect for PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade because of its unique art direction and gameplay,” said Nigel Fox, Head of Publishing for UTV Ignition. “We’re thrilled to be partnered with Hothead because we share their passion for bringing unique experiences to gamers through these innovative digital platforms.”
“We’ve been working hard on Swarm for a while now and think it’s our most addictive game yet,” said Joel DeYoung, Director of Game Technology for Hothead Games. “The Swarmites are both lovable and deliciously expendable at the same time-the game’s creation is proof positive of the dangers of excessive exposure to Saturday morning cartoons we were warned about so many years ago. Swarm is exactly the genocidal romp your parents hoped you’d grow up and marry someday.”
Swarm is the first game to feature mass character control, where you move all 50 Swarmites at once. Steer your swarm through the game and they naturally flock and flow around obstacles. Creatively combine swarm moves to work your way through a relentlessly dangerous and hilariously brutal environment. Compete against your friends to get the high score by deftly moving through the world and cleverly solving puzzles the game throws your way.
UK retail store ShopTo.net recently an Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Q&A competition asking customers to send in their questions about Brotherhood, Ubisoft and making video games for Julien Laferrière, the Production Manager on Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Julien and his team chose the best questions and have produced this exclusive Assassins Creed developer video for ShopTo.
The submitters of these questions will each be receiving an Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Poster, and the best question (as picked by Julien) will be given an exclusive Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood hoodie not available anywhere else.
The beloved Christmas story that defines the true spirit of the season is coming to Apple®iPad™ and iPhone™ as a new, delightfully interactive experience! PadWorx Digital Media, Inc., an independent developer of a new category of interactive eBooks for tablet PCs, announced today it will release A Christmas Carol on the App Store® in time for the holidays!
“This is unlike any version of A Christmas Carol ever seen before,” said Jeffery Alan Schechter, CEO and producer at PadWorx Digital Media, Inc. “Charles Dickens’ remarkable book reminds all of us not just about the importance of gratitude and charity, but about the power of personal transformation. Running with this idea and borrowing from the ‘steampunk’ art style more closely associated with Jules Verne, we’ve designed our A Christmas Carol to feel as if the iPad or iPhone you’re reading it on has been itself transformed into a steam-powered machine.”
Readers will not only witness Ebenezer Scrooge’s heart-warming transformation through 130 pages of lovingly abridged text, but for the first time they will become part of the story through revolutionary interaction. Turn the key in Scrooge’s door and watch as the door knocker changes into the deceased Jacob Marley, or try your hand at cleaning pages of the grime of industrial-era London. Whether you’re traveling through time and space with Scrooge and the spirits of Christmases Past, Present, and Future, or powering up and manipulating an assortment of wonderful steam and gas-powered inventions, PadWorx A Christmas Carol’s steampunk-style animation, illustrations, original score and sound effects will captivate readers through the story’s unforgettable images and lessons of darkness, despair, joy and life.
The design and execution of PadWorx’s A Christmas Carol is so innovative that it has been endorsed by the Dickens family. “Reading A Christmas Carol has become a holiday tradition for many and we’re delighted to see PadWorx’s interactive version give families an entirely new way to experience the cherished story and perhaps even introduce the well-known classic to a younger generation,” said Mark Charles Dickens on behalf of the Dickens family.
A Christmas Carol is the second title in a series of new interactive eBooks developed by PadWorx Digital Media. The company released its debut title Dracula: The Official Stoker Family Edition last month, which quickly garnered national attention and praise from critics and consumers alike, becoming Apple’s iPad App of the Week the day after release.All interactive titles released by PadWorx Digital Media are built from the ground up using a proprietary game engine and create a brand new, fully-immersive reading experience through the combination of text, animation, gameplay elements, touch screen interaction, social media, sound effects and more. A Christmas Carol will be released first for the iPad, followed shortly afterwards by a version for the iPhone.
BAFTA 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.
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.
“Game developers are under tremendous time constraints to deliver their product. With the Dolby Axon Network, Dolby helps developers channel their resources and attention to deliver the best-possible gameplay,” said Matt Tullis, Marketing Director, Games, Dolby Laboratories. “With this new offering, Dolby has been able to dramatically reduce the time required to implement voice chat.”
With the Dolby Axon Network, Dolby provides engineering support, flexible APIs, detailed documentation, and sample code—all with the aim of easy implementation. The Dolby solution eliminates the cost of building, maintaining, and monitoring servers and includes round-the-clock multilayer support with guaranteed uptime.
In addition to Need for Speed World, Dolby Axon technology has been adopted by several online games, including Dragon Nest® (Nexon Corp.), ZT Online (Giant Interactive), Mission Against Terror (Kingsoft, published by Wicked Interactive), and Jumpgate Evolution® (NetDevil). By integrating Dolby Axon into online game titles, game developers can provide gamers with ease of use and a new level of immersion in online gaming, including:
* Improved audio chain processing (noise suppression and echo suppression) for clear voice communication * Surround sound voice chat over stereo headsets, stereo speakers, and 5.1 playback systems delivering premium in-game voice communication with teammates * Compatibility with any stereo headset, enabling gamers to experience high-quality voice without specialized equipment
Canadian developers who would like more information can contact Dolby Laboratories at the company’s Vancouver office in Building 3 at 2985 Virtual Way, telephone 604.216.0020.
DigiBC will be hosting another town hall meeting at the BC Showcase in Robson Square on the evening of Thursday, February 6th. Introduced in 2010, the IDMTC legislation is set to phase out in 2015 pending a review by the BC government in 2014. Your DigiBC Committee on Public Policy is actively discussing and working to ensure the program not only continues, but is expanded to meet the current and long-term needs of our evolving industry. Read the rest of this entry »
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