Village Gamer

Saturday night Scott and I wandered down to the Vancouver port area to check out the Launch event for Gears of War 3 – which will also have a special Midnight Release event at the Best Buy on Cambie Street. The launch event actually began a number of weeks ago, when gamers were asked to partake in some training demos. In those demos were codes to be deciphered, which resulted in a phone number to be texted and a name to be followed and interacted with on Twitter, which led to more deciphering, which somehow ended up with participants receiving a very unappetizing packet of “Locust Meat” from Save On Meats on East Hastings and a VIP ticket with a QR code. The QR Code led to a web site which revealed the location of The Barge, where the Launch Camp was located. Vancouver was chosen as a Launch Event location due to the strong gamer market in the Lower Mainland. Read the rest of this entry »

As a proud sponsor of the Volunteer Program during the Toronto International Film Festival, Cineplex Entertainment hired Endeavour to create a memorable cinema trailer that would celebrate the over 2,000 volunteers that dedicate their time to making TIFF run seamlessly.

The cinema trailer, which runs before every film playing during TIFF, is a creative and very humorous exploration of what TIFF would like if there were no volunteers to maintain order. Shot on location at TIFF Bell Lightbox, Endeavour cast hundreds of real TIFF volunteers to play film festival goers in a series of vignettes to demonstrate the potential chaos of a festival without volunteers.

Legendary Canadian directors Atom Egoyan and Deepa Mehta make comedic cameos in the trailer as they get caught up in the mayhem of not having volunteers to look after them. The trailer runs September 8^th-18^th and was directed by Derek Horn for FRANK Films and produced by Barry Avrich.

The official selections for the 5^th annual Toronto Urban Film Festival (TUFF) were announced today at a press conference held on the southbound platform of the Dundas subway station and attended by TTC Chair Karen Stintz.

Sixty-three silent, one-minute films made the cut from over 370 works submitted from Canada and around the world. TUFF runs September 9 – 18, 2011 on the Onestop network of digital platform screens located across the Toronto subway system. Unique in North America, TUFF screens a variety of genres at 10 minute intervals throughout the day. Also announced at the press conference were two new initiatives: Urban Screens: Creating for an Urban Public panel discussion, and The Screening Room – both located at The Drake Hotel. Read the rest of this entry »

Business Guru, a company whose mantra is “great events for great entrepreneurs” has chosen to kick off a cross-Canada tour in Hamilton Ontario with a free networking, breakfast and social media seminar: From Conversation to Conversion: Using Social Media to Drive Sales. Read the rest of this entry »

If your racecar has sped away from your Monopoly board or you’re embarrassed about the sorry state of your Sorry! game, then Hasbro’s Great Games Trade-In Event is the perfect solution to revive your board games and your Family Game Night experience.

This fall, Hasbro Canada Corporation has teamed up with Toys”R”Us locations across Canada to help families responsibly dispose of their old, worn-out games. Toys”R”Us is offering exceptional savings to replace these old games with new refreshed editions of Hasbro games, to bring an extra dose of fun to all Family Game Night gatherings. At the same time, consumers will also be contributing to a great cause. Read the rest of this entry »

Camelot Entertainment Group, Inc. has announced that Camelot Distribution’s Co-President and Head of Sales Michael Kananack will be attending the 35^th Annual Toronto International Film Festival. The entertainment company has its eyes on many films at the festival for potential acquisitions for American Film Market, which is produced by the Independent Film & Television Alliance and takes place this November 2nd through 9th in Santa Monica.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF), presented by Global Montreal in collaboration with the Fabienne Colas Foundation, has unveiled the program for its 7th edition today at the NFB office. This year’s Festival will run from September 22 to October 2, 2011.

With an impressive line-up of 125 films from over 35 different countries, the majority of which are world, international, Canadian, Quebec or Montreal premieres, as well as a panoply of special events, the 7th edition of the MIBFF is just brimming over with enthusiasm, energy and freshness, and offering its audiences rich and diverse perspectives. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver’s largest and most comprehensive social media conference, Social Media Week Vancouver has opened for registration, and as Canada’s only host city for the fall conference, events are already starting to fill up. Socialized! Ltd. announced the free conference in July of this year which will take place September 19^th through 23^rd.

Social Media Week is a global platform that connects people, content and conversations around emerging trends in social and mobile media. Vancouver is one of twelve global locations selected to host the bi-annual conference that is free for registered participants to attend.

“This will be the largest social media conference of its type in Vancouver,” says Rob Lewis, Editor-in-Chief of Techvibes.com and a member of the Social Media Week Vancouver Board of Advisors. “We are excited to be involved in an event of this magnitude. Techvibes is connected to many different industries and this conference will touch on everything from journalism and government to social media and the use of technology.”

The principle is simple, visit Social Media Week Vancouver’s website and register for the events of your choice. Events are free for registered participants and will include summits, mashups and soirees that take place in various venues around Vancouver from Monday, September 19^th through Friday, September 23^rd.

“Some of the events are already sold out, but we encourage people to get registered today as some of our venues have limited capacity,” says Teri Conrad, Senior Social Strategist for Socialized! Ltd.

With conference events planned throughout each day and into the evening, Ceili’s Irish Pub has reserved the rooftop patio for the week, with soirees currently planned for Monday, Thursday and Friday evening. “Ceilis is excited to be hosting several of the day time events and are, of course, proud to be the official party and soiree venue for Social Media Week Vancouver,” notes Mark Reid, Vice President, Ceilis Group.

Alliance numérique committee Alliance Mobilité has confirmed some of the top international names in the mobile industry will be attending this very first edition of Mobiz, presented by the Canada Media Fund. Mobiz, Quebec Mobile Congress, is a new event dedicated to mobility, which aims to foster the outreach and discovery of the most recent technology, as well as best business practices. Mobiz will take place on October 31st at the Hilton Montréal Bonaventure hotel as part of MTL DGTL. Register now to take advantage of the 30% Early Bird discount by registering online before September 16.

Confirmed For Mobiz:

• Eric Morris, Head of Mobile Advertising, Google Canada
• Gladstone Grant, Vice-President, Platforms and Developers Group, Microsoft Canada
• Philippe Lozier, Director of Convergence, Samsung Canada
• Niels Helkov, Vice-President, e-health & M2M Americas, Orange

“Mobiz provides a unique opportunity to get a feel for a booming industry through current topics such as mobile marketing, mobile wallet, convergence, cloud computing, emerging trends and, of course, market research,” highlights Martin Dufresne, Event Director.

Mobiz is already expecting a number of companies from across Quebec and Canada who are active in the mobile industry:

• Rogers
• Transcontinental Interactive
• Mirego
• Canadian Tire
• Yellow Pages Group
• WhereCloud
• DH International
• Wavefront
• Soluteo

“We are very proud of this first edition which brings together players of the international and local arenas, and will be featuring business cases that will address both current issues and future avenues for the mobility world,” adds Mister Dufresne.

The day will end with Mobiz Awards, which will provide an opportunity for five mobile industry companies as well as five startups to increase their visibility within the industry. Seasoned developers and emerging Montreal professionals will have five minutes to present their innovative mobility projects to Mobiz attendees. Registration for participation in Mobiz Awards will end on September 15th.

Among the Canadians films being featured at the Toronto International Film Festival is Breakaway, which will be featured in a TIFF Buzz Event on September 11^th at Chinguacousy Park in Brampton. The film’s international mega-cast including Rob Lowe, Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, the film’s main leads Vinay Virmani, Noureen Dewulf and Camilla Belle, the comedic superstar Brampton-born funny man Russell Peters and Gurpreet Ghuggi will be in attendance at the Breakaway Buzz Mela.

In keeping with the theme of the film, the festivities will begin with the Hyundai Hockey Tournament in which 16 local teams compete for Nav Bhatia’s Hyundai Indo Canada Cup trophy to be presented by GTA’s very own businessman, sports aficionado and entertainment czar Nav Bhatia along with the Honorable Mayor of Brampton Ms. Susan Fennell. The Breakaway Buzz Mela will also feature international recording superstars and Brampton’s own Brand Ambassadors RDB along with Josh, Bohemia, Jassi Sidhu,

H-Dhami and Veronica ‘live’ in concert. These performances will be livened up by Shiamak Davar’s internationally renowned dance troupe. Along with the music and celebrations, the event will have food and market vendors. The event is supported by the City of Brampton.