Village Gamer

Lévis – 3D scanning corporation Creaform has acquired Montréal-based InSpeck, a leader in manufacturing and marketing 3D scanning systems specialized in human-body scanning. InSpeck products are used in the industries of movie special effects, medical imagery, research, 3D crystal engraving and computer games.3D scanning of the human body, whose products include animation, special effects, medical imagery, research and electronic games. InSpeck’s current clients include Sony Computer Entertainment America, Electronic Arts, Warner Brothers and Gentle Giant Studios.

“This acquisition consolidates our position as leader in 3D scanning, as well as our position in the medical, multimedia and entertainment, and 3D imagery sectors,” says Mr. Charles Mony, President of Creaform, whose products, services and advanced training programs are intended for companies from the automotive, aerospace, consumer products, education, heritage preservation & architecture, manufacturing, medical care and multimedia industries, among others.

“By uniting their forces, our 2 companies keep expertise that is very coveted all over the world right here in Québec,” says Mr. Li Song, CEO for InSpeck. “Further, the complementary technologies of our teams will help us cover more applications and better serve the needs of the clients.”

Creaform has developed and sells the Handyscan 3D™ line of scanners. These state-of-the-art self-positioning handheld 3D laser scanners are known for the high accuracy of the 3D scanning data they generate, their true portability, and their ease of use. Creaform also manufactures and sells the HandyPROBE™, the 100% portable, wireless CMM, a probing system designed for inspection applications.

Vancouver – IUGO Mobile Entertainment presents its mega iPhone hit Zombie Attack! Bad Blood for the BlackBerry. ZA!BB is an addictive 3D tower defense game with a scary twist, and it is now available for purchase on Mobihand for $3.99.

Your mission: Play as a survivor of the ultimate Zombie Apocalypse, strategically place weapons turrets to protect your shack and stay alive.

Features:

Different zombie types to slay
4 weapon types for a variety of zombie killing techniques
Survivor machete: hack and slash the undead when needed
Stylized 3D graphics
Local leaderboards
Intuitive controls, elegant UI
Pick up and play for 2 minutes or 2 hours

Global – Student animation festival VisionFest is now accepting animation, game and other interactive art submissions from high school, undergraduate and graduate students from around the world for this year’s festival, which will take place in Indianopolis, Indiana this coming October 22 – 24. Students are permitted to submit work which was completed no earlier than January 1, 2007. All entries must be postmarked on or before July 28, 2010.

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Montreal – The Board of Directors of the Independent Production Fund (IPF) has approved a new pilot program to fund drama series created for any platform. In recognition of the evolving broadcast environment, the IPF will provide equity financing not only to drama series with a television broadcast license, but also to scripted drama series that are designed and produced for exploitation on the web.

As the sources of financing for web video without a broadcast license are very limited, the IPF support is intended to stimulate the growth of new forms of content. This unique contribution to independent producers will help them to explore the potential for high quality, story driven drama with new and innovative narrative forms. As a leading supporter of Canadian drama, the IPF will experiment in partnership with web content developers to determine how good storytelling translates to other platforms. “It will be an exciting learning process for all of us”, stated Charles Ohayon, Chair of the Board of the IPF. “We will help develop best practises to take advantage of the opportunities that the digital platforms provide for new production styles, processes, formats and business models”.

Joining the IPF in this pilot venture is Film Nova Scotia which will provide additional funding targeted for Nova Scotia based creators and producers of web drama. “Film Nova Scotia is excited to partner with the Independent Production Fund on this program to help Producers explore storytelling through new digital platforms”, noted Ann Mackenzie, President and CEO.

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Ottawa – For twenty-five years the CATAAlliance Innovation and Leadership Awards Gala Dinner has been celebrating the best in Canadian innovation and outstanding achievement. This prestigious gala has become one of the most eagerly awaited events of Canada’s advanced technology community.

The Awards evening is meant to be a celebration of the award winners and of Canadian innovation. CATAAlliance and its partners will recognize industry innovation, expertise, and leadership in the Canadian high-technology sector. Criteria for each award is explained as part of the category description in the Nomination Guide. Nominations close on February 25 2010.

Awards will be presented in the following areas:

Outstanding Product Achievement (ICT)
Outstanding Product Achievement (Clean Tech)
Outstanding Product Achievement (Health Care)
Emerging Technology
Excellence in Science and Technology Reporting
Private Sector Innovation and/or Leadership in Advanced Technology
Public Sector Leadership in Advanced Technology
IT Strategic HR Management
CIO of the Year, for SME’s and Large Corporations

Special guests from industry and government will be invited to attend and the evening will feature the awards ceremony, networking and a business dinner. Co-hosts include Deloitte and Gowlings Lafleur Henderson LLP, in addition to Award sponsors for each category.

The 2010 Innovation and Leadership Awards Gala Dinner will take place May 19, 2010 at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. Paul Brent, host of CJOH TV’s Tech Now will be our guest MC. Attendees will also enjoy an informative and interactive discussion with this year’s featured panel, including:

Dan Dodge, CEO, QNX Software Systems
Derek Kuhn, Head, Alcatel-Lucent Canada
Ben Riley, Head, U.S. Defence Rapid Technology Office
Caroline Lewko, President, Wireless Industry Partnership

Banff – With 28 prestigious award categories, including the addition of four Francophone Categories, new interactive and drama categories, Best Branded Entertainment, Best Cross-Platform and Soap Operas as well as a special Green Grand Prize open to all eligible competition participants – the 2010 Rockies promise to be an exceptional competition.

The early bird nomination deadline is on February 1 with the final submission deadline on February 15, so don’t miss your opportunity to save – take advantage of the early bird discount and submit your program today! The Rockies will be presented at the 31st Banff World Television Festival at the Fairmont Banff Springs in Banff, Alberta, Canada, in June 2010.

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Calgary – HappyUFO has released their debut title, DungeonSHIFT: Secret of the Blood Chrysanthemum. A casual game for those seeking to sink their teeth into a bit more of a challenge than the average, DungeonSHIFT combines an engaging story with a unique “Jigsaw Riddle” style of puzzling. Search through clues and create the key to opening doors that get in your way all the while following the story of Joachim, a hero who left his family behind in search of a cure that would save mankind from a mysterious plague. Unlock your way through 20 brain bending levels, featuring hand drawn environments from the artist who brought Illutia to life. DungeonSHIFT: Secret of the Blood Chrysanthemum is available for download directly from HappyUFO for $10.24 CDN.

Montreal – Ubisoft has released a bit of news and a few screenshots for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed 2 iPhone title. Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery for iPhone and iPod Touch lets players discover an exciting chapter of the Assassin’s Creed® II storyline. They follow Ezio as he travels to 15th-century Spain to rescue fellow assassins being held under the guise of the Inquisition, only to uncover a Templar plot to sail west and discover the New World. ”

Montreal – On the community building front, Vanilla Forums has closed a $500,000 (CAD) Round A funding for its innovative, open source community forum software. Vanilla also released its forum hosting platform and additional premium features for its rapidly growing customer base. Both this funding and the new forum hosting platform and business oriented premium features solidify Vanilla’s position as a leading open source community forum solution.

Vanilla Forums closed a Series A funding round led by Montreal Startup, with a significant investment also made by Denver, CO based eonBusiness. Silicon Valley based Klein Venture Partners and Denver, CO based Norseman Capital also contributed to the round. Vanilla, located in Montreal, will use the investment to expand its marketing, development, and sales efforts. “Montreal has a vibrant entrepreneur community and is a hot-bed for open-source software,” said Mark O’Sullivan, Vanilla’s CEO.

Vanilla Forums also announced the immediate availability of their forum hosting platform. The Vanilla Forum hosting platform enables customers to quickly and easily deploy a community forum solution without having to write a single line of code. Vanilla also released two new premium features, custom domains and ad-removal, that enable seamless integration with a customer’s existing web presence. Vanilla plans to release additional premium features including custom css, single sign-on, and forum analytics in the near future.

“With over 19 million forums on the internet, forum software is more relevant than ever,” said John Stokes, Managing Partner at Montreal Startup. “Vanilla were the first to recognize that forum solutions must evolve into proactive tools that help businesses to both grow and interact with their customer base and we are excited to help facilitate Vanilla’s growth in this market.”

“Vanilla proves that forums are much more than the origin of social media – they’re an important and compelling part of its future,” said Jeffrey Kalmikoff, Director of Design and User Experience at Digg.com.

“It’s been amazing to watch Vanilla grow since they participated in TechStars this past summer. They’ve got great technology and are a super team. We’re thrilled to see them put together this round with some great investors.” said Brad Feld, Managing Director at Foundry Group and one of the co-founders of TechStars. “Vanilla is already one of the most popular forum solutions on the Internet, and I’m excited to watch their continued growth.”

Assassin's Creed 2

Organizers have revealed the nominees for the tenth annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the leading peer-based video game industry awards. Nominations this year are led by Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2, with seven nominations. The acclaimed title is closely followed by five nominations for Thatgamecompany’s evocative downloadable game Flower, and four nominations for Ubisoft Montreal’s well-received Renaissance action game sequel Assassin’s Creed II.

In addition to the aforementioned Uncharted 2 and Assassin’s Creed II, this year’s Game Of The Year nominations are rounded out by BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins, From Software’s Demon’s Souls, and Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham Asylum. Other multiple nominees include notably diverse titles such as PopCap’s Plants Vs. Zombies and Infinity Ward’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The changes in today’s game industry are well represented in the Game Developers Choice Awards this year by the inclusion of multiple iPhone titles (including Flight Control and Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor) as nominations in existing categories, as well as console

downloadable titles such as Q Games’ PixelJunk Shooter and RedLynx’s Trials HD. Organizers have also further diversified the awards by adding a Best New Social/Online Games category this year, with both Facebook and free-to-play online games competing for the new prize.

Dragon Age: Origins

The Game Developers Choice Awards are open to any video game, with no restrictions or payment for game submission, and Main Competition finalists are chosen via a combination of open game industry nominations and the votes of the leading creators in the Choice Awards Advisory Committee. Starting this year, winners are now being selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is a new invitation-only group comprised of 500 leading game creators from all parts of the video game industry. Choice Awards organizers believe that, in tandem with their goal of having the most focused, impartial awards in the game industry, this additional voting transparency will further boost the awards’ reputation.

The complete list of nominees for the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are as follows:

Best Game Design
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady)
Assassin’s Creed 2 (Ubisoft Montreal)
Flower (Thatgamecompany)
Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)

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Charlottetown – Bight Games are announcing the immediate availability of Fleeced! – Shear Terror on the App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch. Early previews have been overwhelmingly positive and Pocketgamer.co.uk has included Fleeced! on their list of the 10 most anticipated games of 2010.

The somewhat bizarre premise of feuding Pseudo-Peruvian brothers, llama shearing and canons make for a truly unique tailor-made experience for the iPhone. Bight CEO Stuart Duncan says “There were times when even we thought, is this too weird? Will people get the sense of humour? I think it’s fair to say that given the great response we’ve been getting that people really love the game.”

To support the launch of Fleeced! two of Bight’s other popular games, Puzzlings and Kill All Bugs will be available for free during the launch window. Fleeced! Shear Terror is available for $3.99 USD from today.

Vancouver – Emily Carr University of Art + Design and DigiBC present Disney Stories and Games – Making Technological Innovation a Reality, a public lecture by Newton Lee and Krystina Madej.

NUS Hollywood Lab co-founder, Newton Lee will speak on the process of creating some of his most successful projects, from his work as a software engineer at Media Station, which was contracted by Disney to develop their fist CD-ROM games in the early 1990s, to his work as a technical architect and senior producer at Disney for many successful online projects. He will also present the work he’s undertaken to develop a sustainable research environment where academia and business can collaborate: his work with ACM’s online Computers in Entertainment Magazine, the Hollywood Lab, the Institute for Education, Research and Scholarships, and other new technology initiatives.

Adjunct professor at SFU SIAT, Krystina Madej, will introduce Lee and speak on Disney’s innovative use of story in new media since the early 1900s. Lee and Madej are currently collaborating on a book that presents Disney stories in new media. This event is free and is open to the general public.

Calgary – A reminder that Digital Alberta and Telefilm Canada are presenting Financing Your Digital Vision on January 26th, at a cost of only $150.00 (+GST) per person. One of the highlights of this session will be the Entrepreneur Panel including industry experts Ken Bautista, Seek Your Own Proof; Michael Sikorsky, Robots and Pencils; Trevor Doerkson, MoboVivo; and Ron Thiele, XPAN Interactive, who will also present on Bootstrapping. Also recently confirmed as presenters are: Luke Azevedo, Calgary Economic Development; Earl Hong Tai, Telefilm Canada; Henry Kutarna, Alberta Deal Generator.

Montreal – Pierre Proulx, CEO of Alliance Digital, has announced the appointment of Ms. Sylvianne Pilon  as Director of Alliance Game, the position which was left vacant by the departure of Alain Lachapelle. Ms. Pilon will be responsible for developing new strategies for Alliance Game, to lead the industry through marketing activities and networking, along with the organization and management of the International Game Summit Montreal ( MIGS).

During the announcement, Pierre Proulx said he was “pleased to have the broad expertise and network of contacts Ms. Pilon has in the gaming industry and in a broader context also for interactive entertainment. Her doctoral thesis on the genesis and development of game clusters in Montreal, Los Angeles and Lyon according to an analysis in economic geography and anthropology, along with her experience as co-founder and president of Alliance America, a firm specializing in business relationships and trade missions between Quebec and Chile, are just some examples of her achievements. In addition, her work with the SIJM09 team as Deputy Director of Alliance Gaming and Head of Business only confirms that Ms. Pilon is a powerful addition to the permanent team.”

For her part, Ms. Pilon welcomes the new challenges. “My achievements and my great desire to work for and with the Quebec video game industry, will allow me to confront these challenges headlong and thus provide outstanding service to our members.”

Toronto – TVOKids has launched its first iPhone app for preschoolers. As a leading provider of innovative, educational and entertaining multi media content, TVOKids is excited to add Melvin’s Marvellous Words to its offerings.

Based on the Ontario kindergarten curriculum, Melvin’s Marvellous Words is teacher tested and developed in conjunction with TVO’s in-house educational specialist. Inspired by the popular TVOKids and tvokids.com game of the same name, the app is a fun and interactive word-matching game that helps preschoolers learn to read common, high-frequency words. Learning these words prepares preschoolers for reading, and makes them feel more confident as they begin to read.

“Parents will find that Melvin’s Marvellous Words is an effective educational tool for preschoolers who are always on the go,” says Patricia Ellingson, TVO’s creative head of Children’s Media Content and Programming. “It challenges young minds in an interactive and educational literacy game that makes learning fun.”

Now, for a limited time only, Melvin’s Marvellous Words is available free at the Apple App Store. The app will be on sale for $1.99 at the Apple App Store starting February 1.

Vancouver – Mingleverse Laboratories is offering Vancouver organizations free use of its award-winning 3D Audio Visual internet communication service for the entire duration of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The offer is being made in response to the call by Translink, the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) for a massive reduction in vehicle trips in Vancouver during the games.

“The Mingleverse Mingle Room service is for everyone and is the first real alternative to travel. By providing organizations with our immersive communication service they will sound and interact just like being in the same room together,” said Ron Stevens, Co-Founder and CEO of Mingleverse. “Instead of clogging up the streets, and having staff delayed and frustrated, any Vancouver company or organization can use Mingleverse to work, collaborate and communicate as if they were physically together – for free – during the games.”

Translink, metro Vancouver’s regional transportation authority, made the call this week via a statement on their website, which reads in part: “Our public transit and road networks will experience a significant increase in traffic, and there will be road and parking restrictions close to Games venues, particularly in downtown Vancouver, and along key routes. Whether it’s changing travel choices to leave the car at home, shifting travel times to avoid peak periods or removing the need to travel altogether – it all helps get athletes and officials to their events, while reducing the number of vehicles on the road.”

In addition, Translink has initiated a voluntary “TravelSmart Olympic Pledge” program designed to provide a way for all Vancouver businesses and organizations to publicly demonstrate their commitment to traffic reductions during the games. To obtain a free Mingle Room, simply sign up for a Mingleverse account and mention Mingleverse in your organization’s pledge.

Several high profile organizations in Vancouver have already signed on to use Mingleverse during the games, including representatives of the Vancouver Board of Trade and The Telus World of Science.

“Science World will certainly be looking at using Mingle Rooms to help manage teams that will be working remotely during the Olympics. It could also help to coordinate some of our province-wide science programming,” said Bryan Tisdall, President & CEO. To further encourage Vancouver organizations to participate, Mingleverse pledges to provide the top 5 most active “teleworking” companies with a free virtual Mingle Room for a year.

“Mingles can replace the need for most physical meetings and live venues,” Stevens said. “We encourage businesses to make use of this technology, try something new and help make the logistics of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver much more efficient, reducing traffic, emissions and frustration.”

Canada-wide – Mplayit, the company best known for its groundbreaking new social mobile app stores on the Facebook platform, today announced plans to bring their technology to major new international carrier partners. Mplayit has been available for Telefonica O2 customers in the United Kingdom since November 2009 and today the company announced new partnerships in Canada with Rogers and with Australian market-leader Telstra.

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Effective immediately, Canadian wireless carrier Rogers Wireless has pulled all HTC Dream smartphones from their shelves, halting all sales and upgrades for this model of phone.

HTC Dream, one of the first cell phones to sport Google’s “Android” Operating System (and a change for HTC which was moving over from the Windows Mobile market), has been reported to be experiencing severe issues with its internal GPS and 911 calls. Owners and users are advised to disable the internal GPS until the Android 1.5 upgrade becomes available. Rogers has not gone into further detail as to what issues are caused with 911, or any short-term solutions, so owners may be stuck calling from landlines for now.

There is no word if these issues also affect the HTC Magic (or any other Android 1.0 phones), but as the Dream seems to be the only one being pulled from shelves, Magic owners appear to be safe for now. There also does not appear to be (at this time) any reports of other carriers experiencing the same issue with the phone, so it would seem that it is isolated to Rogers Wireless.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate and vote in our first annual Village Gamer Readers’ Choice Canadian Video Game Awards. The running in many categories was very tight, often with only a vote or two separating the top three choices. We saw some great titles, studios and characters nominated, and we’re already looking forward to next year when we can do it all again. We extend our congratulations to all of the nominees and winners.

Without further ado, here are the results followed by the percentage of votes received:

Best PC Title

1. Assassin’s Creed 2 – Ubisoft Montreal (25%)
2. Dragon Age: Origins – Bioware (23%)
3. Prototype – Radical Entertainment (19%)

Best Xbox 360 Title

1. Assassin’s Creed 2 – Ubisoft Montreal (36%)
2. Prototype – Radical Entertainment (21%)
3. Dragon Age: Origins – Bioware (19%)

Best PlayStation 3 Title

1. Assassin’s Creed 2 – Ubisoft Montreal (40%)
2. Prototype – Radical Entertainment (25%)
3. The Bigs 2 – Blue Castle Games (18%)

Best Wii Title

1. The Bigs 2 – Blue Castle Games (30%)
2. Academy of Champions – Ubisoft Vancouver (28%)
3. Avatar – Ubisoft Montreal (14%)

Handheld PSP or Nintendo DS Title

1. The Bigs 2 – Blue Castle Games (20%)
2. Zombie Tycoon – Frima Studio (16%)
3. Fighting Fantasy: Warlock of Firetop Mountain – Big Blue Bubble (13%)
3. Avatar – Ubisoft Montreal (13%)

Best Handheld Phone or PDA Title

1. Gravity Well – Genius Factor Games (28%)
2. Sky Babes vs Fly Boys – A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games (18%)
3. Jamble – No Robots Interactive (13%)

Best Indie Title

1. Braid – Hothead Games (33%)
2. Gravity Well – Genius Factor Games (21%)
3. Madballs in Babo: Invasion – PlayBrains (15%)

Best Kids Title

1. Academy of Champions – Ubisoft Vancouver (29%)
2. Where’s Waldo: The Fantastic Journey – Ludia (14%)
3. Ice Age 3: Dawn of The Dinosaurs – Artificial Mind & Movement (13%)

Best Casual Title

1. Academy of Champions – Ubisoft Vancouver (31%)
2. Gravity Well – Genius Factor Games (27%)
3. Critter Crunch – Capybara Games (14%)
3. Masters of Mystery: Blood of Betrayal – Big Blue Bubble (14%)

Best Sports Title

1. The Bigs 2 – Blue Castle Games (24%)
2. NHL 10 – EA Canada (23%)
3. Academy of Champions – Ubisoft Vancouver (20%)

Best Driving Title

1. Need For Speed Nitro – EA Canada (71%)
2. My Sims Racing – Artificial Mind & Movement (29%)

Best Action Adventure Title

1. Assassin’s Creed 2 – Ubisoft Montreal (32%)
2. Madballs In Babo: Invasion – PlayBrains (22%)
3. Prototype – Prototype – Radical Entertainment (17%)

Best RTS Title

1. Dawn of War 2 – Relic Entertainment (48%)
2. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (40%)
3. Supreme Ruler 2020 GOLD – Battlegoat Studios (12%)

Best RPG Title

1. Dragon Age: Origins – Bioware (64%)
2. Whiskey Mountain Wars – Kiko Games (14%)
3. Fort Zombie – Kerberos (11%)

Best Shooter Title

1. Prototype – Radical Entertainment (54%)
2. Wet – Artificial Mind & Movement (20%)
3. Garters & Ghouls – Big Blue Bubble (13%)

Best Fighting Title

1. Fight Night Round 4 – EA Canada (54%)
2. Warriors Orochi 2 – Koei Canada (27%)
3. KrabbitWorld Origins – KrabbitSoft (19%)

Best Family Title

1. Academy of Champions – Ubisoft Vancouver (22%)
2. The Bigs 2 – Blue Castle Games (20%)
3. NHL 10 – EA Canada (15%)
3. SceneIt? Bright Lights! Big Screen! – Artificial Mind & Movement (15%)

Best Multi-Player Title

1. Madballs In Babo: Invasion – PlayBrains (40%)
2. The Game Cartel – Roundhouse Interactive (31%)
3. Warriors Orochi 2 – Koei Canada (27%)

Best Free To Play Title

1. Dragon Age: Journeys – Bioware (73%)
2. Whiskey Mountain Wars – Kiko Games (27%)

Best Social Media Title

1. Assassin’s Creed 2 Twitter Assassination Experience – Ubisoft Montreal (41%)
2. Need For Speed Nitro – Facebook App – Ayogo (25%)
3. SceneIt? Online – Facebook App – Fuel Industries (20%)

Best Music Title

1. Guitar Hero Smash Hits – Beenox (69%)
2. Jamble – No Robots Interactive (31%)

Best Serious Game Title

1. QuickStickz – Skillz Systems (32%)
2. Count Caddy – Zinc Roe (24%)
3. Learn CNC – LearnCNC.org (22%)
3. WeMuv – WeMuv (22%)

Best Audio Production

1. Prototype – Radical Entertainment (20%)
2. Dragon Age: Origins – Bioware (19%)
3. Assassin’s Creed 2 – Ubisoft Montreal (15%)

Best Environment Design

1. Assassin’s Creed 2 – Ubisoft Montreal (32%)
2. Prototype – Radical Entertainment (19%)
3. Dragon Age: Origins – Bioware (17%)

Best Cinematic Design

1. Assassin’s Creed 2 – Ubisoft Montreal (28%)
2. Prototype – Radical Entertainment (23%)
3. Dragon Age: Origins – Bioware (22%)

Best Writing In A Canadian Game

1. Dragon Age: Origins – Bioware (37%)
2. Assassin’s Creed 2 – Ubisoft Montreal (25%)
3. Prototype – Radical Entertainment (23%)

Favourite Character In A Canadian Game

1. Alex Mercer – Prototype – Radical Entertainment (23%)
2. Morrigan – Dragon Age: Origins – Bioware (11%)
3. Oculus Orbus – Madballs in Babo: Invasion – PlayBrains (10%)

Canadian Publisher

1. Ubisoft Montreal (72%)
2. Dreamcatcher Interactive (16%)
3. Meridian4 (6%)
3. Strategy First (6%)

Canadian Studio

1. Radical Entertainment (18%)
2. Blue Castle Games (17%)
3. Ubisoft Vancouver (15%)

Most Anticipated Canadian Indie Title of 2010

1. Dawn of Heroes – Wicked Studios (66%)
2. Duality ZF – Xona Games (17%)
3. Riese the Series iPhone Game – Genius Factor Games (17%)

Most Anticipated Canadian Title of 2010

1. Dead Rising 2 – Blue Castle Games (21%)
2. Mass Effect 2 – Bioware (20%)
3. Modnation Racers – United Front Games (10%)

Vancouver – After a successful 2009 debut at which more than 800 members of the Canadian game development community came together for learning, inspiration and networking, the Game Developers Conference™ Canada (GDC Canada) will return for a second year to the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC from May 6-7, 2010. GDC Canada will once again serve as the premier local event for developers and business development professionals looking for best practices for managing established franchises, developing new global titles, or looking to take advantage of new distribution models. This year’s conference will feature tracks focused on Digital Distribution, Social Games, and iPhone Games alongside tracks on Game Design, Business and Production, Programming, and Visual Arts. The Game Career Seminar also returns to GDC Canada as a one-day event for students and individuals who want to break into the video game industry. The second annual GDC Canada is presented by Reboot Communications and Think Services, the organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference. Registration and conference information is available online at the official GDC Canada website. In addition to all of the conference’s editorial content, GDC Canada features an expo hall and a host of evening networking events.

“Attendees to this year’s GDC Canada will gain new insights to current technologies across different game platforms as well as new business opportunities and distribution models,” said Izora de Lillard, event director. “We’re proud return to Vancouver and provide the forum for Canadian developers to connect, celebrate, and further the industry.”

GDC Canada 2010 will return with visionary keynotes, lectures, panels and roundtable discussions programmed by an advisory board of industry veterans from all across Canada. This year’s advisory board is comprised of Brenda Bailey (Deep Fried Entertainment), Steve Bocska (Pug Pharm), Howard Donaldson (Disney Interactive Studios), Dave Elton (EA Blackbox), Tabitha Hayes (EA), Dan Irish (Threewave), Jerome Kashetsky (National Research Council of Canada), Colin Macrae (EA), Dr. Gerri Sinclair (Great Northern Way Campus), Tarrnie Williams (EA), Kerry Whalen, (Ubisoft), and Kelly Zmak (Radical Entertainment).