Village Gamer

Montreal game publisher Meridian4 and European publisher Headup Games are pleased to announce that the unique parody/strategy/RPG – Grotesque Tactics – Evil Heroes is now available digitally for $19.99 on most digital portals and is currently on sale on Steam with a 20% discount for the first week.

Grotesque Tactics combines the features and clichés of Western and Asian console RPGs like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics and provides a highly addicting and entertaining change to the current, more serious role playing games. The game is focused on providing the fascination of the Strategy RPG genre, but also weaves a humorous storyline and plenty of amusing dialogue, poking fun at some of the most successful RPGs, such as Oblivion, Final Fantasy and Lord of the Rings. In chess, a Grotesque is a problem or endgame study which features a particularly unlikely initial position, especially one in which White fights with a very small force against a much larger black army. Grotesques are generally intended to be humorous.

To protect the kingdom from the merciless cult “The Dark Church” which has murdered all of the kingdom’s heroes and knights, you will have to hire dubious soldiers and rescue jealous maidens who will follow you into combat as your groupies. Up to 10 heroes are deployed in tactical battles to take on the Dark Church with their mysterious special abilities.

Features

· Turn based tactical battles with humorous animations not seen in any RPG
· Distinctive party members such as the arrogant Holy Avatar, the blood thirsty Vampire Solitaire, the sweet but hot-tempered Angel Angelina and many more
· Gorgeous village landscapes and dark, sinister dungeons
· Scantily dressed maidens to be freed from the grasp of merciless monsters
· Enormous, highly detailed and very angry end bosses
· Classical RPG elements: quests, treasures, trade, leveling up and out­fitting a party of unique heroes
· Enjoyable multiple choice dialogues and conversation puzzles in the style of classic adventures, such as Monkey Island or Maniac Mansion

As competitive FPS fans eagerly await the arrival of Clan Mode to Mission Against Terror next week, Wicked Interactive pulled out yet another surprise today when it announced a new 1v1 ladder for its popular free-to-play shooter M.A.T. that is chock-full of prizes and fun for gamers of every skill level, particularly those who enjoy their fragging with a healthy side order of competitive play. Read the rest of this entry »

Capcom® Mobile and Vancouver’s IUGO Mobile Entertainment have announced Lil’ Pirates, a brand new title that will be available for free on the App Store later this month. The development of more accessible general audience games is in line with Capcom Mobile’s strategy of reaching a more casual audience as powerful smartphones become more ubiquitous and mass market. Capcom Mobile also announced two other titles in development which will be released over the coming weeks.

“The release of these titles marks a new direction for the company as we complement our traditional premium pricing model with freemium social games for our customers,” said Midori Yuasa, President and COO, Capcom Interactive, Inc. “By creating a line of casual freemium games we can appeal to consumers not serviced by our more ‘hardcore’ IP and cast a much wider net over the burgeoning smartphone app marketplace.”

In Lil’ Pirates the player recruits their own band of scurvy dogs and sets upon the high seas seeking, adventure, treasure and camaraderie. Starting with a small ship and a tiny crew of scallywags, players can upgrade their vessel and expand their crew by undertaking special missions and jobs. Once they start to amass resources and loot, players will be able to battle other vessels, play mini games with the crew and bury booty to increase its value. More than 100 premium content items including ship upgrades and custom gear will be available at launch as DLC.

The other two announced titles were Zombie Café and a third licensed title based off a children’s entertainment property. In Zombie Café, the player partners with an evil corporation to use zombies as free labor to build their café empire. To thrive, players must prepare food, direct their zombie staff and manage supplies. If the competition gets too fierce they can always direct their zombie workers to attack a neighboring café and steal their secret recipes. Zombie Café will be available for free on the Apple App store and is expected to release in November.

The floral experts at Grower Direct want to share their love of flowers with you in a brand new way: the Grower Direct iPhone App. This exciting and very practical application has been developed for iPhone users in the hopes that it will make everyday life a snap when it comes to researching, viewing, and ordering flowers from anywhere, at anytime. The Grower Direct iPhone App provides information on hundreds of topics about flowers and everything flower-related.

Developed in conjunction with crazedCoders of Edmonton, the free app will answer questions such as:

* How old the world’s oldest rose bush?
* How do flowers affect people’s moods?
* Which flower is associated with a 25th Anniversary? Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto-based start-up Clickbox Software has unveiled the full commercial release of ilumii.com, the world’s most complete Social Learning Community & Marketplace. ilumii.com allows individuals to take their knowledge and skills and teach them to people around the globe by offering live, online classes–for fun and for profit–and by connecting those who want to learn with those who want to teach.

Clickbox Software CEO, Daniel Del Mastro, says, “ilumii.com is a revolutionary concept because it completely reshapes who can deliver educational services, the earnings potential of teaching, and the breadth of topics a person can teach or learn online. ilumii.com is ushering in an era of collaborative learning that will forever change the face of education.”

ilumii.com gives individuals everything they need to make live, online teaching fun and simple: it lets users offer courses on any subject–ranging from academic tutoring, to language lessons, to hobbies and skills, to whatever else they can imagine. It allows instructors to easily schedule lessons, manage course enrollment, and securely accept payments from learners around the world. And, of course, it provides both learners and instructors with a state-of-the-art Live Learning Space with video and audio, an interactive whiteboard, presentation and file sharing, and other features that replicate the feeling of being in a real-world classroom like never before.

Clickbox Software’s Chief Digital Officer, Raquel Torres, says, “In a time when unemployment has affected millions of people, ilumii.com gives anyone with the ability to teach a channel to transform his or her intellectual capital into a new way to earn a living. Our goal with ilumii.com is to create a space where people can leverage technology to exchange knowledge and skills, and to be able to monetize their services.”

ilumii.com is powered by the concept of “Knowledge on Demand” – the idea that anyone around the world can find live, instructor-led classes on any topic imaginable through a single web destination. Users can sign-up for free at ilumii.com to be a part of the world’s best knowledge marketplace.

Ottawa’s Klipfolio, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of Klipfolio Dashboard version 5.5. This latest release, which offers a fully-functional 30 day trial, provides additional charting and formatting options, keyboard shortcuts and support for varied depth drill down analytics, adding flexibility and depth to the real-time presentation of critical business data.

“As the only pure play operational dashboard, we’re uniquely suited to address the needs of fast-paced teams. We enable some of the industry’s leading healthcare, financial, technology and transportation companies to stay on top of what matters by presenting meaningful and actionable data to those that need it,” said Allan Wille, Klipfolio President and CEO. “To remain competitive, operational data needs to be visible to the right audience, at the right time, to accelerate decision making based on empirical data, not gut feel.”

The amount of data being stored by the enterprise is increasing year over year. The ability to leverage this information and provide operational visibility into meaningful performance metrics is driving profitability. According to a recent study by Aberdeen Group, companies that employ operational dashboards and ensure intra-daily metrics are visible to employees, are more than two times better than the average for both financial operating performance, and year-over-year sales pipeline performance.

Best Buy Canada released an official statement today to directly address a false claim circulating through email chain and spam letters regarding a “re-stocking fee” for product returns. Any suggestion of a “re-stocking fee” is completely false and Best Buy Canada wishes to confirm that they do not nor have they ever charged this “re-stocking fee” to customers.

Director of Communications, Christopher Bennett clarifies, “The information circulating about a 15 per cent re-stocking fee issued on returns at Best Buy is false. Best Buy Canada Ltd has never issued and does not currently issue a re-stocking fee on return items. This is a popular spam chain-letter we see resurface each year likely created by individuals looking to create a negative story around our brand in advance of the holidays.”

Best Buy Canada return policy:

* If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with a product you have purchased, we will gladly give you a full refund (except for certain items described below) or exchange if you return it to any Best Buy store within 30 days after you receive it (14 days for computers, monitors, printers, notebook computers, camcorders, digital cameras, radar detectors, cellular and wireless devices, portable DVD players and air conditioners) in its original condition (including all packaging, accessories and manuals). Read the rest of this entry »

Attention game developers: Microsoft has launched its App Hub for Windows Mobile and Xbox Indie Games. This new hub will provide free tools, sample code, community support, and educational resources to help you develop your apps and games for Windows Phone and Xbox 360. Remember though, that while the tools are free, and just like the iTunes store, there is an annual subscription fee for those wanting to submit games and apps to the Windows Phone Marketplace or Xbox LIVE Marketplace, whether your app will be free or for sale. According to the site, you will be able to?

Publish your apps and games to App Hub and reach every Windows Phone 7 user.

* Develop your app using Silverlight or XNA Framework in Visual Studio 2010 or Expression Blend
* Unlock connected experiences with Location Services, Web Services, and Windows Azure
* Free or pay apps – it’s your choice with Windows Phone Marketplace
* Apps are certified through Windows Phone Marketplace submission

Reach 25 million Xbox LIVE members worldwide over Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

* Use XNA Game Studio and Visual Studio 2010 to unleash high-definition graphics and multiplayer play over Xbox LIVE
* Easily develop and test your game on Xbox 360 using XNA Game Studio Connect
* Choose a price point and sell your game on Xbox LIVE Indie Games
* Games are peer-reviewed by developers just like you

Vancouver’s Themis Solutions, Inc. announced it has integrated its cloud-based practice management application Clio with Google Apps™ and has added Clio to the Google Apps Marketplace™, Google’s online storefront for Google Apps products and services. Clio is a feature-rich web-based practice management system that allows lawyers and other legal professionals to easily manage client information, matters, contacts, time-keeping, bills, documents and other aspects of their law offices.

Clio’s integration with Google Apps includes calendar and contact sync between Google Apps and Clio. Additionally, Clio’s recently-released e-mail integration feature fully integrates with GmailTM. Google Apps users will also be able to access Clio directly with Single Sign-On (SSO) via the Google universal navigation bar.

“We are very happy to have Clio in the Google Apps Marketplace,” adds Scott McMullan, Google Apps Partner Lead for Google Enterprise. “Through the Google Apps Marketplace, software vendors like Themis Solutions are helping us build a rich ecosystem of integrated apps that work seamlessly with Google Apps, allowing IT administrators to leverage the benefits of cloud computing and extend Google Apps to meet more of their business needs. We are excited to make legal practice management easier for the millions of Google Apps users who have embraced the cloud.”

Clio Co-Founder and President Jack Newton adds, “We are extremely excited to bring the first cloud-based application for the legal industry to the Google Apps Marketplace. We have seen tremendous demand from our customers to deeply integrate Clio with Google Apps, and we’re happy to address that need with today’s announcement. As more lawyers choose to put their practices in the cloud, we expect they will find Google Apps and Clio to be a perfect match.”

The Google Apps Marketplace makes it easy for more than three million Google Apps businesses to discover, purchase and deploy integrated business applications and related professional services. By integrating with user account and application data stored in Google Apps, these cloud applications provide a simplified user experience, increase business efficiency, and reduce administrative overhead.

Corel has released Corel® Paint it!™ Show, the first photo-painting slideshow app created specifically for the iPad™. Offering a fun way to show off favorite photos from Facebook® and the iPad photo library, Corel Paint it! Show draws you in and offers a photo-viewing experience unlike any other.

Fun to watch and virtually effortless to use, Corel Paint it! Show automatically turns your snapshots into a customizable slideshow of painted masterpieces, right before your eyes. Select an album from your Facebook account or images from your iPad, start the slideshow and let Corel Paint it! Show do the rest. You can also save your favorite painted images on your iPad, post them to your Facebook account, or email them to friends and family.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGldXXeqtq0]

“At Corel, we’re continuously inspired by the question, ‘What else is possible.’ For 25 years, this question has motivated our teams around the world to come up with new and better ways to help our customers express their creativity and become even more productive,” said Nick Davies, Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing at Corel. “With our first iPad app, we wanted to take the photo-viewing experience one step further. Corel Paint it! Show transforms your iPad into a portable art gallery, using a variety of painting effects to transform each photo, brushstroke-by-brushstroke, into a beautiful masterpiece. It’s a unique and eye-catching way to enjoy and show off your favorite photos and, watching people play with Paint it! Show, I can tell you, it’s addictive!”

Corel Paint it! Show includes 5 different painting effects. The app will apply effects to your images randomly or you can select specific effects to be applied. In addition, you can also customize your slide transitions and access your iTunes® Library to add songs or personalized playlists.

Built on Corel’s ground-breaking digital painting technologies, Paint it! Show is Corel’s first iPad app and the latest addition to the Corel Paint it! product family. Recently, the Corel Paint it! photo-painting software for Mac® and Windows® was honored with the PTPA (Parent Tested, Parent Approved) Seal of Approval, recognizing excellence in family products.

Corel Paint it! Show is available in English in various markets worldwide and is priced at $0.99 in the US and Canada from Apple’s App Store.

Transgaming, Inc. and Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), in collaboration with TransGaming, Inc. have announced that the Toronto studio is currently working on Free Realms™ for the Macintosh® platform. Scheduled to release later this fall, Free Realms Mac® users will play together in the family-friendly online world with the over 14 million existing registered players on the PC.

“There is no denying the overwhelming player demand for Free Realms on the Mac platform, of which we plan to deliver very soon,” said John Smedley, president of SOE. “For the first time ever, SOE is developing synchronous gameplay for Mac and PC players and we are thrilled to tap into TransGaming’s Mac development expertise to bring this functionality to fruition.”

Free Realms players on the Mac platform will experience consistent controls and functionality and will be integrated on the same game servers as PC players. Mac users will also have full access to the existing Marketplace and community forums.

“Free Realms offers a truly unique and captivating user experience that aligns with TransGaming’s focus on bringing new massive multiplayer online games to the Mac platform,” commented Vikas Gupta, CEO & President of TransGaming Inc. “Our strategic partnership with SOE has strengthened our leadership position in the enablement of family-friendly titles for the growing Mac community and offers Mac gamers an ever-increasing catalog of outstanding video game content.”

Free Realms is an online, interactive virtual world that offers players adventures in the form of quests, activities and minigames. From ninja fighting to demolition derby to raising pets, Free Realms allows players to be what they want to be, while offering a safe environment to connect with old and new friends. Free Realms is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and up with content descriptors of Crude Humor and Fantasy Violence.

The Co-operators insurance corporation has launched Mobile Assist, an iPhone application that enables clients to submit home and auto insurance claims using their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The free application, which can be downloaded from the App Store, provides a new option for clients to interact with their insurance company on their own terms.

After downloading the Mobile Assist, clients can input their basic home and auto insurance information into their profile so that it’s readily available should they need to submit a claim. The application will guide them through the process, prompting them to provide the necessary details. The claim will then be submitted directly through a secure transmission, along with photos taken with their device. The app also offers one-touch dialling option to speak to a Co-operators representative and submit their claim over the phone.

“Canadians are leading increasingly fast-paced lives. Whether our clients want to drop by an agent’s office, phone us or deal with us online, they should – and do – have the choice,” said Kathy Bardswick, president and CEO of The Co-operators. “Co-operators Mobile Assist puts claims reporting in the palm of their hand.”

The application can be used by home and auto insurance clients of Co-operators General Insurance Company throughout Canada.

Vancouver’s Aftercad is pleased to announce the launch of its new Cloud Gaming technology portal GameString.com to service the rapidly growing market to develop and deploy cloud based games on the web.

“Cloud Gaming may be new but already there are a number of players in the market and game developers looking for the new edge to engage people.” said Chris Boothroyd, CEO of Aftercad. “We started with the Immersion Project earlier in the year and really hit a nerve in game developers who wanted to try out cloud gaming and eventually deploy it themselves. We decided that this market is only going to get bigger as social game developers start to ramp up production values across the board and need to deliver much more into Flash and HTML5 environments.”

Aftercad has recently expanded its 3D web publishing efforts to include GameString.com for game developers and Renderjam v2 for CAD and GIS 3D broadcasting and remote access. As cloud computing continues its assimilation of other verticals, developers are looking to cash in on the new cloud gaming methods being touted by services like Onlive, Otoy, Gaikai and others. Aftercad GameString delivers the technology to maximize this new cloud delivery method while giving developers the the ability to leverage the full power of Flash or HTML5 on the client’s computer or mobile device.

“Other methods out there rely on just the video stream and a plugin to bring the remote game play to the user in time to react and send those commands back again. This method is called ‘Soft PC-Over-IP’, will always be lag sensitive and function as a closed loop. the GameString technology however does a much better job by opening up the loop, allowing game developers to utilize the power at both ends of the wire thus greatly reducing the dependence on bandwidth alone.” said Boothroyd. “We are constantly being amazed by what we are seeing in these new game demos people are putting together. For example using Flash/Flex to create the entire UI and the Unity 3D engine rendering superb 3D on the server – the synthesis of those two things working in concert is stunning and will clearly be a tool in the developer’s arsenal next year. It is yet more validation of the superiority of our patent pending, Dual Rendering approach and we are looking for even more game developers to join us in the cloud.”

QuickPlay Media Inc. has announced the availability of its Multi-Screen Movie Solution. The solution features a fully customizable storefront, an extensive catalog of new releases, a complete digital locker system and seamless viewing capabilities across smartphones, PCs and other consumer electronics devices.

According to IDC, US revenues from the online rental market are forecast to reach $2 billion dollars in 2013 (IDC, U.S. Internet Video 2009-2013 Forecast and Analysis: Despite the Economy, Internet Video Keeps Growing IDC #220971, December 2009). The QuickPlay Multi-Screen Movie Solution enables mobile operators to fully capitalize on this growing market with a high-quality “fast start” download service that addresses their key business and technical requirements. Recognizing the importance of offering a truly differentiated service, the solution includes a customizable storefront, which allows mobile operators to match the look and feel of the solution to their brand. QuickPlay also offers operators the ability to have the service fully integrated with their billing system

“Entertainment preferences continue to evolve, with a growing population of consumers interested in watching hit movies on whatever device is convenient for them,” said Wayne Purboo, president and CEO, QuickPlay Media. “The Multi-Screen Movie Solution enables operators to increase customer loyalty and generate incremental revenue by providing a ‘follow me’ service that feeds the subscriber’s desire for both easy access to quality content and flexible viewing experiences.”

Powered by QuickPlay’s OpenVideo Platform™, the fully managed Multi-Screen Movie Solution delivers cutting-edge features that effectively address consumer needs and key business and technical requirements. Noteworthy features include:

Complete Storefront Capabilities: The solution enables service providers to present subscribers with a catalog of premium movie content for rental or purchase in a feature rich storefront. The storefront has been designed to ensure that service providers retain ownership and control of the user experience with customization options that enable them to control all branding, navigation and merchandising options. Read the rest of this entry »

Nintendo Canada says Wii Party™ and spreads the fun this month, with Wii Party Mobiles visiting a variety of retail store fronts and family events during the month of October in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec! Kids, teens, adults and seniors are invited to check out the Wii Party Mobile with its see-through walls and flat screen televisions where they can grab a Wii remote and play the latest party game from Nintendo.

Visit the “On Tour” page for schedule updates.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

October 9th (11am-5pm) – Future Shop, #102 – 5300 No.3 Road, Richmond
October 10th (11am-5pm) – Best Buy, 1135 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam
October 16th (11am-5pm) – Best Buy, #700 – 5300 No. 3 Road, Richmond
October 23rd & October 24th (930am-400pm) – The Pumpkin Patch at Richmond Country Farms, 12900 Steveston HWY, Richmond
October 30th (11am-5pm) – Future Shop, #2140-2929 Barnet HWY, Coquitlam

ONTARIO

October 9th (11am-5pm) – Best Buy, 50 Ashtonbee Road, Scarborough
October 10th (11am-5pm) – Future Shop, #2 – 5900 Mavis Road, Mississauga
October 16th (11am-5pm) – Best Buy, 167 Queen Street North, Etobicoke
October 17th (11am-5pm) – Best Buy, #1 – 6075 Mavis Road, Mississauga
October 23rd & October 24th (930am-430pm) – Boo at the Zoo at Toronto Zoo, 361A Old Finch Avenue, Toronto
October 23rd (11am-5pm) – Best buy, 695 Wilson Avenue, North York
October 30th (11am-5pm) – Future Shop, 2975 Argentia Road, Mississauga
October 31st (11am-5pm) – Best Buy, #1 – 6075 Mavis Road, Mississauga

QUEBEC

October 9th (11am-5pm) – Best Buy, 8871 De L’Acadie Boulevard, Montreal
October 10th (11am-5pm) – Future Shop, 6321 Trans Canada, Pointe Claire
October 16th (11am-5pm) – Future Shop, 7400 Boul des Roseraies, Anjou
October 17th (11am-5pm) – Best Buy, 7200 Des Roseraies Boulevard, Anjou
October 23rd & October 24th (11am-7pm) – Fright Fest at La Ronde, 22 Chemin Macdonald, Ile Sainte-Hélène, Montreal
October 30th (11am-5pm) – Toys R Us, 655 Boul des Promenades, Saint-Bruno