Village Gamer

Innovative learning solutions provider Desire2Learn Incorporated has announced the acquisition of Degree Compass™, a predictive analytics technology that helps students select the courses to take that will drive the successful completion of their degree program. By predicting student success based on rich graduate data and current student data, the Degree Compass acquisition strengthens Desire2Learn’s robust analytics offering by providing colleges and institutions with technology that increases graduation rates. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver Animation School, a Granville Island-based educational institution offering entry level and advanced programs for the animation, film and game industries, has named well-known cartoon writer Jack Enyart the instructor for its newest online course – Writing for Animation. The brand new online course offering from Vancouver Animation School will focus on two very intensive streams – animation pitch bibles and animation scriptwriting. Students will learn how to create their own characters, settings and plot lines for animated series. Read the rest of this entry »

The Board of Directors of Canadian Women in Communications has announced the formation of the Digital Media and Technology Council,  an advisory leadership committee of senior women in technology, digital media and communications, to strengthen and advance CWC’s role as the premier national association advancing the careers of women in the digital age. The Council will be co-chaired by Shann McGrail, National Director, Education, Microsoft Canada and Lynda Partner, CEO, Partners Inc. Its mandate, in line with the mission and objectives of CWC, is to: Read the rest of this entry »

The Independent Games Festival has announced the eight Student Showcase winners for the fifteenth annual presentation of its prestigious awards, celebrating the brightest and most innovative creations to come out of universities and games programs from around the world in the past year. This year’s showcase of top student talent include the first-person meta-videogame ATUM, from the Netherlands’ NHTV IGAD, the similarly meta-game-ified pen & paper RPG Knights of Pen & Paper, from Brazil’s Instituto de Ensino Superior de Brasilia & Universidade de Brasilia, and the  Jet Set Radio-esque Zineth, a game which “celebrates speed, movement & Twitter”, from students of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Read the rest of this entry »

Last evening at the Save BC Film townhall meeting held at North Shore Studios, the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC (MPPIA) officially announced We Create BC – an initiative to showcase and celebrate BC’s creative industries, kicking off with BC’s film and television production industry. Last fall Vancouver’s videogame sector held a townhall meeting hosted by DigiBC to discuss the challenges it is facing. I want to delve a bit deeper into several points that have been raised over the past few days, but as the research and communication is going to take some time, in the meantime, here’s your introduction to We Create BC. Read the rest of this entry »

Two-time Emmy^® award-winning Toon Boom Animation Inc. will be featured on In View with Larry King in a report focusing on 21^st century education airing on the Discovery Channel, January 28, 2013 at 07:00 EST/PST. To illustrate the great benefits of using Toon Boom’s creative technology in the classroom, Toon Boom chose Bluffton Elementary School in South Carolina for their students’ impressive achievements in a very short time. Read the rest of this entry »

More than 380 game professionals and aspiring game designers turned out for the seventh annual Game Design Expo and Open House. The two-day event kicked off with a sold-out Industry Speaker Day on Saturday featuring the leading minds behind Halo 4 and the Assassin’s Creed franchise. On Sunday, Vancouver Film School (VFS) opened its doors with sample classes to over 200 aspiring game designers. As always, the speaker sessions were informative with more than a few touches of humour thrown in for good measure. Patrick Plourde (Creative Director, Ubisoft) is one of my favourite speakers, and his session on New Horizons For Game Design was one of my top picks for the day, along with Tuomas Pirinen (Game Director, Slant Six Games) and his presentation on The Bowling Dead. Read the rest of this entry »

Bluedrop Performance Learning has announced that registered charities and not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) in Canada and the U.S. will be receiving a different kind of gift for their staff this holiday season.  Bluedrop is donating 5,000 seats from their most popular online professional training courses to help NPOs upgrade their staff skills. Read the rest of this entry »

Can a triple-A franchise adapt in an evolving industry? What does the future really hold for game design? Is there room in social games for the ‘core’ gamer? These are just a few of the tough questions industry leaders will tackle at Game Design Expo 2013 this January. Ticketholders at Industry Speaker Day (Saturday, January 19) will join in on an exclusive day of presentations and panels. Read the rest of this entry »

Global Game Jam Inc. has announced that Microsoft Studios & Imagine Cup 2013 have extended their leading role within the games industry by becoming GGJ’s Headline Sponsor for 2013. The Global Game Jam™ is the world’s largest game creation event that fosters the development of innovative and experimental game concepts while promoting global collaboration and teamwork. GGJ is a creative incubator for game makers to challenge, innovate and experiment within their craft. GGJ brings together thousands of game development enthusiasts participating through many local jams around the world on a single weekend. Read the rest of this entry »