Village Gamer

iStockphoto has announced the first Italian iStockalypse, a five-day photography event being held in Milan and surrounding villages this September 28th through October 2nd. The Italian iStockalypse is organized in partnership with Canon, a world leader in imaging products and solutions, which will provide its leading photographic equipment and educational resources as part of this sponsorship. Read the rest of this entry »

Electronic Arts Inc. and Sports Illustrated have announced details of an exclusive marketing partnership between the internationally renowned Need for Speed™ and Swimsuit franchises, bringing together the worlds of fashion, video games, cars and beauty in a first-of-its-kind partnership. The deal will see 2011 SI Swimsuit Cover model Irina Shayk and popular Swimsuit model Chrissy Teigen play guest starring roles* in one of this holiday’s most anticipated releases, Need for Speed™ The Run. The action-packed racing game, which is currently in development at EA Black Box, takes players on a heart-pounding cross-country race from San Francisco to New York. In addition, the partnership powers a new SI subscription bundled offer featuring Need for Speed The Run assets and both EA and SI will execute significant cross-promotion across in-game, TV and social media. Read the rest of this entry »

TransGaming Inc. has announced that EA Sports™ FIFA Soccer 12 has been brought to the Mac platform using TransGaming’s Cider Mac enablement product. FIFA Soccer 12 launches today and will be available on Mac through many EA Sports distribution channels, including TransGaming’s leading digital distribution site for Mac games, GameTree Mac. Read the rest of this entry »

Distribution360 will be  showcasing more than 200 hours of content including new kids, lifestyle and factual series at MIPCOM 2011.  Attendees can sample the offerings and meet with Distribution 360 representatives at Booth #02.10 when the conference takes place this  October 3rd through 6th in Cannes, France.

“We look forward to a successful MIPCOM, and are pleased to bring strong content in the kids, lifestyle and factual space,” said Stéphanie Röckmann-Portier, Head of Sales, Distribution360. “We’re very excited to meet with potential buyers in the market for fresh new content that is sure to appeal to a wide variety of audiences.”

In the Kids and Youth genre, Distribution360’s slate includes: Read the rest of this entry »

Merging Media 2011 has announced that Jennifer Newman Rutsky and Sean Elbe have each won a full pass to the October 27th & 28th conference after participating in a Twitter and Facebook promotion. Tickets for the conference, which will be taking place at The Woodwards Heritage Complex, are still available for purchase.

In other event news, the deadline for Pitch 360 and a chance to win this year’s $10,000 BC Film Development Award has been extended to October 5th in order to encourage more up and coming media producers and developers with innovative projects to participate.

Eight participants with innovative cross-media projects will be selected to battle it out a la ‘Dragon’s Den’ style for the grand prize at the Pitch 360 sessions on October 28th, hosted by new-dad-to-be Victor Lucas. The organizers are accepting early to late stage development projects for consideration, so get your submissions in today. If I had more confidence, a lot more knowledge about production, a team and a fully fleshed out plan, I’d enter the Pitch 360 program in a heartbeat. The BC Film Development Award would at least get the cross-media project idea I’ve been sitting on for a year off the ground.

X-Men™ Destiny is available today at retail stores nationwide, and Marvel Entertainment’s newest iteration of the super hero franchise places gamers into the role of a young mutant just discovering their powers. The choices they make, along with the alliances they forge, will determine which side of the mutant cause will reign supreme. X-Men Destiny gives players three all-new playable mutants and an original story penned by acclaimed Marvel writer Mike Carey, delivering an action-RPG experience where players have ultimate customization of their mutant’s powers, development and destiny.

X-Men Destiny for Xbox 360®, PlayStation®3 and Wii™ was developed by Silicon Knights, while the Nintendo DS™ version of the game was developed by Other Ocean. The games are published by Activision and carry ESRB ratings of T for Teen and E10+ (DS version). Read the rest of this entry »

On October 1st and 2nd Concordia University will be presenting Games Colloquium, part of Entretiens Jacques Cartier 2011. The first day of the colloquium is open to the public and will feature four panels with academic speakers and industry representatives engaging in focused discussion on a single game. The evening will feature a keynote presentation by David Cage, founder and CEO of the Paris-based studio Quantic Dream and lead designer for Omikron: The Nomad Soul (1999), Fahrenheit (2005) and Heavy Rain (2010). This keynote is co-sponsored by the Montreal chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). Admission to Day one is free, however registration is required. Day Two is by invitation only. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver’s HootSuite has acquired “What the Trend” (WTT), a web service which shares user-defined explanations of trending topics on Twitter.  Branded as “The Front Page of the Real-Time Web,” this tool provides constantly updating, crowd-sourced definitions and explanations for why the topic is trending.  WTT will complement HootSuite’s social media management system and builds on the recent funding announcement and acquisitions of Twapper Keeper, TwitterBar and Swift App. Read the rest of this entry »

Astral Media Inc.’s Astral Out-of-Home division has announced the Toronto deployment of its new Signature Columns. The highly refined backlit columns offer prime advertising space in the heart of downtown Toronto to advertisers as well as information to passersby. The network of Signature Columns will consist of 120 structures (240 advertising faces) with two LED (light-emitting diode) backlit faces distributed in downtown core locations, strategically selected for their high capacity to reach both vehicular and pedestrian traffic with minimal site obstructions. Their frameless vertical advertising faces measure 6 feet by 4 feet in a clean and elegant design by Kramer Design. Read the rest of this entry »

TenXc Wireless, an Ottawa company which designs and supplies state-of-the art phased array antenna solutions to major wireless operators worldwide, today announced the introduction of its new Multi Band Bi-Sector Array antenna. An industry first, the advanced solution significantly improves cellular capacity from a single antenna, and provides the functionality equivalent to 4 antennas. Read the rest of this entry »