Village Gamer

Telefilm Canada is pleased to announce that Ce n’est rien, by Nicolas Roy, and Big Muddy, by Jefferson Moneo, will be presented as Official Selections at the 64^th edition of the Cannes Festival, which runs from May 12 to 22, 2011. In addition, the film At Night, They Dance (La Nuit, elles dansent), by Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault, will be screened during the 43^rd Directors’ Fortnight, a section held in parallel to the Festival.

“The Cannes Festival’s Official Selection is a mark of international recognition,” said Carolle Brabant, Executive Director of Telefilm Canada. “It also serves as a major springboard for the careers of the films and their creators. Congratulations to Nicolas Roy and Jefferson Moneo.”

“In addition, each year the Directors’ Fortnight highlights a number of innovative, original works worthy of our attention,” added Brabant. “We are therefore very proud that the talents of Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault have been recognized.”

In a news release issued today, the Official Selection announced that nine short films would be presented in official competition, among them the Quebec short Ce n’est rien, directed by Nicolas Roy and produced by Voyous Films. The jury awarding the Palme d’Or for best short film will be chaired by French filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).

In addition, Cinéfondation, part of the Official Selection at the Cannes Festival, will this year present 16 works from graduating students at film schools in 11 countries, chosen from 1,589 works submitted. Among the selected films is Big Muddy, directed by Saskatchewan filmmaker Jefferson Moneo, who studied at Columbia University in New York. The film was produced by Prowler Pictures. Michel Gondry will also award the three Cinéfondation prizes.

Shot in Cairo, At Night, They Dance is a feature documentary that takes viewers into the heart of a clan of women among whom the art of dance has been passed down from mother to daughter for generations. In official competition at the 2010 RIDM (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal), the film received a Mention from the jury of the Kino Pen Award. The film also earned a rave review from Variety.

Directors: Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault
Producer: Les Films du Tricycle
Distributor: Les Films du 3 mars
International sales: Autlook Films

Telefilm Canada is proud to have participated in the funding of this film through the Theatrical Documentary Program.

The IGDA has posted a response to Amazon’s clarification of seller terms for its digital marketplace, stating that the company’s policy is still unfair to developers and fails to fully address developer concerns. The article urges developers to join the conversation and let Amazon know that their policies need to be changed.

Big Blue Bubble’s Burn the Rope has ignited puzzle gaming on the iPhone and iPad, and will soon be doing the same for the Mac OS. Wickman has been looking to make his next move, and with brand new cursor and keyboard-driven controls, Burn the Rope for Mac OS brings the original hit mobile gaming experience and proven flame-lighting fun to Mac gaming enthusiasts everywhere, now from the Mac App Store.

The goal of Burn the Rope is to burn as much rope as possible on each level. The fire only burns upwards, so the player must rotate the rope to keep the flame going – once all the flames are out, it’s game over. With clever puzzle designs for each level and rope-crawling insects that add to the game-play in unique and interesting ways, Burn the Rope is one of the hottest apps in the App Store. Burn the Rope is fast-paced addictive fun, and the Burn the Rope for Mac OS is sure to please puzzle game fans of any age.

EA Black Box invites you to experience the white-hot intensity of illicit street racing in the all-new Team Escape mode in Need for Speed™ World, the Play4Free online PC action racing game from EA. Available now, players can team up with three friends to win the race while battling a determined police force. This is a race to the finish line using any means necessary including roadblocks, spike strips and deadly rhino SUVs. Players can also fight back with two brand new power-ups; Team Emergency Evade, which can be used to save friends from getting busted with a more powerful blast than regular evade, and Team Slingshot which gives one team a huge burst of speed. 

Need for Speed World players will be the world’s first game to use Dolby® Axon voice technology. This innovative new technology lets players stay in constant contact as they organize objectives, create race strategies and perfect escape tactics without requiring a separate application or any drain on bandwidth.

Additionally, Need for Speed World players can now further personalize their cars with an enhanced visual customization system featuring window tints, underbody neons, license plates, wheels, and lowering kits.

Need for Speed World brings together best-in-class action racing with an unparalleled social experience on the PC. Players can compete against their friends and family or pick from thousands of players to challenge in intense online battles and police pursuits. Gamers race the way they want in an ever-expanding world with a constant stream of new content, cars, and features.

Square Enix Ltd. has announced that Deus Ex: Human Revolution™ Collector’s Edition, an extremely limited, exclusive product will be releasing in select European countries on August 26, 2011 and in Australia and New Zealand on August 25, 2011, snubbing the Deus Ex fans in the home country of developer Eidos Montreal – unless the publisher is being coy and simply not yet announcing something special for the NTSC zone gamers, but why do something that will blatantly alienate the gamer community the studio has worked very hard at engaging prior to the game’s release?

The Collector’s Edition will include some extras that can be purchased with one of the Augmented Reality versions or as a standard edition pre-order bonus (I’ve had an AR copy on pre-order since the title showed up in the GameStop computers), and while this newly announced edition will include all of the previously mentioned bonuses, it will also include the highly coveted and highly collectable Adam Jensen action figurine designed by Play Arts Kai – a Square Enix company.

This is not the first time Canadian gamers have been shut out of collectable extras sold by the publishers of Canadian-made titles. One of the most recent incidences was with Assassin’s Creed 2, when gamers in Canada (and the USA) could not purchase the AC2 CE with Ezio dressed in black Assassin’s garb, only white. Wouldn’t it be nice to see Canadian developers recognize their “hometown” supporters with a Canada-only special edition?

Experts from across Canada have come together to select the most impactful .CA websites. Their highly valued knowledge and industry experience in eLearning, small business, not-for profit and web technology and design means ensures that the best websites will be recognized and honoured with a .CA Impact Award.

The .CA Impact Awards celebrate people and organizations using their .CA websites to make a positive difference in the lives of their users and their communities. Impact can be social, cultural, political, technological, or economic.

The judging panel is comprised of the following seven members:

1. Tony Bates: President and CEO of Tony Bates Associates Ltd., a consulting firm in Vancouver. He has authored nine books and has given hundreds of talks on the importance of technology in higher education.
2. David Molenhuis: National Chairman of the Canadian Federation of Students which assists students and provides them a united voice to change policy provincially and nationally.
3. Catherine Swift: Chairwoman, President and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. She has a depth of experience in the federal government with the Departments of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, and Industry and Communications. She was also a Senior Economist with the TD Bank.
4. Maggie Leithead: President and CEO of Charity Village and Webmaster of Charity Village.com, an online source of information, news, jobs, services and resources for the Canadian non-profit community. Ever since she bought her first Commodore Vic 20, she has had a deep interest in computers and technology.
5. Karen Branscombe: Superintendent of New Brunswick’s largest school district and a leader in developing Professional Learning Communities. In 2010, she was recognized as one of the most powerful women by the Women’s Executive Network. She is an avid volunteer and is a past board member of the United Way and the Moncton Rotary Club.
6. Jean-Guy Rens – Senior Vice President of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA), the largest high-tech association in Canada. He specializes in public policy and marketing assistance for the introduction of new products and services. He has produced many independent studies revolving around the IT market in Canada.
7. Ben Lewis – Ben Lewis holds a Master’s degree in Communications and Culture from Ryerson University. He has authored papers on the dangers of restrictive copyright legislation, public space on the Internet, and the use of Internet technologies in Canadian universities and colleges. He likes to build things with pixels, blocks, and acrylic paint.

Websites are evaluated based on four categories of expertise:

• Small Business – celebrating a company whose website or application has helped a business contribute to its community, foster sales or create jobs.
• eLearning – recognizing youth and educators who use their .CA website to share knowledge and promote education.
• Not-for-Profit – distinguishing an NGO or association whose website or application is making a difference in the lives of members, donors, or the public.
• Web Technology and Design – recognizing individuals and organizations for innovation and impact in enhancing the speed, reliability, practicality and/or security of the Internet for all users.

The top winners of each category will win $5,000 and their names will be announced at the Awards Gala on the opening night of mesh in Toronto on May 25, 2011.

The executive board of Berlin based MMO game publisher Frogster Interactive Pictures AG named Kay Gruenwoldt General Manager of Frogster America Inc. Kay Gruenwoldt will lead the US subsidiary based in San Francisco and be responsible for growing the company’s presence in the region together with the CFO.

The boards of Frogster Interactive and Frogster America see Kay Gruenwoldt as a key addition to the management team to facilitate the further growth of North American operations. Frogster America has successfully run the free-to-play fantasy MMO game ‘Runes of Magic’ for over two years. The board of Frogster is convinced that with the assistance of Kay Gruenwoldt, the US subsidiary will grow its product portfolio, staff, scope and revenues substantially.

Kay Gruenwoldt is a 15-year veteran of the game and entertainment industries and has held executive level management positions in operations, sales, design, development and marketing with companies including JoWood and Nokia, where he was responsible for all North American marketing. Most recently, Gruenwoldt was the founder and managing director of Walking Squid, a boutique consulting agency in the space of digital and mobile media and games and CEO of the Games Academy in Vancouver – a design school which has not yet opened, although when I spoke to Mr. Gruenwoldt last May, the school was near launch.

Gruenwoldt advised multiple global entertainment companies in the social games, MMO and mobile spaces and has extensive experience launching and supporting new original IPs as well as platforms. Working for General Electric’s Industrial Systems in Europe and North America, Gruenwoldt gained extensive experience in project management and new product development. Gruenwoldt is a member of IGDA and AIAS, an Advisory Board member for the Dubai World Games and Canadian Videogames Awards, member of the board of Games Academy Vancouver as well as a frequent speaker at industry events around the world.

WinMagic® has launched SecureDoc Version 5.2, the only full-disk encryption (FDE) solution to support Lenovo® Hardware Password Manager (HPM) on ThinkPad laptops and ThinkCentre desktops. Hardware passwords prevent access to hard drives, including self-encrypting drives, to deter theft by making stolen devices worthless.

Lenovo and WinMagic have teamed to integrate HPM with WinMagic’s SecureDoc Enterprise Server (SES) to enable administrators to centrally manage all four standard hardware passwords from the same console that manages enterprise-wide encryption – making it simple to utilize SED (Self-Encrypting Drive) and BIOS credentials, monitor device status and reset BIOS passwords to ensure forgotten passwords do not negatively impact productivity.

SecureDoc v5.2 is also the first FDE solution to incorporate Pre-Boot Networking (PBN) and Advanced Encryption Standard New Instruction (AES-NI) to make FDE easier to manage and faster than ever before – enabling organizations to provide all the security benefits of FDE without any of the management, user or network performance headaches associated with encrypting endpoint devices.

PBN enables SecureDoc v5.2 to authenticate fully-encrypted endpoint devices against Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) and the SES from the pre-boot environment – before the key to decrypt and load the operating system is available. By eliminating the need for users to authenticate locally in the pre-boot environment to unlock the system and connect to the network, PBN makes it just as easy for users to access the network from an encrypted device as an unencrypted device. Read the rest of this entry »

Postmedia Network Inc. and Chicago company GeoPollster have teamed up to offer Canadians a new way to have their say and support their political party of choice. The result of this collaboration is GeoPollster Canada: Part real-world election game, part mobile polling experiment, that launches this week, and uses the location-based site Foursquare – where people can ‘check-in’ to places on their mobile devices.

First launched on National Post’s website and then on canada.com’s Decision Canada election site, the GeoPollster site today rolls out to all of Postmedia Network’s daily newspaper websites: Times Colonist (Victoria), The Vancouver Sun, The Province (Vancouver), the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the Leader-Post (Regina), The Star Phoenix (Saskatoon), The Windsor Star, the Ottawa Citizen and The Gazette (Montreal).

“Most traditional polls are conducted by cold-calling random Canadians on landline telephones and can miss a growing demographic that relies more on mobile devices and social media to connect with each other and the world,” said Jonathan Harris, Regional Vice President, Postmedia Digital. “It got us thinking: What would polling data look like if anyone with a smartphone could answer ‘who will you be voting for?’ anytime and anywhere they wanted?”

Participating in GeoPollster is easy and fun to do, readers can sign in to the service with their Foursquare account and select which political party they currently support: The Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats, Green or Bloc Québecois (this information is completely private and will never be displayed). Then, every time they check into a Foursquare venue anywhere in Canada, GeoPollster will count their check-in as a “vote” for that party. Votes are tallied in real-time to determine polling data for each venue and expressed on our live updating map. Read the rest of this entry »

Wordcamp Montreal, which is taking place this July 9th and 10th at Coeur des Sciences, Agora Hydro-Québec – UQAM has put out a call for speakers. Early Bird tickets are also on sale now for $30.00.

Game Prototype Challenge has announced its development theme for April – Companion and Rising. Participants have until 11:59pm on April 25th, 2011 to submit their game prototypes. That’s one week away, with a preview event known as Screenshot Saturday taking place on – you guessed it – this coming Saturday. This is the fifth round of prototype challenges, and if the previous four are anything to go by, this one will also see some awesome entries. You can check out all of the previous entries on the challenge’s web site.

The Early Bird registration rate for Interactive Ontario’s INplay 2011 conference has been extended until April 27th. Get your tickets now for what promises to be a great event. If you are a Canadian digital media designer, don’t forget to send in your submission for the CMF Canadian Interactive Showcase, the deadline is May 2nd.

Interactive Ontario has also released the results of its recent eLearning survey. Designed to examine the challenges faced by the province’s eLearning and cultural industry sectors, the 63 page PDF report (which I am still working my way through) looks at opportunities for growth and cross-pollination among all industry genres, including books, gaming, film, television and music.

Sticking with Ontario for the moment, OMDC is now accepting applications for 2011/12 cycle of the OMDC Export Fund – Interactive Digital Media. This program provides eligible Ontario interactive digital media content producers with funding to participate in export development activities that correspond to a strategy for company growth. Primary activities supported are market event attendance and targeted sales trips that relate to the strategy.

In order to be eligible, all applications must be submitted electronically through the Online Application Portal (OAP.) Interested applicants must register their company’s corporate information here prior to commencing an application.

For technical assistance with registration or the application process send an email to OMDC. Applicants are encouraged to commence the application process well in advance of the deadline in case technical support is required. Complete Guidelines and the link to the OAP are posted on the OMDC website.

In lieu of an information session, applicants will have the opportunity to receive feedback on a first draft of their OMDC Export Fund application through a one-on-one pre-application meeting with an OMDC Consultant. Participation in pre-application meetings is not a requirement and is offered as a courtesy for applicants who may be unfamiliar with the program and/or require additional assistance. Applicants are also encouraged to contact OMDC at any time with questions regarding this program.

Pre-application meetings will take place on May 9 and 10, 2011. Please send in an email to schedule a meeting please email programs@omdc.on.ca. Once your email request has been received, OMDC will contact you to schedule a time on one of these two days.

Here is a look at Part Two of the EA Sports video series on re-launching the SSX franchise with SSX: Deadly Descents:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69cGRZ3pzbs]

Manitoba’s MTS has joined the “PVR from Anywhere” movement with the the launch of its My PVR (Personal Video Recorder) service which enables MTS Ultimate TV customers to add, change or delete their Whole Home PVR recordings using any computer with an Internet connection or from select mobile devices. This service is available free of charge to all MTS Ultimate TV Whole Home PVR subscribers.

“My PVR is a great addition to our MTS Ultimate TV service and will give customers the freedom to manage their Whole Home PVR from outside their home,” said Stan Kurtas, Vice President, Marketing, MTS. “We are always working to bring our customers the latest in technology in order to enhance, what we consider to be, the most feature rich television service in Canada.”

My PVR, which can be accessed through the customer’s MyAccount portal, offers customers the opportunity to browse through MTS’s online program guide to see what programs will be on in the next 12 days, search by title and create a shared login so anyone in the family can manage recordings over the Internet.

Independent media site rabble.ca is celebrating its 10th anniversary by launching Media Watch, an initiative committed to dispelling myths perpetrated by ideologically driven reporters and sensationalist media. “We don’t want people to be blinded by SunTV,” said rabble.ca Publisher, Kim Elliott. “Our new media watch blog will feature a media consumer Twitter feed #sunwatch and the keen eye of Alheli Picazo.”

Coordinator of Media Watch and rabble.ca blogger, Alheli Picazo, wrote an expose in 2010 entitled “Ezra Levant vs Reality – A Prelude To Fox News North” in which she thoroughly challenged Levant’s characterization of George Soros. Following this piece Soros filed suit against Levant and Sun Media, resulting in a full retraction and apology printed in The Sun’s editorial section 13 short days after Levant’s original column ran.

“With the official launch of Sun TV News – featuring none other than Levant himself – there has never been a better time to establish a media accountability service,” said Picazo.

Though it’s starting off small, Media Watch aims to cover a wide range of media, from uninformed editorials and inaccurate reporting. rabble.ca’s team of dedicated spin decoders and lie detectors won’t just point out misinformation, but will provide readers with links to, and information about, the sources from which we cite accurate information. Be it scientific data, peer reviewed research, documented fact or expert analysis, we’ll share the tools you need to further investigate the issues.

Canadian voters are invited to tune in to rabbleTV on April 18 to watch special election coverage (“for the rest of us”) with the launch of the show Real Issues. Host Trish Hennessy (researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and author of the Hennessy Index) will be joined by guests Canadian Auto Workers economist Jim Stanford, Greg Elmer, Director, Infoscape Research Lab and Bell Globemedia Research Chair, and Atkinson Foundation’s Olivia Nuamah. This first panel responds to the leaders’ debates and the campaign so far, and will tackle the issue of strategic voting. 

Dirk Vander Ploeg, publisher of the very popular website UFO Digest is excited to announce the launch of his newest website, UFO Digest Canada.

Canada is in the forefront of UFO disclosure globally and it’s about time Canada had its own UFO website dealing exclusively with Canadian UFO sightings, photos and videos considering that Alberta was the first location in the World to open a UFO landing pad back in 1967. Hon Paul Hellyer, the former Canadian Minister for National Defense was the guest of honour at the opening, arriving by helicopter. Hellyer described his time as Minister for Defense from 1963-1967 where the occasional UFO sighting report crossed his desk. He claims to never having time for what he considered to be a “flight of fancy”, but nevertheless retained an interest in the UFO phenomenon. He also gave a speech in Toronto at an event titled: “Exopolitics Toronto: A Symposium on UFO Disclosure and Planetary Direction“. He also describes a private UFO sighting he later had with family and guests, but once again attributed it to a ‘flight of fancy’ rather than anything having serious policy implications.

From Vancouver Island to Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada has had its share of UFO sightings. Famous among UFO lore is the report of a UFO crash into the waters off Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, October 4, 1967. Then there is a report of a UFO landing outside of Carp in Ontario. The story involves a UFO crash and retrieval efforts, extraterrestrials, Canadian and American investigators, the RCMP, TV show producers and a handful of witnesses.

Vander Ploeg has also videos of an unknown object of his own, ” Let me take you back to the summer of 2001. I was watching the morning sky at approximately 2.00am. Venus was in the eastern sky and I decided to use my video camera to get a closer look at the planet. What I noticed was that the planet had a companion. I believed it was either another planet or a star. But during the time period I watched the sky, the object which was to the left of Venus paralleled the planet, moving through the sky and remaining the same distance from Venus. What then happened was extraordinary! The object to the left, whatever it was, began to fade and then when it had almost disappeared completely, suddenly moved rapidly to the right eventually fading into nothingness!”. The original video has not be edited and is available for expert analysis. Read the rest of this entry »

Tech Data Canada has partnered with Silicon Valley company Ruckus Wireless™ to offer Ruckus “Smart Wi-Fi” systems and technology to its 5,000 reseller and solution provider customers across Canada. Through the agreement, Tech Data will distribute the entire line of Ruckus ZoneFlex™ Smart Wireless LAN products throughout the country.

With the availability of Ruckus ZoneFlex systems, value-added resellers (VARs) can offer their end-user customers in the healthcare, education and government industries advanced wireless networking capabilities at a fraction of the cost of other available systems. The ZoneFlex suite of products is perfectly suited to address today’s high density mobile computing environments, as businesses and government organizations grapple with the flood of handheld devices tapping into their networks.

The Ruckus ZoneFlex system is the only wireless LAN (WLAN) solution that combines intelligent RF routing and smart Wi-Fi meshing within an easy-to-use and centrally managed architecture. The combination of these technology breakthroughs gives enterprises the ability to achieve two to four times the range, reliability and performance at half the deployment time and cost of competitive alternatives, as well as the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) in the market – making ZoneFlex ideal for the channel and their customers.

“The ‘Tablet Computer Age’ is upon us, and as a result, businesses everywhere need more robust wireless networks to support the influx of smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices being used by employees and visitors – most of which have no capability to connect to anything except wirelessly,” said Rob Mustarde, vice president of worldwide sales for Ruckus Wireless. “As a leading IT distributor for many of the key vertical markets we serve, Tech Data’s reach throughout Canada, as well as its localized warehousing in Western and Eastern Canada, will be of tremendous benefit in bringing our solutions to more channel partners, and ultimately, a broader portion of the Canadian market.” Read the rest of this entry »

Building on the wildly successful voter engagement game Mayor Munch, Onestop Media Group has launched Ballot Blitz – an online game starring animated versions of Canada’s top five party leaders: Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe and Elizabeth May.

Ballot Blitz is accessible online through Onestop’s consumer site and is promoted nationally to the millions of people viewing Onestop’s portfolio of  Digital Out-of-Home Networks across the country. Registration is required in order to play the game.

Ballot Blitz features Live poll results based on the animated candidates’ popularity.  Playonestop.com will also feature a series of fun election-specific polls and content. Over the next few weeks, Onestop will be using its digital media channels, PlayOnestop.com, Twitter, and Facebook, to promote several creative polls as an alternative to the dozens of scientific polls and ‘more-serious’ election media.

“History shows youth engagement leads to next generation voters. As a Canadian company immersed in the digital landscape, we have the mandate and social responsibility to do just that… help the communities in which we operate engage youth in this federal election in a fun fashion relevant to their generation,” says Michael Girgis, President and CEO, Onestop Media Group.

The digital and interactive campaign largely targets what is recognized as an untapped voting community of 18 – 34 year olds. As an incentive, Ballot Blitz players are eligible to win an Apple MacBook. The contest closes Friday, April 29^th at 5:01pm.