Village Gamer

Title: Sky Babes vs Fly Boys
Developer: A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games
Release Date: March 2009
Platform: iPhone and iTouch
ESRB: Everyone 10+
Price: $ 0.99 USD

Sky Babes vs Fly Boys is a game of speed and strategy – you play as a freight pilot, and you need to outlast your competition by not going bankrupt. This is no small feat, as the AI in Sky Babes vs Fly Boys is rather intelligent – and fast. With the price of fuel constantly rising as play progresses, it becomes pertinent to make the best routing decisions and getting to the pick up locations before the other pilots.

Starting off in North America, players choose from four characters with distinctly different personalities – Baroness von Kargohaulin, Cassie Nova, Ace Boomer or The Duke. As delivery orders come available, cities pop up on the map, a white dotted line showing the cargo destination. It is very important to pay attention to each city that pops up, as you can earn more money and use less fuel by combining cargo deliveries. To select a cargo pick up location, all you need to do is tap the city’s icon followed by the drop-off point. To re-route your plane for a secondary cargo pick up, simply tap the second city’s icon. Cargo values are indicated by the number icon. For example, a cargo marker labeled “1” is worth $100.00 while a marker of “5” is worth $500.00. Diamond-shaped icons under your character’s name indicates how many cargo shipments you can carry on your plane, and if those spots are empty or filled. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – Several founding members of Women In Games Vancouver (WIGV), along with several women (and men) from Vancouver’s game development community will be participating in a new Leadership Development Forum taking place on July 20 in Seattle. The Forum, being held one day prior to the start of Casual Connect Seattle, will offer a variety of topics relating to business, development, careers and community. Presented in partnership with the Casual Game Association, Women In Games International and the IGDA Women In Games SIG, topics will be presented on three consecutive tracks: Business, Design and Production.

Taking place at The Triple Door, the Leadership Development Forum will begin with registration and networking at 11am. Attendees will be welcomed by Jessica Tams, Managing Director at Casual Games Association and Annie Sumi Nam of WIGV. They will be followed by keynote presenter Megan Gaiser, President and CEO of Her Interactive, who will speak on the Importance of Leadership. Please read on for information on the full schedule, and a special thank you to Kerry and Kalinka Corlett over at AnnexPro for their generous sponsorship and support of WIGV’s first official international speaking event.

Anyone who is attending Casual Connect will have full access to the Leadership Development Forum. For those who only wish to attend the Leadership Forum, tickets are $25.00 (USD) and include networking, panels, roundtables and the post-event mixer.
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Vancouver – Biz Books is offering a rather unique opportunity to learn the art and craft of directing and cinematography from two of the best filmmakers in the film industry.

Course Details
This 2-Day Directing and Cinematography Course with multi Emmy award winning director/cinematographer/producer, Michael W Watkins, featuring Emmy nominated cinematographer, Joel Ransom, will be an information filled and inspiring weekend for both novice and professional filmmakers.

In this seminar, attention will be focused on how director and cinematographer work together toward a goal in creating the ’Moment’ through exploration of scene visualization, actor staging, camera blocking, positing and movement, camera/actor choreography, color, lighting, shot size, lens choice to, ultimately, express the director’s vision for the overall look of the film.

The workshop will be beneficial to professional and amateur directors alike — film enthusiasts, cameramen, corporate and home video entrepreneurs. The course will also suit actors who want to establish their directing career.
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Tokyo – via notice from DFAIT – Japan Prize is now accepting entries for the 2009 contest and also participant registrations for CrossMedia Forum.

The Japan Prize was established in 1965 by NHK as International Educational Program Contest with the aims of improving the quality of educational programs around the world and contributing to the development and fostering of international understanding and cooperation.

Keeping these original aims, in 2008, Japan Prize reformed its content and now targets not only TV programs but also other linear contents, websites, educational games, and other interactive
products with audiovisual contents. This was to cope with circumstances facing educational media including the diffusion of information-communication technologies, the initiation of digital broadcasting and the spread of the Internet in the field of education worldwide.

We would like to further promote the Japan Prize in the game industry to receive more entries with high educational effects. Please feel free to explore our website to discover whether your productions may qualify for these prestigious awards. For more detailed information about entries, please see the rules for the Audiovisual Division on the Japan Prize site.
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Vancouver – Aftercad Software is pleased to announce the Beta signup for its ground breaking 3D Workspace for collaboration in Digital Prototyping and Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects.

The Aftercad 3D Workspace is a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering that allows businesses to upload, view, mark-up, manage and publish large and complex 3D CAD files onto the web, without the need for proprietary viewers, providing easy and instant access to 3D project information by non-CAD professionals.

“With the development of the 3D Workspace Beta we have achieved our goal of bringing a complete online file system to our customers so that they can collaborate on all project documents including stunning 3D visuals,” said Chris Boothroyd, CEO of Aftercad. “The goal of the 3D Workspace is to quickly centralize, visualize and annotate what it is you are trying to build so that your clients can come to decisions faster and easier. Each 3D Workspace has its own secure online file system, event notification and sharing tools so that you can easily invite clients or partners to collaborate with you on a 3D project.”
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Vancouver – Singular Software Inc. has released a beta update for PluralEyes™ 1.1, a companion application for Final Cut Pro that automatically synchronizes audio and video clips without the need for timecode. Targeted at the independent video professional, PluralEyes™ drastically simplifies multicamera and dual-system audio productions, both during recording and in post-production.

PluralEyes™ determines synchronization information from audio that is already present in the recorded material. During the shoot, there is no need to connect cameras and audio recorders or take any other special steps to prepare. And when shooting is done, the creative editing process can get started right away without the time-consuming step of matching clips manually. This removes the biggest bottlenecks in both production and post-production.

Since its release in April of this year, PluralEyes has been used by hundreds of video professionals and their feedback has been incorporated to make PluralEyes™ work better than ever for productions like weddings, live performances, music videos, reality TV, and indie films.
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Ottawa – The Honourable Helena Guergis, Minister of State (Status of Women), is pleased to announce the Call for Nominations for the 30th Governor General’s Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case. The awards were instituted by the Governor General in 1979 to honour the 50th anniversary of the “Persons Case” and the five Alberta women whose determination led to a landmark victory in the struggle by Canadian women for equality. The Famous Five achieved not only the right for women to serve in the Senate, but also paved the way for women to participate in other aspects of public life.

“Equality for women and their full participation in society are important for women, their families, their communities and our country. More than ever before, we need women leaders of all ages to help keep our country strong, economically, socially and democratically,” said Minister Guergis. “The Government of Canada is proud to recognize those who work to promote the equality of girls and women in Canada. Recipients of these awards continue the tradition of dedication and determination that the Famous Five inspired to enrich their communities.”
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Burnaby – Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that the highly anticipated Fight Night Round 4 is now available in retail stores worldwide. Recently named the Game Critic Awards “Best Sports Game of E3 2009”, Fight Night Round 4 is developed by EA Canada under the EA SPORTS™ brand. Fight Night Round 4 is the latest entry from the critically acclaimed Fight Night franchise, and is the first title ever that will allow players to pit “Iron” Mike Tyson against “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali.

Designed with a revolutionary physics-based gameplay engine, Fight Night Round 4 replicates the sweet science to an unprecedented degree of realism. Witness gloves grazing off an opponent as he dodges at the last second, or watch as a vicious uppercut rips through the block of a boxer who turtles for too long. With realistic physics, height and reach become major factors in how each boxer approaches a fight. Shorter fighters, like Tyson, will look to weave inside and deliver punishing hooks to the head and body, while taller fighters, like Ali, will use their reach advantage to pump their jab while staying out of range of their opponent’s punches.

An all new career mode, titled Legacy mode, challenges you to move up the ranks from an upstart amateur to become the greatest of all time. Create a boxer from the incredibly robust create-boxer feature, or import your own face into the game using the Photo Game Face tool and bring your virtual self into the ring. Make rivals, challenge for and defend belts as you journey to cement your name among the greatest names in boxing.
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It’s not about gaming, but it’s still fun and educational

Britannia Beach BC – The BC Museum of Mining (BCMM) has launched an advanced new website offering a host of multimedia features and downloadable material. With online archival images and historical newsletters, BC Museum of Mining Online is the place to learn about the history and the future of BC Mining.

The new website was created to enhance communication with visitors, students and teachers, and history enthusiasts looking to learn more about the Britannia Beach community, current exhibits and collections, and mining in BC. The easy to navigate new site offers a searchable database of archives, calendar, press area, tour information, and links visitors to the Museum’s social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Future plans will see the Museum offering further online activities to engage our audience, such as: The Curator’s Blog, high-resolution image library, video footage, additional archives, and new collections.

The Britannia Historical Society, the governing body of the British Columbia Museum of Mining (BCMM), is a non-profit society. The society was established in 1971 to preserve the material and social history of mining in British Columbia, and to educate the public about mining. It is a registered charity. The Society is essentially self-sufficient in its ability to earn revenues to maintain its operation.

Burnaby – Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that starting July 9 gamers can download and compete in Skate 2’s Maloof Money Cup Pack, based on the largest pursed event in the history of professional skateboarding. The pack will be available in the PLAYSTATION® Store for $3.00 and on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for 240 points in North America.

“Skate 2 has been embraced by the gaming and skateboarding community across the globe, making it the perfect stage for the Maloof Money Cup’s videogame debut,” said Joe Maloof, President of Maloof Companies. “Now players everywhere can experience the world’s greatest skateboarding championship and revel in the high-stakes excitement of the competition for themselves.”

Skate 2’s Maloof Money Cup Pack will feature separate gameplay events both online and offline – freeskate, single player vert and street contests that put gamers against world class pros, and an online mode in which gamers will be able to compete against their friends in new activities and challenges for bragging rights. Xbox 360 gamers get an added bonus as there are 250 achievement points up for grabs.
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