Village Gamer

Vancouver – Over the past two days, we attended some of the many educational sessions offered at this year’s Spark FX festival where we made a few new friends and learned many interesting things about the visual effects industry. It is no longer much of a surprise to me to discover the many outstanding creations which are coming out of Vancouver studios, and Spark FX is most definitely a powerful showcase for the talent and technology in this city. Kudos to all of the ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver volunteers who put in many hours of hard work to ensure that the rest of us had a great event to attend.

The first session we were able to attend was with matte painter Dylan Cole, who revealed many of the techniques and processes he uses to achieve his outstanding work. For me personally, this session was very inspirational, as Dylan encouraged attendees to think creatively to solve creative challenges. I definitely want to try some of the techniques he used in building ice scenes, vistas and fantasy cityscapes. Most surprising was the use of photographs in the mattes, and how those photographs are meshed into a painting along with hand-drawn work to create a back-scene which is realistic to the movie watcher.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – PDFTron Systems Incorporated, a leading global provider of PDF development tools and components, announced the official release of PDFTron’s advanced PDF library, PDFNet SDK for Windows Mobile.

PDFNet Mobile SDK is an advanced C/C++ software development toolkit for viewing, annotating, creating, and manipulating PDF documents on mobile and embedded devices without any third-party software dependencies. Although the PDFNet Mobile SDK API has all the power and functionality of the desktop PDFNet API, the library is specially designed and optimized to run efficiently on low-power-consuming and memory-constrained mobile devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, and other embedded devices.

Using PDFTron’s PDFNet Mobile SDK, hardware, software, telecom service and mobile application providers can add powerful new functionality to their products. The PDFNet Mobile SDK API also contains powerful tools to facilitate development and implementation, including compiled device-specific libraries, API reference guides, plenty of sample code, and a full-featured mobile PDF viewer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Toronto – A message from the staff at CIX: Please note that CIX is now scheduled for Fall 2009. Unfortunately, the venue that we booked has gone out of business; at this late stage we have been unable to find an alternative venue for the same week in March, and wish to avoid clashing with other industry events throughout spring.

CIX remains firmly committed to organizing a world class gathering in Toronto focused on Canadian technology innovation. We look forward to announcing our new dates shortly.

Innovation Never Stops
In the interim, we are continuing to accept submissions.

Village Gamer will announce the new CIX dates as soon as they become available.

Market leaders to create a series of Mystery Case Files books and Harlequin Presents games

Toronto – Harlequin Enterprises Limited, the global leader in series romance and one of the world’s leading publishers of women’s fiction, and Big Fish Games, the world’s leading online destination for games and interactive entertainment, today announced a new licensing partnership.

In the summer of 2009, Big Fish Games will begin publishing interactive games inspired by Harlequin Presents, the most popular romance-novel series in the world, which regularly tops eRetailer and retail bookstore bestseller lists. These games will be sold on line exclusively at Big Fish Games and at all major retail stores.

In the second quarter of 2010, Harlequin will begin publishing a branded series of books inspired by Mystery Case Files(R), Big Fish Games’ award-winning franchise with over 3 million units sold. These novels will be written by Harlequin’s bestselling authors. Harlequin will be the first to publish women’s mystery fiction for Big Fish Games.
Read the rest of this entry »

Corel Corporation and Wilcom International today announced the immediate availability of Wilcom DecoStudio© e1.5,a powerful graphics and embroidery software that enables users to easily produce multi-decoration pieces using screen, embroidery, laser etching, rhinestone, laser cutting, and other techniques

Ottawa – Corel Corporation, and Wilcom International of Sydney, AU today announced the immediate availability of Wilcom DecoStudio© e1.5, a powerful graphics and embroidery software that enables users to easily produce multi-decoration pieces using screen, embroidery, laser etching, rhinestone, laser cutting, and other techniques.

Combining CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X4 with Wilcom’s innovative stitch processor, lettering, monogramming and appliqué tools, Wilcom DecoStudio e1.5 enables users to effortlessly combine embroidery and print, moving seamlessly between vector art and embroidery elements while keeping everything in one file for production purposes. Read the rest of this entry »

Experience the business behind the magic as The Disney Institute and Mount Royal Continuing Education offer a one-day seminar highlighting the importance of innovation and creativity in the workplace

Calgary – Mount Royal College Continuing Education invites you to discover for yourself how organizational creativity can give you the competitive edge in today’s changing business world. As The Disney Institute brings its world-renowned brand of professional development to the Faculty of Continuing Education & Extension. Learn how to create a climate of creativity and everyday innovation through Team Creativity – Disney Style. This one-day, 6-hour programme takes place on Feb. 18, 2009 with a registration fee of $399.00 +GST. Visit the Mount Royal site to register for this programme.

Through Disney Institute you will discover how to:

* Foster a collaborative environment that draws on the creative resources of your entire organization

* Establish systems that help your leaders make decisions about new ideas

* Focus your employees’ creativity on the goals of your organization

* Improve productivity by implementing new ideas generated in the creative process

Corridor for Advancing Canadian Digital Media’ will be Canada’s largest concentration of digital media R&D and commercialization expertise

Waterloo ON – Communitech and the Stratford Institute of the University of Waterloo have been awarded $10.7 million from the Minister of State (Science and Technology) to establish the Corridor for Advancing Canadian Digital Media (CACDM), which will focus on commercialization and research.

The digital media sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the knowledge economy, expected to reach US$2.2 trillion worldwide in the next five years. Digital media is created by using visual images and video, as well as sound and user interaction software, to communicate and use information from large data sources.

The CACDM, which will provide a common space for the corporate and academic communities to come together around digital media, will have hubs in Kitchener and Stratford, ON:
Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – Black Box, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio announced today that the highly-anticipated Skate 2 has shipped to retailers worldwide. Skate 2 ups the ante in delivering all the grit, creativity and culture of skateboarding with all-new tricks that allow players to truly skate it their way – on and off the board.

“Skate 2 is the perfect next chapter for the Skate franchise,” said Executive Producer, Scott Blackwood. “We expanded and deepened our original ideas and incorporated feedback straight from our passionate fans. With all new features, more challenges and a rich world, the game continues to celebrate skateboarding, while still innovating the genre in an unparalleled way.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – Relic Entertainment’s newest RTS title, Dawn of War 2, is now available for pre-purchase on Steam for $49.99 USD. But wait, there’s more! Gamers who already own Dawn of War: Soulstorm (either a retail or digital download version) can enter into an early access beta. If gamers don’t already own Soulstorm but want to get in on the early beta, Steam is offering the expansion pack for 75% off of the retail price. The beta will open to everyone on January 28. Gamers can play on five unique multi-player maps, and it will be available for download free of charge via Steam.

Tyranid Ambush

Early reports from Village Gamer’s own rabid Dawn of War staffer include several expressions of approval, however many of the descriptive words he utilized can’t be repeated here. He did emerge from the beta long enough to say that the new GUI is great, along with several game mechanics which have been carried over from Company of Heroes, another Relic title. He likes the new squad tactics and objectives which require more strategical thought and planning on the part of the gamer – he followed this with an ominously Orkish sounding “if you want to beat the enemy, you have to be the enemy.”

Mike also reports that the voice-acting and audio quality are top-notch, with some great character writing and one-liners. So far, his favourite in-game expression has something to do
Read the rest of this entry »

Atomic Cartoons, creators of the international hit series Atomic Betty, partners with high powered creative team, Punktuition LLC, to develop and produce Sally Boyden’s new CG kids’ comedy series, PUNKTUITION

Vancouver – Atomic Cartoons, creators of world famous Atomic Betty have announced a partnership with New York-based Punktuition LLC on the new animated comedy series, Punktuition. Vancouver-based Atomic will debut the project to buyers and broadcasters at the 2009 Kidscreen Summit in New York in February.

Punktuition is the brainchild of Australian singer-songwriter, Sally Boyden, a former child star and Jason Lake, son of British icon, Diana Dors. The colorful comedy has been developed for television by Sally Boyden and former UK Daily Mail writer, Tania Shakinovsky. Creative consulting was provided by Christopher Cerf (Sesame Street, Between The Lions) and Atomic Cartoons co-founder, Rob Davies. “We are very fortunate to be guided by such high caliber creative advice in bringing Punktuition to fruition. says co-creator, Sally Boyden.” And in Atomic Cartoons we know we have a partner with as much passion for the project as we have.”

The series is random comedy with a dose of adventure about a cast of fun young characters who are lost on a purple planet in the center of the Luniverse, not knowing how they got there or why they now bear more than a passing resemblance to punctuation marks. As if that wasn’t perplexing enough, they were in possession of mysterious super powers that definitely weren’t there before. The central theme of Punktuition is the gang of friends finding their way home, and on the journey Read the rest of this entry »