Village Gamer

Vancouver – Switchin.net, a leading free 3d online gaming portal popular with over 1.5 million monthly gamers, has allowed its fans to participate in creating the next game by opening a poll to let it’s users vote what game is created next.

With a variety of online worlds specializing in avatar customization, human and animal alike, Switchin.net, which is owned and operated by Sanity Check Entertainment Inc. has presented its users the options of voting between 5 various animal themed games. This use of community empowerment seems to be unique among most independent game developers who rarely offer development decisions open to their audiences. Switchin.net has embraced this choice stating they can be confident their next 3d online game will be a popular choice with its fans. Read the rest of this entry »

Community feedback reflected in latest enhancements to award-winning graphics suite

Corel Corporation today released a new service pack for the award-winning CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X4. Reflecting the top requests from the CorelDRAW user community, the service pack includes expanded RAW camera support capabilities (including support for Nikon D90 and Canon EOS 1000D/50D), improved Drop Shadows functionality, and enhanced visual feedback for specific suite functions.

“Our CorelDRAW user community is a highly valued source of ongoing feedback and inspiration and we are pleased to deliver an update that addresses their top requests,” said Gerard Metrailler, Senior Director of Product Management, Graphics for Corel. “Our community site, CorelDRAW.com, is a meeting place where CorelDRAW users from around the world can interact together, exchange ideas, and communicate directly with Corel’s development and product management teams, and continues to experience steady growth, month after month.”
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Vancouver – The zombie masters over at PowerUp Studios are pleased to announce the commencement of the NOMBZ (Night of a Million Billion Zombies) Online Public Beta.

Gamers are invited to try out the newest incarnation of NOMBZ and battle co-operatively against the zombie hordes alongside three other Zombie Hunters in this 3D browser-based survival action game. Or, if you prefer to hunt your Zombies alone, there is a solo play mode to try as well.

When you’ve had your fill of zombie-slaying mayhem, PowerUp invites you to drop by the NOMBZ ONLINE forums and share your comments and suggestions. The development team want to pick your brains (unless they became Zombie snacks) and find out what you liked, what you didn’t like, and what you would like to see in the future. New features and content are ready to roll out in the weeks and months ahead. PowerUp wants to make NOMBZ ONLINE the best it can be, and they appreciate your feedback and assistance along the way.

Images © 2009 PowerUp Studios Inc.

Viira is a new BlackBerry GTD software application that enables people to leverage the principles of the Getting Things Done action management system from their BlackBerry smartphones.

Vancouver – Karta Mobile Inc. has announced the public availability of release 1.1 of its BlackBerry productivity application Viira. Viira is a mobile software product that brings the principles of the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology to the hands of BlackBerry users worldwide and is the only software application of GTD on BlackBerry to provide its users with the ability to organize to-do tasks by project, by context and by day.

The release of Viira comes to the rescue of many fans of GTD who have long been frustrated with the lack of an effective and helpful Getting Things Done application for their BlackBerries. Despite the number of available GTD software products, the vast majority of them are Web- or desktop-based and therefore not suitable for on-the-go use.

“The response from Viira’s users has been phenomenal. People like the ease of use, love the organizational flexibility and increased mobility. Many report a big improvement in their productivity,” reported Chris Balavessov, CEO of Karta Mobile.
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Company’s mobile video application to be provided with co-marketing support from Sierra Wireless

Vancouver – LiveCast debuted its LiveCast Pro as a best-in-class application during demonstrations hosted by Sierra Wireless at its Richmond, B.C. facility for the five winners of the Wavefront-Sierra Wireless Developer programme.

During a competitive six-month process LiveCast worked with the developer programme manager to benefit from the training, testing and advisory services provided by Wavefront in Vancouver, and the PC cards, ExpressCards, and USB modems provided by Sierra Wireless, to advance its application development.

“We’d like to put the same LiveCast Pro solution that major news organizations use on a daily basis to go “live to air” and live to the Web, into the hands of entertainers, sports teams, municipalities and many other consumer and enterprise users,” says William Mutual, CEO, LiveCast. “This award and co-marketing support from a leading global corporation such as Sierra Wireless provides us the credibility and increased exposure to dramatically further our sales and marketing objectives.”
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PTPA Media Inc. announces a content partnership with Kaboose, one of the largest family-focused new media companies in the world, under which PTPA will provide Kaboose with reviews of new products that are designed for children and families and tested by PTPA and parents.

Toronto – PTPA Media is a highly regarded awards program that recognizes new family- and child-focused products that are “parent tested, parent approved”. Its mission is to discover and appraise new products designed for children and families by researching new products and coordinating testing with parents. Award winning products are selected based on value, functionality, quality and appeal. Every quarter, PTPA Media does an annual awards program to recognize the best products in a broad array categories that are important to today’s parents. This year, Kaboose will be announcing on Kaboose.com the PTPA Media Award recipients in the four key product categories of innovation, green-friendly, mom-focused and dad-focused.

“Our partnership with PTPA Media is a perfect complement to our mission to improve the quality of family life by connecting parents and kids in a fun, educational and safe Read the rest of this entry »

Businesses Learn to Stop Cyber Criminals

Vancouver – Online threats to business operations are likely to grow in 2009, but some companies are getting the information they need to prepare for the coming storm.

This month, Vancouver Board of Trade Managers’ Toolbox presents “Online Protection: How to secure your business and build consumer trust“, where Pacific Coast Information Systems Ltd. President Vaclav Vincalek will provide essential tips and practical steps businesses can take to protect their operations and customers.

“Hackers and cyber criminals are increasingly employing multi-faceted tactics that businesses must prevent if they want to survive, much less compete,” Vincalek says. “A successful attack on a company’s network or online presence, which can take a
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Approximately $0.8 million expected in the next eight weeks

TORONTO – Atlantis Systems Corp. today announced that it has been notified by the Ontario Media Development Corporation of its eligibility to receive an Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit, which is a refundable tax credit based on eligible Ontario labour, marketing and distribution expenses with respect to interactive digital media products produced in Ontario. Under this program, Atlantis expects to receive approximately $1.5 million in fiscal 2009, net of applicable fees. The Company expects to receive $0.8 million in February 2009 and the balance once the 2008 tax returns have been filed. The tax credits relate to expenses incurred in the 2007 and 2008 taxation years. The Company plans to apply for future credits through the Ontario Media Development Corporation and through a similar program in Nova Scotia.

“These tax credits provide strong evidence of the quality and innovativeness of Atlantis’ solutions, and they help to solidify our near-term financial position as we execute our new strategic plan and pursue multiple opportunities in our business Read the rest of this entry »

iNovia Capital’s Funding Allows Company To Maintain its Expansion and Launch New Product Offerings

Montreal – Garner Bornstein, CEO of Airborne Mobile Inc., a long-time innovator and leader in the mobile media industry, today announced the closing of a $2 million growth financing round with iNovia Capital. The injection of capital will be used to finance Airborne’s new initiatives in mobile media and other business opportunities.

A 10-year pioneer in the mobile content industry, firmly-entrenched in partnerships with every major North American wireless carrier as well as with high-profile consumer brands like Fox’s Family Guy and Food Network, Airborne is enjoying a renaissance
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Vancouver – Grubby Games, an independent Vancouver game development studio co-founded by Ryan Clark and Matt Parry in 2004, has been named to the final nominees list for the upcoming Independent Games Festival Awards. Their new 2D physics-based Incredibots game is in the running for an award in the Technical Excellence category.

Grubby Games co-founder Ryan Clark says that he came up with the idea for Incredibots after playing a physics game which allows the player to control a small tracked vehicle. “I really enjoyed playing with that little tank! I decided that if such a simple little application was so much fun, a full-featured robot editor would be far more fun!”
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