Village Gamer

Vancouver – Tonight’s AnnexPro informational session, Discover How to Make Better Games + Animation with Autodesk DEC Tools, has been cancelled due to Game Four in the Vancouver Canucks – Chicago Blackhawks play-off series. AnnexPro encourages those who were planning on attending this session to please register for the AutoDesk Virtual Event on May 19 instead.

Also, please note that the May 14th event, Up Close + Personal: Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 with Louis Marcoux may be postponed due to further Canucks play-off action. Please check the event page for further information.

Go Canucks Go!

Edmonton – Computer games are a major economic force in the burgeoning interactive entertainment industry. In the past, computer graphics was used to differentiate products but recent hardware advances have leveled the playing field. Today, the savvy consumer looks beyond the mere appearance of a game to the quality of its content. Artificial intelligence (AI) is seen as the next leap forward in technology, attempting to create game characters that behave and converse as realistically as possible. Come hear how progress in this seemingly narrow topic will impact your daily lives in the not to distant future. Read the rest of this entry »

Banff – Featuring top television program creators, broadcasters, and executives in children’s and animation television industries, Kids and Animation Day includes sessions, networking opportunities, broadcaster briefings and spotlights on high-profile players in the industry.

Network with and hear from:

Brown Johnson, President, Animation, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group
David Levine, VP, Worldwide Programming Strategy and Windowing, Disney Channel and Jetix
Agnes Augustin, President, Shaw Rocket Fund
Joan Lambur, Executive Producer, Breakthrough Entertainment
Matt Hornburg, Partner/Producer, Marble Media
Vince Commisso, President and CEO, 9 Story Entertainment
Toper Taylor, President and COO, Cookie Jar Entertainment
Stuart Snyder, President and COO, Cartoon Network, Turner Broadcasting
Frank Saperstein, SVP Animation and Children’s Programming, E1 Entertainment
Joe Godwin, Head of News, Factual and Entertainment, BBC Children’s
Beth Stevenson, Executive Vice President, Production and Development
Ira Levy, Executive Producer, Breakthrough Entertainment
Finn Arneson, SVP Original Animation and Acquisitions, Cartoon Network
Jocelyn Hamilton, VP Programming and Production, Corus Kids

Sessions will run concurrently with the regularly scheduled sessions on Tuesday, June 9.
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Montreal – Today Ubisoft® announced that their E3 press conference will be held at the Los Angeles Theatre on June 1, 2009 at 5 pm local time (doors open at 4 pm). The press conference is by invitation only to Ubisoft partners, investors, retailers and select media. It will also be broadcast online for the public the following morning Ubisoft’s web site.

During the press conference Ubisoft will unveil its line-up for Holiday 2009 and beyond including a demonstration of the eagerly anticipated new comedy-adventure Rabbids Go Home®, and exclusive reveals of Red Steel® 2 and the massively popular Assassin’s Creed® II, as well as other unannounced titles and special guests that are certain to thrill attendees and web viewers. The event will be hosted by actor and comedian Joel McHale, writer, producer and star of E!’s The Soup and star of NBC’s upcoming comedy series “The Community”.

Ubisoft’s website will host select information direct from Ubisoft’s booth at E3, giving fans access to exclusive interviews and trailers of Ubisoft games.

Vancouver – Microsoft Corp. today announced its intent to acquire BigPark Inc., which was founded in 2007 by a group of industry veterans who led the creation and growth of two hugely successful software companies, Distinctive Software Inc. and Electronic Arts Canada. BigPark’s founding team is composed of business leaders with over 80 years of collective experience in the video game industry, having produced or overseen blockbuster franchises including “Need for Speed,” “FIFA Soccer,” “NBA Street” and “SSX.”

The acquisition will bring BigPark’s talented developers into Microsoft Game Studios, where the team will continue development on an exclusive Xbox 360 game. Over the past year, Microsoft and BigPark have worked closely on this project, providing Microsoft with a clear view into the caliber of talent and innovation at BigPark.
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Mississauga – The Canadian Red Cross is the recipient of Microsoft Canada’s largest ever single software donation. Microsoft Canada will provide the Canadian Red Cross with more than $3 million in software and licensing to help them focus on disaster relief efforts and humanitarian aid in Canada and around the world. The donation also brings Microsoft Canada’s total donations to nonprofits and charities across Canada to more than $50 million since 2004.

“When dealing with disaster situations the difference between life and death can come down to quick and effective response” said Almin Surani, Chief Information Officer, Canadian Red Cross. “Microsoft Canada’s donation will allow us to store, share and analyze crucial data allowing us to deploy appropriate emergency solutions in a timely manner.”
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Toronto – Rogers Wireless today announced the exclusive Canadian launch in June 2009 of the HTC Dream™ and HTC Magic™ smartphones, the first cellphones in Canada powered by the Android platform, allowing for fast and easy access to a wide range of Google™ mobile services, including Google Search™, Google Maps™, Gmail™ and more.

“Who else but Rogers would be the first carrier to offer Canadians the first chance to join the mobile revolution with a choice of not one, but two, handsets powered by the Android platform?”, said John Boynton, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Wireless. “The HTC Magic offers a responsive touch screen and the HTC Dream delivers both a touch screen and a slide out QWERTY keyboard. Both devices offer outstanding wireless internet search capabilities and a full suite of applications that run two times faster on Canada’s fastest mobile network.”

Toronto – Sony Canada today announced its Reader Digital Book models PRS-505 and PRS-700 are now available for purchase online at BestBuy.ca and futureshop.ca.

“Sony is at the forefront of the digital reading revolution in Canada,” said Ron Wilson, senior vice president of merchandising, Best Buy Canada Ltd. “Canadian customers are looking for the best digital reading technology available and the Sony Reader Digital Book models are easy-to-use with great functionality. Best Buy and Future Shop are always looking to bring Canadians the latest technology and with the growing popularity of digital reading this product is a great addition to our line-up.”
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Vancouver – Destiny Media Technologies, Inc., the industry’s leading secure digital media distribution company, is pleased to announce that Australian partner, The Shooting Star Picture Company has established a partnership with the Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) to provide media distribution services for Australia’s 300+ indie record companies through the Play MPE® music delivery software.

The deal sees the industry body enable all its members to join major independents Shock, Inertia, Remote Control, Liberation, Shogun and many more who are all using the system to service pre-release music to the media. With major labels Universal, EMI and Warner also utilising the system, Play MPE® has firmly become the industry standard for promotional music delivery in Australia.
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Toronto – Storage Appliance Corp., developers of Clickfree, the easiest-to-use PC backup solutions on the market, today announced two new products, the Clickfree Traveler and Clickfree DVD Transformer. Available May 7, 2009, both devices are PC and Mac compatible, and eliminate the confusing and time-consuming hassle associated with backing up irreplaceable digital data.

As light as a pen and the size of a credit card, the flash-based Traveler slips easily into a wallet, allowing business travelers, photographers, music lovers and others to carry up to 64GBs of data in their hip pocket or purse. The Clickfree DVD Transformer enables consumers to quickly and easily back up important data to optical discs, bypassing tricky CD and DVD burning software. Coupled with recordable CDs and/or DVDs, it’s an inexpensive yet foolproof way to back up important files.
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