Village Gamer

Members of the game development industry have launched a site and Facebook group to help raise much needed aid funds for Japan. The group, called Play For Japan, is looking for gamerobilia (new word, like it?) that can be auctioned off. Please check out the site and the Facebook group and help out if you’re able. You can also find Play For Japan on Twitter.

Upcoming Event: 3Vis and Chaos Group will be holding three product seminars across Canada to give interested digital creators a preview of V-Ray 2.0 for Maya. The presentations will be held in Vancouver on March 29th, Montreal on March 31st and Toronto on April 5th. Pre-register now on the event’s Facebook page.

Announced: Trapdoor and Polytron have officially announced their co-publishing deal for Polytron’s upcoming XBLA game FEZ. Late last year Trapdoor announced a publishing deal with EA Partners for stealth action game Warp™, the company’s first console title. Warp premiered alongside FEZ at PAX East this past weekend in Boston.

Confirmed: The Canadian Games Conference has announced the first three speaker sessions for the upcoming May conference. Cyrus Greenall from Ubisoft Vancouver will present “Online Everywhere: Effectively Leverage the Competencies of Online & Develop Features that Appeal to a Wide Audience.” Matt Tanner from Snowed In Studios will present “Growing Your Game Studio Using Social Media Marketing” and Export Development Canada, RBC & Big Sandwich Games will present a panel titled “New Business Models-How to Self Fund Development.”

Now Live: SeniorsCircle.ca is Canada’s most comprehensive website exclusively servicing the needs of seniors and their families. The site focuses on five primary topics: Health & Well Being, Services for Seniors, Housing Options, Lifestyle for Seniors, and Community & Contests. Each primary topic features a customized and comprehensive online directory of contacts (service providers, associations and government contacts), informative news articles, and related links for further information.

SeniorsCircle.ca communicates and engages with seniors and families through a monthly eNewsletter, business promotions, humour and fun topics and contests. Specialized features such as “Ask the Expert” and an interactive forum (community discussions) engage the users while also increasing the quality of information available. Our vast audience includes anyone 20 to 80+ years old who is seeking information and resources related to seniors. The site is user-friendly and its convenient platform enables any user anywhere to access essential information and resources in one spot that is easy to navigate.

Tourism Vancouver is holding two three-day seminars designed to teach interested parties how to submit conference and event host bids. The seminars are designed educate you on what Vancouver has to offer as a meeting destination, what Tourism Vancouver’s complimentary Be a Host program can do for you, as well as the opportunity to experience our city from a delegate’s point of view. Professional guest speakers will be on hand to give you the most up to date and relevant information that covers bid strategies, international lobbying, raising sponsorship, financial budgets, and many other subjects. please contact Kathy Nicolay at 604-631-2886 for more information.

Two downtown Future Shop stores, one each in Toronto and Vancouver, will be celebrating the release of the Nintendo 3DS with midnight openings later this month. Nintendo Canada is hosting interactive launch parties in Toronto (at Yonge-Dundas Square) and Vancouver (TD Square Granville & Georgia) where customers will be led to downtown Future Shop stores before midnight to be among the first Canadians to own and experience the Nintendo 3DS. The Nintendo parties start at 6pm local time.

Customers in line at the two stores will have the chance to win $400.00 gift cards, which will more than cover the purchase price of a N-3DS, a game or two and some accessories. The Midnight Launch Event will take place on Saturday March 26th at 11:59pm at these two Future Shop locations:

In Toronto: 325 Yonge Street
In Vancouver: 798 Granville Street

If you missed our hands-on preview of the Nintendo 3DS, this new mobile gaming device is one of this year’s most exciting gaming technologies. The Nintendo 3DS comes in two colours and offers two screens – one of which requires no glasses to view in 3D, a telescopic stylus pen, motion and gyro sensors to detect motion, and much more. The Nintendo 3DS retails for $249.99, and can be pre-ordered now at Future Shop. Pre-orders also receive a free basic Starter Accessory kit as well. Some of the titles that will be available for the 3DS launch are from Ubisoft and Gameloft, including Asphalt 3D and Combat of Giants 3D. Assassin’s Creed Lost Legacy is scheduled for release on December 31st. A 3D edition of Splinter Cell has also been announced, but no release date has been given.

Parta Dialogue Inc., an organization specializing in Social Media and Social Learning for businesses and operators of Edu-Performance Canada Inc., has announced that at its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders held on February 15, 2011, the Shareholders passed a special resolution amending Parta’s Articles to change its name to Parta Dialogue Inc. This rebranding reflects Parta’s newly refined business offerings focused on “online engagement” and “employee engagement” through social media.

Many visionary businesses already employ PARTA’s solutions for internal and external online engagement. Among these are Renault, Orange, Astra Zeneca, Hydro-Québec, Iusacell (Mexico), the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Neslté Waters, and Fondaction.

D-BOX Technologies Inc. has finalized an agreement with China’s Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment Company to install 19 D-BOX MFX Seats at one of their prime Hong-Kong location. This transaction marks the first sale of D-BOX MFX Seats in Hong Kong and will generate licensing fees payable to D-BOX in accordance to the systems’ utilization. This installation will add to D-BOX’s presence in Asia as 31 motion systems are already installed at two different sites in Japan, with a further 35 agreements in place across North America and Europe.

“It’s very exciting to further expand in Asia with Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment Company,” declared President and CEO of D-BOX Technologies, Claude Mc Master. “With this breakthrough into a new and promising international marketplace, we look forward experiencing the same success and growth as we have elsewhere in the world. Furthermore, Orange Sky Golden Harvest Company’s vertical integration as a movie producer and their presence in several other Asian regions such as; Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore also represents very interesting growth opportunities for D-BOX. ”

Sierra Wireless has been chosen by next generation patient monitoring company PositiveID Corporation to provide AirPrime™ intelligent embedded modules which will power PositiveID’s iglucose™ mobile health solution for real-time diabetes management. Sierra Wireless will showcase the iglucose solution at its booth (1670) in the upcoming CTIA Wireless event in Orlando, Florida from March 22 to 24.

iglucose uses the power of Sierra Wireless’ AirPrime platform to revolutionize the way individuals with diabetes manage their condition. The size of a smart phone and has a rechargeable battery, iglucose can be used anytime and anywhere. Once connected to a data-capable glucometer, iglucose seamlessly communicates data to the iglucose database; blood glucose readings can then be shared in real-time with family members and health care professionals. iglucose completely eliminates the burden of keeping journals and empowers individuals with diabetes to be more engaged in the self-management of their condition.

Sierra Wireless will provide the AirPrime™ Wireless Embedded GSM (global system for mobile communications) module that powers the wireless communication of iglucose. Sierra Wireless AirPrime wireless modules offer a seamless integration of hardware, software and services that significantly simplifies and accelerates the end-to-end development of M2M applications. For solution providers like PositiveID, this helps to reduce development costs and deliver products to market more quickly.

Trend Micro Incorporated and Montreal-based Radialpoint, a Digital Home Services solutions provider for consumer technology brands, have formed an alliance to develop, market and sell new online and data protection services built for service providers around the world.

This alliance will drive business results for service providers in an increasing effort to meet consumer demand for a protected “digital home”. By integrating Trend Micro’s capabilities into Radialpoint’s end-to-end Digital Home Services Platform, service providers will now have a powerful tool for supporting their customers’ need to manage and protect their devices, connectivity and content.

The first offering, to be named Managed Internet Security, powered by Trend Micro™announced as part of this alliance integrates industry leading Trend Micro™ Titanium™ Maximum Security with Radialpoint’s Digital Home Services Platform. Trend Micro will leverage Radialpoint’s platform to deliver its consumer security offering to the ISP channel, offering unique value and benefits for both service providers and their customers, with Virgin Media already signed up for the new offerings.

Electronic Arts Inc. has announced that Dragon Age™ Legends, the ground-breaking Play4Free online RPG is now available to all Facebook® users worldwide. Dragon Age Legends, a collaboration between BioWare™ and EA’s Play4Free studio EA2D, expands on the award-winning action RPG franchise and introduces deep, high-quality gaming to Facebook. Dragon Age Legends also ties directly into Dragon Age II, currently available in stores. Players who complete specific quests in Dragon Age Legends can earn up to five exclusive items for use in Dragon Age II.

We built Dragon Age Legends with one goal in mind: to bring the AAA quality gameplay BioWare is famous for to the social space,” said Mark Spenner, General Manager of EA2D. “Dragon Age Legends brings true RPG combat and style to this massive social platform and delivers it at BioWare blockbuster quality, raising the bar for social games.”

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

Set in the Free Marches, the primary setting of Dragon Age II, Dragon Age Legends combines accessible and engaging turn-based tactical combat with gripping co-operative gameplay. By simply logging in Facebook, players can jump in to the online RPG to recruit their friends and embark on a battle-rich journey filled with challenging quests. Like all classic RPGs, players will earn loot and share rewards with their friends to grow their hero’s might and their kingdom’s power. The game includes a gratifying character-customization and upgrade system that allows players to tackle demons and darkspawn to become a legendary hero within the Dragon Age universe.

The exclusive quest offer expires March 31, 2012 and requires an internet connection, an EA account, access to Dragon Age Legends on Facebook, ownership of or access to Dragon Age II game for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or PC. You must be 13+ to play Dragon Age Legends, however Dragon Age 2 is rated M for Mature by the ESRB. This offer is valid everywhere Dragon Age II is sold, and the code may not be substituted, exchanged, sold or redeemed for cash or other goods or services. To access items in Dragon Age II, you must register on Dragon Age Legends using the same EA Account that you used to register your Dragon Age II game. Items are nontransferable and may not be combined with any other offer, gift card, rebate or discount coupon. Void where prohibited, taxed or restricted by law.

I’m not sure how I feel about this report. I don’t know if I should find it interesting, tantalizing or offensive. By offensive, I mean in the way the report is worded – or maybe it’s just because I haven’t yet consumed enough coffee. I personally don’t think that a sampling of 2000 women across the nation is a very good cross-section of the female population who use technology. While devices are convenient for both research and communication, I don’t go into any kind of massive twitchy fit or experience any anxiety if I’m away from Facebook, Twitter or even email for a day. For the record, I would willingly give up my cell phone before I would give up my PC, netbook, 360, DS or iPod Touch – because if I give up my cell phone (which, by the way, is not a smartphone), it would be harder for those at my day job to find me. 😉

Nearly half (46%) of Canadian women admit they could not go without their mobile devices for even a week, according to the 2011 MasterIndex™ on Women and Technology (PDF) released today by MasterCard Canada. The report indicates that women have become so dependent on their mobile phones, MP3 players and even digital cameras that they are willing to sacrifice the things they love in order to keep them.

The report reveals Canadian women over the age of 18 would rather give up coffee (24%), spa treatments (42%) and even chocolate (24%) than part with their mobile gadgets. Canadian women are avid users of digital cameras (85%), mobile/cellphones (73%) and MP3 players (50%), but how they use these devices is dictated by age and life circumstance.

“As a leader in mobile payments technology, MasterCard wanted to learn more about the relationship women have with technology and how this relationship is evolving,” says Betty DeVita, President, MasterCard Canada. “We know technology is important to women, but were surprised by how dependent they’ve become. This fascination with mobile tools is likely the result of their increased functionality. It goes beyond chatting with family and friends. Busy women can now access social media sites, keep track of their busy social calendars and view their favorite photos and videos from anywhere using these mobile tools.”

The report reveals that there are five distinct life stages that categorize women’s relationship with technology:

* Aspiring Adopters are women between the ages of 18 and 34 who are not employed full-time. This group is most likely to own MP3 players (81%) and smartphones (27%) and the second most likely to identify themselves as early adopters of technology (10%).
* Connected Careerists are employed women between the ages of 18 and 34 without children. These women are identified as the earliest adopters of technology (16%) and can afford to own digital cameras (92%), MP3 players (83%), portable video/gaming devices (36%) and smartphones (36%).
* Mobile Mamas, the majority of whom are between the ages of 25 and 49, often own a variety of devices including digital cameras (92%), cellphones (77%), MP3 players (65%), video/gaming devices (52%) and smartphones (21%). Some of these devices are for personal use, while others, such as gaming devices, may be used by their children.
* Established but Unimpressed who are between the ages of 35 and 54 but have no children are very reluctant adopters of technology (51%) and often only own a mobile phone (84%) which they view as a tool. They are neither impressed nor intimidated by new or changing technology, and you won’t find them with the latest and greatest gadgets.
* Silver Speakers are women aged 55+ who have no children of their own living at home. Women in this group are most likely to own cellphones (70%) and digital cameras (83%).

The research was conducted by Environics Research Group from July 22 – August 4, 2010, via a national online survey of 2,000 adult Canadian women aged 18+.

Yesterday Yannis Mallat, CEO of Ubisoft Montreal and Toronto announced during his speech at the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal that Ubisoft Montreal will be investing $200 000.00 annually over five years to support the creation of a research chair on artificial intelligence.  Named NSERC-Ubisoft Industrial Chair on Learning Representations for Immersive Video Games, the initiative will support about 30 students and researchers  who will work within Ubisoft production teams to bring together video game engineers and developers’ know-how with the research methods of professors and students at Université de Montréal.

The NSERC-Ubisoft Industrial Chair on Learning Representations for Immersive Video Games
Mr. Yoshua Bengio, Chairholder and Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Operational Research at Université de Montréal, will supervise research activities alongside Mr. Yves Jacquier, Executive Director of Ubisoft Montreal’s Production services studios. These two teams are already working on projects which have proven the relevance of combining academic work with practical applications.

“Today, players expect personalized experiences, adapted to their gaming style and level of experience. The combination of academic and practical knowledge will accelerate our efforts to develop high-level, interactive, dynamic, and adaptable content, Yves Jacquier says. Players will benefit from the research results as early as 2012 on games from Ubisoft’s greatest brands.”

The research, whose main goal is to further develop learning algorithms known as deep algorithms, should result in significant advancements in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“Our teams of professors and students have been collaborating for more than two years to advance research on data treatment for the creation of learning algorithms that modify in-game experience”, Professor and Chairholder Yoshua Bengio says. “The amount of technological data to process is always increasing and becoming harder for developers to deal with. Research work will not only help the quality and adaptation of content, but also the efficiency and productivity of developers responsible for the creation of the content.”

By analyzing data on the player’s in-game behavior, it will be possible, for instance, to offer him or her a new dimension of interactivity with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The AI will “learn” from the data and “adapt” the content of the games and the recommendations made to the player in accordance with his or her behavior.

“NSERC makes Canada a country of discoverers and innovators,” said NSERC President Dr. Suzanne Fortier. “Dr. Bengio is a world renowned leader in the field of machine learning. The second term of the Chair is focussed on applying advancements in this area to develop leading-edge technology for the video game industry. This research program will help us maintain our technological edge in the multi-billion dollar gaming industry, which holds a particularly large place in Canada’s economy, thanks in part to Ubisoft Montreal.”

The chair will focus on three activities:

* The collection of data for the creation of an improved, immersive experience customized in real-time, thanks to the generation of varied automated elements with the adaptable AI;
* The development of techniques to better equip artists and 3D animators in the creation of high-quality, immersive environments, namely the displaying of rich and flowing video content that takes into account the limitations of game consoles;
* The sharing of knowledge, experience and tools between academics and technologists, in order to stimulate creativity and innovation with the purpose of increasing the productivity of production teams.

Guy Breton, Université de Montréal Rector, says this partnership will further enhance research already conducted on campus: “By investing in the knowledge and talent development, Ubisoft and the NSERCC support our community’s unique scientific vitality and creativity.”

During his speech, Yannis Mallat said: “The creation of the chair is in line with partnerships between Ubisoft and Quebec educational institutions, for the advancement of the science behind the development of high-level interactive entertainment products. Indeed, Ubisoft hopes to help maintain Montreal’s status as a reference in video game production and R&D by actively participating in the development of a techno-creative community invested in innovative projects.”