Village Gamer

Vancouver – Spark Animation Festival, presented by our local ACM SIGGRAPH chapter opens tonight with an industry mixer plus screenings of The Secret of Kells followed by Azur and Asmar: The Princes’ Quest. Tickets are still available for several speaker sessions which run from Thursday to Saturday, however The Making of 9 with Kevin Adams & Matthew Teevan, Shooting Up: A Trip through the Camera Structure of Up with Patrick Lin and Character Design with Ricky Nierva are all sold out. There may be a few rush tickets available for each of these three sessions, but I would advise getting your tickets now for any other speaker sessions you’ve been considering attending. Online sales for this evening’s screenings are closed, so you will need to purchase tickets at Spark Animation, which is being held at the VanCity Theatre. Tickets for individual speaker sessions are $15.00 each for members and $20.00 for non-members, while film screenings are $10.00 and $8.00 respectively.

As always, events of this type would be impossible to present without the assistance of volunteers and sponsors. The sponsors for Spark Animation 2009 are:

BC Innovation Council, BC Film, Vancouver Economic Development, AnnexPro, Club Penguin, nvidia, Rainmaker, Propaganda Games, Davis LLP, Pixar, 3Vis and Association Friends include Women In Games Vancouver, Casual Games Association, Visual Effects Association of BC, Society of Graphic Designers Canada – BC Chapter .

Vancouver – Following a near seven-week sold-out engagement in Calgary this past spring, Ground Zero Theatre, Hit&Myth Productions and KEYSTONE are bloody thrilled to present the Vancouver premiere of Evil Dead: The Musical, based on the popular Sam Raimi cult-classic movie series, Evil Dead, and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and Army of Darkness. The Vancouver performance web site goes live on September 16th, in the meantime you can check out the Calgary pages.

Evil Dead: The Musical tells the all too familiar story, all told with toe-tapping songs and energetic dancing: boy and four friends break into an abandoned cabin while on a weekend getaway; boy expects to get lucky; boy discovers an ancient flesh-bound book with the power to summon the demons of Candar; boy unleashes ancient evil spirit; boy turns friends into Candarian Demons; boy fights until dawn to survive.

“The three holy trilogies of movies are Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Evil Dead. And, for me, Evil Dead has always reigned supreme over the other two,” says GZT’s Ryan Luhning. “From the Ash action figure that sits on my office desk, to the actual chainsaw replica from Evil Dead 2 I own, I have been a proud Deadite since I was a boy. Presenting this show in Vancouver is a dream come true.”

“When we saw Evil Dead: the Musical in Toronto, we were struck by how many of the films’ elements were cleverly incorporated into the musical,” says H&M’s Joel Cochrane. “When we talked to the Toronto producers about acquiring the rights to the show, it turned out the set was also available. We decided since it already possessed a great aesthetic, why re-invent the wheel, so Vancouver audiences are going to see our production of Evil Dead: The Musical with the original Toronto and Off-Broadway set, and of course, we won’t resist the temptation to incorporate at least a few of our own ideas, since we’re working with Bleeding Art Industries, one of Canada’s leading motion-picture and theatrical special effects companies.”

“I have been aware of Evil Dead: The Musical for quite some time now,” says Henry Kolenko of KEYSTONE. “In fact I flew out to see the New York Off-Broadway production in 2007, and it was good, but I was simply blown away by the Calgary production that I saw this past summer, especially the enhanced Splatter Zone (located in the first five rows of The Vogue Theatre – ask for The Splatter Zone when booking tickets) – Evil Dead: The Musical is definitely one of the most fun theatre experiences any audience-member could imagine. I knew immediately, that The Vogue Theatre would be the perfect venue, and Vancouver audiences would love this campy up-beat slasher musical love story.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – IUGO Mobile Entertainment has announced another upcoming game title for the iPhone and BlackBerry platforms. Slated for release this fall, Cliffed will allow you to challenge your friends to the most addictive race to the bottom! IUGO presents its latest sensation in casual gaming with this frantic 2D scrolling racer.

Features:

• 10 unique and playful characters to choose from
• Pick up and play! Great for all ages
• Endless game play
• Online multiplayer! Race up to 8 players in real time over 3G and wireless networks
• Local and global leaderboards
• IUGO’s new VIP program: Tell your friends, earn points and unlock an exclusive mystery character sooner
• Stylized, clean graphics
• IUGO’s signature quality and polish

Ubisoft Montreal has released three new videos for their highly anticipated titles on their YouTube channel. Gamers can get their twitch on with a commented walk-through for Assassin’s Creed 2, featuring a variety of game play scenarios with narrative from AC2 Production Manager Jean-Francois Boivin. The only disappointment I have experienced thus far in regards to AC2 is the planned product releases for the Master Assassin Limited Editions. I want the Black version, but it is apparently only being released in other parts of the world, not North America. Those of us in North America are getting the White version, which does not appear to contain all of the same perks as the Black Version, such as Ezio in black and the same number of bonus quests. The North American White version only has one bonus quest while the Black version has three, and at this time it is unknown if the Black version will be region locked. There are also rumours circulating that the Black edition is sold out. Maybe Ubisoft will have a change of heart and at least give those of us in North America the opportunity to obtain the additional two bonus quests.

Shaun White fans can see a new video dev diary for Shaun White World Stage, due for release on November 8. Featuring members of the dev team and Shaun White, gamers get an advance look at how it feels like to be in the boots of a pro snowboarder. After watching the dev diary for Splinter Cell: Conviction, we have added it to our list of “must play” games. The development team gives an excellent explanation of what gamers can expect from the latest iteration for the Splinter Cell franchise, and you can get a look at the dev video on Splinter Cell’s site.

IMC Vancouver – As the Internet grows in importance as a communication channel for business, it’s important to understand how to move away from the diminishing returns that TV, Radio and Newspapers are delivering. IMC Vancouver provides the venue for businesses, government, social activists, agencies, consultants and students to take advantage of the new, and rapidly changing, way media is being consumed. Also economic pressures are making change in the marketing world even more urgent than before.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – Wired Woman is pleased to present a series of four Professional Development Workshops featuring Heather White. These seminars are designed to assist you with such areas as assigning action steps to goals, defining the skills that will set you apart, gain a clear vision about your professional reputation and understand the power of a professional network. Tickets to the entire series are currently available for the special rate of $50.00 each for members and $65.00 for non-members. Members can also save even more with a four-for-three package at a cost of $150.00.  The seminars will be held at Campo Verde, 1600 Cypress Street in Vancouver.  Seating is limited, so register soon.

Seminar Topics:

Personal Professional Goal Setting – Tuesday, October 6th 2009 6:00 pm
Building a Powerful Professional Network – Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 6:00 pm
Developing a Specialized Skill Set – Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 6:00 pm
Developing a Bullet Proof Reputation – Tuesday, December 1st, 2009, 6:00 pm

Wired Woman also held its Annual General Meeting on August 31, and the Network is pleased to announce the addition of five new directors to our National Board:

– Maureen McKinnon
– Doneen Swart
– Mojgan Fay
– Dina Grskovich
– Karen Olsson

Membership for Wired Woman is free, and with so many great events such as the Professional Development Series, it makes sense to join the network and meet some really great women while having fun, socializing and learning. To learn more about Wired Woman, please visit their web site.

Vancouver – Vancouver Film School has officially announced the dates for their very successful Game Design Expo. Version 4 of GDX will take place April 10 and 11, 2010.  GDX will again feature a day of industry sessions on April 10, followed by an open house and more sessions on the 11th at Vancouver Film School. Featuring guest speakers and panels with the leading minds in game design and development, representing some of the industry’s top companies, the Game Design Expo is a must-attend event. Last year’s sold-out event featured a very entertaining and informative keynote address given by Ubisoft Montreal’s Creative Director Clint Hocking. The entire expo is full of opportunities to learn from and meet with some of the top people in the game development industry, and GDX certainly tops our list of well-produced events.

VFS is now accepting submissions from game industry professionals wishing to present at Game Design Expo 2010, so if you have something to say and have a desire to share that knowledge with industry peers and up-and-coming talent, download this PDF form for more information.

For companies and individuals interested in becoming a sponsor of Game Design Expo 2010, please download the PDF sponsorship kit here. In my opinion, participating in the Game Design Expo as either a sponsor, speaker, volunteer or attendee is time and money well spent. GDX is an investment in the future of our game development industry, and the quality of the event’s speaker roster, topics and organization is reinforced by the fact that GDX has been completely sold out for each of its first three years.

Please contact Event Manager Shira Gordon at 604.630.3562 (local), or 1.800.661.4101 (toll-free in North America) for further information about Game Design Expo 2010.

Toronto – Whether pushing the envelope, or hoping to be named in one, digital media content developers across the country can now enter the 2009 Canadian New Media Awards competition.This year, the Canadian New Media Awards will take place during nextMEDIA, the new media and interactive content conference to be held in Toronto, November 30 – December 1, 2009.

“The Canadian New Media Awards have always reflected new trends in digital media,” said Mark Greenspan, Executive Producer of nextMEDIA. “And we feel that this year’s categories will reveal the very best the Canadian digital media industry has to offer, presenting Canada as a global leader in digital innovation.”

Companies and individuals across Canada can submit the names of friends, colleagues or themselves for recognition of outstanding achievements in the design, development or implementation of new media projects. A call for entries to the 2009 Canadian New Media Awards (CNMA) competition has been issued, and updated and re-energized categories for the competition have been unveiled by the event organizers.

Submissions to CNMA will be accepted online on the nextMEDIA website until October 2, 2009, with an early bird rate of $125 + GST per entry granted to those submitted prior to September 18, 2009 (Regular rate of $175 + GST for the final deadline of October 2, 2009).  Full information about Award Eligibility can also be found on the CNMA web site. Among the sponsors of this year’s event, Deloitte will sponsor the Company of the Year Award, with Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund sponsoring the Best Cross Platform Project Award.

2009 Canadian New Media Awards Categories:

Best Cross-Platform Project
Excellence in interactive enhancement of a television property on digital platforms. Eligible projects could include games, websites and/or mobile applications associated with a television program. Read the rest of this entry »

Seattle – Canadian presence will be strong at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo. Studios showing off upcoming titles will include Bioware and EA, Klei Entertainment, Ubisoft, Hot Head Games and Relic Entertainment. Other Vancouverites include Vancouver Film School and Game Design Expo, Simon Fraser University and Swell Games.

Bioware’s Senior Technical Designer Jason Booth will be presenting a session on Why Winning Sucks tonight at 7pm in the Raven Theatre, then at 9pm in the Wolfman Theatre, Tyler Black (Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, BC Children’s Hospital) will be presenting a session called Psychiatry, Video Games, and Kids – The Science, The Opinions, and the Lies. Hot Head Games’ Deirdra Kiai will be a panelist in Saturday’s Girls and Games: The Growing Role of Women in the Game Industry session, which takes place in the Unicorn Theatre at 10:30am. Bioware Co-founder Greg Zeschuk and Silicon Knights President Dennis Dyack will be participating in the Medium is the: Story Matters session at 1pm in the Serpent Theatre. Later on Saturday evening Klei Entertainment CEO Jamie Cheng will be presenting Creating an Xbox Live Arcade Game in the Wolfman Theatre at 6pm.

At 7pm, PAX goers can attend the session I’ve Just Been F#$%ing Fired”: How To Get Back Into the Industry On Your Own Terms Through Mobile Game Development, featuring a full panel of “north of the 49th” speakers: Jake Birkett (Lead Designer, Big Fish Games Vancouver), Tyler Sigman (Consulting Design Director, Big Sandwich Games), Matt Toner (CEO, Zeroes 2 Heroes Media), Nis Bojin (Program Manager, playWRITE) and Brian Zubert (Senior Application Development Consulting – Mobile Gaming, Research in Motion).

On Sunday morning, Relic Entertainment will be unveiling a new play mode for Dawn of War 2 called The Last Stand. Attendees can attend a post-mortem panel discussion in the Raven Theatre at 11:30am. At 1pm in the Serpent Theatre, Hot Head Games Programmers Nels Anderson and Deirdra Kiai will be participating in a discussion about Murder, Sex & Drugs. Art Institute Vancouver alumni Lani Blazier who is now living in Seattle and working as an Associate Producer for NCSoft’s Aion will be speaking as part of the Aion panel.

Ubisoft Montreal will be presenting a live on-stage demo for their upcoming titles Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction in the Main Theatre on Friday evening, and there are new teaser trailers up on Ubisoft’s YouTube channel featuring in-game footage.

Bioware and LucasArts will be presenting Star Wars: The Old Republic in the Main Theatre on Sunday morning at 11:00am. Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins will also have a very strong presence at PAX, and judging from their team twitters, they had a great time at the Microsoft Games for Windows event held at the Redmond Campus on Thursday. Dragon Age fans can also look forward to a new 8-part web comic from Gabe and Tycho featuring the characters of Dragon Age. The first page has already been added to the DA:O site.

Don’t forget to check out The Peregrine Gaming Glove and ZBoard’s new Aion Keyboard Set and mouse pad. As we reported earlier this week, The Pergrine was developed in Lloydminster, Alberta. ZBoard is a Canadian company which was recently purchased by SteelSeries. Co-designed with NCsoft ® Corporation, Aion’s publisher and developer, the limited edition gear provides customized functionality and original artwork from the game that allows players to battle and quest with ease into Aion’s breathtaking world of Atreia.

Victor Lucas and Scott Jones from Electric Playground will also be lurking around the conference site. Say hi if you see them, but don’t ask Victor about game recommendations – his answers usually lead to game addictions. Fable 2 is a prime example.

Village Gamer will not be attending this year’s PAX due to family commitments over on Vancouver Island, but we’re certainly looking forward to hearing the reports about this year’s expo from all of our friends who are there. Maybe they’ll even bring us some swag, just because they’re awesome friends and feel our pain in not being able to be there in person.

Vancouver – New Media BC has sent out a call for speakers for the iPhone Forum which will be taking place in Vancouver on Tuesday November 4. CBC, BCIT and New Media BC are partnering for this forum, which will bring local and international business leaders, educators, designers, and developers together to share knowledge, personal experience, and best practices for doing business on Apple’s Touch Platform. The aim is to grow awareness of the opportunities this revolutionary platform offers and to foster mobile innovation in the Canadian market.

The iPhone Forum will feature two parallel paths of concurrent sessions:

Technical sessions target developers and designers that seek a deeper understanding of how to design and develop optimized websites and native apps for Apple’s Touch Platform.

Business sessions target those that seek to leverage the business potential of Apple’s Touch platform.

The PDF request form can be downloaded from the New Media BC site, and then emailed to Jonathan Carrigan at CBC once completed. The deadline to submit forms is October 1, and only those speakers who are selected will be contacted.

WINBC and New Media BC invite their members to the MoMoVan season kick-off at the Museum of Vancouver in beautiful Vanier Park this September 14th at 5:30pm.

Collaboration, Community and Convergence have always been the core of MoMoVan. When we think about what differentiates us from other clusters, these are the words that come up again and again. And as we move towards the Olympics in February, these will be the ingredients to the success of our cluster. We have all the right pieces here to make this truly a world-class wireless and digital media centre. Product innovation from collaboration, convergence between sectors bringing new ideas and a strong and interconnected community will ensure that we stand on top of the podium in 2010 and beyond.

Come and kick-start the season with us and ignite your competitive spirit. We have a great evening planned: we will have a competition to get some ideas flowing; we will thank Amielle Lake (Tagga) for being the Face of MoMoVan and we will find the next smiling mug. Come catch-up with old friends and make new ones. There will be hats, there will be prizes and of course, there will be our legendary local beer and pizza. All this with a one of a kind panoramic view of Vanier Park, English Bay, Coast Mountains, West End, Downtown and Stanley Park. The MoMoVan registration deadline is September 11 2009.

The Art of Sales presented by Microsoft Dynamics CRM has attracted thousands of sales and marketing professionals from across Canada. On October 19th, 2009, North America’s largest sales conference is coming to Vancouver to present you with the key fundamentals and best sales practices required to ensure stability and growth for your business in a changing world. Featuring an exceptional line-up of best-selling authors, speakers, and sales visionaries focusing on newly developed methodologies for relationship development, productivity and sales strategy makes this conference a must attend. Take advantage of this limited time special offer which is not available to the general public. There is special pricing available for NMBC members – make sure to check your email for the latest event news from NMBC for details.

Wavefront is presenting the NAVTEQ Breakfast Seminar: What’s New in Fall for Location Developers in Vancouver

Date: Sept 15, 8:30 – 11 AM
Location: 2010 Commerce Center, Suite 1600 – 800 Robson Street (Lower Plaza), Vancouver, BC

Join Tom Tierney, Developer Alliance Manager at NAVTEQ describe what’s new in the fall for location developers in Vancouver. Attend this free seminar and find out recent developments with Discover Cities, MapTP, NAVTEQ Mobility Platform and how you can showcase your apps on NAVTEQ’s new developer showcase at NAVTEQ.com. Tom will also discuss additional opportunities for developers participating in the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge. Don’t miss this chance to get the latest scoop. Please also let us know if you would like to set-up a one-on-one engagement meeting with NAVTEQ when you register.

WIF Info Session at IIMA Conference

The information session is free, but for New Media BC members who want to take advantage of the full International Internet Marketing Association conference and get a wicked discount, please contact Bruce Nickson at +1 (778) 373-8785. To register for the Information Session only, please do so here.

Date: September 17, 2009
Time: 12:10pm
Location: Four Seasons Hotel , 791 West Georgia Street, Vancouver Room: TBA

This September, a representative from the Webdesign International Festival (WIF) is coming to Canada to present the WIF competition and its preselection to potential partners and sponsors. WIF’s organizers, Limousin Expansion, have selected Canada as a partner country for the event. The representative will visit Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver to meet with groups including website agencies, universities and design schools, professional communities and media groups to develop sponsorship, planning, and participation in Canada.

WIF is an international competition where the best specialists in the sector will go head to head in Limoges, France, over 24 hours non-stop. They will be chosen during pre-selections organized by WIF’s partner countries. The pre-selections will be held between mid-October 2009 and mid-February 2010. An online pre-selection is also planned for February 2010 for those participants whose countries are not partners of WIF. The 100 best candidates will go head-to-head in Limoges during the final from June 3 to 5, 2010. To apply, or for more information, visit WIF’s website.

I speak to this from my own experience, and hope that it may be helpful to other audio designers and game aficionados all around.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Audio is an integral part of a video game. In fact, even a simple score can create a very large impact. Take the classic: Space Invaders. The music is 4 tones, but is considered by many to have one of the most successful scores.

1978
Space Invaders
Midway imports Space Invaders from Taito. A great example of simple, effective sound design, Space Invaders owes a large part of its appeal to its menacing, paranoia-inducing soundtrack. Not music per se, the thumping audio track actually accelerates in tempo as the enemy invaders draw nearer (and move faster). The effect: sweat, panic, and increased blood pressure in a generation of gamers.
From “A History of Video Game Music” on http://www.gamespot.com/features/6092391/p-2.html
As the music speeds up, so too does the heart rate of the player; this is so much so, that if one plays Space Invaders with the TV on mute,  s/he will find the game to be much easier. (give it a try! PLAY HERE).
Clearly audio has a great role to play, even on the most basic levels. Audio plays a very visceral role in game immersion and great audio will enhance your game, bringing it to the next level.

So now that the WHY is covered, we will move on to the HOW.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Using an in-house audio provider will surely create a tighter product as the audio designer is involved in and surrounded by all aspects of the game. Of course, budgets do not always allow for in-house audio, and so many game companies choose to farm out the audio to a wide slew of providers of which I am one.

From environmental sound design and SFX to custom compositions and interactive scores, there are many types of audio assets that will add to a game. What all these types of audio have in common is they are all best approached through the five guidelines below.

1) Bring the audio designer into the game development cycle early.

Audio is often thought of as something that can be dropped in last minute, and as an audio person myself, I can often tell this to be the case when playing the finalized game. If the audio provider was brought in early, s/he can give many creative ideas of how to use the audio in a game to not only react to the game, but even advance the story (such as interactive music that gives feedback to the player letting them know they are moving in the right direction). If the audio designer is made aware of the story and game mechanics nearer to the beginning of the production cycle, a more interactive, interesting, and polished sound track can be created.

2) Relate some examples of what you like via links/samples.

Producers, programmers, artists and audio designers are not always speaking the same “language.” If a producer is looking for a sound to be more “sad“, I can easily modify the sound to be so; yet, descriptions are not often that simple. The complications arise when words of more depth are thrown around, or

Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – Spark Animation has unveiled the opening night screening for its upcoming Animation Festival which takes place this September 16 – 20 at the VanCity Theatre. The Secret of Kells, which is an animated story of the boy behind the famed Book of Kells, will be the first film to be screened following the Festival’s opening night Industry Mixer. The film’s writer and co-director Tomm Moore will be presenting a session on the afternoon of September 17, but the topic has not yet been announced.

Confirmed speakers and sessions for Spark Animation include:

Coraline: The Changing Face of Animation with Martin Meunier
The Making of 9
Session Topic TBA – Tomm Moore (Secret of Kells)
Session Topic TBA – Conrad Vernon & David Burgess (Monsters vs. Aliens)

Confirmed Films for the Festival thus far include Secret of Kells, Iron Giant, Mary and Max, $9.99 and The Best of SIGGRAPH 2009.

There are many more speaker sessions and films yet to be announced for Spark Animation, so be sure to check their site often, or sign up for the newsletter.

This year’s Spark Animation sponsors and supporters are:

BC Innovation Council, BC Film, Vancouver Economic Development, AnnexPro, nvidia, Rainmaker, Propaganda Games, 3Vis and Association Friends include Women In Games Vancouver, Casual Games Association, Visual Effects Association of BC, Society of Graphic Designers Canada – BC Chapter .