From IGDA Montreal:

When: Thursday, June 25th @ 7:00pm
What: Summer Social + E3 Redux
Where: The SAT, 1195 St.Laurent
Why: Drink, schmooze and check out cool games
Who: All game developers, and those related to the game industry
Entry: free for IGDA members; $5 for non-members

 

This is the final IGDA-Montreal event for the 08-09 "season". Come hang out and schmooze, and help us run through our stock of free drink tickets. At least 3x free drinks will be given to every person there!

Since many Montreal studios were just at E3 showing off their upcoming games, we’ll have several games to show off on the big screens (eg, EA Montreal’s Army of Two 40th Day, A2M’s Wet, Mass Effect 2 from BioWare, etc).

From GameTrailers:

A trailer of the upcoming Need for Speed game (for Wii and DS) developped by EA Montreal.

It doesn’t seem to be in-game footage though, just a cinematic.

Update: Here’s an interview with Joe Booth the Senior Producer, touching the design and controls of the game:

Continue Reading »

From IGDA Montreal:

When: Wednesday, May 20th @ 7:00pm
What: IGDA-Montreal Presentation Night
Where: The SAT, 1195 St.Laurent
Why: BioWare on Mass Effect 2 iterative level design
Who: All game developers, and those related to the game industry
Entry: free for IGDA members; $5 for non-members

This session examines the BioWare Mass Effect team’s new level-creation process, which is focused on maximizing iteration for quality while minimizing rework and cost. This approach to building levels strives to integrate the Design, Art, and Production teams such that the highest-risk level-creation issues are addressed early in the development cycle. Lessons learned from Mass Effect lead to a detailed description of the new level-creation process, and graphical examples of a level illustrate its progression through the necessary phases. The discussion also examines how BioWare is currently implementing this process using elements of Scrum and Lean Development.

From Kotaku:

First person brawlers are few and far between—only a handful, like Condemned, Breakdown and Zeno Clash, have found some degree of success with their attempts—but that’s not going to stop EA from letting you rain blows on the professional athlete of your choosing. The new addition is just one of "more than 200 gameplay refinements" shipping with the next iteration, according to EA, including the arrival of "towel-waving fans." Jeez, finally.

Of course, EA has slightly more worthwhile gameplay improvement planned for NHL 10, including bobble passes, scrums, and the option to one-time loose pucks, three things that illustrate how out of touch I am with the sport of hockey. Other additions include an all-new board physics engine, 360° precision passing mechanic and the ability to shoot while kneeling.

The game is scheduled to arrive on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 later this year, skipping the PC and PlayStation 2.

From Gamasutra:

Outsourcing firm Babel says it’s hired Toshiyuki Nagai to head its business development efforts in Japan.

Now owned by India-based firm Quattro BPO Solutions, Babel also has offices in Brighton, New Delhi, Montreal, and Los Angeles. Its Montreal branch is its most recent addition, opening in September 2005, and recently saw a significant expansion.

Now, Nagai will lead the company’s efforts to grow in Japan. He has worked with companies including Eidos and Electronic Arts, and was most recently GM of Genius Sonority.

"I am delighted Toshiyuki could join us," says sales and marketing VP Keith Russell. "His wealth of knowledge of the Japanese market, his contacts within the industry as well as within all our existing clients means he brings considerable advantage to the team, and I am confident he will help us grow our business in Japan."

From 1up:

Ubisoft has a new teaser for Splinter Cell: Conviction online. It seems that our guy Sam Fisher is in some trouble.

At the game’s main site, there’s nothing save a "Third Echelon" emblem and the message, "Site Currently Under Investigation." Below that, "If you have any information on Sam Fisher, please report it here." The link connects to Splinter Cell’s official forums.

Check it out for yourself here. Maybe you can figure out what "vomacoifinnocnt" means.