See you at this month’s IGDA Montreal meeting! Here are the details:

From IGDA Montreal:

"Burn Babe, Burn: Adapting Dante’s Inferno"

Is Dante Alighieri laughing, or rolling, in his grave?  Can the world’s most exciting and dynamic entertainment medium tackle the challenge of making games out of dusty old literature?  Take a visual and literary tour through the creative process and challenges of EA’s controversial adaptation of part one of The Divine Comedy.

When: Wednesday, February 24th @ 7:00pm
What: IGDA-Montreal Presentation Night
Where: The SAT, 1195 St.Laurent
Why: Jonathan Knight discussing adaption of Dante’s Inferno
Who: All game developers, and those related to the game industry
Entry: free for IGDA members; $5 for non-members

Tags: Dante's Inferno, igda, montreal

From AJAX & RIA Journal:

EON Reality, the world’s leading interactive 3D software provider, and Darwin Dimensions [from Montreal] — creators of Evolver, the world’s first 3D Avatar Portal, today announced a partnership on two important projects which serve customers through provision of rich and compelling 3D immersive experiences.

The projects deliver breakthroughs in several aspects of 3D collaborative applications and will enhance users’ abilities to communicate more effectively online, and help to revolutionize the way organizations leverage their digital assets. EON Reality’s technology delivers the highest quality real time rendering solutions for 3D immersive applications, while Evolver puts high fidelity avatar creation and customization into the hands of everyday web users. Together, EON Reality and Evolver will enable users to optimize their 3D digital experiences with great customization and incredible ease of use. […]

Read the rest of the article on AJAX & RIA Journal…

Tags: avatar, Darwin Dimensions, education, eon reality, evolver

From Gamerizon:

Chop Chop Runner is a single-button game we submitted to the Gamma 4 contest.

It’s an “action beat’em up platformer” made mostly with reused art assets from Chop Chop Ninja.

We plan to release it as a more fleshed out game in the future.  In the meantime, here are some screenshots to whet your appetite.

 

 

Tags: chop chop ninja, chop chop runner, Gamerizon, gamma 4

Here is an interesting video interview from a few weeks ago, with BioWare’s Dr. Greg Zeschuk, about Mass Effect 2 (partially developed in Montreal) and 3.

From Joystiq:

"You may not even see the impact of a decision in Mass Effect 1 in Mass Effect 2, but in Mass Effect 3," BioWare’s Dr. Greg Zeschuk told us while elaborating about the whole Mass Effect franchise. The pedigreed co-founder of BioWare isn’t simply set on promoting the upcoming Mass Effect 2, but a vision for the entire trilogy. "In planning out the overall trilogy, we know what general story beats we want to hit along the entire thing. So we know the key events we want to have in 3, and right now the team is starting to flesh that out, fill in the spaces. And of course, we’re going to be waiting for the fan response to Mass Effect 2, to see what works and what didn’t work, what we can strengthen."

Video after the break:

Continue Reading »

Tags: bioware, Greg Zeschuk, Mass Effect

MONTRÉAL, le 3 févr. – Le Regroupement des producteurs multimédia (RPM) est heureux d’annoncer le lancement des NUMIX, les premiers prix d’excellence en production multimédia au Québec.

"Pour le RPM, les NUMIX représente une occasion unique de mettre en valeur l’excellence de notre industrie qui regroupe plus de 150 producteurs, lesquels génèrent au-delà de 200 M $ de volume de production annuelle et maintiennent près de 3000 emplois", commente Marc Beaudet, président du RPM.

Pour Michel Jolicoeur, directeur des NUMIX et membre du conseil d’administration du RPM, "les NUMIX occupent un terrain jusque là délaissé par les autres concours existants des secteurs de l’audiovisuel, du marketing et des technologies. Pour nous, il est très important de reconnaître enfin le caractère spécifique de la production de contenu multimédia."

Continue Reading »

Tags: numix, quebec, rpm

Here are a few updates from THQ from the last couple of days.

From Gamasutra: THQ Cuts 60 Jobs As Rainbow, Juice Rebrand, Refocus On Digital

Publisher THQ announced it would be refocusing its Juice Games and Rainbow Studios on digital distribution — and cutting 60 jobs as part of the strategy.

Juice Games will now be known as THQ Digital Studios Warrington, while Rainbow will be re-titled THQ Digital Studios Phoenix. According to the publisher, the studios’ core mandate will now be to create digitally-distributed games based both on owned and new IP. […]

From Engadget: THQ CEO calls PS3 Motion Controller ‘Arc’ throughout investor call

During an investor call, Farrell referred to the "PlayStation Arc motion controller" multiple times in both his prepared statements and in the Q&A round that followed. Remember, this is the same man who loose-lipped the Natal launch date well before Ballmer confirmed it for late 2010. Yeah, so PlayStation Arc it is. […]

From Joystiq: Darksiders, Saint’s Row sequels from THQ in fiscal 2012

THQ’s Brian Farrell has revealed on today’s investor conference call that the company is planning to revisit some of its most successful franchises as far away as the fiscal year of 2012 (which would be sometime after March 2011), including this year’s bestseller Darksiders, and the popular Saint’s Row franchise. Farrell says the company is looking to fiscal 2012 for "accelerated growth with three major core game titles scheduled: Warhammer 40k Space Marine, a sequel to Darksiders and the third generation of our popular Saint’s Row franchise." […]

Tags: arc, darksiders, digital, Jobs, ps3, saint's row, thq