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

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…

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.

 

 

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:

Read the rest of the article on Joystiq…

"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."

Les NUMIX, dont la soirée de remise de prix se déroulera à la fin avril 2010, récompenseront douze réalisations dans trois grandes catégories : Production d’affaires, Production de convergence et Production originale. Les producteurs qui le désirent peuvent dès maintenant déposer leurs pièces en passant par le site www.numix.ca. La période des inscriptions se termine le 19 mars. Par la suite, les membres du RPM pourront voter sur chacune des pièces déposées. Leur vote sera considéré par les deux jurys qui délibéreront sous la présidence du blogueur et animateur Dominic Arpin, également producteur du site WebTV Hebdo.

Les prix NUMIX, qui sont rendus possibles grâce à la participation financière de Téléfilm Canada, peuvent compter sur le travail assidu d’un comité organisateur composé de : Christiane Asselin (Turbulent), François Boulet (Inpix), Julien Roussin Coté (33Mag), Michel Jolicoeur (Tram média), Marie-Josée Lachance (La Presse télé) ainsi que Gilbert Ouellette (RPM et RADAR services médias).

Le Regroupement des producteurs multimédia (www.rpm-qc.com), créé en 2000, représente plus de soixante-dix producteurs actifs en production de contenu de commande, de convergence ou original sur les nouvelles plateformes. Le RPM vise notamment à créer un climat propice au développement et à la croissance de la production multimédia au Québec. En ce sens, le RPM fait des représentations actives auprès des gouvernements, gère des ententes collectives avec les syndicats d’artistes et participe à la réalisation d’études sur les réalités économiques et d’affaires du secteur.

Renseignements: Gilbert Ouellette, gestionnaire du RPM, (514) 813-3586, go@radarmedias.com

Mise à jour: Voici un vidéo parlant des NUMIX, présenté par quelques membres:

GALA NUMIX – Prix d’excellence en production multimédia du Québec from 33mag on Vimeo.

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." […]

Premier Jean Charest says Quebec is keen to align provincial visa treatment procedures with those of the federal government to speed up the entry of foreign information technology workers.

Quebec’s premier raised the possibility during a Thursday visit to Infosys, a high-tech multinational company in Bangalore, India, the subcontinent’s IT mecca.

Charest met with an Infosys representative, who complained it took 12 weeks to get clearance for specialized employees migrating to Quebec, while those headed to other parts of Canada were able to arrive after a month.

The premier said he wants to resolve the problem quickly, noting Infosys has said it wants to invest in Quebec. […]

Have you personally moved from another country to Montreal, to work in the game industry? Let us know the in the comments.

The latter part of this decade has seen FMOD and Miles’ dominance of the audio middleware market seriously challenged by Montreal-based Audiokinetic’s Wwise. Ed Fear spoke to Simon Ashby, the firm’s VP of product strategy, to see how this year’s new products have gone down and what’s next for 2010…

Develop: How has the past year been for Audiokinetic?
Simon Ashby: It’s been a good year. We’re growing our market share and expect this to accelerate in the year to come. I think the fact that we are seeing more Wwise titles shipping is helping undecided customers to make the jump to Wwise.

You’ve recently signed a long-term deal to work together with High Voltage – how is that partnership going to work and shape the future of your products?
Long term agreements such as this one are a confirmation that what we offer today is in line with what developers expect. This kind of partnership is key and will allow us to work closely with our users to shape the future of interactive audio. […]

Read the rest of the interview on Develop Magazine…