The first Canadian Videogame Awards were handed out in Vancouver this evening, with Dragon Age: Origins from Electronic Arts/BioWare taking home two awards, including Canadian Game of the Year. Assassin’s Creed II received a total of three awards and the other winners included Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes and Dawn of War II among others.

"This first event was an excellent showcase of the amazing talent of our videogame developers in Canada," said Michael Bidu, President of DigiBC. "Interactive entertainment is one of our country’s leading industries where we are clearly world-renowned, and this world-class event was a fitting way to showcase to the globe the great work done in Canadian studios coast to coast."

"The awards punctuated what many of us already know; that Canada is home to some of the biggest and most amazing games on the planet," said Victor Lucas, host of Electric Playground and one of the award event organizers. "We look forward to a bigger and even better show next year to celebrate the kick-ass work of our industry."

A 30-minute special on the Canadian Videogame Awards is scheduled to premiere on G4 Canada on May 16. Sponsors of the 2010 Awards included G4, XBOX 360, Sony PlayStation, and The Georgia Straight.

Here is the full list of all the winners and nominees from the inaugural event:

Game of the Year – Dragon Age: Origins (Electronic Arts/BioWare)

   -   Assassin’s Creed II
   -   Dawn of War II
   -   Dragon Age: Origins
   -   FIFA 10
   -   Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes

   Best Console – Assassin’s Creed II (UbiSoft Montreal)

   -   Assassin’s Creed II
   -   Dawn of War II
   -   FIFA 10
   -   NHL 10
   -   Prototype

   Best Handheld Game – Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes (Capybara Games)

   -   Battle of Giants: Dragons
   -   LEGO Battles
   -   Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
   -   MySims Racing
   -   Pandemica

   Best Downloadable Game – Critter Crunch (Capybara Games)

   -   Critter Crunch
   -   Implode!
   -   Osmos
   -   Pandemica
   -   Super Monkey Ball 2

   Best Audio – Dawn of War II (THQ/Relic)

   -   Assassin’s Creed II
   -   Dawn of War II
   -   Dragon Age: Origins
   -   Skate 2
   -   WET

   Best Game Design – Assassin’s Creed II (UbiSoft Montreal)

   -   Assassin’s Creed II
   -   Dawn of War II
   -   Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
   -   NHL 10
   -   Prototype

   Best Technology – Prototype (Radical Entertainment) & Assassin’s Creed II
   (UbiSoft Montreal)

   -   Assassin’s Creed II
   -   FIFA 10
   -   Fight Night: Round 4
   -   Prototype
   -   Skate 2

   Best Visual Arts – Assassin’s Creed II (UbiSoft Montreal)

   -   Academy of Champions: Soccer
   -   Assassin’s Creed II
   -   Dragon Age: Origins
   -   Fight Night: Round 4
   -   Punch-Out!!

   Best Writing – Dragon Age: Origins (Electronic Arts/BioWare)

   -   Assassin’s Creed II
   -   Dawn of War II
   -   Dragon Age: Origins
   -   Prototype
   -   WET

   In-Game Cinematic – Ghostbusters: The Video Game Cinematics (Rainmaker)

   -   Ghostbusters: The Video Game Cinematics
   -   LEGO Battles
   -   NBA Live 10
   -   Prototype Web of Intrigue

   Most Promising Game – ModNation Racer (United Front Games)

   -   Dead Rising 2
   -   Deus Ex: Human Revolution
   -   ModNation Racers
   -   Need for Speed World
   -   TRON: Evolution

 

Read the full pres release on CNW.

From Gamasutra:

The organizers of next month’s GDC Canada event in Vancouver are offering free Main Conference passes to Canadian game developers laid off in the last twelve months to help them return to the game industry.

Continuing a similar program conducted during GDC Canada 2009, and recognizing the toll the recession has taken on elements of the mainstream video game industry, a special page on the GDC Canada website details the offer’s specifics.

To qualify, prospective attendees must have been laid off from a Canadian video game or creative/digital arts company within the past 12 months, not be currently full-time employed, and provide their Canadian Record of Employment document at GDC Canada onsite registration to validate your status.

They will also need to pre-register now for the May 6th-7th event at the Vancouver Convention Center by following the instructions on the GDC Canada page devoted to the subject. Only a limited amount of these passes are available.

[…]

Read the full article on Gamasutra…

Anyone from Montreal going this year?

With seven nominations, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed leads the upcoming Canadian Video Game Awards, an event set for May 5 in Vancouver.

Taking place just prior to the Game Developers’ Conference Canada, also in Vancouver, the event will feature a performance from Video Games Live, and will be broadcast nationwide on G4 Canada.

“The lineup of finalists is a stunning collection of global blockbusters," says Electric Playground host and award show founder Victor Lucas. "These are among the biggest games in the world and they represent the best in this country’s innovation and creativity."
The Canadian game of the year will be determined by public vote, and interested parties can visit www.canadianvideogameawards.com/ for voting and further details on the event.

The full list of finalists is as follows:

Game of the Year
Assassin’s Creed II
Dawn of War II
Dragon Age: Origins
FIFA 10
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes

Best Console Game
Assassin’s Creed II
Dawn of War II
FIFA 10
NHL 10
Prototype

Best Handheld Game
Battle of Giants: Dragons
LEGO Battles
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
MySims Racing
Pandemica

Best Downloadable Game
Critter Crunch
Implode!
Osmos
Pandemica
Super Monkey Ball 2

Best Audio
Assassin’s Creed II
Dawn of War II
Dragon Age: Origins
Skate 2
WET

Best Game Design
Assassin’s Creed II
Dawn of War II
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
NHL 10
Prototype

Best Technology
Assassin’s Creed II
FIFA 10
Fight Night: Round 4
Prototype
Skate 2

Best Visual Arts
Academy of Champions
Assassin’s Creed II
Dragon Age: Origins
Fight Night: Round 4
Punch-Out!!

Best Writing
Assassin’s Creed II
Dawn of War II
Dragon Age: Origins
Prototype
WET

In-Game Cinematic
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
LEGO Battles
NBA Live 10
Prototype Web of Intrigue

Most Promising Game
Dead Rising 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
ModNation Racers
Need for Speed World
TRON: Evolution

Think Services’ Game Developers Conference Canada will be returning for its second year this May, offering lectures and networking opportunities focused on the burgeoning Canadian development scene.

Registration is now open for the event at the official GDC Canada website. The event will be taking place at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC from May 6-7 2010. This year, new tracks will focus on more hot games industry topics including digital distribution, social games, and iPhone games. The event will also once again host tracks about game design, business and production, programming, and visual arts.

Making a return to GDC Canada is the Game Career Seminar, a one-day event aimed at students and individuals looking to break into the video game industry. GDC Canada, presented by Reboot Communications and Gamasutra parent Think Services, will also host evening networking events as well as an expo hall.

The event will be offering keynotes, lectures, panels, and roundtable discussions programmed by an advisory board of Canadian games industry veterans including Brenda Bailey (Deep Fried Entertainment), Steve Bocska (Pug Pharm), Howard Donaldson (Disney Interactive Studios), Dave Elton (EA Blackbox), Tabitha Hayes (EA), Dan Irish (Threewave), Jerome Kashetsky (National Research Council of Canada), Colin Macrae (EA), Gerri Sinclair (Great Northern Way Campus), Tarrnie Williams (EA), Kerry Whalen, (Ubisoft), and Kelly Zmak (Radical Entertainment). […]

Will you be attending this year?

The call for submissions to present content for lectures, roundtables and panel sessions for the 2010 Game Developers Conference® Canada (GDC Canada) is now open through midnight, Tuesday, January 5, 2010. GDC Canada serves as a nexus point for established and promising young studios to learn best practices for developing new global titles and understanding emerging digital distribution models. The second annual GDC Canada is presented by Reboot Communications and Think Services, the organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference. GDC Canada 2010 will return to the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC from May 6-7, 2010.

…

The session formats for this year’s content include 25 and 60 minute lectures, panels, and roundtables. The GDC Canada advisory board will rate sessions based on the criteria of concept, depth, organization, credentials and takeaway. The topics for this year include:

• Business/Production
• Digital Distribution
• Game Design
• iPhone Games
• Programming
• Social and Casual Games
• Visual Arts

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Recently laid off? Still looking?  Reboot and Think Services would like to offer you a FREE main conference pass to GDC Canada to jumpstart your game development career!

Mix and mingle with your past and future colleagues from EA, Nokia, Disney/Propaganda Games, Action Pants, and Bungie…and make sure to find out why Radical, Next Level Games, Relic, Hansoft, Super Rewards, Blue Castle, Yummy Interactive, and other exhibiting companies want to talk to you!

To qualify, you must: a) have been laid off from a Canadian videogame developer within the past 6 months, b) not be currently employed, c) provide your Record of Employement at onsite registration to validate your status.

A new report from the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) shows Vancouver still the leading hub of the industry in terms of employee numbers.

…

And because tax incentives in British Columbia pale when compared to those in Quebec, B.C. may slip into the No. 2 spot some time this year.

The survey, prepared by Hickling Arthurs Low Corporation, points to three major hubs — Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto — that account for almost all of the 14,000 jobs in the industry. British Columbia has 44 per cent of employees in the industry, with the Vancouver area’s 61 firms providing work for 5,842 employees and 42 per cent of Canada’s workforce. Quebec is second with 37 per cent of workers in Canada (32 per cent in Montreal), followed by Ontario, a distant third at 14 per cent.

The main threat to the prominence of Vancouver’s game-development industry comes not from Bangalore or Budapest, but from Montreal. While Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island all offer incentives to new-media companies, the Quebec government supports the production of “multimedia titles” with a tax credit of up to 37.5 percent of labour costs.

Cédric Orvoine, director of communications for Ubisoft Montreal, acknowledged that his studio is actively recruiting workers from Vancouver. The Straight spoke with Orvoine on February 3, the day that the Paris-based Ubisoft announced its acquisition of Vancouver developer Action Pants. Orvoine said the company plans to increase its Montreal staff from 2,000 to 3,000 employees by 2013, while keeping Action Pants in Vancouver.

Quebec, he said, is working hard to attract video-game companies to Montreal. “The government has made it a priority to develop this industry,” Orvoine said.

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