I’ve finally decided to migrate the CanDevs blog from candevs.wordpress.com to being self-hosted. Currently, blogs are fed through Feedburner (from candevs.wordpress.com) into the main window of the CanDevs.ca site. While this serves the basic purpose of getting information out to visitors, CanDevs is essentially split into two sites. The main draw of CanDevs.ca is the listing of games companies; while the blog helps deliver related information. So rather than sending visitors to two separate web sites, I think it’s better if both the blog and listing were contained in one space.
I’ve upgraded the CanDevs.ca hosting to allow MySQL and PHP, and have installed the WordPress application. However, I still need to customize the look of the WordPress theme I want to use in order for it to look almost exactly like the main CanDevs page looks now. This will take me a few weeks as I need to familiarize myself with the new coding (PHP mostly from what I gather). Once this is all done, I will delete the candevs.wordpress.com blog after I have exported/imported all past blog entries into the self-hosted site. And on a side note, it’s possible that if you get RSS feeds from CanDevs, you might need to re-subscribe once the move is made.
I still have many game companies to add so once the infrastructure change has been made, I hope to get back to regular updates.
This story is a few days old now, but I just wanted to share a few thoughts.
So it was announced this week that French-based company Ubisoft will be opening up a studio in Toronto by year’s end. This new major studio will finally put Toronto (and Ontario for that matter) on a more equal level as Vancouver and Montreal. Vancouver has long had EA as its major development studio centrepiece, and Montreal has its own Ubisoft studio.
The reason this announcement is important is that this new Toronto studio will eventually employ about 800 people. Even though the greater Toronto area does have offices of other well-known companies like Rockstar, Activision, and Capcom – these offices only employ on average 100 people and mostly work on small projects, or are only marketing or sales offices.
This new Ubisoft studio will be employing 800 actual game developers within 10 years. This will allow talented Ontario developers to stay in the province and not have to move away to get big-studio experience. And as has happened in Vancouver and Montreal, in time Toronto will also probably see an increase in independent game studios - both as a result of former Ubisofters and its related talent pool, and because of the Ontario government’s commitment to the video games industry.
The Ontario government will be investing about $250 million over 10 years, with Ubisoft itself investing $500 million. Part of the overall plan in setting up Ubisoft Toronto, in addition to stimulating the Ontario economy, is to use Toronto’s already strong film industry talent, and build on that to expand into other entertainment mediums.
As a whole, the new Ubisoft Toronto studio announcement is a very postive thing indeed.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, June 4, 2009 – The Canadian Interactive Alliance / l’Alliance interactive canadienne (CIAIC) today released complete results of its 2008 Canadian Interactive Industry Profile (CIIP), including an analysis of the interactive media industry in Ontario.
For 2008, the CIIP study looked only at firms that derived more than 50 per cent of their revenue from interactive digital media work, which excluded broadcasters, ISPs and other similar media enterprises. Overall, the 2008 CIIP estimates the number of interactive media companies in Canada at 2,960, collectively employing between 51,000 and 52,500 Canadians in various roles. The estimated revenue generated by these companies is $4.7 billion annually, with $3.8 billion of that coming from interactive digital media projects, and $900 million from other forms of media and entertainment.
The full report can be found online at www.ciaic.ca. Highlights of the CIIP:
Through the recognized gross-up method used in the survey, it is estimated that Ontario is home to approximately 950-1,050 interactive digital media companies that employ more than 16,000 people. These companies generate between $1.3 and $1.5 billion in annual gross revenue, and between $1.1 and $1.2 billion in interactive digital media revenue;
Among the 45 per cent of Ontario companies surveyed who said they exported goods and services, revenue derived from exports accounted for 54.7 per cent of total revenue – the highest percentage of all five regions in the 2008 CIIP;
Among small interactive media companies – defined as those firms with less than $250,000 in annual revenue – in all five regions, Ontario’s were the most prolific employers, with an average staff size of five full-time equivalent (FTE) positions;
Interactive Ontario ranked first out of 20 associations, groups and professional organizations to which the province’s interactive media firms reported belonging.
“The Ontario government has identified the entertainment and creative cluster as the fastest-growing sector of our economy over the next 10 years, led by the interactive digital media industries — and the latest findings from the CIIP certainly bear that out,” said Karen Thorne-Stone, President and CEO of the Ontario Media Development Corporation. “As we continue to strengthen Ontario’s knowledge-based economy, OMDC is proud to support the interactive digital media industry through a variety of programs, funds, events and tax credits, as well as through important research projects like this.”
“Interactive media continues to be a corporate priority for Telefilm Canada, and the findings of the Canadian Interactive Industry Profile demonstrate how important Telefilm has been to this growth industry,” said Wayne Clarkson, Executive Director of Telefilm Canada. “Being recognized as one of the most important national funding sources is proof that Telefilm has played a part in helping to increase revenues and create jobs in the interactive media industry.”
“The 2008 Canadian Interactive Industry Profile clearly shows the future potential of this fast-growing segment of the knowledge economy,” said Ian Kelso, President of the CIAIC and President and CEO of Interactive Ontario. “We believe that the story of Canada’s interactive digital media and its contribution to our country’s GDP, employment base and global competitiveness has only just begun to be told.”
Companies participating in the 2008 edition of the CIIP, which is at present the only national study of Canada’s interactive media industry, reported that revenue from interactive digital media work grew a remarkable 50.9 per cent between 2006 and 2008, and a respectable 17.4 per cent rate of growth in revenue from all sources over the same period.
Other national-level statistics of note from the 2008 CIIP include:
The vast majority – 85 per cent – of companies are wholly Canadian-owned;
60 to 70 per cent of interactive media projects are based on original intellectual property;
Nearly half – 46 per cent – of industry revenue is generated through two task categories: Game Design and Development, and Website Design and Development;
A full third of respondents said they performed work in five or more interactive digital media task categories.
Funding supporters of the 2008 CIIP are Telefilm Canada, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, and Business New Brunswick.
About CIAIC
Formed in June 2005, the Canadian Interactive Alliance/l’Alliance Interactive Canadienne is a not-for-profit association and the authoritative voice for Canada’s interactive digital media industry on the national stage. Its membership is composed of seven provincial interactive media associations: Alliance Numérique, Digital Alberta, Interactive Media Alliance of PEI, Interactive Ontario, Manitoba Interactive Digital Media Association, New Media BC, and SaskInteractive.
On April 1st a new law came into effect in the province of Quebec regarding the sale of video games. The law states that if a French-language version of a game exists, it must be made available to consumers. If a game has both a French and English version, only the French version will be sold in stores in Quebec.
The law does not prevent the sale of non-French language games. If a game does not have a French-language version (usually Parisian French), then whatever version has been developed be it in English, Japanese, or other, then it will still be available to Quebecers. If a French version is subsequently released, then it will replace the non-French product on store shelves.
The new law is meant to promote the French language in the province. It also forces retailers, distributers, and publishers to make French-language games accessible to the Francophone community. In many cases there are already localized versions (French included) of games developed, but their distribution in the province of Quebec has been neglected. Developers needn’t worry as their games will still be for sale in Quebec no matter what language their games have been developed in.
The following press release is courtesy of Danielle Engels from Interactive Ontario:
March 27, 2009, (Toronto) – Yesterday the Ontario government released its 2009 budget which included significant improvements to the province’s competitive edge in the interactive media marketplace. Through a series of improvements to the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit (OIDMTC) and a boost to the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC), Ontario now offers some of the most competitive production and development environments for the creation of interactive media products and services anywhere in the world.
The Interactive media industry is comprised of companies working on emerging and developing platforms such as video game consoles, the web and mobile phones. There are currently about 700 companies working in the interactive media industry in Ontario.
“This budget can leave no doubt that Ontario is very serious about its digital future,” said Ian Kelso, President & CEO, Interactive Ontario. “It is a tremendous boost to our competitive edge, and I have no doubt the world will take notice.”
“This new support from the Ontario Government will foster new growth in the interactive media industry. Not only will it be easier to market interactive projects, but the development support will give companies the freedom to incubate innovative, forward-thinking ideas and allow us to stay competitive in the global market,” said Mark Bishop, Chair, Interactive Ontario Board of Directors & Partner/Executive Producer, marblemedia.
This budget proposes, effective for qualifying expenditures incurred after March 26, 2009 to increase the OIDMTC rates to:
• 40 % (from 30%) for qualifying corporations, regardless of size, that develop and market their own eligible products; and
• 35 % (from 25%) for qualifying corporations that develop eligible products under a fee-for-service arrangement.
For qualifying expenditures incurred after March 26, 2009:
• to expand the OIDMTC, to allow corporations to claim 100 % of the amount paid to eligible arm’s-length contractors that is attributable to the salaries and wages of the contractor’s employees; and
• to extend the OIDMTC to digital media game developers that incur a minimum$1 million of eligible labour expenditures over a 36-month period for fee-for-service work done in Ontario in respect of an eligible product. Corporations that meet the minimum expenditure test would not be required to be at arm’s length with the purchaser corporation, or to develop all, or substantially all, of the eligible product.
This budget is proposing about $100 million annually in additional tax relief and investments of about $30 million to support the entertainment and creative cluster. These measures include proposals to:
• enhance tax support for the creation of interactive digital media products in Ontario;
• enhance the refundable book publishing tax credit;
• make the enhanced tax credit rates under the refundable film and television tax credits permanent, to create predictability and stability for the industry;
• provide $20 million to the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC), an agency of the Ministry of Culture, which supports a number of Ontario’s creative industries as they compete domestically and globally; and
• invest $10 million in a pilot program, administered through OMDC, that would refund a portion of the costs associated with intellectual property development to Ontario-based companies in the screen-based industries.
The Game Developers Conference Canada (GDC Canada) will be held May 12-13 2009 at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre.
GDC Canada (evolving from the Vancouver Game Summit) will hold information sessions, have guest speakers, and present networking opportunities for game developers.
Registration is now open and full information can be obtained at www.gdc-canada.com
It was recently announced that Nexon Vancouver (Humanature) will be closing. Nexon is the Korean-based developer of Maple Story. Nexon Vancouver was working on an original free-to-play MMO called Sugar Rush. About 90 employees will be affected by the closing.
Another studio closing is EA Black Box. About 200 of the Vancouver studio’s employees will be let go. The remaining staff will be integrated into EA’s Burnaby, BC office. Black Box was responsible for developing the Need For Speed series and Skate.
In better news, Ubisoft has announced that it has bought Vancouver-based Action Pants Inc. API will be tasked with bringing a new sports game exclusively to the Nintendo Wii.
With the current world economic slowdown, it was inevitable that the video games industry would be affected as well. However, considering the fact that Canada is in much better shape economically than other nations, game development in Canada is still relatively solid.
The following press release was provided by Glenn from DISTIL:
December 8th 2008, Ottawa Canada: IDC Canada has released a new study naming DISTIL Interactive as one of the ten emerging new media companies in Canada. Companies that make this annual roster typically exhibit category leadership and rapid adoption by the marketplace. DISTIL, which began operations with a staff of two in 2005 and now has over 25 employees, the majority in Ottawa, uses digital gaming technology and methods to build corporate learning environments.
The study entitled 10 Canadian New Media Companies to Watch (IDC #CA3TIW8), provides insight into the solutions, go-to-market strategies, partners, and customers of the profiled vendors. Their lessons learned may provide a model for other emerging companies in the Canadian technology marketplace, and help larger vendors and investors identify partnership and investment opportunities.
DISTIL CEO Robert Thompson reflected on being profiled by IDC, “It’s gratifying to be recognized for our efforts to differentiate ourselves in an increasingly dynamic new media sector by concentrating on learning games rather than entertainment games.”
Thompson continued, “DISTIL, which recently garnered two awards at the DevLearn conference in San Jose, distinguishes itself through a focus on interactive assessment-based learning combining gaming and data mining to enhance both the learning experience and the organization’s ability to quantify student performance.“
About Distil Interactive Ltd: DISTIL is a venture-backed new media company, has developed a platform that utilizes “video games” technology for Talent Management applications such as training and performance assessment.
Today the DISTIL platform is revolutionizing the way professionals are trained and certified through Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL). eLearning games users benefit from the intuitive, immersive, interactive experience provided by DISTIL products that accelerates learning through virtual experience. Sponsoring organization benefit from the enhanced skills transfer and learning time compression offered by DGBL, and the integrated assessment technology that evaluates performance through game-play.
DISTIL also manages on-line distribution and re-sale of award winning DGBL programs co-developed with its training partners, including an extensive set of Quality, Health & Safety, Environmental, Emergency Preparedness and ISO Standards training products.
The following post is courtesy of Kate Underhill from Magmic Games:
Magmic Games is Hiring!
| Warning: May Cause Employment |
Magmic Games, Ottawa’s largest game company, is hiring! Magmic is a leading developer and publisher of games for mobile platforms worldwide. Having doubled in size over the past year, we continue to look for the best and brightest to join this growing company.
If you, or someone you know is looking for a fantastic opportunity as a:
· Graphic Artist (in-game art)
· Software Developer (J2EE) – Gameserver
· Software Developer (Java, BlackBerry)
· Software Developer (C/C++, Windows Mobile)
Check out our careers site for full descriptions, then email your resume and covering email to careers@magmic.com!
The Toronto Gaming Expo will be held from August 22 to 24. It is part of the annual Toronto Fan Expo which features comic book, anime, science fiction, and horror themed exhibits, guests, and vendors.
Billed as the largest gaming event in Canada, the Gaming Expo will be having cash prize tournaments for console games such as Gears of War, Rainbow 6 Vegas 2, and Halo 3. This is all part of Major League Gaming’s Pro Circuit.
In addition to video games, the Gaming Expo includes tabletop, role-playing, and collectible card game exhibits and tournaments.
The other day someone emailed me to basically explain the Catch 22 of the games industry (or any industry for that matter): to get a job you need experience, but to gain that experience, you first need to get a job.
There are some games companies that will still hire people with no games industry experience. But the industry has matured to the point that you can now actually get some sort of diploma or degree in games development. So to stand apart from the crowd of potential hires, here are a few tips that may help you land that first big break:
1. Attend industry events
Depending on where you live, you may have local IGDA meetings or other industry related events. Networking and meeting face to face is the key. Talk to people and make yourself known, get your name out there. Have a business card or resume handy just in case. If an employer gets to know you, and they like your personality, they may consider giving you a junior position even though you don’t have the ideal requirements.
2. Have a good portfolio and do side projects
Everyone should have an online portfolio for an employer to have easy access to a resume and sample of work. The sample works can include school projects but should also include side projects. Consider how to best showcase your skills and use that to show employers that you are keen to get into the industry.
3. Volunteer
Through networking or through contacting game companies directly, offer to help them out for free. Let them know what your skills are and tell them you are willing to work for them as a volunteer. This will benefit them in that they will not need to pay you to get work done, but most beneficially it will help you gain valuable industry experience.
To apply these tip takes time and effort. They not easy to accomplish specially if one already has another job or is a full time student. However, through dedication can come great rewards, and can possibly give you that first big break.
The year 2012 has long been prophesied as a time of major world changes. The ancient Mayan calendar marks 2012 as the end of time. This can be interpreted in many ways including Armageddon; or it can mean the dawn of a new age of enlightenment. However, it seems that 2012 may be the year that marks the end of the Internet as we know it.
I have recently read news reports that major worldwide ISPs will be destroying the current free model to access the Internet, and replacing it with a pay-per-use model similar to the cable television model by the year 2012 (Bell and Telus may be implementing these changes here in Canada earlier, perhaps by 2010). Currently Internet users pay a flat fee and are able to essentially access any web site in the world they desire. However, with this coming initiative users will be paying for web site packages, where for example only the top 40 web sites will be accessible. Any sites not included in the package would cost users extra to access.
This would mean that independent sites like CanDevs will cease to exist. If there are no visitors, then there would be no point of having a web site. This will also mean that free speech, free knowledge, and innovation will be destroyed since only top sites like CBC, CNN, and Amazon will be accessible only if they are included in your subscription package. The bottom line for doing this is money. If you want more access, then you have to pay the ISPs more money.
I do hope this is a hoax. Something tells me this might possibly not be true. It would be insane if the ISPs went ahead with this and the logistics of it would be phenomenal. Would users get to pick sites by content, by theme, or will they be hand-picked? If you think about it, then search engines like Google would become obsolete since most of the search result links would be blocked if the results sites aren’t part of your subscription package. How about web sites you would otherwise only access once in your life – would you need to add them to your subscription package just to find out it’s not what you were looking for? What about new sites – would you need to add a video games promo site to your package every time a new game comes out? All these things would seem incredibly inconvenient to users from what I can see. I’m not sure how ISPs will be able to convince people to agree to this.
However, if this is all true then the word has to be spread and this has to be stopped.
A reminder for fans of jPod that the re-airing of 13 episode season one starts tonight at 8PM on the CBC. If the numbers are better this time around, then perhaps the CBC may give the show a second season.
A recap of the premise:
“jPod is a one hour comedic television show that is broadcast on the CBC. It’s based on best-selling author Douglas Coupland’s book of the same name. jPod is a funny, quirky, intelligent show that chronicles the lives of Ethan Jarlewski and his co-workers at the fictional Vancouver-based video games company Neotronic Arts.”
jPod is back! Well, sort of. For those that are unfamiliar with jPod, here is my description of it from one of my previous posts:
“jPod is a one hour comedic television show that is broadcast on the CBC. It’s based on best-selling author Douglas Coupland’s book of the same name. jPod is a funny, quirky, intelligent show that chronicles the lives of Ethan Jarlewski and his co-workers at the fictional Vancouver-based video games company Neotronic Arts.”
The CBC has decided to re-broadcast the first season of jPod, which was unfortunately not renewed for another season. The re-runs start on Thursday June 19 at 8PM. This gives the show a second chance to find a wider audience, and in turn higher ratings because of its better time slot. There may even be the possibility that the show will come back for a second season.
I’ve recently made a change in the way company email addresses are displayed on CanDevs. Where listed, the @ character of a company’s email address has been removed and replaced with an image of the character instead. This is to help prevent email address harvesting. Email address harvesting is basically the process of obtaining lists of email addresses primarily for the purpose of spam. There are various methods to do this, with the use of harvesting bots (spam bots) being one of them. Harvesting bots are special software programs that crawl web pages looking for email addresses to obtain.
I was initially listing company addresses in plain text, then moved on to replacing certain characters with ASCII characters. I know that using ASCII characters to hide addresses is now an obsolete method, but I wasn’t really concerned about harvesting bots at the beginning. Besides, shouldn’t it really be up to the game companies themselves to prevent spam? But then I started thinking that instead of contributing to this worldwide problem, the least I could do was help to alleviate it.
So by using an image to replace the @ character, I am hoping that it will thwart most harvesting bots. I do know however that the newer bots can even decipher images, but as far as I know these aren’t in widespread use yet. Even using Javascript (as I do with the CanDevs address) or something similar to hide the addresses is not foolproof, but at least it helps. Besides, once in a while I don’t mind getting email from someone needing my trustworthy nature in getting millions of dollars out of Africa.
Remember Max Payne? It’s the 3rd person shooter that originally came out on PC in 2001 then later on Xbox and PS2. It also spawned a sequel that came out in 2003. Well, it’s being made into a full length movie (there are unofficial fan films already out there by the way). Anyway, the new movie is being filmed in Toronto and stars Marky Mark Wahlberg as Max.
I guess I feel a certain affinity for Max Payne because I did quality assurance for the Playstation 2 port. I volunteered to do QA because the other project I was on was having a lot of downtime (it was eventually cancelled). I enjoyed doing QA because it gave me a different insight into gameplay and level design. Since it was a port, the levels on the PS2 were much smaller than the original PC version. Levels were basically just chopped up to make up for the PS2’s lower hardware specs. This created interesting elements not seen in the original; such as having areas where you could get Max stuck in, and not be able to continue the game unless you reset the game. Finding these sort of dead spots was one of my specialties.
I also got to meet some of the original developers from Remedy. They came over from Finland to lend a hand for a few weeks. I even remember driving one of the guys to the local Wal-mart so he could buy some cheap kung-fu DVDs. Apparently the ones he got were hard to get in Finland at the time.
Max Payne (the movie) is scheduled for release in Fall 2008.
I just found out that Toronto based games developer Pseudo Interactive is closing its doors. Pseudo is the studio behind the Full Auto games. They have been around since 1995 and employed about 50 people. This is unfortunate for everyone employed at Pseudo; and a blow to Canadian based companies.
The decision to close shop was based on publisher Eidos’ financial troubles. Eidos has had to cut its own workforce and cancel titles; including a project Pseudo was working on. This affected Pseudo to the point of not being able to keep operating.
Some former co-workers of my mine were at one point or another employed at Pseudo. But I’m quite sure that with their talents they will find other employment easily. I remember going to an IGDA sponsored paintball tournament for local area (Toronto) game developers a few years back. I met a few of the other Pseudo devs there and they seemed fairly decent. Needless to say though, our team won the tournament. Woot!
I’m not sure how Eidos’ troubles will affect their new studio in Montreal. I guess we’ll have to wait and see and hope that things work out.
Game Developer magazine is dedicated to covering the video games industry. It is mostly meant for developers, the “insiders”, as opposed to it being geared towards gamers. Its stories deal with trends in the industry, new technologies, dissection of game projects after their completion, and other such tidbits. Game Developer is also sort of the paper edition of Gamasutra.
I mentioned it briefly in a previous blog post, but you can get a free subscription to Game Developer magazine delivered to your door – as long as you qualify. You have to be employed in the interactive entertainment industry (in any capacity) to get the free subscription.
If you live in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), or want to come down and visit, there’s a store in Mississauga that sells cheap PC and console games. It’s called Entertainment Liquidators and is located at Eglinton Ave. and Dixie Rd. Entertainment Liquidators is one of those discount warehouse type places that has very sparse decor, but good bargains.
I mostly buy PC games so as a PC gamer I think there are good deals to be had there. Boxed PC games are $10 each, or 3 for $25. Jewel case games are I think $5 each, or 3 for $12. While they do carry older games (like the ones in giant old style boxes), most of their stock is current. The majority of the games you’ll find are ones that have been released over the last couple of years. For instance you can get Scarface there for $10, which still sells at retail stores for over $30. They seem to carry a lot of Dreamcatcher titles, and since I’m a fan of the company and its adventure games, this is a bonus. Some of the titles I’ve managed to pick up from this warehouse for cheap include: Dreamfall, Shock Force, and Nibiru. I haven’t bought any console games from there but I think you can get good deals on previous generation titles.
Futureshop, Best Buy, and Business Depot are other places I buy my PC games from. I like to save my money so I’m always looking for deals. I try to usually wait until titles come down to the $10 range. I’ve managed to get games like King Kong, Battle for Middle Earth 2, and Rome Total War all for $10 or less each at these places. Console games are a bit more expensive but the bargains are usually under $20. Even Loblaws and Great Canadian Superstores carry games now. I’ve picked up a few console deals like The Warriors (PS2) and Genji (PS2) there.
Sometimes though, there are games that one must buy at a higher price. I still wait for the price to come down, but I only wait until I have the feeling these games are going to disappear from store shelves. This category for me includes the majority of the Star Wars titles; and just a little while ago I had to buy Stalker (for $25 I think). In any case, I think it’s money well spent.
And if you’re wondering about EB (Electronics Boutique), I’ve given up shopping there. I find those stores too noisy, too busy, and too disorganized. There are at least 5 EBs within a 15-20 minute drive from me, but I’d rather buy my games somewhere else. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Besides, I never find what I’m looking for.
Neotronic Arts located in Burnaby BC is now hiring! Click the links on the main page to apply for current openings.
One of NA’s current projects is a new type of skateboarding game called BoardX. BoardX is an original intellectual property that’s set to introduce a new experience to the skateboarding genre. It’s set for a late 2008 release on Xbox360 and PS3.
In addition, if you sign up to be a game tester, you can play some of NA’s other games online. You can check out Insectoid Invasion (a sci-fi shooter), Keyboard Hero (a computer version of Guitar Hero), Vansterdam (become a kingpin in Vancouver), and Claim & Conquer (a turn-based strategy game).
Posted by Sim@CanDevs 
Posted by Sim@CanDevs 
Posted by Sim@CanDevs 
