Legendary Conjuring Up "Diablo"

Legendary Pictures, financiers of an upcoming "World of Warcraft" video game-to-movie and the upcoming "Superman Returns" will adapt the game "Diablo" for the big screen.

Released by Blizzard Entertainment December 1996, "Diablo" is set in the 'Kingdom of Khanduras', where players battle in the town of 'Tristram' against the 'Lord of Terror' and his minions.

Nominations Open for 2007 Elans

The 2nd Annual Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts (CAEAA) has announced their call for submissions from Video Game and Animation Companies for the 2007 Elans held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, November 2nd, 2007 at The Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts.

While the Awards are primarily held for Canadian companies, the Elans now have International Categories to include every participating country around the world.

For the Video Gaming industry, the 2007 Elans have two international categories:

"Outstanding Innovation in Gaming" (open to all companies including Canada)

"International Game of the Year"

Animation Companies outside of Canada can submit for nominations in "Best International Feature Length Animated Production" and/or "Best International Animated Production (Television Series)".

The Producers have also included a category for New Media/Digital Arts students outside of Canada, titled the "International Student of the Year Award".

The greater part of the high-tech/high-glam evening at the Elans serves to award Canadian talent at the top of the Video Game, Animation and Digital Art Education industries.

Given its ambition to award three industries in one evening, the panels again chose categories/criteria for this year’s Elans.

Categories now open to Canadian Video Game and Animation Companies for the 2007 Elans are as follow:

ELECTRONIC GAME CATEGORIES

1. GAME OF THE YEAR
2. BEST CONSOLE GAME
3. BEST PC GAME
4. BEST NEW VIDEO GAME COMPANY
5. BEST ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE
6. BEST CHARACTER
7. BEST ART DIRECTION
8. BEST HANDHELD GAME OF THE YEAR (psp, ds, etc...)
9. BEST GAME DESIGN OF THE YEAR
10. BEST MOBILE/CASUAL/ARCADE GAME OF THE YEAR
11. BEST WRITING FOR A GAME PRODUCTION
12. VIDEO GAME HALL OF FAME
13. OUTSTANDING INNOVATION IN GAMING

ANIMATION CATEGORIES

1. BEST FEATURE LENGTH ANIMATED PRODUCTION
2. BEST ANIMATED PRODUCTION (Television Series)
3. BEST ANIMATED SHORT SUBJECT
4. BEST DIRECTION in a FEATURE LENGTH ANIMATED PRODUCTION
5. BEST DIRECTION in an ANIMATED TELEVISION SERIES
6. BEST MALE VOICE OVER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE OR TELEVISION PRODUCTION
7. BEST FEMALE VOICE OVER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE OR TELEVISION PRODUCTION
8. BEST ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE
9. BEST SOUND DESIGN
10. BEST STORYBOARDING
11. BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN OR ART DIRECTION
12. BEST WRITING IN AN ANIMATED PRODUCTION
13. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

All submission details, including those for the International Categories, are listed under 'Awards' on the Official 2007 Elans website.

Submission deadline for these two industries is August 31st

Submissions for Students studying in the Digital Arts opened March 4th and closes July 31st.

Their categories previously announced include:

1. STUDENT ANIMATED OR MOTION GRAPHIC PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
2. STUDENT GAME OF THE YEAR
3. BEST ORIGINAL SOUND DESIGN/MUSICAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED PRODUCTION OR GAME
4. BEST Student ART DIRECTION - GAME PRODUCTION
5. BEST STUDENT ART DIRECTION - ANIMATED PRODUCTION
6. BEST STUDENT WRITING FOR AN ANIMATED OR GAME PRODUCTION
7. READY TO ROCKET" AWARD (ANIMATION AND GAMES)

The 2007 Elans will be held Friday, November 2, at The Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts. The state-of-the-art structure, regarded as the premiere entertainment facility in the city, will host nearly 2000 worldwide guests and participants of this year’s Elans, tripling the attendance of its inaugural year in 2006.

The day following the Awards Night, the CAEAA Producers, along with their Event Partners Ernst & Young, Electronic Arts (EA), Autodesk, N-GAGE by NOKIA and the British Columbia Provincial Government will host a very high-end networking day at the Official Hotelier, The Sutton Place Hotel, Vancouver for CEOs and Upper Management of companies/institutions from around the world who attended the 2007 Elans.

Other important players already onboard to support the 2007 Elans includes: Foundation 9/Backbone Entertainment, Radical Entertainment, next level games, Studio B Productions, Mercury Filmworks, Action Pants, Atomic Robot Games, Voicebox Productions, Western Imperial Magnetics, David Kaye Productions, Selkirk College, The Art Institute of Vancouver, Emily Carr Institute, Sheridan College, Vancouver Film School, School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SFU), BC Film and Elan statuette artist Dean Lauzé of D’Arts as well as FedEx, Paramount Limousines, Moore’s Clothing for Men and the Awards Auditing firm, Buckley Dodds & Assoc.s.

"As the Movie Industry goes to Hollywood for its Oscars, so will the world of Video Gaming and Animation come to Canada for their Elans", said Holly Carinci, producer CAEAA.