The Heat Is On At Threewave Bar-B-Q...

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Sneak Peek's Michael Stevens @ Vidfest...

Wednesday evening it was a bike ride over to Homer Street and the Threewave Software Rooftop Patio party, sponsored by New Media BC & WIGI. Framed by the Vancouver skyline and fortified by Red Truck lager, animators, gamers and developers enjoyed grilled lamb, beef and chicken burgers.

Threewave is noted as a triple-A game studio, hiring local talent and providing content for Activision's "Castle Wolfenstein" and Lucas Arts "Jedi Academy"...

Robert Barrett, Blue Castle Games, Lynda Donnachie, Blue Castle, Patricia Elliott, Canadian Dept. of Foreign Affairs, International Trade

Nicole Benda, UBC Science Co-Op, Lisa Tiveron, Marsh Canada,

Mya Aubin, Threewave

photos: Michael Stevens

"Incredibles" Meet At "Vidfest" Partnering Forum...

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Sneak Peek's Michael Stevens @ Vidfest:

The "Vidfest" 'Partnering Forum' opened Tuesday, September 25 at the Van Centre with a keynote address from John Walker, producer of Disney/Pixar feature "The Incredibles".

Walker talked about workable methods to create successful partnerships with filmmakers and how to collaborate in digital entertainment .

Throughout the morning, exclusive networking sessions and one-on-one meetings were hatched by companies looking for the right business matches, distributors and development partners in all sectors of the industry.

The event was sponsored by BC Ministry of Economic Development, Vancouver Economic Development Commission, Canadian Heritage and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A lunch was served at Elixir on Davie in Yaletown's Opus Hotel, offering Partnering Forum guests a juicy selection of B-B-Q chicken, wild cohoe salmon, steamed mussels, garlic greens and butternut squash, followed by sweet tarts, custard and bite-sized eclairs ....

The afternoon session at the Opus, sponsored by the Emily Carr Institute featured Joshua Davis, who demonstrated to the lap-top crowd the 'art' of using Macromedia Flash MX and ActionScript to build programs that design work, speed production and enhance skills of composition.

Following the seminar, in the Opus Lounge, KPMG sponsored the daily 'Happy Hour' from 5-7pm, inviting guests to 'chill, chat, and chew'.

At 7:30 PM, the Vibes Club on Davie led down a long red-light corridor to a decent room and bar where attendees kept shmoozing their wares over drinks and finger foods in the 'Mobile Mixer' party, sponsored by the Donat Group, creators of social networking technology...

Rochelle Grayson, COO Donat Group, Shylo Smith, IUGO games producer

"Sanctuary" Stakes Out "Vidfest"...

Sunday September 23, the "Vancouver International Digital Festival" aka 'Vidfest' @ the Vancouver International Film Centre on Seymour, held an afternoon screening of Canadian premiere "Infest Wisely", a 'low-fi' sci-fi movie in seven episodes. Creator Jim Munroe was on hand to introduce the picture.

In the evening guests were invited to attend a special theatrical screening, sponsored by BC Film of "Sanctuary", the big budget online 'webisode' series shot in HD. Creator Damian Kindler introduced the film.

Monday, September 24, the 'Creative Exchange Conference', offered all day 'micro sessions' for 'cutting edge' professionals, including 'Find Some Sanctuary', co-presented with the Vancouver International Film Festival.

The seminar took a look behind the scenes of "Sanctuary" with producer Kindler, actress/producer Amanda Tapping, director/producer Martin Wood and Richard Patterson, VFX Supervisor, Stage 3 Media Inc.

Later in the day Mark Verheiden, co-executive producer, writer of "Battlestar Galactica" delivered a keynote address to the crowd...

Gamers Blown Away by "Halo 3"

"Halo 3", the new Microsoft/Bungie video game is a first-person shooter that concludes the saga of Earth's war with alien race the 'Covenant'.

Players become super-soldier 'Master Chief', storming into jungle, grassland and alien installations for firefights accompanied by artificial intelligence-controlled cohorts.

Air cannons can shoot combatants over the terrain with new weapons including flamethrowers and spike grenades.

Vehicles include the Earth's Mongoose ATVs and the Covenant's buzzing, saw-blade choppers...

"Mind Habits" Wins Telefilm Games Award...

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Sneak Peek's Michael Stevens @ Vidfest

"We need Canadian talent that creates Canadian content to command audiences around the world", said Telefilm's Wayne Clarkson at the start of this year's VIDFEST, as he handed out a cheque for $500,000 to the winner of the first 'Telefilm Great Canadian Video Game Competition'.

The winner of the prize, also eligible to receive up to $1,000,000 in commercialized funding went to the game "Mind Habits".

The Telefilm 'People's Choice Award' went to "Swarm".

The PopVox Awards, the people’s choice awards for the Vancouver International Digital Festival, also recognized major sectors of the digital media industry with awards presented for top video game, mobile game, digital animation short, Web 2.0 application, digital visual effects and digital music score. A special award called 'Homegrown: Best of British Columbia' was also presented.

Following the awards, the crowd were treated to a gala array of tuna/salmon/avocado sushi, salads, finger foods and takeout boxes w/chopsticks, surrounded by mounds of chicken, cashews, shrimps and noodles...

Gotta love that VIDFEST...

"Resident Evil": Alice Activated...

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"Medal Of Homer"...

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Vancouver International Digital Festival, Sept 22-25

This year's Vancouver International Digital Festival, running September 22 to the 25th, is for 'visionaries' from games and digital entertainment, Web 2.0, interactive design, animation and mobile applications.

The event includes international business matchmaking, 'big picture' conference sessions on the trends/markets in digital media, a recruiting fair, seminars for creators/designers/producers and networking parties.

VIDFEST is produced by New Media BC, aided by an Advisory Board/Program Committee.
New Media BC is a not-for-profit full service agency representing digital media.

For VIDFEST, Lynda Brown is Executive Producer, Kirstin Richter, Creative Director, Dennis Chenard, International Partnerships Manager, Kelly Verchere, Speaker/Program Coordinator, Adam Gooch, Communications Manager, Jessica Schaap, Content Editor and Philippe Filiatreault, Sponsorship Coordinator.

The Program Committee is Kris Krug of Quasi-Sage/Bryght, Jennifer Ouano, Elastic Entertainment, Mark Baxter, Threewave Software, Wil Arndt, Creative Director/Principal, Mod7, Philipp Postrehovsky, Signals and Sang Mah, ComVu Media...

Stay Tuned for exclusive coverage of the 2007 VIDFEST...

The Return Of "Street Fighter"

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Director Andrzej "Doom" Batkowiak will helm a new "Street Fighter" movie.

The popular video game series was first adapted for the big screen in 1994, when Steven de Souza directed "Street Fighter" starring actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Screenwriter Justin Marks, currently working on an update of "Masters of the Universe", will pen the "Street Fighter" script, set to start shooting in 2008.

"Joust" Winging It To The Big Screen...

Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters' CP Prods have acquired film rights from Midway Games to the 1980's video game "Joust" to adapt into a feature.

In the original game, players take the role of a knight with a lance, mounted on either an ostrich or an emu, battling waves of computer-controlled enemy knights, mounted on giant buzzards...

Roll Out The Barrel...

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