London's Antic Entertainment Awarded $1 Million in Development Funding

London’s Antic Entertainment will share more than $1 million in development funding with one2tribe, a Polish development studio, from Nexon America’s Nexon iNitiative. The funding will be used to create new games for Nexon’s worldwide publishing network.

The Nexon iNitiative is a million dollar program started in the spring of 2010 to identify and fund new and innovative video game projects. The program received 115 submissions from developers in 26 countries. After reviewing all submissions, Antic Entertainment and one2tribe were selected as recipients of development funding from the Nexon iNitiative.

Antic Entertainment was founded in 2008 by Fredrik Liljegren, Mark Mikulec and Jeff Evans. Antic Entertainment specializes in developing and publishing casual games for core gamers and will be developing an unannounced social media game for Nexon.

"We're honoured to be collaborating with one of the gaming heavy weights of the world," said Mikulec, co-founder and technical director of Antic Entertainment. "Most people don't know that Nexon invented the business model that most social games use today. Combined with Antic's AAA development experience, we are working together on a title that is truly unique in the social gaming space. I can't wait for people to play it." Pin It

LEDC to Represent London DIG Industry at Digital North Seminar

The London Economic Development Corporation’s (LEDC) Larry MacKinnon, Director of Business Development, Technology, will represent London’s DIG industry at the upcoming “Digital North – Creative Opportunities in Canada” seminar on Thursday, January 27th.

Hosted by the Consulate General of New York, the seminar and networking reception has been designed to strengthen ties between the digital media industry in the New York metro area and Canada.

"The LEDC is excited for the opportunity to represent London's DIG community at the Digital North seminar," said MacKinnon. "We have successfully worked with the Consulate General of New York in the past."

The Digital North seminar will showcase Canadian talent, opportunities and partnerships to New York metro area digital media executives. The one-hour seminar will highlight the differences and parallels between Canada and the Untied States’ digital media environment. The event will also include an overview of Canadian tax incentives and government programs available to companies with international expansion plans.

Industry executives will be given a platform to network and build their cross-border contacts at the reception following the seminar. MacKinnon will be present, pitching opportunities for growth and investment in our city.

“The objectives of the seminar are to create links between Canada and the United States’ industry and to create inward investment opportunities for the Canadian market”, said Karen Kennedy, Consul and Head of Investment at the Canadian Consulate, New York. “Information exchanges and networking forums like the Digital North seminar are excellent ways for U.S. and Canadian companies to interact and explore potential partnerships and opportunities.”

The program caters to companies in the digital media industry ranging from gaming software to animation and post-production film and special effects companies. The content of the seminar will focus on industry-centric topics as well as business information relevant to the digital media industry sector. Some of the featured speakers include Richard Bendis of Innovation America, Tracey Jennings of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ricardo Curtis, founder and president of both House of Cool Studios and Red Rover, and Jason Altman of Ubisoft and Longtail Studios. Pin It

London’s Big Blue Bubble to Develop for Nintendo 3DS

London video game developer Big Blue Bubble is bursting onto the 3-D scene. Big Blue Bubble will develop two new titles for the much anticipated Nintendo 3DS. The company’s recent launch Burn the Rope, currently sitting at the number two spot in the US and Canadian App Store, will be one, as well as an unnamed hack and slash style game, which is currently in production.

The hugely popular iOS game Burn the Rope is a gravity-based puzzle that requires players to burn ropes in different entanglements. The catch is ropes can only burn upwards. This leaves gamers tilting and turning to keep the flame alive.

“The game involves a mix of strategic planning, thinking ahead, coordination and the ability to stay in deep focus,” explains founder and CEO Damir Slogar. “… It will be on Nintendo 3DS and next generational virtual consoles by the end of 2011.”

The yet unnamed hack and slash game with side-scrolling is set to take place in an alternate reality amid an industrial revolution and a world war, in the late 1800’s.

With over 60 high profile games in its portfolio, Big Blue Bubble Inc. is one of Canada’s leading video game developers. Each of the company’s three divisions (Mobile, Console and Casual) is dedicated to making the best possible games by combining innovative designers with top caliber artists and industry leading programmers.

For the complete story click here:

http://3ds.nintendolife.com/news/2011/01/big_blue_bubble_bursting_onto_the_3ds_scene_with_two_upcoming_titles

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Student-2-Business: Connect with London's Digital Interactive Gaming Community

The 4th Annual Student-2-Business Networking Conference, taking place Thursday, January 27th, will connect emerging talent with London’s business community and professionals from seven leading industries. 

With the digital interactive gaming industry continuing to prosper and grow in London, the importance of talent retention and atrraction is paramount. As a thriving business sector, it is imperative that the game development community come out and support such an event.

The goal of the conference is to engage highly skilled students from the University of Western Ontario, Fanshawe College and surrounding professional schools so graduates consider London as a place to live and work.

Each year during convocation over 13,000 students graduate from post-secondary institutions in London.  These students have spent a minimum of three years in the Forest City. Some are looking forward to starting their careers around the globe, but many would welcome the opportunity to begin their careers right here.   

DIG plays a vital role in helping our students build networks and make personal and business connections here in London.

This is not a job fair, it is an opportunity to meet the best and the brighest from top educational institutions, but we won't stop you from scouting for talent if that is what you want to do! 

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Jason Della Rocca DIG Keynote and Blog

Jason Della Rocca taught game developers the importance of failure at the DIG 2010 Game Developers Dinner.  Aptly timed, Della Rocca gave his speech following dinner and a few glasses of wine giving his presentation an air of authenticity as he struggled with drawing straight lines on his tabloid.  The audience appreciated his casual candor and ability to relate the game development process to broader processes of innovation. 

Check out Jason's blog and photos of DIG2010
 http://www.realitypanic.com/archives/453 Pin It

Sponsor Profile: Tech Alliance

Tech Alliance are a company aimed to empower London and Southwestern Ontario's technology sector. They prepare today's entrepreneurs to launch new ventures, provide education and networking opportunities to accelerate business growth for small-to-medium enterprises, and serve over 150 members as advocates for Southwestern Ontario's thriving technology, life-sciences, and advanced manufacturing companies. Working in conjunction with the prestigious Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, Tech Alliance offers a host of innovative programs to get local minds both informed and motivated, including in depth entrepreneurial workshops, their Speaker Series of seminars, their Breakfast Club, and their annual 60 second pitch contest. Tech Alliance represents an invaluable resource to furthering the growth of digital media locally and we are elated to have them participate in this years DIG Conference! Pin It

Speaker Profile: Vikas Gupta

Vikas Gupta is the CEO and President of TransGaming Technologies. Vikas leads TransGaming's strategic endeavours and has negotiated some of the company's most strategic agreements with customers such as Electronic Arts, Activision, Turner Broadcasting, Ubisoft. TransGaming Inc. is a leader in the development of unique software products that facilitate the deployment and distribution of games across multiple platforms. 

TransGaming's continued success is fueled by: Cider, a product that enables PC games on the exploding Mac market; Cedega, a product that enables PC games for the Linux market; GameTree, TransGaming's comprehensive suite of Mac gaming products and services for retail and online game releases; SwiftShader, a proprietary ultra high-speed software 3D rendering product which exploits the move to multi-core CPUs and the convergence of CPU and GPU technologies; TransGaming's Development Studio, creating original video game content. 

TransGaming's customers include some of the largest and most influential content creators around the world ranging from EA, Ubisoft, Activision, NCSoft, CCP, Oberon Media, just to name a few. TransGaming also has strong partnerships with Apple, Intel, AMD, Nvidia. With an undeniable passion for video games and unsurpassed technologies, TransGaming has worked on some of the biggest video game franchises on the planet ranging from The Sims 3, SPORE, Prince of Persia, Shaun White Snowboarding, Kung Fu Panda, City of Heroes, and many more. 

In addition to his passion for TransGaming, Vikas enjoys immersing himself in the advisory and mentoring of emerging organizations. Vikas is the Chair of the non-profit organization, The McLuhan Festival of the Future, and sits on the Board of Directors of Interactive Ontario. He is also an advisor to N4 Systems, Interscope Directories, and was a Director on the Board of Simply Audio Books. Vikas is a frequent speaker and lecturer at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Business and Ryerson University's Business and Technology program. In 2008, Vikas was the recipient of the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year Award and has also been featured in a broad range of print and television media. Vikas is a graduate of the University of Waterloo, Canada's premier high-tech educational institution.

Here's video of Vikas giving a keynote at the Intel Developer Forum last year, an example of the awesome content that he will be providing at this years DIG Conference!

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