Mark Greenshields has written a brief criticism of the government tax credits used by Quebec (and recently Ontario) to attract developers and foster industry growth. I found it to be an extremely interesting and surprising article, as I had previously never read anything but praise and support for the tax credits offered to companies in [...]
video games in Montreal
[upcoming] GameCamp
IGDA-Montreal is now making a call for mini-presentations to be given at the upcoming GameCamp on March 26th at the SAT. The “GameCamp” night is a format inspired by events like BarCamp, 20:20, PechaKucha, FooCamp, etc. GameCamp will feature up to 15 mini 6-minute presentations on a multitude of topics/formats, like: rant or rave game/tech [...]
Game developers choose Jason Della Rocca for Ambassador Award
Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developer’s Association and Montreal resident, was recently honoured with the Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards. The award was given to Jason in recognition of his efforts towards “connecting developers with their peers, promoting professional development and advocating on issues such as quality of [...]
Fez at the Independent Games Festival
A new gameplay trailer for Fez, the 2D-no-wait-it’s-3D puzzle/exploration game primarily being developed in Montreal, was revealed earlier this week at the Independent Games Festival in San Francisco. The game involves navigating a 3D world from various 2D perspectives. Puzzles and obstacles are overcome by rotating the world and shifting your 2D character’s plane of [...]
“Design for emotion” says Yannis Mallat at D.I.C.E.
The video shown above was used by Yannis Mallat, CEO of Ubisoft Montreal at his presentation, at D.I.C.E. 2008. It features cutscenes from the movie Bambi with a song from Evanescence. Yannis stated that even though the movie is 66-years old, it still triggers deep emotional reactions in his son, who cries everytime he watches [...]
Crisis in Canada’s venture industry and government lobbying
Mark McQueen, who heads Wellington Financial, has been collecting data and writing about the “deteriorating state” of the venture capital industry in Canada. In his latest blog post, he uses the word “crisis” to describe this industry and calls for a Canadian-wide summit where active investors and stakeholders would look aggressively for solutions. In an [...]
Video games… we need more video games!
Unlike one might believe after following popular technology blogs, technology is not limited to web applications or the iPhone. In Montréal for instance, video games is one of the most, if not the most, dynamic sector with companies like Ubisoft, EA, Eidos or A2M pushing world-class titles pretty much every month. It also has the [...]
New video games companies in Montréal
Eidos were the first to make news this week by oficially opening their new Montréal studio yesterday, after announcing it in February this year. The new studio is headed by Stéphane d’Astous, with a staff of over 200, and will be working on the next version of the hit title Deus Ex. This was only the beginning [...]
Ubisoft Montreal releases Assassin’s creed
Ubisoft Montréal has released last friday the next-generation video game Assassin’s Creed. The local game studio has also released recently major titles, like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6, Naruto, the rise of a Ninja, or Far Cry, but I find this new title interesting from a technological and business point of view. Some observations: To my knowledge, it’s [...]
MindHabits wins Telefilm Canada competition
Telefim Canada has just announced that Mindhabits has won the ‘Great Canadian Video Game Competition’. Mindhabits wins a $500 000 prize from Telefilm Canada and an equal amount from private investors, to help them develop and launch their game. The competition was started to support and highlight independent video games companies from Canada. It was [...]
