Village Gamer

Vancouver’s Exploding Barrel Games and THQ Inc. have officially announced Margaritaville Online, an everyday escape to a tropical paradise inspired by the lifestyle of author and singer-songwriter, Jimmy Buffett, will be available on Facebook and iOS devices Fall 2011. Soon, friends will be able to play and party in an immersive 3D paradise, filled with frozen concoctions, music and adventure. The game will be unveiled in THQ’s booth at E3.

“The Margaritaville laidback state of mind is inherently social, and THQ has captured the spirit of that lifestyle in this game,” said Buffett. “With Margaritaville Online, fans across the globe can party together any time and any place.”

Throughout his more than 40-year career, Jimmy Buffett has welcomed fans into his carefree world where remarkable characters are around every corner, and it’s always happy hour. By creating their own online beach oasis, Margaritaville Online players can party in paradise with friends, build a bar, form a band, throw parties and embark on tropical adventures in an open world full of island entertainment and playful mini-games. A virtual trip to the tropics set to a soundtrack of classic Buffett tunes, Margaritaville Online allows players to interact with characters from Buffett’s own literary works including Captain Tony, first introduced to fans in Buffett’s song “Last Mango in Paris.”

FreshBooks announced earlier today at the mesh conference that the company has recruited experienced internet Executive Stuart MacDonald to a newly-created “C” level role, responsible for Marketing, Sales, Support and Revenue. FreshBooks.com, the leader in online invoicing, has experienced impressive, ongoing growth, doubling its number of users each year, which is now at more than 2.5 million.

Stuart MacDonald joins the FreshBooks team as a proven entrepreneur and marketer with several start-ups under his belt, including founding Expedia.ca, Canada’s most successful online business. Stuart went on to be the CMO of Expedia.com in Seattle, and has worked with numerous other organizations as a consultant, advisor, investor and mentor. Stuart is a co-founder of the mesh Conference now in its 6^th year, together with FreshBooks.com CEO Mike McDerment and other partners.

“Stuart has already built one category from the ground-up, which makes him a perfect choice to build the online invoicing category,” said Mike McDerment, CEO of FreshBooks.com. “It’s never easy to find the top talent required to build a world class online company in Canada, so naturally we’re thrilled to bring Stuart on board, bringing with him the energy and expertise we need to seize the opportunities in front of us.”

Mike McDerment co-founded FreshBooks eight years ago in Toronto. Despite seeing many other Canadians move south to start or join up-and-coming companies, Mike committed himself to building a world-class company where he grew up, and to supporting Toronto’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“Continuing to build FreshBooks.com into a global online business powerhouse right here in Canada is a top priority for me too” says Stuart. “What Mike and the FreshBooks.com team have accomplished so far is a huge step in that direction. On top of that, the FreshBooks team loves what they do and loves their customers. It’s a pretty special thing to be a part of.”

“I’ve worked with Stuart for over five years now on the mesh Conference, and I’ve always known him to do the right thing,” Mike continued. “He has the FreshBooks.com values in spades, and no one loves customers like Stuart.”

FreshBooks.com also recently hired Gary Mirsky, former Director of Sales at Intuit Canada, and has currently has over 20 different positions open in Toronto, including another “C” level role as Chief Technical Officer.

Via the Canadian Media Production Association:

The CMPA has successfully negotiated, on behalf of its members and the entire Canadian independent production sector, a Terms of Trade (PDF) agreement that comes into effect June 1st 2011. This is a historic deal that will redefine the relationship between producers and broadcasters.

The agreement has been signed between the CMPA and Astral, Bell Media (CTV), Corus, Rogers and Shaw Media. Negotiations with the CBC will begin later this year. Canadian Producers and Broadcasters will be required to adhere to Terms of Trade on a go-forward basis – it will apply to all independently produced projects developed and commissioned by the private broadcast groups. Please note that while Corus (PDF) signed a separate Terms of Trade agreement, it contains no substantive differences from the agreement signed with the other broadcasters.

The deal applies to the entire life cycle of a show – from first pitch, through to development, production and broadcast on all platforms. Key areas covered by the deal include:

The agreement will come into the force as of June 1, 2011 with the exception of certain parts related to the financing of programs, which will come into force as of August 1, 2011. Please see section 13 for specifics relating to the timing of implementation of the various elements of the agreement.

The CMPA will shortly be providing a guide regarding key provisions of the agreement to assist producers in understanding its interpretation and application.  The Association will also be organizing a series of workshops across the country, through the summer – to be informed about dates and venues please contact Emma Grace.

In celebration of Towel Day (no, this is not related to the Canucks’ victory over the Sharks last night), Megadodo Publications has announced that they are working with Vancouver’s Hothead Games to bring The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the standard repository for all knowledge and wisdom, to the farthest uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy. This new edition of The Guide will be available not only on your planet but also on all nearby systems including Alpha Centauri.

“We’re super excited to be involved with such a legendary creation as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The quirky and hilarious universe that Douglas Adams created became an instant classic for so many. All the hoopiest froods here at Hothead jumped on the chance to work on the project,” commented excitable Hothead human, Joel DeYoung.

Zarniwoop Vann HarlaHarlH, president of Megadodo, was unavailable for comment as he is far too cool to add quotes to press releases, but for up-to-the-Earth-minute communications on this exciting new addition to the Guide, Megadodo would like you to use your fleshy digits to prod your plastic board of keys and visit the New Guide’s official site.

CarrotLines, an iPhone application developed by Vancouver’s PortaLife Solutions, Inc. that helps Canadians make healthier choices is partnering with local food brands in the natural, health and organic segments after attending Grocery Showcase West and Canadian Health Food Association Expos, where the app received overwhelming interest. In conjunction with its one year anniversary, CarrotLines invited select local health and specialty brands – including Bremner Foods, Maggie’s Gluten Free, and Hansells Foods Canada – to join its platform.

Joining CarrotLines allows for the brands’ products to be scanned by the CarrotLines App – giving customers the ultimate tool to get informed about their products, and while more than half of consumers check food labels before buying a food product for the first time, reading food labels can be downright deceptive. CarrotLines isn’t about judging brands and products. Its goal is to help shoppers make educated decisions on food products that suit their lifestyle. Shoppers have been scanning products using the CarrotLines App for nearly one year, and the platform contains information on over 20,000 Canadian Food Products and 2000 brands. Carrotlines is available in the iTunes App Store for $2.99 USD.

Toronto-based Asigra Inc., a cloud backup and recovery software provider since 1986, has joined with Intel to offer hybrid cloud backup as part of the Intel® AppUp™ Small Business Service. The new solution delivers the advantages of offsite backup with the security and performance of an onsite server for both local and remote recovery. Asigra Cloud Backup™ is one of a select group of applications pre-loaded for shipment with the new Intel solution.

A strong endorsement for cloud computing, the Intel AppUp Small Business Service is a subscription-based service for providing a locally-hosted server on a pay-as-you-go basis. The new hybrid cloud solution allows small businesses to rent the application server and software they need at very affordable rates. The Intel AppUp Small Business Service features a mix of local and cloud software with an Intel® Xeon-based server that comes pre-loaded with tools for remote management, firewall, VoIP/PBX and backup. Expanding this pre-loaded toolset is as simple as selecting from an ever-expanding list of applications, using Intel’s cloud-based service.

“We developed the Intel AppUp Small Business Service to create a foundation on which industry leaders like Asigra can add their own innovations,” said Bridget Karlin, General Manager, Intel Hybrid Cloud. “The goal is to give small business customers a better user experience. This solution offers an attractive new way to take business to the next level of IT, without buying their own server or hiring their own IT staff.” Read the rest of this entry »

Vibes IT Dance & Urban Video Remix Community launched this month, providing a unique video service catered to Dance and Urban music lovers.  The Vibes It website contains over one hundred channels for every type of dance & urban music genre, with over 30,000 video remixes. The core focus of the company is to provide its visitors with the best video remixes, megamixes, and mashups available, and current technology has made it possible for amateur and pro Dj’s alike to easily create video mixes. The popularity of Video Mixing is growing at a rapid pace, and many night clubs, such as Rumours in Niagra Falls, remix videos all weekend long.

DJ’s have the ability to upload their entire video mixes directly to the Vibes IT website, without the worry of time limitations, like what Youtube imposes on its members. Members can create their own playlists, and can interact with other members on the site similar to Facebook or Myspace. Each member can customize their profile, share their playlists, join and create chat rooms, share their mixes instantly with all of the popular social networking sites and much more. DJ Bobby Ryan, the Vibes IT CEO promises a lot of cool modifications and new features over the next few months.

Vibes It encourages Dj’s to upload as much as possible, new or old video mixes, rewarding them for their hard work through weekly and monthly giveaways for best uploaded video mixes.  The Vibes IT unique platform has already generated much interest from Dj’s around the globe, and they hope to become the leader in Dance & Urban Video Remixes. Vibes It has a broad range of music. From Top 40 and the latest Lady GaGa, Rihanna or Britney Spears remixes to the hardcore techno or Trance, there are many channels catered for specific niche genres. Vibes IT believes that content is king, and they work night and day to find the best remixes from around the globe.

Digital Leisure has released a new title to WiiWare. Overflow is a quick-fire puzzle game that challenges you to take control of the lab and keep everything flowing smoothly. Available now, Overflow is rated E for Everyone and costs 500 WiiWare Points.

Professor Lexis just finished his greatest and most energy-efficient machine yet. However, the moment he flipped the switch for the first official test, the machine exploded and sprayed all of the professor’s new multicolored fuel everywhere. He now needs your help to collect the precious fuel and repair the damage before the worldwide energy symposium begins.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMqcJfYXEh0]

Twist your Wii Remote™ controller to place wooden planks, funnels and particle transportation portals to guide the fluids back to the correct collection channels and repair the damage in 30 warped levels. The professor will even have you tackling the dangerous task of mixing fluids to create new fuel colors. Just be sure to contain the spill before you cause an overflow.

Hosting Controller a developer of Hosting Automation Solutions headquartered in Richmond, announced that it has removed the cap of 1000 licenses till 31st May 2011 on a special discount promotion that offers up to a 90% percent discount on control panel software licenses after seeing an enormous surge in demand for HC8 software during the initial two weeks of promotion.

In this promotion web hosts can buy a Hosting Controller Automation Control Panel license for $99 only instead of $500 and may also purchase Click & Install Apps just for $19 instead of $199, Automated Backup & Recovery just for $19 instead of $199 and VPS Hosting Provisioning just for $19/Server (5 VPS) instead of $690.

“We have been overwhelmed by the response from our customers for HC8 during first two weeks of promotion and it is very encouraging. It would seem that people have been waiting for a lucrative promotion during this bad economic time,” said Babar Zaman, Vice President of Business Development at Hosting Controller Inc. “We are passionate about our products and our customers; therefore we are not surprised at the popularity of this promotion.”

According to the company it received requests from many new customers for additional time to evaluate the software before making the purchase therefore Hosting Controller decided to remove the initial cap of 1000 licenses till 31st May 2011. HC listened and took the necessary step to ensure that customers get sufficient time without worrying about any limit. This promotion is aimed for Web hosts to build or expand on Windows and Linux servers in a cluster environment.

Intertainment Media Inc. has announced that a Guinness World Record was established for the Most Nationalities In An Online Chat on May 20th when 92 countries were officially recorded as participating in KISS Live & Global hosted by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons on Ortsbo. The event also marked the official launch of Ortsbo’s plug-in email translation platform for Microsoft Outlook, the world’s largest email platform.

Broadcast around the world from the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, participants were able to watch a live video stream on their computers, iPhone, iPad, Android devices as well as submitting questions in 53 languages for KISS co-founders to answer. Thousands of questions were in the queue throughout the broadcast, allowing participants from over 92 countries, representing every geographic region globally to ask questions of the legendary rock stars.

“In addition to establishing a world record, Ortsbo has become a name known around the world as the leader in real time translation,” said David Lucatch, President of Ortsbo and CEO Intertainment Media. “We have already received follow up business opportunities, media requests and advertising inquiries increasing the value opportunities for Ortsbo.”

The event was covered by media around the world, including CBS, FOX, AOL and a wrap-up live broadcast interview with CNBC. Copies of all media, as it’s available, will be posted on the Intertainment and Ortsbo web sites.

During the event, Ortsbo announced the launch of its much anticipated email platform plug-in, allowing users to instantly translate and send emails in 53 languages. The first plug-in for Microsoft Outlook, known as Ortsbo for Outlook, or “O4O”, is now available for registration. Ortsbo will initially make up to 10 Million copies of O4O available globally to consumers and businesses on an introductory basis from mid June through mid September 2011.

With the launch of O4O, Ortsbo Cruise Into Translation is a new promotion that gives users who register and install O4O through August 2011, the opportunity to win 1 of 5 trips on the KISS Kruise in October as well as other VIP prizes. Additional contest ballots will be available for people who refer friends that register and install O4O.

Ortsbo’s flagship product for social media continues to accelerate. When initially launched in July 2010, Ortsbo’s social media translation platform infrastructure was designed to handle the expected first 2 to 3 years of operations or 12 Million monthly users.

Ortsbo has exceeded all growth projections in its first 9 months and has maximized existing platform capabilities and consequently the Company is now accelerating its move to Microsoft’s Window Azure Cloud platform to accommodate the continued viral growth of Ortsbo.

The new Ortsbo Azure platform is expected to be active by mid June as the priority for Azure development has been the KISS Live and Global event technology. This transition will provide virtually unlimited access to Ortsbo from anywhere in the world on almost any computer, smartphone or tablet device.