Our partner Digifest, Toronto has an amazing line up of speakers. Especially in their innovation days line up. The innovation days covers the most recent innovations in digital culture, they cover things from video games to robotics; augmented reality to film & television; art, design & architecture to mobile technology. The speakers will be able to share their new innovations and find a great customer base for their new technologies. Just a few of the amazing speakers are:

Rebecca Allen
International Digital Media Artist, Humanizing Technology  Technoculture
Conceptual Integrity

Maurice Benayoun
New-media artist (France)immersive virtual reality
large-scale art installations
interactive exhibitions

Neil Schneider
Executive Director
S-3D Gaming Alliance

To see all of the sessions and speakers see this great tool. http://torontodigifest.ca/2011/digifest-guide

Their recent release, Platoonz, follows the same pattern, yet differentiates  itself in game play and customization. The game takes the player on an adventure as a soldier building his force to combat evil. The mechanics of the game are very simple to follow; you must build your army and create new buildings to upgrade your force. The side scrolling game offers many different types of challenges from harder and stronger enemies as the game progresses, to always making you guess as to how many soldiers to make.

What’s great is that the game comes with a very in depth and easy to follow tutorial. The tutorial covers every aspect of the game’s mechanics and goes through a trial map to cover the game play.

Another fun fact: the dialogue in the game will make you chuckle and keep you very entertainedPlatoonz is a an enjoyable game that’s easy to play. Just kick back and enjoy! About the author: Vikas Sharma is a video game fanatic, always looking for the next big thing in the gaming industry. A fan of gaming ever since SNES to the next gen consoles, Vikas is a member of the DIG 2011 team. Vikas enjoys different styles of game play and games and is excited by the amount of progress he sees happening in the gaming world.

DIG 2011 will feature the web developers stream, inviting web developers, digital media specialists, and all content creators to participate.

Web development is an essential part of any business and organization. With an increasing amount of web development and web marketing companies setting up shop in London Ontario, it is an essential part of the city’s business world. There are many similarities between video game development and web development. Many similar philosophies can be used in both fields. DIG 2011 will provide a meeting ground for both video game and web developers.

DIG is also inviting those interested in these two streams of work to attend the conference. There will be workshops and a chance to network with folks who’ve already established careers in these fields.

Save the Date: DIG 2011, November 16/17 @ the London Convention Centre

For more information, click here (http://diglondon.ca/index.php/main/menu_link/home)

Are you an avid gamer? Or interested in web development?

Since I first started Echidna (and years before that too), I’ve always been interested in keeping up to speed about “what’s going on” in the digital media industry. From mobile and website development to digital gaming – things are always changing and advancing at a rapid pace. To me, that’s one of the most exciting aspects of our industry.

Not surprisingly, by 2015 the mobile gaming industry is expected to reach $54 billion and I recently read an article that stated 84% of tablet or mobile device owners across the world play videos games on a daily basis – not to mention those who frequent their Xbox360, Playstation3 or PC to play. It is clear that the gaming industry is going nowhere, but up.

Whether you share a passion for gaming or are simply a technology junkie at heart like me – DIG 2011 is the place for you!

Taking place on November 16^th and 17^th this year, the Digital Interactive Game and Web Conference “DIG” is evolving once again with new speakers, exciting contests and unique networking opportunities.

Are you stuck on a project and need some insight? Come to DIG! Meet, greet and discuss your ideas with some of Canada’s leading game and web developers. Come to DIG! Learn about current economic trends and gaming demographics that could affect you and your industry.

In my opinion, digital, online and mobile gaming is no longer just a means of entertainment – but, is becoming a large profit centre for all of North America. 

Trust me, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to learn and explore at this digital media conference!

 Author:

Andrew McClenaghan President, Principal Owner

Echidna Solutions Corp

The team at DIG is proud to announce a partnership with Toronto Thumbs.

Toronto Thumbs is a non-profit gaming news site. Toronto Thumbs has a very enthusiastic and professional team. They create articles which reflect their personal gaming styles and preferences, which gives the reader a more personal feel. The writers of Toronto Thumbs are all professionals with English or Journalism backgrounds. The journalists do not use irony to explain a point but clearly outline their point of view on the subject.

The news coming from Toronto Thumbs is always original and never copied from different websites.

Members at Toronto Thumbs always provide interesting articles on all areas of gaming. They cover everything from consoles to PCs, and even table top games. It is always great to see what new information the group over at Toronto Thumbs will find.

The DIG team  is extremely excited to announce  an amazing new partnership with Digifest.

Digifest, much like  DIG, is a festival celebrating innovation and digital creativity. Digifest, coming out of Toronto, Ontario, is an annual event where emerging designers, technologists, and artists come together to show off their presentation and outstanding demos.

Digifest is a one stop shop for all your Digital Interactive needs. Digifest shows off everything from gaming, to the newest releases in technology.  One of the biggest annual events in Toronto, Digifest has the ability to carry live streams and bring in amazing speakers at the head of their industry.

Offering prizes, challenging competitions, and the newest in technology, Digifest is a must see for all DIG lovers.

Speaking at an industry session, Fryer compared the management styles of creative studios with that of farms. She stated that many studios will hire a team, make them work until they burn out, and then suddenly drop the team.

Fryer instead urged developers to keep their team well maintained and to allow the creative juices to flow freely. To complete the task, she urges developers to allow the team to function by itself, allowing them to work at their own pace. After all, every team is different, and works at its own pace. 

Fryer also suggested that game developers hold a post-mortem at the end of a project and at the end of each milestone. This way they can spot problems that come up before the development of the game is complete, giving the designers enough time to fix the problem they have created.

After all of this, Fryer still recommends there be a timeline so that people are held accountable. But remember, the designers are still adults and should not be looked at like children. Management should not be standing over  designers’ shoulders at all times.

Paper Munchers is a casual and very addicting game developed for the iPhone by Big Blue Bubble, based in London Ontario.

The objective of the game is to get the smaller monsters into the mouths of the bigger monsters.. In order to complete the task theplayers must tap the screen which triggers a bomb and moves the monsters around the screen into the mouths of the bigger beasts.  The bombs can be used at any time even while the monsters are in flight. The munchers have a certain colour associated to them and if the player manages to get the same monster into the mouth of the muncher the player is awarded with an extra bomb. This comes in quite handy because each level only begins with three bombs.

There are two types of bombs that a player can use. One is permanent and  is refreshed before every level. The player is given three of these. The other is temporary and can be purchased in game via in game credit or with real money.

The design of paper munchers is quite pleasing. The style is very playfuland silly. The audio for the game is also very good. The munching effects created by the paper munchers always make me chuckle.

In my opinion Paper Munchers is a silly yet very entertaining game. You are sure to put many hours into this addicting game which has 75 levels. If you haven’t already, be sure to get the trial version of the game. Once hooked you will definitely want to purchase the actual game.

About the author: Vikas Sharma is a video game fanatic, always looking for the next big thing in the gaming industry. A fan of gaming ever since SNES to the next gen consoles, Vikas is a member of the DIG 2011 team. Vikas enjoys different styles of game play and games and is excited by the amount of progress he sees happening in the gaming world.

With the support of the province the company will be able leap in front of the competition in one of the fastest growing markets. With 300 games already available through Gameloft, the company will continue to create digital games designed specifically for mobile devices.

Partnering with business is a key part of the McGuinty government. The government plans to expand this industry and provide more jobs for Ontario families.

Ontario’s Interactive Digital media tax credit is attracting many game development businesses to Ontario. These tax credits were a major factor inin Gameloft choosing to locate itself in Ontario

Junk Battles is built around RPG style game play. The creators have produced a unique system which incorporates quests and PVP battles, in a robot battle game. At first, I thought the game would be short and quick, with a racing and fighting style of game play. To my surprise, the game play was more like a RPG with similar MMORPG style tasks like tournaments and PVP battles.

In my opinion,  game falls short on a few aspects. With repetitive music and graphics, Junk Battles needs to improve on its overall design.

The game battle style is more interesting; with timed attacks and customization the battles become more enjoyable. The added difficulty of measuring the amount of time for the weapon to be used adds an extra level of difficulty.

The game action stays pretty much the same, but with customization and new weapons Junk Battles keeps adding more levels and advancement.  

In the end, the game is fun to play with the PVP battles and customization. If you are into RPGs and cars, I would suggest you try this game out.

About the author: Vikas Sharma is a video game fanatic, always looking for the next big thing in the gaming industry. A fan of gaming ever since SNES to the next gen consoles, Vikas is a member of the DIG 2011 team. Vikas enjoys different styles of game play and games and is excited by the amount of progress he sees happening in the gaming world.