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Miffed ‘Rainbow Six Siege’ player sentenced for swatting Ubisoft Montreal’s offices
A disgruntled Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege gamer who called in a fake emergency to Ubisoft’s Montreal office was sentenced this week to three years of community service, according to The Montreal Gazette. Yanni Ouahioune, 22, was handed the sentence on Monday in Paris following his call to authorities about a fake hostage situation in November 2020.
Montreal's iconic brutalist building has finally been finished inside Unreal Engine
Architects have finally completed Montreal's legendary Habitat 67 inside Unreal Engine.
Apple details 3D maps rollout plan for iOS 15
The 3D view is now available in London, NYC, San Francisco and LA, with more cities coming soon.
Amazon recruits 'Rainbow Six Siege' developers for its new game studio
The Montreal studio is making an original online multiplayer game.
Former Stadia chief Jade Raymond is making a new game for PlayStation
Raymond has opened an independent studio with backing from Sony.
Google is shutting down its Stadia game studios
Industry veteran Jade Raymond is leaving Google as it focuses on third-party games.
Police confirm no threat found after evacuating Ubisoft Montreal office
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and other local media, a major police operation is underway at one of the office buildings that make up Ubisoft Montreal.
Canada's first 5G network starts rolling out in four cities
Canadians won't have to look on with envy as Americans get 5G. Telecom giant Rogers has started rolling out the country's first 5G network in the downtown cores of four large cities (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver). You'll have to wait until devices are available later in the year to use the network, but it'll be ready to go when that happens. It should reach more than 20 additional markets before 2020 is over.
Google opens its first studio dedicated to making Stadia games
Google announced its Stadia Games and Entertainment division back in March, confirming its intention to make good on its promise for original content alongside second and third party games for its streaming platform Stadia. Now, the first studio -- and there will be more -- has opened in Montreal, headed up by Jade Raymond who in a blog post reiterated the company's plans to "produce exclusive, original content across a diverse portfolio of games."
Formula E's Montreal race cancelled over 'financial fiasco'
Formula E may be increasing acceptance of electric racing and EVs in general, but it has faced plenty of problems between bleeding cash (it lost $39.4 million US in the year ending July 2016) and races being moved or pulled in Brazil, Russia and the UK. And now, those problems just got magnified. Montreal has canceled its portion of Formula E after Mayor Valérie Plante's administration learned that the previous administration of Denis Coderre had committed up to $35 million CAD for the July 2018 race. Plante's team had only wanted to suspend the 2018 race to consider its options (such as moving from downtown to an established racetrack), but killed the race outright after Formula E said that a pause wasn't acceptable.
Samsung is the latest tech titan to open an AI lab in Canada
If it wasn't already clear that Canada is becoming a hotbed for AI research, it is now: Samsung has opened an AI lab (shown below) at the Université de Montréal. The school's faculty and students (including long-time Samsung partner Prof. Yoshua Bengio) will collaborate with South Korean researchers on a slew of AI-related projects, including self-driving car technology, image recognition, translation and robots. While you may not see the first fruits of this lab for years, it underscores both Samsung's increasing dependence on AI and the tech industry's rapid shift to the north.
Canadian cops admit to monitoring six journalists' phones
Authorities in Quebec, Canada have admitted that Patrick Lagace wasn't the only journalist they spied on in recent years, according to The Star. Capt. Guy Lapointe, the spokesperson for the province's national police, has revealed that warrants were taken out to monitor the incoming and outgoing call and text log info of six local French-language journalists in 2013. While he didn't mention any names, five of the six found out through their own sources and came forward to identify themselves. One of them is Denis Lessard, the National Assembly bureau chief for La Presse, the same French-language newspaper that Lagace writes for.
Canadian cops spied on journalist's phone for months
The Montreal police tapped the iPhone of a columnist writing for Canadian French-language newspaper La Presse, according to the publication itself. La Presse said it discovered 24 surveillance warrants granted by Montreal Judge Josée De Carufel giving the cops' special investigations unit the legal right to spy on Patrick Lagace's incoming and outgoing texts and calls. That's not all they did, though -- they also tracked his whereabouts through his iPhone's GPS.
Independent game incubator secures $6 million in funding
Execution Labs is an incubator for independent games and developers based in Montreal, Canada, and it's just raised $6 million CAD in Series A funding led by Toronto media company Corus Entertainment Inc. Execution plans to use the funds to establish two tiers of support for up-and-coming developers: the Pre-Production Accelerator and the Finishing Fund. The Pre-Production Accelerator is a three-month program that grants new developers up to $50,000 CAD in funding, plus shared workspace and mentorship opportunities for games not yet in full production. The Accelerator is open to international applicants and covers all games, from mobile to PC. To take part in the Accelerator, a studio's core team needs to be in Montreal, but Execution Labs says it takes international studios and will help them get settled. "Your core team needs to be in Montreal for the duration of the program," the FAQ reads. "Part of the experience, especially the learning and teaching part, comes from being in the same physical space. Also there's the office badger." The Finishing Fund is tailored for experienced developers with games close to completion, offering "substantial funding" for marketing, testing and final production. Execution Labs mentors include Dejobaan Games founder Ichiro Lambe, Microsoft Game Studios founder Ed Fries, Eidos Life President Ian Livingstone, Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail and The Bohle Company President and CEO Sue Bohle.
Escape from giant heads in this Gnah teaser trailer
Gnah is a "game about exploring and escaping giant heads." That's how Montreal-based indie developer Ko-Op Mode describes its latest project in addition to the phrase "the only way out is through" in the game's teaser trailer. Gnah is a collaboration between the Ko-Op Mode collective and designer Samuel Boucher, whose Tumblr blog is filled with attractive designs related to the game. Boucher took to an indie gaming forum to discuss the project in December, calling Gnah a "puzzle game about a little guy trapped in some weird heads called Gnahs." Gnah has players controlling the character in the heads as well as manipulating the heads themselves to help the character escape. The game is in development for PC, Mac, Linux and Ouya.
WB Games Montreal investment to create 100 new jobs
WB Games Montreal will add 100 new jobs as it continues to grow beyond its original scope, receiving $1.5 million from the Quebec government. Announced in 2010, the studio was positioned to work on social and mobile projects, but is now on the verge of releasing its first triple-A game, Batman: Arkham Origins. "By the end of five years, it'll be 2018, there should be 500 people here and I think we'll be one of the best-known studios in the world," said Warner Brothers Interactive President Martin Tremblay. The studio currently has 325 employees, according to CTV. The WB Games grant comes hot on the heels of another major investment by Quebec in publisher Ubisoft. The $373 million CAD ($362 million USD) Ubisoft investment is expected to add another 500 new jobs to the region by 2020, bringing Ubisoft's employee total in Quebec to 3,500.
WB Games Montreal gets $1.5 million investment from government
Quebec's government has invested $1.5 million in WB Games Montreal, developers of the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins, as part of a five-year, $63 million expansion which will create 100 jobs at the company. WB Montreal Studio Chief Martin Carrier predicted the studio would play host to 500 people and "be one of the best-known studios in the world" by 2018, CTV News reports. Premier Pauline Marois, who announced the grant, also said that the game development scene in Montreal was the top market in Canada, and that Montreal itself is one of the top three cities in the world leading game development.
Ubisoft invests $362M in Quebec over 7 years, plans to add 500 jobs
Ubisoft is concentrating its American operations for online games in Montreal, Quebec, expecting to add 500 new jobs to the region by 2020. This investment over the next seven years focuses on online infrastructures and the expansion of Ubisoft's motion capture technologies, and it will bring Ubisoft's employee total in Quebec to 3,500. The 500 new jobs include standard video game production roles, along with "community and network management specialists, business intelligence analysts, mathematicians, telemetry experts, systems operators, and monetization and interactive marketing specialists," Ubisoft explains. It's a $373 million CAD ($362 million USD) investment overall. Tax breaks in Quebec make it sensible for Ubisoft to operate its American services from Canada. "We firmly believe in the importance of creative industries for our economy and are pleased to have been supporting Ubisoft since their arrival in Quebec, in 1997," Quebec Premier Pauline Marois said. "Their growth and concrete economic benefits for the Quebec nation are true sources of pride. The project announced today, bringing about important job creation, allows us to foresee success in the future."
Fido hops on the LTE bandwagon, gives Canadians frugal 4G this summer
Rogers was the first with LTE in Canada. Its budget brand Fido has largely been left out of that 4G fiesta, but the gap is closing today with official plans to give the yellow doghouse some LTE of its own. The initial deployment this summer will largely overlap Rogers' fledgling network, starting with benchmark cities Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, St. John's, Toronto and Vancouver. Only a Fido Mobile Hotspot with 10-device sharing will kick off the hardware selection; if you're impatient, though, any compatible and (usually) unlocked LTE device will do with a relevant SIM card. About 20 million Canucks will potentially have the high-speed option by the end of the year -- and with Fido's plan costs expected to stay the same, that coverage could make the provider a de facto choice for fast data in the Great White North. Click past the break for the official word and the full 2012 expansion list.
THQ shuttering Arizona QA facility, moving all QA to Montreal this year
Consolidation news now, as THQ has announced it plans to close its Phoenix, Arizona QA facility. "Montreal is a prime location for industry talent, has favorable economics, and is a big part of our future game development plans. With those considerations in mind, we have made the business decision to consolidate our two Quality Assurance operations into one location at THQ Montreal," a THQ statement issued to Game Informer reads.A total of 57 employees will be affected in Phoenix, some being outright dismissed while the others will be offered the chance to move to Montreal. "The transition will occur gradually throughout the remainder of 2012 while we continue to manage QA for our FY'13 release slate." The statement goes on to say that the decision was "driven by industry, market and economic trends."It's a smart move to consolidate to Montreal, which THQ's newly appointed president Jason Rubin told us is important to the future of the company. And with THQ needing all the help it can get right now, the tax breaks must be a godsend.
