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Report: Funcom cutting 20 percent of staff, The Secret World delayed
According to a report from Norwegian news site E24, Funcom recently announced in a stock exchange briefing that it would be cutting 20 percent of its staff and, as a result, would delay the launch of The Secret World by a few months. Following this announcement, the company's stock took a sizable 18 percent dip -- as did our hearts, which became somewhat infatuated with the developer's mysterious MMO at the Penny Arcade Expo. This news is somewhat confusing considering the company decided to open a brand new Montreal chapter earlier this month, where it was planning on hiring more than 100 people over the next year and a half. We've contacted Funcom to find out the reason for the cuts, and to see if this new studio will be affected. [Via Edge Online]
Funcom to open Montréal studio
Word got out earlier today that Funcom is establishing a new game development studio in Montréal. If your French is up to snuff, you can read all about it on Les Affaires, but Funcom was quick to make an announcement of their expansion plans. According to their official release, the new studio is being established in cooperation with Investissement Québec, with Ole Schreiner as CEO of the Montréal studio. Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas made a statement on Funcom's reasons for establishing a Québec studio: "We are excited about the opportunity that Montréal represents to our company, not only because of the great incentives offered by Québec, but also the authorities' strong commitment to training qualified video games personnel and building a video games cluster in Montréal and Québec."
Montreal Canadiens light up 25- x 40-foot HD scoreboard
We know, the major sports outlets aren't even playing it up, but the 2008 - 2009 NHL season is upon us. For fans of the Montreal Canadiens, they'll be enjoying the live action more than most thanks to a 50,000-pound scoreboard that's lighting up the Bell Centre this year. The board, which stands in at 25-feet high and 40-feet wide, sports an undisclosed HD resolution and is (of course) 2.5 times larger than the one recently purchased by the rival Maple Leafs for the Air Canada Centre. So yeah, now it's not just about the score, it's about the board the score is on.[Thanks, Bruno]
Live in Montreal? Like games? Tour Ubisoft this weekend
We'll be honest, this doesn't sit well with us. You see, there's an "us" and "them" thing here: we write about the video games, get showered with free gifts, and get invited to hang out and drink beers with all our favorite developers in their space-age offices from the future, while you sit at home and pretend you can imagine what beer tastes like in zero-G. That's been the status quo for centuries ... until now.The ne'er-do'wells at Ubisoft Montréal want to throw away centuries of tradition just to participate in Les Journées de la culture – a weekend of free activities happening all throughout Quebec. Show up on their doorstep tomorrow between 9am and 4:30pm, leave your cameras and whatnot at home, and get a 30-minute tour of the five-story facility. Wanna drink space beers with Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes? No dice, chum. Some things are still off-limits.[Thanks, Dom]
Motocross Challenge rides back from the sunset for another go
We couldn't pay Motocross Challenge enough compliments when indie developer DHG Games released the Excitebike-inspired GBA racer last year. For those of you unfamiliar with the game's history, it never saw a commercial release after its publisher backed out of the project due to declining sales for GBA titles. Not letting its code go to waste, DHG eventually released Motocross Challenge to the homebrew community as a free downlodable ROM and a limited edition flashcart. As great as the game was, we thought, with a tear in our eye, that we would never see it again. The Montreal-based studio wants another crack at getting its game in stores, however, and has announced a DS remake! The graphics look mostly unchanged, but there are a lot of additions to get hyped about -- a track editor, three new game modes, a skinner mini map on the bottom screen, more AI opponents, a new Challenge Mode mechanic, and a new soundtrack. DHG is still looking for a publisher, so make sure to direct your industry friends to this arcade racer! Turbo boost your bike up a ramp and fly past the post break for a trailer of Motocross Challenge DS. If you'd rather try it out yourself, you can still download and play the GBA ROM, too!
Montreal's Public Bike System uses RFID, solar power, and tons of social trust
There are all sorts of ways to deal with rising gas prices and public transportation needs, and Montreal is getting in the game with what they're calling the Public Bike System. Utilizing a central inventory and check-out website, solar-powered docking stations, and high-tech RFID-tagged aluminum bikes, the system is a gadget-maxed project that could be amazing or turn into a complete theft disaster. Each station holds six bikes and six docks, and users can find the nearest available bike on a website and then return the bike to any other dock. Payments can be made via credit, debit, or "member" card. Quick question, though -- what if a popular destination has no available docks for a drop-off?
Box swap: My Weight Loss Coach
Only a week and a half after we questioned Ubisoft's My Weight Loss Coach boxart -- as we've made a habit of doing with the publisher's boxes -- the placeholder art posted on Amazon has been replaced with a much more predictable and bland cover. While weren't sure if we fancied the previous packshot or not, we're very sure about not liking this one. Ubisoft has done away with the old box's minimalist presentation and Don Hertzfeldt-esque stick figures. Instead, the packaging is crowded with the publisher's enlarged logo, the software's bundled pedometer, a stock photo of a running couple, and a looming, slimmed waist. Also, you can now see the same banner and chunky, slab-serif typeface used on Ubisoft's other "My Coach" covers.Bring your disdain past the post break for larger comparison shots of the boxes.%Gallery-15787%
My Weight Loss Coach boxart: Lazy or fitting?
We loaded up My Weight Loss Coach's product page on Amazon earlier today and received two surprises: $39.99. We're used to seeing that sort of markup only on Square-Enix titles and almost never on casual titles, but we suppose that bundled pedometer comes at a price. That price being ten additional dollars. Its stark, untraditional packaging art. At first, the cover seemed like an apathetic production, reminiscent of the Konami's Best box design, but perhaps this simple, almost Apple-esque approach will draw in weight-concerned adult casuals, Ubisoft's target audience. If they really want to bring in the big bucks, they'll shoot a commercial of someone pulling the case out of a manila envelope while Yael Naim sings the lyrics to "New Soul."If you're one of those strange people who like to judge a title by its actual content and not its cover, jump into our gallery below to see new screenshots of the get-in-shape software. %Gallery-15787% [Via NeoGAF]
'Thief' is that you? Eidos Montreal project begins with 'T'
While Eidos Montreal continues to turn out code that will eventually become Deus Ex 3, the studio has apparently found enough time to work towards a second project, something beginning with the letter "T." Of course, Tomb Raider is the obvious conclusion, but that series is well in hand at Eidos studio Crystal Dynamics, leaving us scratching our heads wondering just what the Montreal devs could be up to. One possible conclusion is Thief, a series that has lurked in the shadows since 2004's Ion Storm-developed second sequel Thief: Deadly Shadows, and while this is enough to get us excited to find out more, the project could just as easily be a game based on Tiny Toons...which come to think of it would be pretty cool too. [Thanks TheSabin]
Ubisoft reveals DS pedometer, our fight against the flab begins here
Do your evenings typically consist of you perching your overweight frame on the couch, slurping down microwaveable pizzas between guttural sobs of despair? If so, the compact device above could be the way to a healthier, leaner you. Why? Because that's the pedometer that will ship with Ubisoft's My Weight Loss Coach, silly!We've already stated how much we like this game's simple-yet-elegant visual style, and My Weight Loss Coach's pedometer only elevates it further above more standard training fare on the DS. The idea is straightforward enough: keep the pedometer on your person all day, letting it count every step you take, then plug it into the GBA slot of your DS and let the software analyze how much blubber you've burned off. Pretty soon, you'll look a bit like this guy, right down to the toned arms and rictus grin. Excellent!This should be arriving in Europe this summer, so until then you'll have to breathe in sharply if you want to squeeze into the gallery below.%Gallery-15787%[Via press release]
DS Fit: Ubisoft announces My Weight Loss Coach
For those of you looking for a weight-loss alternative to methamphetamines, you can finally put down that needle -- Ubisoft has just the game for you! My Weight Loss Coach acts as both a fitness coach and nutritionist to help you trim those extra pounds. Pretty soon, you'll be able to slip into that old pair of daisy dukes that kept your telephone ringing all throughout your high school years.The casual software will come bundled with a pedometer, an accessory which detects nearby sexual predators counts every step you take, similar to the Nike+iPod Sports Kit. The device plugs into your DS, presumably through the handheld's GBA slot, and keeps track of your progress, updating your personal profile. Based on the data it gathers, My Weight Loss Coach helps you balance your food intake and meet "landmark checkpoints." And it doesn't even give you meth mouth!The stick-figure art direction is simple but charming, like a Don Hertzfeldt animation, perfect for a genre that doesn't really benefit from graphics that push the system's limits. Check our gallery below for 15 screenshots of the healthy title. My Weight Loss Coach isn't scheduled for release until this summer, but don't wait until then to get off the ice.%Gallery-15787%
Ubisoft: We've got some Wii games in the works
Game | Life managed to grab a little face time with Yannis Mallat, the head honcho at Ubisoft Montreal (Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell). They grilled him about all manner of subject in the gaming industry, but what we care about mainly was his words in regards to Nintendo's Wii console, and if we would be seeing any new Wii games from the company."And right now, we are developing some other Wii titles that we are going to be able to talk about soon," Mallat commented. When asked further about big budget titles having a chance to thrive on the console, Mallat said that those titles are possible for the Wii, but developing for the console is something that needs to be heavily considered. "That console specifically has to be thought of in the same way that it's been produced and designed," he said, adding "when it comes time to make games. And when you hit the right balance, success will just follow."We don't know about you, but we're excited to hear more about these mystery games.
Passage is a lifetime in five minutes
At this year's Montreal International Game Summit, the game development collective Kokoromi held their second annual Gamma event, challenging designers and coders to create games under strict guidelines. For this year's event, games had to be a maximum of 256 x 256 pixels, and be fully playable in around five minutes. With these constraints, Jason Rohrer designed Passage, a tiny game that has been making tiny waves in our tiny community.There's not much to say about Passage. The game is available for Mac, PC, and Linux, and lasts exactly five minutes. In short, there's no excuse not to play it.[Via Raph Koster]
Montreal to get WiMAX services soon
Our neighbor to the north will soon boast its own WiMAX-based WiFi rollout, as Montreal is already set to become the "first Canadian city to deliver wireless Internet and mobile IP telephony to residents." Apparently, Radioactif and Nomad Telecom are joining forcing to deploy the network across the metropolitan area, and it will be made first available to the oh-so-lucky residents of Montreal's Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood. By 2009, however, the network will blanket nearly 300 square kilometers of Montreal and service "around 90-percent" of its citizens, but those targeted for the first wave can expect the luxury to cost them "under $30 per month" when it launches in September.[Via MobileInCanada]
Solo's bus stop ad enables life-size chatting with strangers
Hot on the heels of Nokia's own bus stop gimmick comes none other than Solo, which has erected a clever display on a number of waiting areas to allow perfect strangers to yap it up on giant mobiles. The interactive billboards each sport a larger-than-usual flip phone, which allows curious onlookers to mash an enlarged walkie talkie button and get on the horn with a faraway stranger. The active two-way radio setup was reportedly installed in transit shelters in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary, and the system supposedly connects users in the different cities to one another when a conversation is initiated. Unfortunately, Engadget HQ doesn't happen to reside in the land of the Canucks, so for our brethren in the north, why not stop on by and give a shout to a fellow Canadian, eh?[Via Core77]
Surf's Up had better use the Wiimote as a surfboard
We just wanted to get that in there nice and early, because it's important. You can infer from the rather pointed headline that a game based on the upcoming CG kids' movie Surf's Up has been announced for the Wii.Ubisoft will be bringing the videogame version of Sony Pictures' Surf's Up to pretty much every system we can think of, which is pretty much standard operating procedure. The game will feature voice acting from many of the movie's stars, including Shia LeBoeuf, Jeff Bridges, and Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies movie. There are two reasons that we think Surf's Up could turn out okay: first, it's being developed by Ubisoft Montreal, who are responsible for the Prince of Persia series; and second, surfing seems like a natural for the Wiimote. At least, we hope it's good, because we're certain lots of kids are going to want it.[Via NeoGAF]
Montreal QA specialist doubles as more developers come to town
Montreal outsourcing and post production specialist Babel Media is gearing up for the city's impending game development growth, doubling the size of its facility, while adding 350 new jobs; to its existing 150. While Babel serves the interests of a variety of media formats, Ubisoft's grand plans and Eidos' moving in have spurred Babel's decision to bulk up. Known for its translation services, the company specializes in functionality QA, localized translation and audio creation, localization QA, and localized packaging and manuals."We have recently signed contracts with clients who, without exaggeration, own some of the greatest Intellectual Property in the world," said Babel managing director Algy Williams, adding, "We will be testing their games across all platforms, including PS3 and Xbox 360, and we need to recruit talented and motivated people who are looking for a career in the games industry." Anyone need a job?
Eidos sets up shop in Montreal alongside Ubisoft, EA
Rampant piracy hasn't stopped Ubisoft from making moves in Montreal, initiating a massive studio expansion that will see 1,000 new jobs created over the next six years. And now Ubisoft, and existing neighbor EA Montreal, will be joined by Eidos. The UK powerhouse has formally announced plans to launch a new game development studio headed by general manager Stéphane D'Astous in Quebec's largest city. "Montreal is the ideal location to open a new studio because of its thriving game development community and favorable economics," said Eidos Commercial Director Bill Ennis, referring to beneficial tax and government incentives.The new studio is expected to provide an estimated 350 new jobs by 2010.
Ubisoft Montreal expanding, 1,000 new jobs by 2013
As supposed by La Presse, Ubisoft has formalized plans to expand its Montreal studio with the help of government aid. The Paris-based company will spend as much as C$454 million (approximately $383.9 million USD) over the next six years, while Quebec will chip in C$19 million in tax credits. Ottawa's also offering a C$8-million loan to help grow the studio, which is expected to create roughly 1,000 new jobs in the Montreal area by 2013.The expansion will unfold in two simultaneous phases. The studio's video game division will be beefed up with 500 new positions, while a CGI studio is created, eventually providing an additional 500 jobs. The new studio will produce short films based on Ubisoft properties, including an 8-minute Assassin's Creed featurette.
MIGS06/Arcadia: No PS3 love for Montreal
Last week, Montreal was the place to be for video games, between the industry-oriented Montreal International Game Summit, and the consumer-oriented Arcadia Festival. Both events featured show floors, allowing attendees to try out all the latest consoles and games ... except for the PS3, that is.Despite the strong presences of both the Wii and the Xbox 360, Sony failed to make the Playstation 3 available to play at either of the major Montreal events this past week, raising some interesting questions about Sony's dedication to the Canadian market.François Décarie, event promoter for the Arcadia Festival, cites delays of the console in the European market as reason for Sony failing to commit PS3s to the events, as well as the company's general shortage of launch units. In a brief interview with Joystiq last week, he remarked "You know, in Europe it's been delayed until March or something like that. We've talked with [Sony], but with the uncertainty of when they're coming out in the market, it was difficult for them to commit ... Not only that, they were talking about 2 million units, now apparently they're not getting the 2 million units for Japan and North America, meaning that you would have how many for North America? A million? And you make the equation, and you come down to say, well, how many available in Canada for them? And it was a bit of a risk for them to come here. And we understand, and we respect this."M. Décarie remains optimistic that Sony will be present at the 2007 Arcadia Festival: "Next year, we're pretty sure that once they get everything together they'll come back to the festival. They were here last year. So, I guess this year for them it was a difficult year to commit."
