Ewok Village Replica in Oregon

Finally, the Battle of Endor Re-enactment society has a place to call their own. For a reasonable fee, you too can re-live that breath-taking moment when the greatest warriors of the Empire finally fell to a tribe of teddy bears.







Source: io9

Microsoft Confirms: No New Xbox for 2012

Lately there’s been a flurry of rumours over the next Xbox console, from reports about its GPU to the ongoing debate about it not playing used games. However, Cedrick Delmas, Marketing director for Xbox’s French division, said that no new consoles would be out before the end of 2012. The current Xbox Kinect is selling well in France, and a new machine would only serve to undermine that success.

Analysts point to a Fall 2013 release as a more likely date. Microsoft may still seek to steal some of Nintendo’s thunder at this year’s E3 to garner attention away from Nintendo’s WiiU, which launches in late 2012.

Source: Cinemablend

“Escape From Planet Earth” Studio Gets Rendered From the Cloud

Scalar Technologies announced the launch of their “RenderCloud” project today. It’s high-tech data center located on Great Northern Way next to Centre for Digital media. It consists of over 1500 rendering servers connected by a 10 GB Ethernet system. This will allow Visual Effects and Games Studios all over the lower mainland to render their work on and as-needed basis and provides the means for different studios to work on projects collaboratively.

The system was developed in conjunction with Rainmaker Studios, formerly known as Mainframe Entertainment of Reboot and Beast Wars fame. Their new movie Escape from Planet Earth starring the voices of Brendan Fraser and Rob Corddry will be released in February 2013.

Source: Newswire.ca

Literacy Causes the Apocalypse in this short film




This short by Vancouver Film School Student Beto Gomez is either a sober look at the dangers of reading, or the greatest exercise in reverse psychology ever.

Source: io9

Vancouver Film School Offers Women in Games Scholarship

 

A Vancouver Film School is accepting applications for its 4th annual Women in Games Scholarship. The $50,000 will go to a prospective student of the VFS game design program which has produced graduates working on Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Prototype 2, Space Marine, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. The Vancouver Film School set up the scholarship in conjunction with the local Game Design Expo to encourage women to enter the Video Game industry. If you think you have what it takes to turn the industry upside-down, you can find the application here.

Source: The Mary Sue

Robert Gerdisch Cast as Whitney Fordham in Man of Steel

It appears that the location is not the only element of Smallville showing up in the upcoming Man of Steel Movie.

An imdb Cast update has revealed that a character named Whitney Fordham will appear played by Robert Gerdisch (shown at the right in the picture).

Whitney was Clark Kent’s quarterback rival in Smallville and was played by Eric Johnson in the TV series. The spelling of their last names is different (Fordham vs. Fordman) so it’s unknown just what role the character will take in the new movie.

Source: Cosmic BookNews

Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo Announced: March 17th, 2012

Vancouver is getting a Retro gaming Expo!

Brian Hughes, owner of New Westminster’s Gamedeals Video Game Store has organized a celebration of classic video games at the Columbia Theatre. Guests include Happy Console Gamer, Fraser Agar’s Awesome Video Games, Megasteakman, Retro City Rampage and Geeks After Dark.

Tickets are $15, further details are at the Vancouver Gaming Expo Website

http://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/

 

Source: Straight.com

Lion’s Gate Films Share Price Rises due to Hunger Games

According the Bloomberg, Vancouver-based company Lion’s Gate films is experiencing a surge in share price due to the upcoming release of the Hunger Games movie. While the movie was filmed in North Carolina, could Lion’s Gate Films’ good fortune translate to more production in Vancouver?

Source: Bloomberg

Steam Releases Mobile App for iOS and Android

If you’ve ever been caught on the way to work wondering what kind of Steam Sales you were missing out on, then wonder no further! This new app for iOS and Android allows you to chat with Steam friends, browse gaming news, and expose your wallet to ritualistic abuse all from your mobile device! Between this and the recent introduction of facebook connect, Valve is really making a push to expand the social aspect of its service. The question is, will privacy-paranoid PC gamers take advantage of the new features?

 

Source: Kotaku

Combing the ruins of the Stargate MMO

Nerdvana posted an article exploring the fate of the Stargate MMO that never saw the light of day. The website of the company, Darkcometgames.com, is still running, although it’s been riddled with blackjack advertisements and bad copy. While it’s sad to see such a storied franchise get this kind of treatment, it just goes to show what a risk MMO games are.

 

Source: Nerdvana