Thursday, December 3, 2009THQ Opens Up Shop In MontrealAgoura Hills-based THQ announced Thursday afternoon that it has opened up a new studio in Montreal, Quebec, which it says will employ over 400 new people. According to THQ, the new facility is part of an effort to develop new games in a "cost-effective" manner, and will be headed by Dave Gatchel, former GM of THQ's Paradigm Entertainment studio. The firm cited Montreal's pool of talent and university system as part of the reason for the selection of the city, as well as reimburseable tax credits (More info...)
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Withoutabox Targets Film FestivalsLos Angeles-based Withoutabox, which is now a part of Amazon.com's IMDB.com division, said this week that it has launched a new service targeted at film festivals. According to the site, it has created a new "Secure Online Screeners" offering which allows filmmakers to submit both short and feature-length films to the site for hosting, and also can be used by film festivals to manage incoming submissions. The site is looking to supplant the existing process of mailing DVDs to film festivals for (More info...)
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THQ Hires Back Alumni As Licensing VPAgoura Hills-based video game maker THQ reported earlier this week that it has hired on Germaine Gioia as its Senior Vice President, Licensing and Merchandise. According to THQ, Gioia was most recently Senior Vice President, Licensing for Capcom Entertainment. Prior to Capcam, Gioia was head of THQ's licensing efforts for 14 years.
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Bakespace Inks Partnership With Cartoon SeriesLos Angeles-based BakeSpace.com, the online web community for swapping recipes and network with other foodies, has inked a deal with a cartoon series, the firm said today. According to BakeSpace, it has linked with cartoon "The Gloomers" which features a family which apparently has nothing but bad luck, especially in the kitchen. The two are promoting a contest where the "gloomiest" real life kitchen disaster submitted by a BakeSpace user will be included in an upcoming episode of the cartoon. B (More info...)
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Clicker Links With BoxeeLos Angeles-based Clicker.com, the newly launched video and TV indexing and search site which is headed by former Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone, told its users today that it has linked the site to Boxee, which is developing products which connect computers to televisions. Clicker said its Boxee app allows users to search for favorite shows, movies, and video using Boxee's service. Financial and business terms behind the deal were not announced by the firm. Clicker is venture backed by Benchmark Capita (More info...)
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Insights and Opinions: Ten vision tests for successToday's Insights and Opinions piece -- where we feature content from experts and thought leaders in the community -- comes to us from angel investor Dave Berkus, who recently posted a list of ten factors to see if the vision for your technology might be attractive to customers or investors. Dave manages angel funds Berkus Technology Ventures, LLC and Kodiak Ventures, L.P. and is a partner in Trenchant Ventures, LLC. Dave has recently started blogging on his site at Berkonomics.com.
A visio (More info...)
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Salk Insitute Adds VC To BoardLa Jolla-based Salk Institute for Biological Studies, known for its life science research, disclosed this morning that the firm has added venture capitalists Fred Dotzler to its board of trustees. The institute said that Dotzler, co-founder and Managing Director of De Novo Ventures, joins its board along with literary agent Linda Chester and Mary Jane Salk, the widow of Dr. Lee Salk. Dotzler was also the founder of Medicus Venture Partners, and has invested in successful biotech firms Biosite, I (More info...)
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Movieclips.com Launches Online Video SiteA new startup, Santa Monica-based MOVIECLIPS.COM, said late Wednesday evening that it has launched a new online video site featuring movie clips and scenes. The Movieclips site allows users to search for scenes from major movies, and embed them on Facebook, MySpace, and other web site. Movieclips said that it allows fans to watch and share more than 12,000, two minute long clips from 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. (More info...)
posted on Thursday, December 3, 2009(Full story)