Tag Archives: gaming

EMMY WINNERS GIVE KUDOS TO THECGBROS CGINSIDER PODCAST

Using an Animated Avatar of Himself, Digital Media Professional, Bill Johnston, Co-founder of the Popular TheCGBros YouTube Channel, Earns Praise for His Performance in a Video Podcast Preview Provided to a Special Panel of Members of the Voice Acting Academy.

SAN DIEGO, CA, 2021-Jan-06 — /EPR INTERNET NEWS/ — TheCGBros, a Third-party aggregation YouTube Channel becoming an integral part of many short films’ release strategies, conducted a highly successful beta test of the first episode of their now-in-production podcast series, TheCGBros CGInsider Podcast. Bill Johnston, co-founder of TheCGBros YouTube Channel with his brother, Shaun Johnston, delivered the program content solo, in “talking head” format, but future episodes will see participation from Shaun and from influential guests, as well. Of special interest is that, although Bill spoke as himself, he did it through the novel medium of an animated avatar, possibly a first in the industry. The avatar was designed and executed by co-founder, Shaun Johnston.

The program content is intended for consumption by people with a wide variety of tastes and interests, especially fans of short videos. The subject matter will also be of general interest to students of CGI as well as both entry-level and professionals in the field. The premiere episode in the podcast series was released to the public on TheCGBros YouTube Channel at Midnight January 5, 2021. The series will be rolled out on other streaming platforms weekly on Tuesdays.

The test episode, which runs approximately 20 minutes long, is entitled “What is CGI?” Podcast titles scheduled for the remainder of January include: “Can You Describe the Different Jobs That Relate to Creating a CGI Film,” “Are There Examples of Current CGI in Films That Are So Well Done That They are Undetectable?” and “How Can I Get a Job in Gaming?”

The venue used for the test was an online weekly meeting of the Voice Acting Academy’s “Conductors Club” (VAACC.) The VAACC is a membership support service open to voiceover talent at all levels of experience for the purpose of helping them to advance their voiceover career and to help them get more work. Membership in the VAACC includes weekly live coaching sessions directed by Voiceover Guru, James Alburger, who says that the monthly cost of membership is a lot less than the usual cost of a single hour of private coaching. ConductorsClub sessions are conducted using Zoom, a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform app that allows virtual video and audio conferencing, webinars, live chats, screen-sharing, and other collaborative capabilities. Information on VAACC is available at https://voiceacting.com/conductorsclub.

The test involved a three-member panel of long-time members of the VAACC. Participating in the test were James Alburger, Tom Daniels, and George Asteri. Senior member of the panel, James Alburger, of San Diego, author of the book commonly used as a required text in college-level voiceover classes, “The Art of Voice Acting,” now in its 6th edition, asserted, “That’s really nice. Very interesting, very thorough, very effective.” Alburger is an 11-Time Emmy® Winner for Sound Design, and owner of The Voice Acting Academy and CIGMA Media. He is also an Engineer, Voice Acting Coach, and Executive Producer/Director for Film, Video, and other media. Alburger operates the websites VoiceActing.com and at cigmamedia.com. Panelist Tom Daniels averred, “That was awesome. Very informative and entertaining. It held my attention all the way through. What surprised me most was that the first use of computer generated imagery dates all the way back to 1958 in the Alfred Hitchcock film, Vertigo.” Daniels is an Emmy®-winning Voice Actor/Executive Producer who lives in Massillon, Ohio. You can listen to Tom’s sound demos here TomDanielsVoiceDemos and reach him at tomdanielsvoice@gmail.com. The third member of the panel, George Asteri, opined, “That was an excellent summary and gave a really good understanding of CGI. It really informed me.” Asteri, who lives in Saginaw, Michigan, has been acting for his entire life. As a Shakespearean trained actor, Asteri has performed on stage with such notable stars as Christopher Walken in Richard II, and Nicholas Pennell in Richard III. He has also played leading roles in many stage plays, including Shakespeare’s Hamlet. As a voice actor, Asteri has voiced national, local and cable commercials, shared his narration talent with a large Michigan school district film production, narrated for audiobooks, and has made several recordings for Internet clients. Asteri operates a website at https://www.GeorgeAsteri.com where he has provided his email address and telephone number.

Bill, when asked to describe his company’s vision for entering the wildly-expanding, somewhat chaotic podcast marketplace responded, “Well, we believe that mounting up a podcast series not only continues, but builds on our long-standing mission, which from Day-One has been to curate the highest quality professional-level CG content from around the world, as well as to provide insights and inspiration to our two main constituencies: the producers of video content and the consumers of that content. Simply stated, we help the second group — the consumers — by providing them with high quality video content, and we help the first group — the producers of video content — or as we call them,‘New Media Producers,’ by providing them access to a ‘destination site’ where members of the second group can come and discover their works. And by destination, we mean, specifically, a proven, well-established place, with a great reputation for streaming quality videos, where people who love our content know they can come to see outstanding videos that were created with the ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ suffering (not to mention loss-of-sleep) of artists with great talent but with little-to-no prospects to obtain timely significant Media Reach on their own. The proof is in the pudding — as we speak, we have more than 3.5 Million subscribers to our channel; that number is increasing by approximately 40,000 per month, and we are averaging more than 20 million views per month. And, we’ve aggregated almost 1.25 Billion views since we launched our channel. These statistics don’t tell the whole story, of course, but they put us, according to SocialBlade, the social media statistics website that tracks and measures growth, near the top 4,000 in YouTube subscriber ranking and near the top 3,000 in YouTube video view ranking.”

Responding to a further question, “How, specifically, will your podcast series contribute to the accomplishment of your mission,” Johnston explained, “As a forward-looking company in the entertainment business, we’re always on the alert to detect changes that are happening in the entertainment marketplace. What we’ve seen is a growing trend that people want more engagement with great Internet sites that they have gotten to know and have grown to love. Given the rapid increase in the number of podcasts available in the marketplace, we figured a podcast would be a great way, not only to meet our fans’ desires for a higher level of engagement with us, it would also be a great way for us to enhance the value we can add to providing curated videos to our viewers. We are also creating the company infrastructure necessary to support a fan club. We think that will provide even more of the engagement
that fans want.”

Bill Johnston is an established Digital Media Professional with 22 years of experience, the last 18 years within the console-gaming industry. There, he has been involved in Creative Direction/Supervision, Project/Team Management, Dynamic Simulations, and Fluid Dynamics involving Rigid Bodies and Soft Bodies, Particles, and Sprites. He has also managed the production of cinematic FX animation for industry leaders such as Activision/Blizzard, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, and Bungie. He has specialized in in-depth work in the areas of Pre-Visualization, Pre-Rendered FX/Cinematic Cut-Scenes, Promotional Projects and Real-Time Future-Gen FX for Game Environments. Johnston has worked on more than 45 AAA game titles played on personal computers, as well as on Sony’s Playstation, and Microsoft’s Xbox consoles. The titles include, among others, game series such as the CALL OF DUTY,DESTINY, RESISTANCE, UNCHARTED 2, LAIR, WARHAWK, GOD OF WAR, and SOCOM 3. He is currently working on another high-profile game franchise creating FUTURE-GEN FX for next-gen Platforms.

Shaun Johnston is a professional CGI artist and animator in the video games industry with over 27 years of experience, with a broad background in creating 3D animation including previsualization, VFX, and cinematic sequences for PC and Console game trailers, and in-game Cut-Scenes. Today, he is a full-time 3D Animator. He has worked for several industry-leading video game companies including Sony Computer Entertainment America, Gearbox Software, Sony Online Entertainment, Daybreak Game Company. Shaun has also worked on numerous game titles including the billion-dollar Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO) franchise EVERQUEST, the Guinness World Record-holding FPS PLANETSIDE 2, and one of first successful battle royale games, H1Z1.

Via EPR Network
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Move over HQ Trivia, Fantasy Trivia Live is coming and the world hasn’t seen anything like it yet!!!

Charlton, MA, 2018-Jul-12 — /EPR INTERNET NEWS/ —  Mr. Michael Pelletz, Founder and CEO of Fantasy Live Trivia, Inc.

At a glance:

Startup: Yes
Sector: Smartphones, APPs, Technology
Launch Date: October 15th, 2018
Location: Across The Globe
Funding: Yes!!
Problem it solves: Lack of engagement from users of other live trivia apps as well as poor streaming technology that leaves the users frustrated
Website: www.fantasy-trivia.com

1) Could you briefly tell us about the Founders?

Michael Pelletz is a very successful entrepreneur. Michael started a global rideshare company geared towards women safety and empowerment 2 years ago called Chariot For Women, which is now called SAFR that has become the safest rideshare company in the industry. Michael is an expert in turning ideas into reality as well as raising millions of dollars in funds and has some of the best media connections in the US. These skills and connections will ensure the success of Fantasy Trivia Live. Fantasy Trivia Live is his brainchild, and like his rideshare company, he will stop at nothing to make Fantasy Trivia Live the most engaging and profitable App in the industry.

2) How did you come up with the idea? You can share your inspirations

Here is my first inspiration: In February of 2016 I founded a company that is based on women’s empowerment. I have been blessed with a very empathetic heart and soul that allows me to truly resonate with men and women across the globe. Although Fantasy Trivia Live is just a gaming App, I knew once again that I wanted our APP to empower women, and boy will it ever. Our hosts are major celebrities. We are providing a platform for these actors/actresses to flaunt their entrepreneurial spirit in a completely new and safe industry.

Here is my second inspiration:

I was a huge fan of one of our competitors and I was sitting down at my couch watching TV at 8:59 pm, ready to start playing at 9. Then, that 9pm supposed start turned into 9:03 and then 9:04 and then 9:05. I started to get bored. I then glance back at my phone and I notice that the game is finally about to begin. Well….not for me!! It immediately buffered and kept buffering until it kicked me out. I was done with that APP. Within 1 minute of this happening I knew I had to do something better. Fantasy Trivia Live was born. My number 1 priority was to have an app that would stream flawlessly.

3) Brief about your startup

Fantasy Trivia Live is the most engaging adults only Live Trivia App in the world. Our features, which I am not allowed to discuss will truly blow your mind. We are utilizing the most engaging aspects of the most popular Apps currently available. Unlike other Trivia Apps, you don’t have to be good at Trivia to have an opportunity to win lots of cash and prizes. The world is your oyster and you never know what treasures await!!! The user will have opportunities to stay on the Fantasy Trivia Live app day and night, and we have taken every step to make it as visually stimulating as possible.

4) Who are your Targeted audience?

Anyone over the age of 18 who owns a phone. Period!!

5) What type of strategies do you think is valuable to take company to the next level?

I have spent the last 2 years learning what not do when it comes to designing and building a successful and engaging app. Market research is key. Fortunately for Fantasy Trivia Live our competitors have not adjusted to their flaws, which has opened up such a tremendous opportunity to gain control of the Live Trivia market very quickly.

6) Tell us about your amazing team members?

I can’t. LOL!!! Our lawyers will not allow me to say who they are until we are ready. All I can say is, we have the most beautiful, talented and male and female hosts that have tens of millions of followers on social media. It’s unfortunate, but The fans rarely have an opportunity to interact with celebrities live. With Fantasy Trivia Live that will happen almost on a daily basis.

What is the big picture of your company? 

Here is our mission statement. This is what Fantasy Trivia Live is all about.

Our mission is to bring together the trivia gaming community and the primary gaming community into a single platform allowing a highly profitable environment to evolve, grow, and develop, leading to multiple and ever expanding profit centers and revenue streams.

What are your future plans?

Make BOAT LOADS of cash, I mean an obscene amount, by and island and retire. Just kidding. I want to live a wonderful life with my beautiful family.

7) What is your best motivation line that inspires you?

GO FORTH AND SET THE WORLD ON FIRE

8) What were the key Learning’s from your journey that you would like to share with our audience?

I could write a book about starting a potential billion dollar company and how lonely that can be. Unfortunately, Greed and Power can get to people’s ego and the people who you thought were your friends are not your friends anymore. Then people enter your life and pretend to be a friend, when all they really want is the power or money. That is probably the hardest lesson I learned from trying to do something very special. Every day I walk around with a smile on my face and hold my head up high and I sleep very soundly at night knowing I would never treat people that way. Life will always throw you lemons and you have to be able to make lemonade, which I am lucky enough to have done throughout my life.

Could you share details about source of funding, revenue, client acquisition model and statistics so far?

That is all internal conversations, but what I can tell you is that raising money is my favourite part of the startup process. If you have a great idea, the money will follow.

9) Your website/app/contact details

Please visit our website at www.fantasy-trivia.com and you will have an opportunity to see our brand ambassador/host. She is truly the biggest gaming nerd I have ever met. That is a huge compliment to her. She is truly brilliant and beautiful on the inside and out!!!

After you answer our Trivia question you will immediately have an opportunity to sign up for our newsletter. We will begin updating this news letter in the coming weeks. Please sign up and get ready for most engaging 18+ Live Trivia App in the industry coming on October 15th, 2018!!

10) Any other information about your startup that you’d like to share with our readers?

Please Tell everyone about us. The more players we have from day one, the more fun it will be and the more money we can give away. A percentage of every purchase from our optional In APP purchases go directly to making the cash prize larger. Get ready for Fantasy Trivia Live!!!

Via EPR Network
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Bovada Ups the Ante For Poker Players – Introduces Innovative Welcome Bonus

One of the most popular online gaming sites where people can play poker online is Poker.bovada.lv. Bovada, which has been making waves in the gaming community mainly due to their wide selection of casino games and the strength of their well-respected sports betting platform. Another reason that this site has enjoyed such a large amount of awareness among online gaming patrons is due to the fact that Bovada is among one of the only legal online casinos that can be joined by both Americans and Canadians. The company has recently made headlines yet again; this time offering an impressive one hundred per cent signup bonus for all new members.

One of the significant aspects of this bonus is that it will match any deposit up to one thousand dollars by one hundred per cent. This is notably different from many other sites that only offer partial matched bonus amounts. Bovada has caught the eye of the online casino community as representing one of the most generous platforms currently on the market. While Bovada was already considered by many to represent some of the best poker online gaming available, this offer has certainly increased their reputation substantially.

The mechanics of the bonus are quite simple. A player will first need to register through Bovada. After registration is complete, he or she will then be able to deposit cash directly into their account. Another interesting feature of this bonus is that it will include anyfunds that are deposited within the first twenty-four hours of opening a new account. So, a player can choose to deposit four hundred dollars and should he or she wish to deposit an additional four hundred, Bovada will match both amounts by one hundred percent. Therefore, the player has already doubled their money before even entering an online poker room.

Another aspect that will surely catch the public’s eye is that players will also be able to earn valuable poker points with each dollar that is matched. These points can be used towards ongoing promotions, lucrative competitions, prizes and tournaments. Obviously, the amount of points directly correlates with the amount deposited; the larger the amount, the more points earned. In this respect, Bovada has invented quite a unique system that will help players increase their chances of winning these points.

Simply stated, the more one plays, the more that one will earn. As the bonus will be valid for the first sixty days of game play, participants will have the chance to accrue up to a staggering five thousand bonus points during this period. This is, of course, associated with the maximum matched bonus of one thousand dollars. Players should also be aware that for every dollar matched, he or she will receive five bonus points.

The bonus issued will relate to achieving certain “levels” of poker points and this is based on a graduated scale. For instance, when a player garners fifty poker points, a bonus of ten dollars is issued and credited to the account the very next day. When one reaches two hundred and fifty points, an impressive forty dollars will be issued. On the top end of the scale, if one succeeds in gaining five thousand poker points, a massive one thousand dollars will be directly credited to the account. The end result is an unheard of gaming experience that has become the hallmark of Bovada Poker. Further details and an easy to understand chart of what the Bovada signup bonus entails can be found on their easy-to-use and highly navigable site. These bonuses can be thought of as giving all participants the ability to play free poker and yet still earn cash prizes.

While to play poker online in the US is still a rather new concept for avid gamers, the popularity of Bovada may indeed signal a paradigm shift in the online gaming policies currently espoused by the government. Some analysts believe that the popularity of Bovada illustrates the fact that more such sites should be made available to Americans. So, the day may very well come when similar opportunities are offered by additional companies. Until then, fans can enjoy playing free online poker games and the chances of winning valuable bonuses should they wish to up the ante and play for money. Either way, it truly appears that Bovada is paving the way within the online poker community, offering innovative new products such as Zone Poker and interesting promotions such as this one which keep their ever-growing fan base coming back for more.

Via EPR Network
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Soda Poker, A Whole New Way Of Enjoying Online Poker!

A new multilingual poker room has just been launched by one on the main online poker publishers with the intention of becoming an alternative to the current online poker monopoly.

POKER hit the web in the mid 00’s and has since never ceased to grow in popularity. But governments around the world have decided that now is the time to impose regulations on online gambling and as a result you may have noticed that playing poker with real money is getting tougher and tougher (especially if you are living in the US!).

In the mean time, playing poker with virtual chips on social networks has never been as trendy, fun and easy! Don’t deny it; even your mom and your little sister are on it… These so called social poker games owe their popularity to the fact that while being built around a game you usually find in a casino; because you can’t cash out your winnings, for legislators, it’s not gambling so you (and the companies running them) are alright with them.

Now the companies running these models are seriously considering adding cash out options once the game will be regulated, and the companies running real money poker rooms are looking at social poker games as a way of not only offering a different version of the game, but also penetrating virgin territories such as social networks or mobile devices.

It’s going to be a war of the worlds when these gaming giants collide, but undoubtedly poker players will come out as winners, as the competition will generate new products and new offers for the end users…

In the mist of it all, Cmedia, a company based on the Spanish coast of Barcelona has launched Soda Poker, a social poker room that aims to offer a serious alternative to other poker rooms.

The name Cmedia may not ring a bell, but if you have ever been on a website related to poker or any other form of online gambling, chances are you were on one of theirs: with over 1000 websites online, they are amongst the biggest online gambling publishers in the world… so you can trust they know what they are doing when it comes to online poker. They are the people behind Freepoker.org and Pokerholdem.com.

Soda Poker is easy because unlike any other Texas Holdem poker site you can register and play for free in just a few clicks. It’s quick, easy and simple. It gets you seated at the poker table in just a few seconds without asking you for your bank account details, or your grand mother’s maiden name. And it’s freemium, meaning that every day; you can come back and play without having to deposit real money. But if you want to play the higher stakes you can always buy into the premium model and get more chips allowing you to play at a higher level. Because players don’t actually bet with real money, Soda Poker is a totally risk free game, you can just play for the fun of the game! It’s really the closest you’ll get to playing a home game with your friends, and that’s why it’s one of the fastest growing social poker communities and one of the hottest places to be dealt cards on the web right now!

Via EPR Network
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IGXE Adds Black Prophecy Gold to sell list before other trade platforms

Here is a great news to Black Prophecy’s fans. As one of the biggest trader among virtual currency market, IGXE decide to add Black Prophecy Gold to sell list before other trade platforms.

Black Prophecy is a free to play fast-paced 3D real-time combat space MMO with state of the art visuals. Both the Player-versus-Players combat and an exciting storyline in a rich universe are important aspects of the game. It’s focussed on fast and exciting real-time combat space battles. Many experts regard Black Prophecy as the second Eve Online due to the background and story of Black Prophecy is almost seemed as the former. “There is no doubt that success of Eve Online made a contribution to Black Prophecy’s development.” Said Harry, professional MMORPG player. Shortly after the launch of the European version of Black Prophecy, the U.S. closed beta has been officially started and that the first thousand invites have been sent out. It can believe that Black Prophecy as a new blood of combat space games will certainly start a warfare wave in the MMOPRG world. With the officially started days is fast approaching, IGXE has already got ready to welcome this black storm due to Eve Online had enriched experience to deal with these difficulties. A series products related to Black Prophecy will launch at MMOXE follow the step, such as CD Key, expansion pack, game currency just like WoW Gold and even power leveling service.

Via EPR Network
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New Website Launched For ‘Monkey See Monkey Do’

Smartoonz® has launched a new website for Monkey, based on the successful TV show “Monkey See Monkey Do™”.

Monkey See Monkey Do™ is a colorful, upbeat CG animated kid’s series which encourages children to engage with the show’s characters through dance. The show is successfully broadcasted by major TV channels, including Playhouse Disney LATAM, PBS Kids Sprout, France5, TVA, TVO, Knowledge, Minimax, Hop!, PBS Thailand.

The new website keeps you updated with all of Monkey See Monkey Do™ Latest News. Kids can enjoy seeing all the favorite characters, watch clips from the show, printout coloring pages, and send a message to Monkey. Parents can use the Forum to ask questions and give feedback. Through the site, users can access to “Monkey See Monkey Do™“ Youtube channel and the Facebook Fan Page.

Via EPR Network
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