Bloomberg reports “better-than-estimated growth in American and Chinese manufacturing bolstered confidence in the global economic recovery.”

While CNN Money pointed to how investors “shrugged off a dour report from payroll processing firm ADP — which is widely used as a leading indicator ahead of Friday’s job report from the Labor Department.” (A loss of 100,000 jobs)

In tech news – Apple which advanced 3.3 percent, is reported to introduce new TV technology pared with Netflix (up 4.8 percent) while Amazon is said to be planning its own online video-subscription service to rival Netflix, climbed 4.9 percent (Bloomberg)

“The company, which has offices in Toronto and San Francisco, makes software that allows people to play games against each other in real time even if one player is on a mobile device such as an iPhone and another player is on a different platform, such as the Facebook website. It has four games: Pet Hero MD, Color Connect, Shake & Spell, and Shake & Spell 3D.” (CBC)

After watching a video presentation of one of SocialDeck’s flagship games, I am surprised  such a simple idea (I’d assume most social game developers are running similar platforms) got noticed by Google.

Here’s a quick Youtube clip of the aforementioned presentation by SocialDeck:

Market Rollercoster

“Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said Tuesday that regulators haven’t yet found evidence of a “single cause” for last week’s market plunge, as federal regulators established a joint advisory committee to look into the causes of the drop.”

Markets dropped close to a 1000 points in less then 30 minutes, no one has a clue how…

“Investigators also haven’t found any unusual trading in Proctor & Gamble Co.’s shares, which tumbled during the market chaos. They also haven’t found evidence of hackers or terrorists.”

“The SEC also is considering a ban on “stub quoting,” a practice of offering pennies for valuable stocks; placing limits or “collars” on aggressively priced orders; and instituting “time-out” mechanisms that could be applied market-wide or to individual stocks, Ms. Schapiro said.”

There is also the wildly reported possibly of a “Fat finger” – someone who pushed an extra zero on a sell order…

Link to the article

BruceOnGame, stationed out of Montreal has this to say:

“companies within a cluster should co-operate, even if, as is often the case, there is previous bad blood arising from business dynamics. The businesses have many areas in common that can be addressed more effectively jointly. There should be CEO level meetings of every company within a cluster every month.”

Bruce may not be a game developer himself but even game developers are inviting others to join the mission in growing the Montreal cluster.

“Actively involved in developing genuine creative and technological know-how, Ubisoft has become a prime enabler for Canada to establish its presence in a booming market. Part of this rests in the fact that much of the studio’s success can immediately be attributed to its unparalled access to some 7,000 IT and multimedia graduates from leading Québec universities.” – Investing Canada – Ubisoft

“Move to Montreal? Hmm….Be part of one of the world’s fastest-expanding game community! Some 5000 people make up the video game industry in Montreal, with: Over 50 development companies (3650+ jobs), 14 software companies (600 jobs), 18 game-related service companies (800 jobs). Thanks to fairly low operating costs and generous provincial support, Montreal is a leader of the game industry in Canada.” – Eidos Montreal (Gaming Studio)

Montreal

“Montréal is rapidly becoming one of the most attractive cities in the world for the establishment and expansion of companies in the game development industry, which has grown over 400 percent in the past five years. The industryemploys over 5,000 people in traiblazing companies such as Ubisoft, Eidos Interactive, Electronic Arts and Activision. Successful creative studios such as Artificial Mind & Movement and Sarbakan have also made this province their home.”

The cluster has a vibrant online community through sites like Montreal Tech Watch & Games Montreal, along side major conferences like the annual Montreal International Game Summit & International Game Developers Association.

For more click the respective pictures bellow:

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