More Info: 905 892-8992

Awesome gift ideas!

Free Gifts with any order.

More Info: 905-374-1616 x22
Contact Name: Heidi Werner

The Pan American Sports Organization awarded the games in a secret vote on Friday with Toronto receiving 33 votes to win on the first ballot.

Here is a brief overview of upcoming Santa Sightings for the family to enjoy!

Fort Erie Santa Claus Parade

Saturday, November 21, 2009
37th Annual Fort Erie Santa Claus Parade.
The parade begins at 2:00 pm at the Fort Erie Race Track turns on Catharine and proceeds up Central Ave on to Jarvis St., to finish downtown.
Festivities are scheduled from 2:00pm 6:00pm.
Admission: FREE

More Info: 905-871-4938
Contact Name: Veronica Landry

2009 Niagara Falls Santa Claus Parade

Saturday, November 28, 2009
Location: Victoria Avenue to City Hall on Queen Street
Time: Parade begins @ 11:00 am
Admission: FREE

More Info: 905-356-7521, ext. 3332
Contact Name: Lori Albanese

St. Catharines Santa Claus Parade

Starting at Montebello Park the parade travels up William St. to St. Paul St. onto James St. to King St to disembark at the Market Square.
Following the parade meet Santa at the Market Square and enjoy hot chocolate and hot apple cider.
Location: Montebello Park
Time: 2:30 pm
November 29, 2009
More Info: 905 688-5601 ext. 1503
Contact Name: Dianne Garrington

To get a site submission and to be featured, you must visit www.getitinniagara.com and click on “Get Listed”, add your site submission, pay the relevant submission fee. Not all site submissions will be featured. They will be selected by an administrator/editor for inclusion in this section.

Play The Game Whiskey Mountain Wars Online Today FREE

Charlie Kingston’s inspiration came from his intrigue over an executive assistant’s online playing.

Earlier this year, Kingston noticed Laura Narducci tapping away on the text-based game Blood Wars.

When Kingston found out Narducci’s game had 50,000 members, he was struck by the revenue potential.

“I said, ‘You pay for this?,’ and Laura said, ‘Yea, $60 per year.’ “

A crash course on online game programming followed, with Kingston reading a shelf-full of books on the subject.

From that came Kingston’s decision to take Kiko Products Inc. of St. Catharines in a radical new direction.

It’s bread-and-butter product continues to be Wrist Rite, a wrist-straightening device for golf that’s sold online. Kingston’s profession is making braces, especially for feet.

Now his company is delving into a second, more modern pastime.

“Gaming had never been in our plan,” said the gregarious company president and CEO, who refers to himself as an innovator.

“It would be the furthest thing in the world if you were to ask me at age 63 if I’d be doing gaming,” Kingston said.

Soon, Niagara College computer programming student Sarah Duemo was offered a placement to help program a new game.

“I said, ‘I have a vision,’ “ said Kingston, who calls St. Catharines home.

He noticed common video themes in his research — person-to-person combat, military operations and fantasy realms.

“Then I said, ‘What does North America want?’ “

In his view, that gaming community desires “hot women, fast cars, a touch of violence and Jack Daniels.”

With that concept in place, seven other Niagara College students and graduates were chosen from the college’s computer programming analyst, graphics design and journalism programs.

The result came three months later — the just-released Whiskey Mountain Wars.

The online role playing game is a mash-up of the liquor prohibition era, Dukes of Hazzard TV show and whiskey running.

Think of Kiko Games’ first production as Trailer Park Boys meets Appalachia in 1971.

Kingston effusively praises the work done by his Niagara College talent.

Many told him they’d like to do game programming work, but there are few opportunities now.

“The hardest part is they needed to get experience,” Kingston said. “I told them I’d take them with no experience … I am going to whip you into shape and make you believers.”

He provided the team with new computers and a basement work area. Kingston was wowed by the creative energy that resulted.

“They far exceeded everything I asked them to do,” he said.

The game is free, with an option to pay for game benefits and currency for special items. People can play by themselves or in teams and undertake quests, attacks and various whiskey-running tasks.

Lead programmer Sean Cahill laughs that the team was so immersed in “yee-ha” hillbilly language, it started slipping into his instant messaging.

“The experience was amazing,” said Cahill, 24, of St. Catharines. “You take a bit of basement space, a bit of risk and put together a game company out of nothing.

“It’s one of those things where you don’t believe it till you see it.”

Meanwhile, an action-oriented, 3-D online game of Mountain Wars is in the works, as well as preliminary designs for six other games.

The 15-employee company is moving to larger digs in the city, and Kingston plans to hire another 10 workers.

“It’s been a fantastic relationship working with Kiko,” said Ben Cecil, Niagara College dean of environment, media and technology.

“The fact that the company takes our co-op students and graduates speaks very highly of the skill set they bring to this industry,” Cecil said.

Jeff Chesebrough, executive director of St. Catharines’ new media generator nGen, hadn’t yet heard about Kiko Games’ work.

“We’re definitely going to … see if there’s anything we can do to support them,” he said. “It’s the way this area is going.

“People are seeing we have the resources and talent here to support these industries.”

For Kingston, working with creative young go-getters has been its own reward: “These kids will be with me as long as I’m alive, if they want to be.”

***

The preliminary (beta) version of Whiskey Mountain Wars is available at

http://www.whiskeywars.com or http://www.kikogaming.com