Funcom’s new Canadian headquarters will be put to use immediately, with skilled teams being formed to work on both Age of Conan and the upcoming MMO The Secret World, which the company will be showing off at PAX 09 this weekend. The Montreal location further extends Funcom’s global presence, joining previously established offices in Norway, China, the US and Switzerland.

Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas sings the praises of our neighbours to the North.

“Montréal has established itself as one of the world’s most important locations for video game production, and we are looking forward to taking part in that success. In addition to strengthening our North American presence, the new studio will take advantage of the great incentive programs offered by the Québec region, incentives that makes Montréal one of the most cost effective locations in the world for developing MMO games. This will in turn allow us to better balance our costs, making it possible for us to continue to expand our investments into the MMO segment.”

We may kid our Canadian brethren from time to time, but one thing’s for sure: they sure know how to woo game developers.

It’s not a new practice, we know; this kind of scam has been running for decades. But using Square Enix’s name? How odd! You have to wonder whether the scammers are picking company names at random, because I can’t imagine Jim Truckson from Cornhole, Idaho opening his mailbox and knowing what the hell a “Square Enix” even is.

Daniel Chabot, described as a bishop in the Church of Raël, runs an employee-coaching firm in Quebec. He claimed that when Ubisoft Montreal found out he worships UFOs, they ended the training program he was conducting for them.

A Quebec judge threw out his lawsuit, which only sought $US10,000. Lord, those Canadians are temperate people. Down here it would have been for several million. And it would have gotten tossed, too.

You might remember the Raëlians, who aside from the whole UFO-religion kookiness were at least on the ball to pick the week between Christmas and New Year’s, the slowest news cycle of the year, to fool mainstream journalists with their claim they’d cloned a human. The announcement was later declared a hoax.

Court Rejects Lawsuit by Raëlian Church Bishop Against Ubisoft [Montreal Gazette via GamePolitics]

It’s been nearly a year since the last episode of internet gaming comedy Pure Pwnage went live, and now the reason behind the hiatus becomes clear – real television fame, in Canada no less.

In case you don’t understand video, Pure Pwnage is coming to Canada’s Showcase cable channel in 2010, with eight full episodes worth of socially inept Jeremy’s antics beaming directly into the televisions of our neighbours to the North. To put this into perspective, Showcase shows reruns of House. Pure Pwnage is going to be airing on the same channel that airs reruns of House. The world is a strange and wonderful place, isn’t it?

We haven’t heard of this Siren in the Maelstorm. What the heck is it? “Silicon Knights is busy working on several exciting projects,” a spokesperson told game site Eurogamer. “Unfortunately, it is too early to disclose any details.”

Then, we shall wait.

Besides Too Human, Silicon Knights has also developed Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Eternal Darkness and now “several exciting projects”.

Silicon Knights quiet on Siren name News [Eurogamer]

Writing for Toronto’s Globe & Mail on Saturday, Marcus Gee rips Ontario’s government as trying to be more hip than responsible, facing down an $US18.5 billion deficit. Toronto’s subsidy to Ubi may be meant to consolidate the area’s position as “the third largest television, film and digital-media cluster in North America,” he says, but the studio already turns a $US111 million profit. And they’re getting a hand up at the expense of Ontario’s dowdier, longer-tenured corporate citizens.

That quarter-billion has to come from somewhere, much of it from good Toronto businesses that don’t have the buzz factor to attract an open-collared premier. Their tax burden will rise, and their business will suffer, while the cool kids in the video-game industry collect government cheques.

Gee says developers are notoriously “a footloose bunch,” and nothing prevents them from bolting for a better deal should tax or currency conditions change. Then again, Ubisoft has two other studios and 2,000 employees in Canada. I’d say they’ve shown a strong commitment to the country.

On some level, jobs are jobs, and criticizing (sigh, criticising) a deal bringing in 800 jobs just because they’re video game jobs is a smidge unfair. Not every industry that makes up a regional economy is of the indispensable manufacturing variety. That said, another columnist pointed out that the incentives offered Ubisoft translate to $US329,000 per job. That’s a tough call in tight times.

McGuinty’s Playing with the Cool Kids [Toronto Globe and Mail, via GamePolitics]

The announcement comes today by way of a live press conference with the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, held against a backdrop declaring “New Jobs for Ontario”. Minister of International Trade and Investment Sandra Pupatello took the stage first, explaining to the audience how large the video game business is, citing the example of Spider-Man, the video game adaptation of the movie that grossed more than the film itself. “This has been a labour of love… over two years in the making.” Apparently they’ve wanted Ubisoft for quite some time.

Next came the Premiere himself, talking about gaming stats. 75% of Ontario residents play video games. “Video games. This isn’t kid’s stuff; and this isn’t child’s play. This is serious business.” The government has been trying to land a partnership with Ubisoft, and now Ontario will be investing $US260 million dollars as part of a partnership with Ubisoft to develop a major game studio in Toronto, creating more than 800 jobs in the process. “This is a truly exciting opportunity for Ontario.”

Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat took the podium next, after it was revealed that he will become the CEO of Ubisoft Toronto. He explains that the new studio will focus on creating and developing triple-A video games, creating more than 800 jobs over the course of the next 10 years.

He detailed the four main pillars of the new Toronto Studio: the support of the government; Toronto’s growing pool of gaming and film industry talent; the groundwork laid down by all of Ubisoft’s other studios around the world allowing the new studio to make an immediate impact; and Toronto’s thriving cultural scene. It’s the same strategy they used to establish Ubisoft Montreal.

The new studio joins Ubisoft’s 2 previous Canadian studios on Quebec City and Montreal Quebec, which boast a staff of more than 2,000 employees between them.

A truck carrying over 1,300 Xbox 360 consoles was stolen from a trailer yard at 4 AM. The total value ballparks at around US$670,000.

According to police, four or five suspects in dark clothing stole a black 16-metre 2007 Air-Ride trailer, with the Ontario licence plate C11-47X and trailer identification number 55334.

The suspects attacked a security guard who had his hands and feet bound together and was left under a parked trailer. The security guard is expected to make a full recovery.

1,300 Xbox gaming consoles stolen in Mississauga [The Star Thanks, Spot778!]

Now available at the EB Games and GameStop locations that have yet to be ravaged by the ongoing conflict, PlayStation Canada will be venturing out into the wilds to deliver them to Best Buy, Future Shop, HMV, The Source, and Rogers Plus stores in the coming weeks and months, so there should be a healthy supply by the time the next round of baby spiders burrow out of their human hosts.

The cards come in $US20 and $US50 increments, and if you Canadians need any help figuring out what to purchase with them, Sony Canada’s Kyle Moffatt has listed several excellent suggestions in his post on the PlayStation blog.

PSN Cards Debut in Canada [PlayStation Blog]

The five countries are the ones singled out by the Anti-Piracy Caucus as priorities for 2009, with Congress urging said countries to improve enforcement legislation and practices. How are they urging? Through a series of announcements that I am sure weigh heavily on the hearts and minds of those countries’ governments, should they be paying any attention at all.

Still, the Entertainment Software Association seems pleased.

“The copyright-based industries will be leaders in our economic recovery – and the entertainment software industry, which had record sales in 2008, will continue to be a strong contributor to our nation’s GDP,” said Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. “Exports can comprise as much as 30% of our members’ sales, and are a direct contributor to domestic job growth. The work of the Caucus helps us to grow our export markets, create jobs and strengthen our balance of trade. Additionally, stemming the flood of pirated creative works benefits and protects legitimate consumers everywhere.

The ESA specifically thanked the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus for singling out Mexico and Canada, from which many mod-chips flow into the U.S., and Spain, where peer-to-peer piracy is running rampant.

Canada was also added to the U.S. Trade Representative’s priority watch list this year. If they keep it up, we’ll have no choice but to invade.