Top three teams in the Great Canadian Appathon3 wow panel of judges showing off the games they developed in 48-hours — Team Heisenberg, makers of Daylight Saving take home $25,000 grand prize
Toronto, Ontario – November 9th, 2012 – Over the weekend of September 28th, more than 500 college and university students competed in the Great Canadian Appathon3 (GCA3), the largest competitive hackathon in Canadian development history, to create a mobile game in under 48-hours. On November 8th 2012 at the GCA3 Grand Finale Party sponsored by KPMG, the top three teams – picked as the best from a pool of more than 120 submitted games – showed off their creations to a panel of judges. Team Heisenberg, who created the game Daylight Saving took home the grand prize of $25,000, four Unity Pro 3.x licenses as well as a full startup package to help set up their own shop sponsored by law firm Cognition LLP.
“I’m going to remember this night for ever,” said Niravkumar Patel from Team Heisenberg. “Winning $25,000 – that’s a game-changer! We can’t wait to get into the gaming business and with this kind of financial backing, the legal package and Unity licenses, this might happen a lot sooner than we ever could’ve hoped. We’re definitely considering opening up our own studio.”
Presented by XMG Studio, The Electric Playground and the Globe and Mail, the GCA3 also awarded $5,000 to the second place team UNISTD for their game Devourer of Worlds. An additional 10 winners were each awarded a limited-edition Halo 4 Xbox 360 sponsored by Microsoft, for a variety of category prizes including the “Best Educational Mobile Game” sponsored by Desire 2 Learn.
Previously, more than 145 teams had developed and submitted a staggering 124 mobile games to take part in the national coding competition. The winning games were evaluated on criteria such as the degree of innovation, the fun and entertainment factor, the level of art and design polish as well as stability, all under the theme of RETRO. The top three entries were chosen to participate in a face off in front of a panel of judges and live audience. After conferring, special guest and VIP judge Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario, announced the winners and awarded the prizes.
“In addition to the cash and street cred for winning the GCA3, we’ll also invite all the finalists for job interviews at our office in Toronto and work with them to polish their game, and get it ready for publication in an App Store,” said Ray Sharma, Founder and President of XMG Studio Inc. “Winning $25,000 is a life-altering experience for any student, but what’s ahead for Team Heisenberg will have an even greater impact: publishing their game and possibly adding some more dollars to the $25,000!”
About XMG Studio Inc
XMG Studio Inc. is an award-winning developer and publisher of mobile games. Founded in late 2009, XMG has developed a track record for innovation excellence in mobile gaming including the release of critically acclaimed games downloadable on your iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices. Based in Toronto, XMG is one of the largest indie mobile game studios in Canada. Named as one of the top global mobile games developers to watch by popular media, XMG is focused on providing creative expression through gameplay for all fans of fun.
About The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail, through its newspaper, magazine, online and mobile platforms, is Canada’s foremost news media company. Each day, The Globe leads the national discussion by engaging Canadians in its award-winning coverage and analysis of news, politics, business and lifestyle. The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, founded in 1844, Report on Business, Canada’s most influential business magazine, and globeandmail.com, the newspaper’s online and mobile media hub, reach a combined 5.7 million readers every week. In addition to being Canada’s most award-winning newspaper for journalism excellence, The Globe has received global recognition for breakthroughs in design and new media, including the Society for News Design’s prizes for World’s Best Designed Website and Best Complete Newspaper Redesign in 2011, the 2011 Digi Award for Best in Digital Publishing, as well as the Emmy Award in 2009 and 2010 in the New Approaches to News and Documentary category. The Globe and Mail is 85% owned by Woodbridge, the investment arm of the Thomson family, and Bell Canada (15%).
About The Electric Playground
Electric Playground is North America’s only daily videogame and entertainment series on television and the web. Since 1995, EP has been covering videogames on location from around the world featuring developer and behind-the-scenes interviews. In addition to videogames, EP features regular reports on industry news and technology, movies and television, and comic books and collectibles. EP is your daily source for videogames, entertainment, and technology.