Edmonton is a nice city. Population (including surrounding area) is just under 1 million, so its large enough to be considered a major centre with a lot of attractions, but still small enough to avoid some of the major congestion and over population of larger centres. It is a quieter town, predominantly government (being provincial capital), a few major corporations and a lot of linkage to the oil industry. North of Edmonton are major oil projects (the oil sands in Fort Mcmurray for example), so Edmonton is a major conduit north.

We are about 2 1/2 hours north of Calgary, which is in turn about 2-3 hours (if memory serves) from the Alberta/Montana border. It''s a 1 1/2 hour flight from Edmonton to Vancouver if you want to head to the west coast.

Weather wise you''re looking at weather much like the northern states and the mid-west. Winters can be cold, yes, but alternatively (like most of Canada) the summers are very warm. Right now it is cold (-20C) but it was warm (+5-10C) a week ago. It will get as warm as +30 or higher in the summer (not as warm as the south, but still warm). The winters here, being on the prairies, can be cold and windy but very clear (little cloud cover). Weather changes quickly overall, but it is (and I laugh saying this) ""a dry cold"" (unlike winter in Ontario or the maritimes, for example).

Cost of living overall is pretty cheap compared to similar centres in Canada, but the costs are rising due to the oil boom that is on. Housing prices have risen about 20-30% over the last 4-5 years.

Culture wise, Edmonton is quiet (as mentioned above) but still very Albertan -- meaning more conservative than most of Canada. Alberta, in many ways, likens itself to Texas I suppose. There is a big arts community here, and Edmonton is nicknamed ""Festival City"" because as soon as Spring hits there is basically one every single week until fall. Lots to do.

Topographically Edmonton is fairly flat but features a beautiful river valley through the centre of the city (it is the North Saskatchewan river). Great trails for biking, hiking, walking and even cross country-skiing (in the winter). We''re about 2 hours from the mountains (Jasper is beautiful, for example) for skiing, hiking, etc.

Bioware itself is located on the main road through the ""heritage district"" (translate: arty croud). A lot of bars, unique stores and people that generally irritate the hell out of me.

Thats what comes off the top of my head. There''s a few of us from Edmonton here (Spleen is, Sinatar is as well I believe). Feel free to ask more.

As a side note, Bioware was counted yet again one of the top 100 employers in Canada this week in a ranking of national employers (a few other Edmonton firms as well -- Matrikon, Intuit and Epcor). The company I work for was a few years ago, but we aren''t any longer. Guess that says a lot.

Grump, out of curiousity, have you worked on some big named projects in the past? I''m constantly amazed at the number of quality studios in Canada.. EA Sports, Radical, Bioware, Ubi (I know there''s more I just can''t recall)..

Not entertainment titles (which is why this one is tempting - it''s one of the few postings I''ve seen that do not specifically specify industry experience - though I''ve no doubt it''d be beneficial) but I''ve got plenty of project management and technical experience.

Thanks, DM, for some great feedback. Like I said, I should probably apply for the experience of applying if nothing else.

I actually interviewed with Bioware for their QA department a couple years ago right after Never Winter Nights came out. They were great people, everybody seemed very happy to work there even though NWN had just been released and they were still recovering from crunch time. The final part of my interview consisted of me firing up NWN and looking for bugs, badly. I barely knew how to play as I had been playing Morrowind instead of NWN at home and barely knew how to start the game! Needless to say I wasn''t offered the job which is good because QA for a game company just does not pay enough money and I didn''t need the temptation.

Actually, Grumpicus that is one point worth mentioning. From what I''ve seen, game companies are cheap bastards as far as salary is concerned, even Bioware. While I don''t know for a fact that ALL jobs at game companies are like this, many are 20-30% below what you''d expect to be paid in the normal business sector. I''m not just talking out of my rectum here, my brother worked for BlackBox and EA in Vancouver and I know people who work for Bioware. Apparently the trade-off is working in an awesome environment doing something you truly love. I''d have loved to make that trade but I have a family to feed.

I hate to contradict the esteemed Dramatic marlin but Bioware has moved from the heart of the arts district to a new (much needed) larger office on Calgary Trail (the road that eventually turns into the highway to Calgary).

Culture and style-wise compared to New Orleans, you may find Edmonton a little bland. I love it here though. Edmonton has the largest mall in the world, West Edmonton Mall, which has a bar section devoted to that New Orleans flava'' called Bourbon Street. The Canadian band The Tragically Hip have a very good song called New Orleans is Sinkin'' that you may want to listen to as well.

Michael J. Fox, Leslie Neilson and Nathan Fillion (Firefly) among others, are from Edmonton. K.D. Lang and Nickelback are from small towns in the Edmonton area (whether this is a pro or a con is your call). SCTV was filmed in Edmonton for a few years and some of the most classic episodes and characters were filmed here.The crappy Chevy Chase movie Snowjob was filmed here as was some movie with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. Procul Harum recorded the biggest album of their career in Edmonton live with The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.

While house prices have risen 20-30% in Edmonton they are still 30 to 50% cheaper than Vancouver or Toronto.

Edmonton is the furthest north Provincial Capitol in Canada. Most other capitol cities (or cities period) in Canada tend to cluster around the U.S. border. Despite this, we get games, movies, cds, DVD''s etc the exact same release day as anyone else in North America. (this should seem like a given but I''ve had another American ask me. Alberta borders Montana and Washington I believe and many of our cable tv channels are from Spokane. Canadian beer is on average 1-2% stronger than U.S. beer. In other words an American beer is equivalent to a Canadian ""lite"" beer and a U.S. ""lite"" beer is equivalent to a cat pissing in your mouth.

That''s all I''ve got for now!

Gotta take that one.

Yeah, unfortunately for the testers, the applicant pool is huge. Which lets the bigger publishers get away with adopting the Industrial Light and Magic model: ""We get so many kids who want to do the job and don''t care about the money, that we''re just not going to pay anyone anymore.""

Mass produced Canadian beer is just as crappy has mass produced American beer.

I disagree with both Gaald and Ulairi! Mass produced Canadian beer still beats the hell out of bud/miller/etc...hands down

Now...on to Edmonton... Only passed through there twice on the way to cold lake. Its the only place in Canada that would become part of Jesusland. The province seems to be oil/natural resource rich, so good standard of living. Edmonton is nice, but that casino I lost $100 in I didn''t like.

The area is definitely a kindred spirit with the US mid-west and south, unlike the rest of Canada. For instance...here''s some political tidbits, so please don''t turn this into a P&C issue...just my observations from one southern boy living in Canada to another considering it.

-- Yesterday, Canadian Supreme Court basically gave the ok to approve gay marriage. Today, Alberta came out and said ''thank you very much, but the traditional definition of marriage is quite fine with us.''
-- Quebec often talks about separating from Canada...but financially could not do it...Alberta, on the other hand, does not talk about it, but makes it obvious if the Canadian gov''t gets too greedy on tax revenue on their massive resources, they will say a nice ''toss off, and leave'', and financially, they could do it easily.
-- You find a lot of independent people there
-- HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEE mall on the west side of town...

that''s it for now...I love it up here...but if I had a choice of anywhere to live in Canada, I can tell you that would relate to me most...yup...Alberta... (annexation choice number 1 for Jesusland!)

You''re 100% correct, DD... but anything above ""a little above entry level"" requires you to have been in the industry.

While I may already be in IT, going into interactive entertainment is almost as much like changing industries as it would be to go into, say, the restaurant business. You''ve got to start somewhere, and it''s probably close to the bottom.

Sure, I''ve got experiences and knowledge that separate me from the recent graduate but if making games is really all that different from making other software (I''m not sure it is but I have no choice but to accept their claims) then I''ve still got stuff to learn.

I''m 95% sure I''d be taking a cut and if they don''t offer relocation assistance (Austin, I''d move myself; Edmonton, OTOH, may be a bit too expensive/complicated), it might be a dealbreaker but, other than the extreme cold, no one has said anything particularly discouraging about the prospect. I''m not actively looking for a job but when opportunities like this come along, it''s worth a couple hours to test the waters.

Thanks again to everyone for their input... keep it coming if you feel like it.

Hey! I got interviewed, ergo I Rock!

Hmm, but you''re a local boy, I''m not sure if that counts

Hehe, sorry, couldn''t resist.

Would it be better if I just admitted it''s entirely possible that you don''t rock, I just suck?

I think there needs to be a prize for the person who can most successfully resurrect a long-dead-thread in a relevant manner.

Here it is, three years on from the last post to this thread, and I was hoping some of you Albertans might be able to talk about current cost of living trends: rent, fuel, home prices, etc. etc.

Anyone...Bueller...Bueller?

Rent: Not sure about Edmonton, but an hour south in Red Deer you can expect to pay about $1000 - $1200 a month for a 2-3 bedroom townhouse/condo/suite. $1500+ for a house.

Fuel: Currently in Edmonton, the average price is at $0.99/Liter (regular gasoline). Premium Gas = add about 10 cents/L.

Home Prices: Check www.mls.ca Around here (Red Deer, Lacombe) house prices have dropped almost 10% in the last 6 months. Hard to say for certain, but I think for a 3 bedroom house (<10 years old) you can expect to pay in the $300 000 range.

General costs: 12 pack case of beer (domestic) $27 - $30. Cigarettes - $8 - $13 / pack of 25 (domestic)

Anything else I can look into?

No - those are helpful numbers. Hard to really gauge much of anything without knowing what kind of a salary one would be making up there, but I'm guessing it would be relatively comparable (if not a bit higher) than Seattle...

Those beer prices are ridiculous, though. We're at about $7-10 for a six-pack of good quality microbrew. How much is a pound of good coffee beans!?