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Amazon's new education tool helps students become better writers
Amazon's been ramping up its efforts in the education space since 2013, when it acquired TenMarks. The ed-tech startup helps teachers and parents create easy-to-digest curriculums for young students, which up until today were all about math. But now, Amazon is introducing TenMarks Writing, a cloud-based program designed to help 4th-6th grade kids become better writers. For students, there are features like Writing Coach, which guides them through the entire process of putting together a story, from the pre-write phase to editing in real-time with their teacher.
Amazon offers a free screenwriting tool to discover new stories
Amazon's original series have been on quite the run as of late, and the online retailer wants to help both aspiring and established screenwriters get their work discovered. To do just that, the company has Amazon Storywriter: a free cloud-based app for creating screenplays for movies and television. The software provides an alternative for requisite apps that can be somewhat pricey. Of course, Amazon isn't the first to offer a free option, with the likes of Trelby and Celtx already doing so. The Storywriter app automatically formats as you type and supports import/export of PDF, FDX and Fountain file formats. While writers are online, work is saved in the cloud as they go and a Chrome app for Mac and PC allows for offline productivity.
Next Mass Effect snags Halo 4's lead writer, gets concept art
The next Mass Effect game from BioWare is being written by Chris Schlerf, the lead writer of 343 Industries' Halo 4. BioWare revealed Schlerf's role for the game today in a blog that introduced a few members of the its development team. The lead writer for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, Mac Walters, is staying on for the next installment as the game's creative director. Schlerf joins the team as lead writer following the departure of the series' creator and executive producer back in August, Casey Hudson. In celebration of "N7 Day" today, BioWare hosted a developer roundtable via its Twitch channel to reveal pieces of concept art for the upcoming game and discuss the developer's visions and ambitions. Shying away from calling it "Mass Effect 4," the next game will emphasize space exploration and features the return of the series' much-maligned vehicle, the Mako. The team also noted that the game's protagonist will not start the adventure with "legendary status" like the previous hero, Commander Shepard. Check out our slideshow of the concept art shown during the livestream below, which certainly beats the teasers shown by BioWare last year. [Image: BioWare]
Destiny writer joins Telltale Games, seeks the iron throne
Destiny writer Joshua Rubin left Bungie for Telltale Games, announcing his departure via Twitter after two years with the developer. Rubin will be working on Telltale's take on the Game of Thrones franchise, and noted that the creators of the HBO television series, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, have "set an incredibly high standard for writing" and that Rubin is "inspired by their work every season." "In the end, Bungie makes games about shooting aliens in the head," Rubin told Gamasutra. "And while there's a true art to 'writing between the bullets' - as Mr. Staten once said - I couldn't turn down an offer from Telltale, to create games that are entirely about story." Telltale announced its spin on Game of Thrones in December during the VGX awards, just weeks after reports about the game surfaced. Destiny will launch September 9 for PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360. [Image: Telltale Games]
LFM: Massively seeks a new columnist and freelancers
Yes folks, it's that time again: the time when Massively hops into the hiring channel and says, "Looking for more!" We're looking to hire fresh meat a new staff member and a set of freelancers for the site: a new multipurpose columnist and West Coast freelancers. Here's the skinny on us: Massively is Joystiq's geeky MMO cousin. We're owned by AOL; we're all paid, remote contractors; and we uphold a strict set of ethical standards you won't find among our rivals. We focus on high-quality writing with fair sourcing and a mix of news and features. We employ actual copyediting and editorial oversight, so you won't see trainwreck English in every headline. In short, we are the MMO site the other sites use as an RSS feed. These positions would be an awesome chance to break into paid gaming journalism if you happen to have just the right blend of availability, excellent writing skills, and passion for the MMO genre. If that describes you, then read on and apply!
Kickstarter project Ambrov X includes BioWare writer stretch goal
Ambrov X, an episodic RPG set in Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah's Sime-Gen universe, is seeking $500,000 on Kickstarter by October 5. The project includes a $750,000 stretch goal that, if met, will result in former BioWare Senior Writer Jennifer Hepler joining developer Loreful in creating the game. Hepler worked for BioWare for eight years, contributing to all three Dragon Age games as well as Star Wars: The Old Republic. Ambrov X is a single-player adventure in which players create a character in either the Sime or Gen human sub-species and one of four additional combat classes. The game starts with players investigating the fate of Jumper 10, a starship that returns to Earth with only one crew member remaining. The game's five episodes will last between three and five hours each, and will launch DRM-free on PC, Mac and Linux, with "alternate releases" for iOS, Android, PS4 and "Xbox" planned. The developer doesn't specify between Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Ex-BioWare writer reveals alternate endings to Mass Effect trilogy
Potential Spoiler Warning Mass Effect fans! Toronto's AM640 did a radio interview recently with former BioWare scribe Drew Karpyshyn, in which he chatted about some of the alternate story theories and endings that BioWare tossed around for the Mass Effect series. Eurogamer has the highlights, including the theory that the Reapers were trying to stop organic life because they were somehow making use of "Dark Energy" (an element only mentioned briefly throughout the series) to bring about the end of the universe. "It's very vague and not fleshed out," says Karpyshyn, adding that "it was something we considered but we ended up going in a different direction." BioWare also played with the idea that Shepard might be an alien at one point, though eventually deemed that too close to the story of Revan in Knights of the Old Republic. Karpyshyn also says BioWare thought about turning Shepard into some combination of organic and cybernetic, a theme that did eventually get generally included in the ending of Mass Effect 3. But in the end, says Karpyshyn, these ideas were just ideas, and should be judged as such. "It's like vaporware," he says. "Vaporware is always perfect, anytime someone talks about the new greatest game. It's perfect until it comes out." Karpyshyn says that even if fans are disappointed with the story as it is, a story that included these other considered ideas, "whatever we came up with, it probably wouldn't be what people want it to be."
Gunpoint success allows dev to become independent, Mac and Linux ports on the way
Writer and developer Tom Francis originally planned his game, Gunpoint, as a showcase piece to earn him a job at a game development studio, but after seeing the success of the title so far he says he doesn't need to join another studio. As you can see above, Francis hit his initial goal for the game from preorders alone, and sales have only gone up since then, to the point where Francis now says designing the game was "so commercially successful that I'll never need" to work for someone else. Since the only real monetary cost of the project was a $30 purchase of Game Maker 8 a few years ago, Francis says Gunpoint "recouped its development costs" in just one minute and four seconds. That's after three years of work, of course, but the point remains that Gunpoint was very successful indeed. The next priority, says Francis, will be to port Gunpoint to the newer Game Maker Studio, where it can then be released for Windows, Mac, and Linux. He's looking to hire someone for this task, so he can get moving on actual updates and another project eventually. It sounds like a tough job, essentially taking over the core game's development for other platforms. "But as the graphs above should suggest," says Francis, "I can pay."
Massively seeks a new Guild Wars 2 columnist
Yes folks, it's that time again: the time when Massively hops into the hiring channel and says, "Looking for more!" We're looking to hire fresh meat a new staff member for the site, a Guild Wars 2 columnist to keep up the quality of our GW2 coverage as produced by past experts Lis Cardy and Rubi Bayer and our interim Flameseeker Chronicles video guru Richie Procopio. Here's the skinny on us: Massively is Joystiq's geeky MMO cousin. We're owned by AOL; we're all paid, remote contractors; and we uphold a strict set of ethical standards you won't find among our rivals. We focus on high-quality writing with fair sourcing and a mix of news and features. We employ actual copyediting and editorial oversight, so you won't see trainwreck English in every headline. In short, we are the MMO site the other sites use as an RSS feed. This position would be an awesome chance to break into paid gaming journalism if you happen to have just the right blend of Guild Wars 2 experience, availability, excellent writing skills, and passion for the MMO genre. If that describes you, then read on and apply!
Variety: Gears of War movie script back in the works
The ethereal Gears of War movie is back in the headlines, with Variety reporting that producer Scott Stuber has signed on with the project. There's still no writer or distributor attached, but Stuber will work with his own studio, called Bluegrass Films, and Epic Games to develop a script and finance the project. Universal Studios currently has first look rights to whatever he can come up with.Stuber has produced a number of big-budget films, including Battleship, Ted, and the upcoming 47 Ronin. A movie based on Gears of War was originally set for a release in 2010, but that project allegedly fell apart due to "creative differences."
Scapple for OS X is the note jotter tool many writers are looking for
You can tell Scapple was designed by a writer. It's a simple, sparse Mac app that's free of unneeded bells and whistles. Scapple comes to us from the team at Literature & Latte, the developers who are responsible for the popular Scrivener word-processing and writer's management app. While Scrivener is bursting with nearly every feature a writer could need, Scapple is simply a note-jotting app -- but it still keeps writers satisfied. Many have called Scapple mind-mapping software, but by L&L's own admittance, it's not. Instead, they liken it to a freeform text editor or "virtual paper" that allows a user to make notes anywhere on the page -- just like a writer would with his notepad as he furiously scribbles down ideas. The way Scapple works is you double-click anywhere on a document and start writing. This can be something simple like the name of a character, or something longer, like a chapter's opening paragraph. Or it can be a note that has to do with anything your mind can think of and needs to get down quickly. You can double-click to create as many new notes as you wish in a single document and you can drag them around to any position on the page. And if that's all you want to do, that's fine. But you can also link different notes together with dashed or arrowed lines. You do this by dropping one note on top of the other. All your notes can be connected, or only one can, or none; it's your choice. Notes also aren't limited to text. You can also drag in images and other external text files to your Scrapple document. And as you would expect with a good note-taking app, there are plenty of formatting options that let you change the appearance of your notes and Scrapple documents. Scapple also offers a number of export options. If you're a writer, I think Scapple will immediately appeal to you. If you're a mind-mapping power user, it probably won't. Either way, Literature & Latte offers a demo version so users can try before they buy. If you want the full version of Scapple it's available for only US$14.99. Currently you can only buy it through Literature & Latte's web store, but the company says they have submitted the app to Apple, so you'll be able to find it in the Mac App Store soon.
Shadow of the Colossus movie picks up 'Hanna' writer
The film adaptation of Shadow of the Colossus is still chuggin' right along, edging ever closer to becoming either the best or worst thing ever, as is the expected fate of all video game movie projects.The production has added Seth Lochhead to its staff, according to The Hollywood Reporter, who will be responsible for Colossus' story and/or screenplay. Lochhead's previous writing accomplishments include Hanna, the 2011 action thriller that starred Saoirse Ronan, Galadriel and The Incredible Hulk.Script production will be overseen by director Josh Trank with Lochhead starting on a fresh adaptation rather than elaborating on the initial draft penned by Justin Marks, the same scribe behind 2009's disastrous Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. We're not complaining.
Behind the bookshelves and keyboards of WI's published authors
If anything's got the power to pull a dyed-in-the-wool WoW player away from Azeroth for an extended period of time, it's a good read. Is there anything more tantalizing than cocooning with a good book you've just discovered? I've recently discovered GoodReads, my daughter's into the lowbie version at EpicReads, and we've made our city library and local Half-Price Books our home away from home. And when we're not reading, we're writing. When the sixth-graders had to turn in their first big compositions for the year, my little bookworm's study mate managed two pages on a funny time her foot got stuck in her shoe; my daughter demonstrated her speculative bent by cranking out 2,000 words on "The End of Humankind." Reading and writing, we just can't quit you. Like a good meal and a bottle of wine, good books are best when shared, so I thought you all might like to meet two published authors from WoW Insider's own staff of bloggers. Matt Rossi's collections are the kind of anthologies you find yourself still flipping through at 2 a.m. -- "Ooh, what's this one about? Just one more essay before I turn out the light..." Scott Andrews' guide to leading an MMO guild offers the same straight talk and smart strategies as his Officers' Quarters column here at WI. We peeked beyond the pages of WoW Insider to discover the speculative worlds crafted by Scott and Matt. They told us how they got published, what they're writing now -- and an extra bonus, what's feeding their imaginations in their personal reading piles.
Jaws and Drax actors reprise roles in 007 Legends, written by GoldenEye scribe
Activision has attached a few more names to the upcoming 007 Legends, which follows a virtual Daniel Craig through several old James Bond movies. The game is written by Bruce Feirstein, who wrote the film versions of Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World is Not Enough, and worked with Activision on Bond remakes and adaptations in the past, including 007 Everything or Nothing and 2010's Bloodstone.Richard Kiel joins the cast to reprise his role of Jaws from Moonraker, while Michael Londsdale appears as Hugo Drax, the villain whose aim is to destroy humanity. It was previously announced that Skyfall's Naomie Harris and Rory Kinnear will both appear in the game as well, as Bond's love interest and the MI6 Chief of Staff, respectively. We'll probably hear about even more cast and crew announcements for 007 Legends on the way to its release on October 16.
ASUS teases mystery product on its Facebook page (update: it's a 3D Blu-ray writer!)
What's this? ASUS is teasing a mystery product shrouded in shadows on its Facebook page. From the looks of it, the piano-black hardware is mounted vertically onto a brushed metal cantilevered stand that just oozes style. Our vague, uninformed reckonings make us wonder if it's not an art-deco styled EeeBox, a desktop PC you'd be ashamed to hide under your desk, or the prettiest router we've ever seen. Either way, we'll keep our eyes peeled and in the meantime, you can cast your own idle speculation into the comments below. Update: Ah, and here it is: the SBW-06C2X-U 3D Blu-ray writer that supports 6X Blu-ray writing speed! Thanks, Kiran.
Dave Gross, Nat Jones join Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition team
Beamdog has announced the writer for all of that new content coming in the Enhanced Edition of Baldur's Gate: Dave Gross. A very experienced fantasy and D&D writer, Gross has worked for TSR in the past, as well as having written two Forgotten Realms novels. More recently, he says, he was "sitting in a coffee shop complaining about the lack of classic RPGs for the iPad, when [Beamdog's] Trent [Oster] appeared in a sulphurous cloud and said, 'Have I got a job for you.'" Gross will presumably work to update the old game, as well as oversee all the writing on the new content as well.Elsewhere on that team, artist Nat Jones has also joined up. He's got a background in fantasy and horror comics, and has worked on some story elements in Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer comic series as well. Good to hear there's some substantial talent working on this much-anticipated revival.
Rumor: FarmVille 2 revealed by resume
A San Francisco copywriter's resume appears to hint that Zynga has given the green light to making a sequel to its popular flagship Farmville title. Writer Alex Harvey, while listing out his work for "communications agency" Isobar, says he participated in the "successful" pitch for Farmville 2. That tells us that Farmville 2 was at one point a suggested thing, and that Zynga has said yes to it becoming a real thing.For now, that's all we know. It's probably fair to say, however, that there will be cows, and you will click them.Update: We reached out to Zynga to ask if there was any news on this front, but the company declined to comment on "rumors and speculation." Fair enough.
The Physics of Angry Birds updated for Space
Ah, remember the early days of Angry Birds? Back when we were still fascinated by those frustrated feathered creatures and the hogs they so vehemently want to take down? That's when writer and physicist Rhett Allain published his original "Physics of Angry Birds" article, which used the original game to examine some real-life physics theory and equations. Now, Allain is back to take a look at the Angry Birds Space sequel/spinoff/update and the physics contained therein. As you might imagine, there's quite a bit to work with here -- the Space version includes gravity around smaller planets, so Allain is able to actually go through the various equations that govern movement between two different bodies. It's a nice long read (especially interesting if you're into math and physics, of course), but basically Allain finds that the birds aren't really dealing with gravity, just a coded representation of such. And perhaps more interestingly, Allain also says that the Space version of the birds contains pretty much, in a physics sense, the same slingshot as the original version. This makes sense (it's easier to code, obviously, having already done it once), but it also means that even though birds are floating through space in the spinoff, and flying across the ground in the first title, they're still starting with that same initial speed and force in both. [via MacStories]
iBooks Author gets new EULA, aims to clear writer's block
We've waxed lyrical about iBooks Author at the technological level, but a good self-publishing platform counts for nothing if authors are put off by its terms and conditions. A particular source of antagonism so far has been the notion that, if an author decides to charge a fee for their iBook, then Apple will claim exclusive distribution rights and prevent them from publishing their work anywhere else. Check out the More Coverage links below and you'll see that a number of writers tore up Apple's licensing agreement and flung it into the proverbial overflowing trash can. Now though, Cupertino has done some re-writing of its own and come up with a new EULA. It clarifies that Apple will only demand exclusive distribution rights over .ibooks files that are created with iBooks Author, rather than the book's content itself. It states that "this restriction will not apply to the content of the work when distributed in [another] form." So, there it is -- writers everywhere can happily go back to tearing up their own work again.
Apple announces free iBooks Author OS X app for publishing books to the App Store
We're here at Apple's education-themed event at the Guggenheim museum in New York City, and the company's just followed up its long-awaited textbook announcement with something unexpected: iBooks Author, a free OS X program for creating books. The intent is really for teachers and other educators to produce educational materials, but Apple says the format can apply to any genre. Aside from the free part, the real story here is ease of use, with the ability to drag and drop photos, videos and even Microsoft Word files into various templates. If you use Apple's own suite of office apps, in particular, you can drag and drop a Keynote presentation into the doc, and it'll live on as an interactive widget. (You can whip up other widgets, too, though you'll need to know Javascript or HTML.) Moving beyond the main text, authors can also arrange glossaries by highlighting and clicking words, and clicking again to add a definition. In a surprise move, Apple also said authors can publish straight to the store, though we're waiting for clarification that textbook writers and other scribes are actually exempt from Cupertino's notorious approval process. In any case, the app is available now in the App Store (for OS X Lion only, sadly) so you can cracking on that definitive Kurt Vonnegut glossary you never knew you had in you. Update: We've got our hands-on up! Update 2: Apple has confirmed some key approval and revenue-sharing details. First, authors will be subject to the same App Store approval process as developers. Writers can offer their books for free, or for as much as $14.99 -- the same price cap for textbooks sold in the store. And, like developers, authors must agree to a 70/30 revenue split, with writers pocketing 70 percent after Apple takes its share.
