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Overheard@GDC09: Curt Schilling half-jokingly wishes he'd made a simpler game
Curt Schilling may not have revealed any new information about Copernicus -- really, nothing new there -- but he's had reservations about choosing the MMO genre for the premiere title of his 38 Studios. Speaking with Adam Sessler on stage during the inaugural GamesBeat conference, he admitted, "There have been times in the past 24 months where I've thought to myself 'What the hell was I thinking?!' I should have made a first-person shooter."
The Daily Grind: Star-studded studios
Maybe it's just us, but it seems more and more that it's cool for Hollywood, sports, and music stars to openly admit their love of gaming. 10 years ago? Not too many people talking about it. Now? It's everywhere. To add to this, we now have gaming companies started by the rich and famous. There's 38 Studios, owned by Curt Schilling, who has gathered Todd McFarlane and R. A. Salvatore and a hugely talented team to help build Copernicus, the code-name for their very-under-wraps MMO. Added to that, we have the news yesterday that Vin Diesel's company, Tigon Studios is saying that their previously-claimed RTS will actually be an MMO entry. (Or perhaps a true MMORTS as those are fairly rare.) It's definitely interesting to see.This morning we thought we'd ask you a fairly simple question about these two - will their star status, or star lineup, make you more interested in trying their respective games out when they hit the shelves? Does star status matter to you at all? Does it make you less interested in trying them out? Or do you just not care one way or the other about who makes a game, and will only really bother trying it if people you trust say it's fun/it has a free trial/etc?
38 Studios hires two more industry heavyweights
The long list of exceptional talent at 38 Studios continues to grow as Curt Schilling's masterpiece comes together. The two most recent additions include Director of Audio Aubrey Hodges and Senior UI Designer Irena Pereira.Hodges is best known for his work on King's Quest and is credited as among the first to use MIDI in a video game and the first to use sound effects in an online game. Pereira comes from Blizzard, where she mainly worked on the interface design and development for WoW's The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. 38 Studios President and CEO, Brett Close, comments on the acquisition, "38 Studios has been able to attract phenomenal talent, and these hires continue that trend. Smart interface design and rich audio are key components of the 38 Studios product vision, and Irena and Aubrey have extensive records of exceptional success in these areas."
38 Studios hires World of Warcraft UI, King's Quest music vets
When filling the ranks at his game development brainchild, 38 Studios, it makes sense that MMO-fan Curt Schilling would look to his pastime of choice. The company announced that it has hired former Blizzard UI maestro, Irena Pereira, as 38 Studios' senior UI designer, bringing her interface grinding expertise not only with World of Warcraft, but The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King to the fledgling company as well. Additionally, when setting the mood in its secretive MMO project codenamed Copernicus, the dev will look to the musical styling of newly hired composer and sound designer, Aubrey Hodges, whose familiar tunes can be heard in such adventure game greats as King's Quest, Space Quest, Quest for Glory and Conquests of the Longbow. Hodges is credited as one of the chief pioneers of in-game MIDI music, and also helped make us jump with his ambient tracks heard in both Doom and Quake. Both Pereira and Hodges are just the latest seasoned vets to join 38 Studios, following the hiring of former Everquest designer Travis McGeathy and THQ artist Thom Ang, making us all the more curious just what the company is working on behind that curtain.
38 Studios' CEO explains the Azeroth Advisor purchase
38 Studios, the Boston-based MMO development company started by Curt Schilling, is working on a brand new, highly-publicized MMO project, code-named Copernicus. What does this have to do with World of Warcraft and the Azeroth Advisor newsletter? That's what we're trying to figure out.In a recent interview with WoW Insider, the company's CEO, Brett Close, discussed the reasoning behind 38 Studios' purchase of the Azeroth Advisor and how they plan to use it in the future. According to Close, it's not an elaborate scheme to close down their competition by buying out their fansites and tools, but instead, they realize that in order to let the genre thrive, they need to work together. WoW's success ultimately means 38 Studios' success, and the success of other MMO developers. Plus, they plan to use the proprietary technology behind the Azeroth Advisor for other unnamed future projects.
WoW Insider interviews 38 Studios' Brett Close about Azeroth Advisor
Last week we reported that 38 Studios, a company working on its own MMO property, had picked up the Azeroth Advisor, a custom newsletter directed towards players of World of Warcraft. At the time, we were slightly confused -- why would another gaming company want to purchase a guide written to promote and help players of a competitor's game? To get the answer, we went straight to the top, and sat down to talk with Brett Close, CEO of 38 Studios, about the reasons behind his company's purchase of the Azeroth Advisor and the technology behind it.Last week, Curt Schilling, the company's founder, spoke on The Instance podcast about the buyout (that took place in May of this year), and what Mentor Media's newsletter and technology had to offer 38 Studios, so we asked Close about that, including how they planned to extend the custom newsletters to games that didn't have WoW's Armory and why they want to support players of a competitor's MMO. And we also talked about the fact that the newsletter is going free and why they decided to start giving it away.The conversation with 38 Studios' CEO starts right after the break.
38 Studios acquires MMO newsletter tailored to player characters
As time moves on, we're slowly getting more information about MMO developer 38 Studios and their plans. 38 Studios, which brings together Red Sox pitcher (and MMO fan) Curt Schilling, comic book creator Todd McFarlane, and author R.A. Salvatore, is known to be developing a fantasy-MMO codenamed "Copernicus." When it comes to news regarding this game studio, we're primarily interested in Copernicus here at Massively, but our sister site WoW Insider turned up something else interesting involving 38 Studios. It turns out that they've acquired Mentor Media, creators of a custom World of Warcraft newsletter called Azeroth Advisor, which offers personalized information about WoW as it pertains to your own character. Could this be a sign of what's to come with Copernicus, and would you appreciate a customized newsletter offered in tandem with your MMO of choice?
AGDC: Interview with Brett Close, CEO of Curt Schilling's 38 Studios
It's no secret that baseballer Curt Schilling is a huge MMO fan, but you might not know much about his 38 Studios game development company, formed with artist Todd McFarlane and fantasy writer R.A. Salvatore. They've been working on a massive MMO code-named Copernicus, which they haven't said too much about yet. This week at Austin GDC, Vivox announced that it would be providing the voice application inside the game, and five pieces of key concept art were released at Comic-Con earlier this summer.We sat down with CEO Brett Close in Austin to find out what we could about Copernicus, and what's in store for the new company. Check out the full interview after the break.%Gallery-32294%
WoW Insider Show's Turpster on How I Wow
Somehow, our good friend Turpster has scammed his way was invited on to another podcast, Patrick and Shawn from How I WoW -- a podcast that interviews "interesting people from all walks of life" -- wrangled him into their virtual studio for a long chat about what he's working lately, including our little show, his work with Turpstervision, his musical makings, and his upcoming movie and book, Why I Are teh Best (strangely, they didn't touch on his new fashion line, but that's not coming out 'till the fall anyway). It's a long podcast, and they hit on all kinds of things (from the issues over the leaked Wrath alpha to what kinds of games Turpster's girlfriend beats him at), so definitely give it a listen.How I WoW (both Patrick and Shawn are regulars on The Instance, another popular WoW podcast) has been doing a lot of good stuff so far -- they chatted with our friend Veronica Belmont a little while ago, as well as Felicia Day from The Guild, and they sat down with Curt Schilling a while back to talk Warcraft (and a little bit about the WoW Insider Show, I understand, even if not by name). They've offered a lot of fun indepth looks at people around the WoW community, and not surprisingly, Turpster turns out to be no exception. It's definitely cool to get a look at the man behind the T.
New video of 38 studios' Copernicus tantalizes, teases
The other day we mentioned that Curt Schilling - baseball-player-turned-MMO-backer - would be making an appearance on the Jace Hall show. The episode is now live, and if you're so inclined the episode does indeed contain some brief moments of footage captured in the 38 Studios offices. That said, it's pretty short, and doesn't 'show' anything per se. The few money shots have been snipped out of the episodes footage by the folks over at 38Watch, a Copernicus / 38 Studios fansite. They have some still images clipped from the show which give us a little taste of some of the concept artists in action. One image appears to be that of a rolling wheat field, while others show a night-time cityscape of blues and purples. You can check out the full episode of the show with Schilling's appearance below the cut.
Sneak peak at 38 Studios and Curt Schilling's "Copernicus" this Thursday
From Crackle: Next Time on The Jace Hall Show! The code behind 38 Studios' "Copernicus" will start to unravel this Thursday on the Jace Hall Show. Red Sox Ace, Curt Schilling will be making an appearance and a glimpse from the top-secret fantasy MMOG "Copernicus." is due for a debut. For those that don't know Curt Schilling is a passionate MMOG player, casting his first roots in EverQuest over five years ago. Schilling started 38 Studios to focus on a main passion and create MMOGs with amazing talent as his baseball career winds down. The eclectic and veteran talented crew over at 38 Studios have been hard at work for over a year now on the super-secret title which utilizes the BigWorld and Unreal technologies.If you are a fan of MMOG discussion, Curt Schilling is an active poster on the FohGuild forums. Be sure to check out Schilling's post history for thoughts relating to his philosophy on MMOG design.[Via Kotaku]
38 Studios welcomes Thom Ang as Director of Art
Noted industry artist Thom Ang has started work at 38 Studios as Director of Art, according to a press release from the company. He has joined company founder and pro baseball player Curt Schilling, comic book artist Todd McFarlane, and fantasy author R.A. Salvatore to work on Copernicus, a secretive MMO project.Ang has previously been employed by THQ, where he worked on several titles including Disney adaptations, and Electronic Arts, where he worked on the Medal of Honor series. He's just another of many samples of veteran blood the studio has attracted.Details about Copernicus are hush-hush. We know 38 Studios is using the BigWorld and Unreal engine technologies. There have been hints in interviews about the direction the project is taking. That's about it, though.
38 Studios bags former THQ, EA art guy
38 Studios has added a seasoned artist to its ranks, announcing the appointment of Thom Ang as the company's new director of art. In his new role, Ang will oversee the art management and direction of 38 Studios' projects, including "Copernicus," the outfit's ever-mysterious MMO undertaking.A 15-year digital art and illustration vet, Ang joins the Curt Schilling-founded developer from THQ, where he handled things both artsy and fartsy for more that 25 of the company's titles. In addition, he also worked on TV shows such as The X-Files, and spent time in the trenches at EA Los Angeles handing art and team management for the Medal of Honor franchise. We're still in the dark as to what the studio is up to with Copernicus, though it's good to know the company has someone on board with the chops to help steer the ship down a more artistic path.
Kara Pugging Blues gets a pitch from Curt Schilling
If you're a regular listener of the WoW Insider Show -- and you should be -- or you happened to listen to episode 40 of the show, you may recall that our own John Patricelli, also known as the Big Bear Butt Blogger, introduced us to a cool little ditty by his friend Dax called the Kara Pugging Blues. We played it during the mid-show music break. If you haven't heard it yet, you can listen to it during the Episode 40 podcast, or download it from the link on the sidebar of the Big Bear Butt site. Anyway, it seems like we're not the only ones who liked it. On a recent episode of The Instance podcast, Curt Schilling, founder of gaming company 38 Studios was on. If you haven't heard of Curt's gaming company, you may know him from his other job as a Major League Baseball pitcher. Anyway, he was telling the hosts about this awesome song about Pugging Kara based on a Johnny Cash song that he heard on a podcast he listens to. As John points out, it's pretty unlikely there was another podcast in the last few weeks that featured a song based on a Johnny Cash song about pugging Karazhan. So hey, let me offer a shout-out to Dax for entertaining Curt Schilling. Curt himself didn't mention the name of the podcast he heard the song on, but I figure there's a pretty good chance it was ours. So, hey, shout out to Curt Schilling too, since he probably does listen. If he doesn't, and he heard it on another podcast, he should listen anyway, and so should you. Seriously. The WoW Insider Show is awesome. Go listen. And go listen to the Kara Pugging Blues while you're at it too.
38 Studios launches spiffy new website
The next step in 38 Studios' unrelenting march towards world domination has come to fruition. They've upgraded their internet digs from the flash page that they've had since they announced the formation of the company, to a slightly more mundane, but eminently more navigable design. We were a bit sad to see that their mascot Munch was relegated to background status, and couldn't eat our cursor as he once did.On the plus side, there appears to be a small bounty of goodies to be found on the new site. They've got some more pictures of the team, including a shot of big boss Curt Schilling getting the aforementioned Munch tattooed on his bicep. Of course, we will not be sated by shiny new websites and artistic expressions of dedication alone. We have to punctuate this post as we do with most of our other posts about 38 Studios with a demand for more information about Copernicus![Edited to remove reference]
38 Studios continues its world domination
The motto of 38 Studios is quite ironic: "World Domination Through Gaming". This from the company that employs Curt Schilling, Todd McFarlane, R.A. Salvatore and every SOE employee they can get their hands on. We think they're getting the hang of the whole world-domination thing, but what about the direction of the company and their MMO project itself?In a recent interview at New York Comic Con, Scott Cuthbertson, Jeff Murchie, Steve Danuser and Rich Gallup described themselves as "right on track". They discuss some recent developments, such as their licensing of the Unreal and Big World Engines for use in their game. They also mention the fact that with McFarlane and Salvatore on board, it would be no surprise to see toys, comics, and novels about the world and its characters. As we stated in the most recent episode of the Massively Speaking podcast, let's hope all this hype behind the company and game can really hit it out of the park. Yes, I went there.
Ex-EverQuest Lead Designer to join 38 Studios
As we reported yesterday, former EverQuest Lead Designer Travis McGeathy announced his departure from SOE. On a message board post he alluded to a "cross country trip." With former SOE employees taking cross country trips tending to end up at 38 Studios, Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's start-up, we reached out to the hurler himself for comment. Curt confirmed to us via e-mail this morning that Travis will indeed be joining SOE alumni Steve Danuser, Ryan Shwayder, Billy Ahlswede, Aaron Carlson, Niraj Desai, Eric Theisz, and Michael Woods in their Maynard, MA offices. Jeez, Curt, wouldn't it just be easier to buy SOE at this point? Curt did not immediately respond to a follow-up on what exactly Travis will be doing.
Schilling's 38 Studios chooses Unreal
Add yet another developer to the Unreal roster. Curt Schilling's 38 Studios has announced (via GameDaily) that it has licensed Epic's Unreal Engine 3 for its MMO project Copernicus. The studio also recently licensed BigWorld's MMO dev tools. Of course, given the tentative 2010 release, we don't expect to see any thing from the game for a at least another year. For now, all we've really got to think about is how the Mova facial technology would beautify the legendary baseball pitcher's avatar.
38 Studios goes Unreal
Gamasutra is reporting that 38 Studios has decided to go with the Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to power their upcoming MMO (codenamed "Copernicus"). A few weeks ago 38 Studios picked BigWorld's technology suite for the back-end of things, so it's no surprise that they would grab the best graphic engine currently available. Whatever MMO "Copernicus" turns out to be (most recent game description says: "an original IP made up of fantastical elements, settings, characters, creatures, rules, and experiences") should at least look really, really good.
38 Studios using BigWorld to make its big world
What do you get when you get when you combine a major league baseball player (Curt Schilling), a famed fantasy author (R.A. Salvatore), and a great comic book guru (Todd McFarlane)? You get 38 Studios, and 38 Studios is working on a new MMO codenamed "Copernicus."Now the studio has licensed the BigWorld engine for Copernicus. Since the game is at a very early stage of development, we know very little about it at this point, except that its prestigious managers are optimistic about its future. Reps from both 38 Studios and BigWorld made nondescript statements saying things like, "BigWorld provides the most proven, robust, and technically solid game engine available," and "we are thrilled to be working with such a professional and talented group of game developers." Good for them!Brett Close described the rationale behind the choice in greater detail in an interview with Ten Ton Hammer. Excellent server-side tech and tools that will help the team get the game to market as fast as possible were the given reasons.
