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PAX East 2013: Red 5 on Firefall's new gaming TV channel
Red 5 Studios' MMOFPS Firefall is probably familiar to the Massively family, but it presentation Friday at PAX East was a chance to get a look behind the curtain at how far it's come and how far it has to go during testing. CEO Mark Kern and Lead Game Designer Scott Youngblood presented a little history of the game's development so far, with a look to the future. But if that's not enough to get you to gear up and plant a Thumper, maybe their announcement about a brand-new video channel devoted to everything and anything involving gaming will catch your interest.%Gallery-183638%
Red 5 unveils part one of Firefall manga, shuts down ARG [Updated]
Firefall's beta test is moving steadily along toward the game's (hopefully) upcoming release, and fans are probably hungry for some more background on the MMOFPS title. To help satiate that appetite, Red 5 has released part one of the Firefall manga series penned by legendary sci-fi author Orson Scott Card and his daughter Emily Janice Card. The comic, entitled Trespasser, is penciled by renowned artist Joe Ng of UDON comic fame, and follows mohawk-sporting heroine Pilgrim as she kills gargantuan mutant bugs and has a bit of a run-in with the law. The manga's story begins prior to the crash of the Arclight, which heralds the beginning of the in-game timeline. Hopefully the narrative will serve to fill in some of the details regarding the events that lead up to Firefall itself. Red 5 will be unveiling two new pages every Tuesday, so head on over to the comic to get up-to-speed, then be sure to check in weekly for the rest of the story. [Update: Red 5 has also announced it is shutting down Firefall's alternate-reality game to avoid storyline overlap and conflict with the manga.]
Firefall dev diary features Orson Scott Card, reveals planned free manga comic
Here's the latest developer diary for Red 5 Studios' Firefall, which outlines the general backstory for the upcoming free-to-play co-op multiplayer shooter. Red 5's CEO Mark Kern, who served as team lead on a little indie title you may have heard of called World of Warcraft, walks us through the tale of Crystite and a dying future Earth, beset by an alien race called the Chosen. He also introduces writer Orson Scott Card, who talks about how he put the story together for what's "essentially ... a post-double apocalyptic world." Card's also working on a manga with his daughter Emily Card, to be published free on Red 5's website in conjunction with Udon Comics. The manga is supposed to be available sometime before the game is due out later this year.
New Firefall dev blog introduces super-secret surprise mystery writer!
Mark Kern, CEO of Red 5 Studios, sits down with players today for a nice fireside chat in the not-quite-June Firefall developer diary. The focus of the dev diary is on the story Red 5's upcoming MMOTPS. Mr. Kern explains that the Firefall team really wants players to be invested in the game's story, and he goes on to discuss how the folks at Red 5 intend to make them give a darn. So how exactly are they going to do that? Well, as Mr. Kern points out, a large part of a good story is a good writer. And contributing to Firefall's story will be none other than the esteemed Orson Scott Card. That's right, the creator of the legendary Ender's Game series -- alongside his daughter, Emily Janice Card -- will be contributing to a free upcoming Firefall manga that will help to set up the story prior to the game. Udon Entertainment (of Street Fighter comic fame) will be providing the artwork for the manga, so it's sure to be a must-read for any Firefall fans. To see the whole dev diary, which includes some words from Mr. Card himself, head on past the cut.
Dragon Age comic debuts in March, 2010
click to dragon size The previously announced Dragon Age comic series will begin next March. Penned by Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, Empire), the story appears to revolve around rogue (the concept, not the class) mages within the Circle of Magi who "will defy the rules of the Templars and change the course of the world forever." BioWare and TOR previously released the Dragon Age novel, The Stolen Throne, which if you're into the whole words without pictures thing, sets the stage and gives plenty of background for the epic RPG. [Via Big Download]
IDW producing Dragon Age and Army of Two comics
Through a joint collaboration with IDW Publishing and EA's new EA Comics brand, comic versions of Dragon Age and Army of Two will find themselves on shelves and available for download on iTunes in monthly runs. The comics will be backed by some pretty heavy hitters; Orson Scott Card will be penning the story for Dragon Age and veteran Peter Milligan will be handling the story for Army of Two, which is due to start its run sometime in January 2010.There's no information on the Dragon Age comic at this time, however we know the events of the Army of Two bromic (see what we did there?) will bridge the gap between the conclusion of the first game and the events of The 40th Day.
Orson Scott Card talks 'Shadow Complex' and the future of 'Empire'
Beyond being an award-winning author, Orson Scott Card has some gaming cred on his resume. An avid old school gamer himself, Card has worked on a few notable game projects, including The Secret of Monkey Island, for which he penned the swordfighting insults. On August 19, Card returns to gaming by creating the world that surrounds Shadow Complex, which runs parallel to the events in Card's best-selling novel, Empire.However, unlike his experience working on the poorly-received game Advent Rising -- which Card was brought into late to develop the game's story -- the author and Chair Entertainment collaborated from the beginning to bring the Empire book trilogy and Shadow Complex to life. "They do their thing and I do mine. Two very different arts end up working together to tell the same story," Card told Variety. Card says, he enjoys Shadow Complex's main character so much, he suspects readers will see Jason Flemming (voiced by Nolan North) appear in a future novel within the universe. Shadow Complex's story was written by Star Trek novelist Peter David.Card also notes that he is confident he has "come up with something" to allow future games in the series to be different. "Nothing would be worse than if they play the second game is the same as the first," Card said. Apparently in Card's world, gamers love change.%Gallery-64709%
Interview with Dick Hill, voice of Blizzard's audiobooks
Our friend Medievaldragon has an interview up over at WorldofWar.net with Dick Hill, voice of the upcoming Warcraft audiobooks. Reading the books is a great way of catching up on old lore and new characters found in the new expansion, and considering that lots of players like to listen to books while playing (me included), these will probably end up being pretty popular.Hill isn't a huge Warcraft fan (though his son has played a few of the games), but he is an audiobook veteran, having read over 500 books, including works by Terry Brooks, Orson Scott Card, and Anne McCaffrey, so he's got the chops for sure. It'll be very interesting to see what kinds of characterizations he has come up with -- while there are some very familiar voices already from the World of Warcraft, we'll have to see if he drew the same conclusions in terms of voicing the characters as they did. He says that you can't really research a Gnome's voice, or find any recordings of Elves, but we've actually talked to both in game, some of us every day.The first audiobook, Day of the Dragon, is due out sometime this month, with two more scheduled releases to follow next year.
Ender's Game might end up on the DS
Any sci-fi geek worth his or her salt will have heard of Orson Scott Card's magnificent Ender's Game series. (The original happens to be one of this blogger's favorite books.)For those of you unfamiliar with the story, let's catch up. Ender's Game tells the tale of the young prodigy, Ender Wiggin, who must prepare to save the word by training at Battle School. Ender's training consists of (what else?) playing games -- intense, simulated battles that involve a lot of strategy and tactics.It was only a matter of time before a game about a book about playing games was made, and we couldn't think of a better way to do it than with Orson Scott Card's novel. Chair Entertainment (developer of XBLA 's Undertow) recently signed the rights to the series, and plan to (eventually) make the title for all consoles and handhelds.While games based on licenses have a tendency to fall short of our expectations, we're somewhat comforted to know that Orson Scott Card is "working with [Chair Entertainment] to ensure the game is as authentically Enderish as possible," as he puts it. We only hope that this title actually appears on our favorite handheld, and doesn't turn into DS vaporware like some others that we know. If it does come out on the DS, though, it probably won't be until after the game releases onto downloadable platforms first (which we assume will include Wii Ware, too).[Via Games Industry]
Undertow team creating Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game's game
A new collaboration between renowned author Orson Scott Card and Undertow developer, Chair Entertainment, will see the popular sci-fi novel Ender's Game adapted into a series of video games "across all next-generation consoles, handheld platforms, and PC." The first offering is expected to begin development later this year and will be released in downloadable format. As the story of Ender's Game revolves around the protagonist's experiences within the "Battle Room" -- home to a simulation of futuristic combat -- it should come as no surprise to learn that Chair Entertainment's goal is to place players into the very same virtual environment. Turning Ender's fictional game into a "real" one certainly makes sly sense within the context of the book, though we would be slightly concerned if the people on our Xbox Live friends should start turning up dead. In a recently published interview, N'Gai Croal managed to catch-up with the Mustard brothers, Donald and Geremy, founders of Chair Entertainment. They described the Unreal-engine game with great relish, noting that the "the unique characteristics of the Battle Room will make a very compelling, competitive game play experience." Let's hope it can make up for the bad taste left in our mouths by one of their previous Card collaborations, Advent Rising. [Image: "Ender's Game(s)" by Penny Arcade]
Orson Scott Card laments publishers' grasp on creativity
Author Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game) told Wired that he's fed up with the state of gaming and not optimistic about the future. Card notes that today's gameplay is repetitive and the storytelling is minimal at best. The problem, Card says, is the publishers who don't understand the medium and are prone to financing / pushing safe bets, essentially leaving the developers pigeonholed. Let's sympathize with the publisher's position first. They largely hold a fiduciary stance, which means they act in the financial interest of the company. The goal of a business is to make money, after all, and unfortunately the safest bets are generally the same gameplay mechanics known for decades with prettier graphics and more particle effects. Assuming developers have the ability to innovate in the industry (as Card implies), is it the responsibility of publishers to advance the medium through risk-taking -- say, one art house game for every 2-3 mindless shooters, annual sports iterations, or licensed action romp? With game development costing in the tens of millions of dollars and more, and shelf space limited in brick-and-mortar stores, innovation is a hard pill to swallow for profit-seeking corporations. The hope, perhaps, lies in digital distribution or even simply online purchasing. At that point, however, the responsibility lies with the consumer to use his or her wallet and make a stance for innovation.[Thanks, trumaine]
