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Voice-controlled RTS There Came an Echo speaks up in Feb.
There Came an Echo, the voice-controlled real-time strategy game from Iridium Studios starring nerd royalty Wil Wheaton, is due out on February 24 for $20 via Steam for PC. The release date comes courtesy of a new trailer (below), featuring players that Iridium "totally found on Craigslist." These uninitiated few try out There Came an Echo's voice controls, including the ability to change characters' names to things like "Sweetie Pie" and something naughty that appears to rhyme with "Duckface." There Came an Echo was successfully funded on Kickstarter in March 2013, raising $115,000 of a $90,000 goal. It's Iridium's second successful Kickstarter game, following Sequence. There Came an Echo stars Wil Wheaton and Ashly Burch, and puts players in charge of a small, gun-wielding squad in a near-future sci-fi environment. "Corrin (played by Wil Wheaton) is a 31-year-old cryptographer and inventor of a very particular encryption algorithm ... one that currently holds safe a shocking secret," the game's Kickstarter reads. "His comfortable existence is interrupted by the enigmatic Val, who informs him that his life is in very imminent danger. His desperate attempts to uncover the truth are aided by a mercenary, Miranda; a vengeful young woman, Grace; and a mysterious British gentleman named Syll." Players are able to customize the voice controls in There Came an Echo, and Iridium promises that it's possible to play the game without speech at all. It's also coming to Xbox One and PS4, eventually.
Wil Wheaton lends vocals to Double Fine's Broken Age
Broken Age, the crowdfunded adventure game from Double Fine, has announced a few more key members of its vocal cast. Most notably former Wesley Crusher and current geek celebrity Wil Wheaton. When Broken Age eventually debuts, Wheaton's voice will be spilling from Curtis the Lumberjack, a character originally created to test animations, but who found such affection among fans that he earned a full-fledged spot in the game. This situation would seem odd, but Double Fine is headed by Tim Schafer of Secret of Monkey Island fame, a game whose main protagonist derives his name from a placeholder brush used to animate the piratical adventure-comedy. Rounding out the vocal cast are veteran actors Masasa Moyo, Nicki Rapp and Ginny Wescott. You'd best know Moyo as the voice of Lisa (aka "La Mariposa") in later Dead or Alive entries, while Rapp and Wescott have both previously worked with Schafer on classics like Psychonauts and Day of the Tentacle, respectively. Unexpectedly, Alex Rigopulos, co-founder of Harmonix, also appears in the game as some version of his own notoriously music-obsessed self. It's unclear why or how he fits into the story, but it probably doesn't hurt things that Rigopulos has donated a lot of money toward the funding of Broken Age.
There Came an Echo, voice-controlled strategy starring Wil Wheaton
Iridium Studios, the team responsible for 2011's Kickstarter success, Sequence, is tackling the widely untouched genre of speech-run gaming with There Came an Echo, a voice-controlled strategy game. Iridium hopes to cash in on Kickstarter once again with There Came an Echo, asking for $90,000 to complete the game for PC, with a launch on Steam scheduled for mid-2014 (no Greenlight required).Players in There Came an Echo act as the field commander of a small squad and talk members through operations to achieve various objectives. The game will recognize a pre-programmed vocabulary of a few hundred commands, such as "head to Bravo 3," but each command is fully customizable."For instance, instead of 'Grace, hold position,' you might choose to say 'yo girl, hold up,' or instead of 'weapons free,' you might say, 'not the gumdrop buttons!' You'll be able to direct your troops in a style completely your own," Iridium's Kickstarter description reads.If that's not intriguing enough, Iridium roped in geek extraordinaire Wil Wheaton to star in There Came an Echo. Iridium founder Jason Wishnov has a pretty hefty industry track record himself, including freelance work for Joystiq's Wii Fanboy and DS Fanboy when those were still things back in 2007. Check out Wheaton and Wishnov in the Kickstarter promo video above.
Firefall Fest schedules celebrity livestreams
If you're missing one of your favorite celebrities next week, you might want to check with Red 5 Studios. The makers of Firefall have kidnapped, er, enticed several popular stars to check out the game via an interactive livestreaming event called Firefall Fest. Among the celebs participating are Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, and Nathan Fillion. Red 5 has posted the schedule for the livestreams, which start on October 22nd and continue through the 27th. In addition to letting you hear what your favorite star or group has to say about the game and seeing said game in action, Red 5 is handing out daily prizes to viewers. The studio also announced that any player who purchases a Firefall Founders Pack during this week will get immediate beta access, and all founders get snag additional in-game items just by watching.
Mike Morhaime confirms BlizzCon is on for 2013
President and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment Mike Morhaime has confirmed the news everyone wanted to hear: There will definitely be a BlizzCon in 2013. Morhaime pointed out this year is a big year for Blizzard releases, so resources had to be focused on games rather than conventions. However, next year will see a return of BlizzCon and it should be back with a vengeance, according to Morhaime. Morhaime appeared on a recent episode of TableTop, Wil Wheaton's board game celebrity poker-style show that's featured on the Geek and Sundry YouTube channel created by Felicia Day. After playing a rousing game of Elder Sign, Morhaime did a quick interview about his history with Blizzard, Warcraft's development, gaming, and heavy metal, as well as the BlizzCon mention. When you're done watching the interview, pop in and take a look at the full episode of TableTop with Mike Morhaime, Felicia Day, and Bill Prady, co-creator and executive producer for The Big Bang Theory. Sure, it's not Warcraft, but it's a rollicking good time. [Thanks to Scott for the tip!]
The Soapbox: MMOs waste millions on voice-over
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. A-list voice actors are not new to the video game genre. Over the last 20 years, video games have pulled from the same pool of talent as cartoons and commercials. But it really wasn't until last year with DC Universe Online that we started to see MMOs advertise the voice talent they had in the games. DCUO filmed multiple documentary-style videos to impress us with the level of voice-over work the game had. Although DCUO was the first fully voiced MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic made a point to tell us that it had over 200 different voice actors (300 if you believe IMDB) with over a thousand recording sessions for over 200,000 lines of dialogue. In the end, what's the pay-off? Six months after launch, the majority of players will threaten to leave a SWTOR pick-up group if the other players don't skip over the dialogue. Although a large portion of players did watch all the dialogue shortly after the game launched, all the players I spoke to said that the cutscenes started to grate on them before they'd even reached level 50. And even though DCUO was the first MMO to be fully voiced, SWTOR got away with advertising that it was first mainly because voice-overs were considered so insignificant by the MMO community that almost no one noticed the fib. And dare we even talk about the expense of recording 200,000 lines of dialogue? Is fan excitement over, say, Mark Hamill's Joker worth the cost of bringing him in on the project in the first place?
The Guild ends the year with DVD release and new comic
The Guild, the award-winning web series by Felicia Day, has a couple of new offerings for this holiday season. Season 4 of the popular web series is now available on DVD through Amazon.com as well as iTunes. The DVD version of the release is packed with extras, including the Game On music video, recaps of earlier seasons, featurettes involving Cheesybeards and Zaboo's mom as well, as audio commentary with the cast and gag reels. The iTunes release is available in both standard and HD versions. An iTunes exclusive bonus feature, The Making of the Team Cawkes Painting, is included when you purchase the entire season. The Season 4 DVD is $10.99 on Amazon; the iTunes version is only $9.99 for HD, or $5.99 for standard edition. And if you happen to be looking for something to read rather than something to watch, The Guild has also released a new one-shot comic titled Vork. Written by Day and actor Jeff Lewis, who plays Vork in the series, this comic centers around Vork and his role within both the game world and real life. As with all Guild comics, the story takes place before the events in Season 1 of The Guild. The comic's only $3.50 from Dark Horse, and you can choose one of two variant covers: Darick Robinson's gladiatorial version of Vork, or the more simplistic, real-life Vork styling of Gilbert Hernandez. For more on The Guild, you can check out the entire series on MSN.
DC Universe Online gets even more super voice actors
Sure, you could get your superheroic missions from timeless characters in DC Universe Online through boring text discussions -- but it seems Sony Online Entertainment is doing its darndest to fill the game with real human voices. Authentic voices too: For instance, Arleen Sorkin will reprise her role of Harley Quinn from Batman: The Animated Series, while super prolific voice actor Corey Burton will provide the pipes for Brainiac. Dwight Schultz, of The A-Team and Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, will add another notch to his voiceover belt by speaking for The Flash. Rounding out the list of actors is Wil Wheaton, who recently voiced the Blue Beetle in Batman: The Brave and the Bold -- though, this time around, he'll be doing vox for Robin, who is sometimes called Boy Wonder, but never to his face.
DC Universe flexes more voiceover muscles
SOE is getting a lot of marketing mileage out of DC Universe Online's voice-acting, and with such a star-studded cast behind the microphone, you can hardly blame them. In a press release earlier today, the MMORPG maker outlined four new additions to DCUO's roster including two Star Trek veterans, a memorable Batman villainess, and one of radio's leading voice talents. First up is Arleen Sorkin, instantly recognizable to Batman fans as the voice and personality behind Harley Quinn. Next is Wil Wheaton, Star Trek: The Next Generation veteran and responsible for bringing DCUO's Robin to life. Dwight Schultz, also of Star Trek (and the A-Team) fame, signs on to portray the Flash, while Corey Burton, a veteran voice actor with hundreds of productions under his belt, will be powering the notorious Brainiac. Read more about DCUO on the official site, as well as our previous coverage of voice actor James Marsters.
NES signed by gaming industry superstars auctioning off for charity
We can't help but notice that there's something wrong with your Nintendo Entertainment System. No, it's not that its connector pins are totally jacked after two decades of rough cartridge insertion -- it's that it isn't covered, toe to tip, in the autographs of some of the gaming, tech and general nerd industry's most prominent figures. You can rectify that problem by bidding on this NES, which has been signed by folks like Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, Wil Wheaton, MC Frontalot, Jonathan Coulton and many, many more. All the proceeds from the auction go to the Baystate Children's Hospital in Springfield, Mass. -- as do the proceeds from eBay user DanMckela's other auctions. Go take a look at his altruistic wares! [Thanks, Dao Jones!]
The Guild season 4, episode 8
Video: Season 4 - Episode 8 - Busted The Guild, the award-winning web series by Felicia Day, is still merrily chugging along with season 4. This season features all kinds of new problems for Codex and her cohorts in the Knights of Good. Season 4 has taken the focus a little further away (but not too far) from the game and moved it to Codex, who is still dealing with the disastrous fallout from the events at the end of season 3. In the latest episode, "Busted," things are rapidly coming to a head as Codex tries to juggle her real-life, failing, fake relationship with her failing computer and her new job, as well as the return of Zaboo's mother -- which is creating all kinds of chaos. The gaming element is still present, of course, as the Knights of Good struggle to come up with the funds for a new guild hall, and the rakish guild leader of the Axis of Anarchy, Fawkes (played by Wil Wheaton), is stirring up all kinds of trouble in the name of mischief. Or is it in the name of something else? You can check out episode 8 above, and you can find any episodes you've missed and get caught up on The Guild's official series channel. Looking for more on The Guild? We've previously interviewed Felicia Day at BlizzCon 2009, and Michele Boyd gave us an interview for 15 Minutes of Fame. And of course, the cast of The Guild was also kind enough to stop by our BlizzCon reader meetup and say hello to everyone.
Wil Wheaton's State of the Geek Union Address delivered during PAX keynote
We've been floating on a cloud of inspiration since yesterday afternoon, when nerd culture luminary Wil Wheaton delivered the keynote address for PAX East 2010. For one hour, the audience watched as Wil touched on a myriad of game culture touchstones: His newfound love of Dragon Age (including a ton of end-game spoilers), his first encounter with D&D, how he's watched games evolve over the years, and his ever-evolving love of the Penny Arcade Expo. We couldn't poll the audience, but we're pretty sure everyone left the theater with inexplicable warm feelings. You can listen to the whole (fairly NSFW) keynote in the audio player below.
The Daily Grind: What are you most excited about seeing at PAX East?
2010 marks the first year that the Penny Arcade Expo -- PAX -- has traveled to the far east (read: Boston) to hold their gamer-friendly, geektastic convention. As you might expect, an elite squad of specially-trained Massively reporters will be on hand to extract as much crucial information as we can -- as much as possible under the limits of the Geneva Convention, of course. But before you hear our first reports from the scene of this exciting convention, we want to know: what are you most excited about seeing or hearing from PAX East? Is it the keynote speech by Star Trek: The Next Generation's Wil Wheaton? The hardcore, nailbiting Omegathon? Or perhaps -- just perhaps -- breaking news and revelations about some of your favorite MMORPGs from developers like Turbine, NCSoft, 38 Studios, EA and others? Take a gander through the official schedule and tell us what's got your attention!
Wil Wheaton to deliver inaugural keynote at PAX East
Before the live Joystiq podcast recording, before the Blueberry Muffin Tops Breakfast, and before ... you know, all the news, the festivities of PAX East have to be kicked off with proper keynote address. Appropriately enough, the first-ever east coast iteration of the con will be introduced by the man who led the opening ceremonies of PAX 2007 -- child star, adult star, writer and world-renowned D&D cognoscenti, Wil Wheaton. If you're curious about what to expect from Wheaton's speech during the almost-sold-out expo, we suggest checking out his speech from three years ago. We imagine it will be in a similar style as that, only ... beardier.
15 Minutes of Fame: Making Child's Play of WoW
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Kristin Lindsay makes child's play of WoW. In fact, she makes child's play of gaming in general and even of her work. That's because Child's Play, the charitable organization that brings games, books and cash to sick kids in children's hospitals across North America, is her work. As project manager at Child's Play, Kristin helps the organization raise millions of dollars worth of toys and cash for children's hospitals and put a positive face on gamers and gaming. Child's Play was created by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of the online comic strip Penny Arcade. This year, the group has raised $1,302,367, shooting to surpass last year's $1.5 million total. We dove into a niche in Kristin's busy season to visit with her about her WoW habit, her work with Child's Play and how we WoW players can help Child's Play achieve a record-breaking year for hospitalized kids.
The Guild season 3 finale
The Guild has come to the end of season 3, and it's all come down to this. Codex is facing off what's left of the Axis of Anarchy, Riley has appeared to ruin Zaboo's game, and all of the other issues this season come to a head as the showdown reaches its conclusion. And being that this is the season finale, there's a few surprises in the mix as well, and a shocker of a finish. You can watch the show over on MSN (which is now calling itself Bing), on the Xbox Live and Zune marketplaces, or right after the break below. The gang has also released the final gag reel of the season, with outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage from the last three episodes. Lots of fun stuff in there as well, though definitely be sure to finish the season first -- as you might expect, there's some spoilers. And I'm sure the gag reels, and lots of other special footage, will end up on the eventual DVD release for this season. We'll let you know about that, and season four, when we hear about it. Long live the Knights of Good! Like The Guild? We do, too! We've got all the episodes of season 3 posted: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and episode 12 above. We've also chatted with all of the folks at BlizzCon, including Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, and Jeff Lewis and Michele Boyd. And as if that wasn't enough Guild, here's the liveblog of their panel, and the guys were nice enough to stop by our meetup as well. Stay tuned for more Guild here on WoW.com!
The Guild season 3, episode 10: It's on!
Alright, I hate this episode. I do. If you're a fan of The Guild, you're better off skipping this episode... and watching it next week along with episode 11. That's because this season is coming to a close and the Knights of Good and the Axis of Anarchy are headed for a collision course and this episode will only leave you wanting more. Curse you, Felicia Day! Curse your clever scriptwriting and intriguing character development! Curse your Wil Wheaton cameos and the rest of his dastardly crew! I should've held off on watching this because now, well, I have to wait another week. And I hate waiting. You, on the other hand, are now being hypnotized with WoW.com subliminal messages (it's a new technology our tech guys have been working on) that will make you click on the Read More link below and watch the antepenultimate episode of Season 3. I know I made that word up (EDIT: turns out I didn't make that word up... it actually exists. Subconscious grasp of the English language FTW. - thanks, Splodesondeath!). What else am I supposed to call the episode before the penultimate one? So check out the latest episode and see the season build up to a crescendo where the Knights of Good take on their greatest challenge yet. Like The Guild? We do, too! We chatted with all of the folks at BlizzCon, including Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, and Jeff Lewis and Michele Boyd. We also saw their panel, and the guys were nice enough to stop by our meetup as well. Stay tuned here every Tuesday for a brand new episode of season 3!
The Guild Halloween special
The Guild is on holiday vacation this week -- instead of the latest episode in the series (which is episode 9, and will come out next week, we're told), they've posted a Halloween special video, which you can watch over on MSN or right past the break below. It's more than just a chance to don their actual guildie costumes, too -- they go on a "socially acceptable real-world looting" run, with each guildie terrorizing one unlucky couple in their own special way. What's scarier than a Tuesday with all the servers down for maintenance? Vork showing up at your door. And while we're on the subject of The Guild, our good friends at Massively got a chance to speak with a few of the cast members at GameX earlier this week -- Jeff Lewis, Robin Thorsen, and Sandeep Parikh got cornered by Massively's cameras, and talked with them about Wil Wheaton, MMOs, and Sandeep's famous backflip. Have a happy Halloween, Guild fans, and we'll be back next week with the third-to-last episode of season 3. Like The Guild? We do, too! We chatted with all of the folks at BlizzCon, including Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, and Jeff Lewis and Michele Boyd. We also saw their panel, and the guys were nice enough to stop by our meetup as well. Stay tuned here every Tuesday for a brand new episode of season 3!
GameX 2009: Massively.com talks with The Guild
GameX 2009 was insane this weekend and we were all over the place, but one of the first groups that we set a chunk of time aside for was Jeff Lewis (Vork), Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo), and Robin Thorsen (Clara) from The Guild. We weren't missing out on catching up with those three. The interview that ensued answered some of the important questions in life, like how many MMO real life experiences get moved into The Guild's script, what it was like to work with Wil Wheaton and Jed Whedon, and is that a real Sandeep Parikh Backflip (TM) in the "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" music video? If you're curious to these answers and more, then you should click that button below and continue reading after the break. We have an exclusive video interview for you!
The Guild season 3, episode 8 (with gag reel)
Another excellent (and a little disturbing) episode of The Guild is out right now on MSN Video and the usual places (including right after the jump on this post). Wil Wheaton returns to his role as the rival guildleader, and the rival guild continues to push the envelope on revenge. Tink makes a return as well, but as for how that goes, we'll let you watch the show yourself. Elsewhere in Guild news, Wil Wheaton also made an appearance as himself on the geeky sitcom The Big Bang Theory last night. If you missed it, CBS has a few clips up on their website to watch right now. The appearance isn't actually World of Warcraft-related, though the game has appeared on the show before (and Felicia Day and I talked about Big Bang Theory a while back on our podcast). And The Guild has also posted a second season 3 gag reel, with behind the scenes footage of all of the guys... cursing like sailors. Enjoy! Like The Guild? We do, too! We chatted with all of the folks at BlizzCon, including Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, and Jeff Lewis and Michele Boyd. We also saw their panel, and the guys were nice enough to stop by our meetup as well. Stay tuned here every Tuesday for a brand new episode of season 3!
