I’ve been playing around with a lot of different MMOs lately. Here’s one reason why.
A new, ongoing series of web articles about The Lord of the Rings Online started appearing yesterday on the game’s official website. The always excellent Will Hindmarch wrote the first, “Hero’s Guide to Hollin Gate,” under my editorial management. These should appear every week for the foreseeable future, with Will and I chipping in our efforts every other week. Be sure to check them out!
Today’s the big day. My novelization of the Mutant Chronicles film is officially on sale! Run on down to your friendly local bookseller and pick up a copy of your very own–or download an eBook version from your favorite online purveyor of such marvels.
As I’ve said here before, I had a wonderful time working on this book. Fred Malmberg, Jay Zetterberg Leslie Buhler, Leigh Stone, and Thommy Wojciechowski at Paradox were, as ever, a true pleasure to work with, and the same goes for Keith Clayton and Sue Moe, my excellent editors at Del Rey.
The film’s not out here in North America yet, so this is your best chance to get your hands on the story and picture it in your head instead. If you’re still on the fence, check out this short excerpt for a free taste of the whole dish.
It’s Banned Books Week this week, the annual spotlight the American Library Association throws on attempts to have books banned from libraries across the nation. Do us all a favor and read a banned book this week.
Over on Storytellers Unplugged, my pal Rich Dansky recently posted “Young Industry My Sweet Patootie, You Goldurn Whippersnappers.” It’s an excellent essay on the challenges of writing for video games and why it continues to be hard to do well even after decades of such games on the market. The excuse, of course, is that video games are a relatively young medium–which is true, when compared to things like books–but Rich chews right through that chestnut to get to the truth beneath.
My friend Jesse Scoble has an excellent article up at Gameplaywright.com about the “Pixels to Paper” panel held at this past summer’s Gen Con. The panel featured my pals Jack Emmert (of Cryptic Studios) and Ed Stark and Dave Williams (of Red 5 Studios) talking about both video games and tabletop games and what they can learn from each other. Jesse does a fantastic job of encapsulating the event, and if you’re interested in any kind of game development it’s worth a read.
Today I stumbled across a website that’s just too damned funny: Citizens of Virtue. At first, it looks like your standard right-wing, evangelical Christian site, but you dig a little deeper and see that it’s actually a finely crafted satire. The add for Passionix–the drug for correcting rampant hormones in teenagers–should be enough of a tip-off for anyone.
This is, of course, part of a new ARG designed by a pack of geniuses I’m proud to call friends. I don’t know much more about the game than what’s on the site, but I can’t wait to find out.
My pal Marc Gascoigne–formerly of the Black Library and Solaris–was just recently named the head of Angry Robot, a new imprint of HarperCollins.
For fans (and writers) of genre fiction, this is, of course, excellent news.
Cinerati asked a number of creatives: “Was there a particular book (or television show, or film) that you read (or watched) as a child that inspired you into your current career?” Check out the responses from Susan Palwick, Richard Scott Nokes, Dale Launer, David Chute, and me.
Michael Moore’s latest film, Slacker Uprising, debuts today. I’ve yet to see the film so cannot comment on its content. However, the most interesting thing about the film is how it’s been released: online, for free, to anyone living in the US or Canada (or willing to pose as such). Love Moore or hate him, at least now you don’t have to pay to see what his latest fuss is all about.
No matter how you plan to vote in the upcoming election, take the moment to register to vote–and then this November 4 go out and do it. If the past two presidential elections have taught us anything, it’s that it doesn’t take a whole lot of votes to sway an election one way or the other.
The next meeting of the Madison chapter of the IDGA is slated for September 30. Check the site for all the details. I plan to be there, and I hope to see any local game developers there too.