Get Thee to a Gamery!

Birdman-WiiAccording to the marketing mavens at Amazon.com, the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law game on which I worked should be in stores today. Be sure to get yourself down to just such a store soon and pick up a copy for your Wii, PSP, and/or PS2.

I had a fantastic time working on the game. The Birdman show is hilarious, and I got a special kick out of knowing I was writing dialog for stars including Gary Cole, John Michael Higgins, Peter MacNicol, Paget Brewster, Michael McKean, and Lewis Black. As a writer, you can sometimes hear a character’s voice in your head, but having DVDs featuring those characters already talking really helps you get inside them and make their words ring true (and funny!).

I’d like to especially thank the game’s producer, Kevin Sheller, as well as my co-writer, Micah Skaritka, who wrote more chunks of the game than I did. We spent a number of days locked in a writers’ room together, spitballing ideas back and forth. I couldn’t have asked for a funnier, more talented crew to work with. Also, many thanks to Matt Corso, Eric Nofsinger, John Kopecky, and the rest of the management team at High Voltage Software, who helped make the whole experience so much fun.

Happy 2008!

We’re going to have a houseful of kids (over and beyond the five who live with us) to help us ring in the New Year tonight. Some of them might not be able to stay awake until the event actually hits our time zone, but they’ll manage to celebrate the event when it happens somewhere farther to the east, I’m sure.

Wherever you are and whoever you’re with, here’s to an enchanted evening, a memorable morning, and a better year beyond.

One More Plug

I forgot one:

My pal Jason Blair just had his first comic book hit stores this month: The Long Count. Jason wrote the words, Leanne Buckley drew the pictures, and Mark Smiley of Archaia Studios Press presented it to the world.

I gotta get me to a comic store fast.

Plugging Away

A few of my friends have bits in the works that might interest you.

First up, Rich Dansky‘s first creator-owned novel, Firefly Rain, is due out January 8. This is the debut novel for Wizards of the Coast Discoveries, the new all-original imprint from Wizards, and knowing Rich it’s bound to be great. I don’t know any more about it than what’s online and a few private hints from Rich, but I’ve already pre-ordered my copy.

Next, fellow Alliterate, Open Design for RPGs originator, and former Dragon Magazine editor Wolfgang Baur is running a special promotion for his young but fantastic magazine of d20 gaming goodness, Kobold Quarterly. Those who subscribe soon can pick up a free set of Q-Workshop dice along with their first issue.

Finally, another fellow Alliterate and author Steve Sullivan has a new book of Blue Kingdom novellas out from his Walkabout Publishing. Blue Kingdoms: Zombies, Werewolves & Unicorns covers an unusual range of topics in a pair of dark fantasy tales guaranteed to keep you flipping pages.

The Birdman Cometh

Birdman-WiiCapcom now has an official site up for the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law game on which I worked. It’s a snazzy introduction to the game, with all sorts of screenshots and cool Flash bits, so stop by and check it out.
Oddly, the synopsis still lists the game as due November 13, which was the original ship date. The latest information I have says it should be out January 8 instead, a week from Tuesday.

Capcom is running a sweepstakes with prizes for the first 500 pre-orders through their site, although as with most such contests, the details reveal that no purchase is actually necessary to enter and win.

Still, why wouldn’t you want to pick up such a fun and handsome game? It’s available for the Wii, PSP, and PS2. I plan on cracking my copies open as soon as they arrive. I had a hoot working on this game, and I cannot wait to see and play the final results.

Smaller World Every Day

My son Marty has a good friend Thomas who now only lives three doors down from us in our new place. They’re both in third grade and Cub Scouts together, and Thomas often comes over to play games after school. Thomas calls today and says that he’s just found out that his cousin–actually his cousin’s husband–is a friend of mine, someone I’ve known for almost 20 years. He also mentions that his cousin’s family is on their way to his house right now and would like to stop over and say hi.

“Who’s your cousin?”

“Jordan Weisman.”

Could have knocked me flying with a feather.

Sure enough, a few hours later, Thomas and his family bring over Jordan, Dawn, and their three boys for a short, fun visit. The Weismans live in Seattle, of course, but they started out in Chicago and are back this way to visit relatives, including Thomas’s dad, a.k.a. Dawn’s uncle Rick. To cap it all off, it turns out that Rick works at the next desk over from Monica Valentinelli of Colonial Gothic and FlamesRising.com fame (among many other things).

It’s a nanoworld after all.

Happy Holidays!

No matter where you are or what you’re doing, I’d like to wish you the happiest of holidays. Here at Casa Forbeck, we’re settled in for several days of Christmas with various family factions. I expect to eat and drink far too much and see face-splitting grins on many young faces. What a great way to wrap up a year.

Here’s to peace and joy for us all.

Erick Wujick Is Dying

Erick Wujick is dying of cancer and apparently doesn’t have many days before him. In the tabletop games industry, we know him best as the creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness RPG and Amber Diceless Roleplaying. He’s spent the last few years in the computer gaming industry, currently with Totally Games. No matter where he’s been, though, he’s done great, groundbreaking work.

I only met Erick once, at a Greenfield Hobby Distributors open house back in the early ’90s. I was just starting out as a freelancer back then, and he had nothing but encouragement for me. He recommended I do something for his friends at Palladium, advice I never got around to executing, despite my respect for Kevin Siembieda and his crew there. He mentioned that the TMNT game had already financed a round-the-world trip for him, high praise from any freelancer.

He was warm and kind, and I wish our paths had managed to cross more often. Although we ran in similar circles, they rarely did. I’d hear about him through other mutual friends, though, and keep up with him that second-hand way.

Now, in roughly the same way, I learn he’s dying, and I barely know what to say. Fortunately, Kevin has set up a new ErickWujick.com website for me to give it a shot.

If Eric or his work touched your life in any way, please stop by that site and let him know that. In the end, these words may not be all that much, but they’re all we have.