The
June video developer diary on the Firefall Website offers the news that acclaimed sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card is contributing to this online team-based shooter, with
Gamasutra highlighting his reasoning: "I got involved with the game Firefall because the guys from Red 5 invited me to," though he adds with a little more enthusiasm: "Since I think the game is a great one -- the story that they're developing is exciting -- I was delighted to be a part of it." Word is Card will collaborate with Red 5 on the game's story, and will also team with his daughter Emily Janice Card and artists at Udon Entertainment on a
Firefall manga novel, which will be released as a free download later this year. On a related note,
Gamasutra also reports Red 5 Studios is seeking to terminate its agreement with publisher Webzen over a breach in its marketing obligations. In
an open letter, Red 5 CEO Mark Kern states:
As you may have heard, Red 5 Studios has filed for arbitration to confirm our right to terminate our agreement with Webzen and recover $5 million in North American marketing that we feel is due Red 5 under the agreement.
The crux of the matter is that the Webzen we see today is not the Webzen that Red 5 partnered with at the beginning of this project. The original executives are all gone, and new management has replaced them. Unfortunately, we do not feel the new management of Webzen has honored their obligations towards Firefall, particularly in Asia. The current management of Webzen is a stark contrast to the original CEO and executives who were once so excited to work with us on the game.
Battle.net offers the latest hotfixes implemented on the server side for
World of Warcraft since the
recent version 4.2 "Rage of the Firelands" patch for Blizzard's MMORPG (thanks
Ant). The lengthy change list follows.
Continue here to read the full story.
The
Vendetta Online Website has details on a new version 1.8.181 update that's now live in this space combat MMORPG. The patch notes follow.
Continue here to read the full story.
"I would very much love a Kinect game in which you are a monkey in a zoo who is flinging his feces at park visitors." --
Epic designer Cliff Bleszinski. That's why he gets the big bucks. Thanks Morris.
We did very nicely in picking up provisions at the farmer's markets for grilling this weekend, though I have to admit we're risking falling into a rut with some repeats (albeit delicious repeats). We have lined up a pair of Prime NY Strip steaks, some filleted chicken thighs, two-dozen chicken wings, zucchini, and some Italian sausage. The sausage is homemade, though not by me, though one of these days I will get to that. The one thing I'm going to try for the first time is to shish kabob some fresh garlic cloves, which I'm pretty sure will be impossible to screw up.