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]
(Page 1) Reader Comments
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Best book ever, period.
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So are we going to be having lethal martial-arts encounters in the bathroom with hispanic kids?
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Sheppy/FidiousWong can be Peter
Justin can be Dink
Ludwig can be Bean
Fernando can be Bonzo... sorry 'bout that :D
Fanboys can be the Buggers
And me? Well I'll be Mazer!
But yes... the bad taste of Advent Rising will be a hard one to wash away...
Hopefully they won't try to pull off another million dollar giveaway.
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And Ender's Game is a book I've been hoping for a game adaption of for a long time. True, Advent Rising was absolutely garbage and nigh unplayable. But there's always hope.
Now if only we could get some new Dune games too. I want to kick some Harkonnen ass!
Your comment on Advent Rising has cut me to the quick! That was my favorite game on the xbox, other then the Halos, and still a point of contention that it hasn't made it, nor is it likely to make it, to the BC list.
Out of nearly 200 xbox games in my library...this is The One I would actually play on the 360.
I do have to admit that I enjoyed a lot of the game, but as a whole, I really consider it to be rubbish...
The game had me sooo excited when it was being hyped - it was going to be such an epic action adventure with aliens and superpowers and cool guns, etc... but it just didn't deliver. It tried to be too cinematic and the gameplay fell on its face.
In my honest opinion, anyways. I truly wanted it to succeed in be as awesome as it should have been, but it just didn't.
Also, I like Undertow. Kinda weird, but other than everything being so small, its a fun game.
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Just sayin.
Also I am 100% sure this game will suck, as the Battle Room is basically a zero G game of freeze tag.
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Here is to hoping for a miracle. :D
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Good luck for the game.
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It could be good.
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This will end in one of two ways:
1) The game, although a faithful recreation of the Battle Room, will not be fun, and no one will actually play it, or
2) Will modify the rules of the Battle Room to the point where it is merely a recreation in name only.
If I recall correctly, there is no air-control in the battle room. So if you jump off a rock at a bad angle, you can find yourself floating helplessly into enemy territory. I can't see them actually making a game that lets that happen.
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Maybe they'll make liberal use of that wire that Bean discovered to greatly increase mobility
That's what I want this game to be. Or at least a mix. Some exploring, then out of the world, do some battle, go back to the world, explore some more, etc.
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And quite frankly, I'd like a game based on the Simulator on Eros instead of the Battle Room. Complete with the delegation of authority and chain of command features, and fully XBL enabled.
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I hope it's good.
Remember Blitzball in FFX? That was slightly similar in concept, but water instead of gravity. That with more action movements could work.
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I kinda envision the big battle as some version of Asteroids or GeometryWars. The "arcade room" in the book could have a number of minigames, one sounded kinda like DigDug or Qix from the book. But I'm really afraid my expectations are too high.
I did enjoy the storyline in AdventRising--too bad I don't think the rest of the trilogy will see the light of day.
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Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to fantasize about sub-vocalizing to Jane about the Descolada though my Xbox Live headset...
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The zero-g bit isnt the "game".. but that could be awesome in a portal kinda way. Or a complete mess.
Ever since reading the description of the combat in The Game I've wished that there was an RTS like that.
Not an RTS in the regular, micromanaged, click on units kind of way, but one as fluid and fast moving as The Game. Kind of like an RTS meets Geometry Wars.
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