Big Starcraft II media update

BlizzCon 2008 has finished and as expected lot of news and announcements were made. It happened a month ago but unfortunately I was too busy with work to write up a post. Finally, here it is.

 

Starcraft II Trilogy

Starcraft II will be shipped as trilogy instead of one big game. The reason for this decision is that if all story elements, cut scenes, interactive dialogue is bundled together it would be too big for a single product.  So, There will be 3 stand alone titles:

StarCraft 2 Terrans: Wings of Liberty

Protoss: Legacy of the Void

Zerg: Heart of the Swarm

 

In each of these we can expect from 26 to 30 missions. This and more was discussed in an interview with Bob Colayco.

Starcraft is one of the best RTS games and if you wonder how does Starcraft II feels in game play, check the article at Gamespot. In nutshell, here is a what's it is like:

it’s obvious the development team is keeping much of the old but also introducing new ways to convey aspects, including story and character development. Based on what we’ve seen so far, Starcraft II hits the nail right on the head and reboots the series like a well-timed Stim Pack release.

It's time to see some videos. First one is Zerg vs Terran.

 

 

 

If you want more have a look at these.

 

 

 

 

For everyone looking for high definition videos to download head to MegaGames.

If you want to believe rumors we may have a demo of Starcraft II early next year...

Little Big Planet - MacGyver moment

I have seen quite a few articles about Little Big Planet  (LBP) on the Internet. I didn't take time to read so I had no idea what this game is about.

Well, Little Big Planet is

Unique game combining an amazing platform adventure with a huge social community enabling consumers to play, create and share their gaming.

The world of LittleBigPlanet is unlike anything you have visited before: a

— handcrafted landscape made from

recognizable materials together with pure imagination! Instead of the pre-scripted gameplay normally seen in platform games,

LittleBigPlanet uses an advanced physics system which takes full advantage of the PLAYSTATION®3 systems power. Shapes, materials and objects all react exactly as you expect so balls roll, sledges slide and springs go boing.

So it is quite different and gives players a very nice playground. You can start small with decorations and get into more serious stuff later on. How serious? Depends on the ideas and free time.

I saw the video (see below) that simply amazed me. Beginning is quite simple and does not look very impressive. And then second half of the video is the revelation.

LittleBigPlanet 'Giant Calculator' gameplay

Not that it is a working calculator but it is a mechanical one! Upsilandre managed to get his/hers head around workings of mechanical calculator but also managed and organized over 1600 mechanical part, 610 magnetic switches, 500 wires and 430 pistons.

For me this is a definitely a MacGyver moment!

I wish this video is available in high definition... 

Diablo III new monster revealed - Dune Thresher

Diablo III seems to be doing just fine. It is quite far in development and according to some rumors it will be released before Starcraft 2. Apparently Diablo has a lot larger development team. Good news for Diablo fans, not so good for Starcraft.

Back to this beast. It hides in the sand and looks it is quite fast. It charges quickly to it's pray.

It is very sensitive to vibrations and sounds.

They'll jump right up onto these rocks and drag you down. An experienced hunter could survive an attack, but someone like you will be lunch if you keep stomping around here, making all that noise.

Starcraft II - Terran gameplay short video

Gametrailers.com have a short trailer of Terran base under attack from Protoss (Colossus). It is only one minute long but it shows a level of details in game and pace of the game, not created for a demo purpose. There are some audio commentaries from observers (as usual everybody think they knows what to do better than the guy playing the game).

 

 

You can also notice he had some trouble with resources. It would be nice to have some longer footage.

 

Somehow I missed another video, this time it is an interview with Frank Pearce, VP of product development. It does not reveal any new information but summarizes Blizzard's vision and the goals for the game. As expected they are not announcing release date.

 

Starcraft II gameplay videos and info

Gametrailers has a new gameplay video showing Zerg base and Terran rushing in. Unfortunately, Zerg is destroyed very quickly but it does show the details of Zerg and Terran units.

Here is the video

There are few details I would like to mention. Pay attention to units and building names and you will notice some changes. This is an opportunity to check out the unit animations (or at least the current ones). One of new units is a Spine Crawler as replacement for Sunken Colony.

Just after the mid point of the movie there is Creep Tumor which I don't know what is doing yet.

In addition to this video there is a post on Kotaku describing their experience with Starcraft II playing as Zerg.

The most interesting points from their perspective are

• Zerg units may be hard to distinguish from background
• Zerglings felt as underpowered unit
• Spine Crawlers can be relocated on creep as needed
• Queen and Corruptor are available early in game
• Hydralisks cost more and are available later in game

And their final comment:

After finally getting our mitts on the Zerg, we're more excited than ever about StarCraft II. We simply can't wait to annoy you via Battle.net with our crushing waves of Zerglings.

Here is another video (too short), this time of Protoss and building of the base. I like the Pylon animation and warping of the Gateway.

Just for an eye candy here is another video - crystal harvesting (Terran) and Protoss attacking Zerg's base.

That's it for now. I hope more videos will be released now when Leipzig Games Convention 08 has finished.

Stop the press! I just found another gameplay video. Have fun watching.

Mar Sara, another planet in StarCraft II universe

Another planet is added to the  StarCraft II universe - Mar Sara. This planet is second inhabitable planet in Sara system. It was always is the shadow of the more prosperous Chau Sara. In addition to that it was the first planet where Confederation fought Zerg.

Fighting was done by local militia forces who were later arrested for the same reason. Arcturus Mengsk, leader of rebel group Sons of Korhal solved the injustice by freeing the prisoners.

Arcturus obtained and revealed information about Confederation knowing about Zerg arrival and the sacrifice of Mar Sara in order to test a secret weapon that incited the Zerg invasion.

 

 

To make things better Executor Tassadar of Protoss incinerated the planet, just as he did with Chau Sara.

Bombarding of the planet has changed the minerals on the planet so they are unique. (maybe we'll see yellow crystals here...) 

 

Terrans are now returning to Mar Sara and establishing several outposts. There are some reports of Zerg sightings...

 

Some statistics about the planet:

• Population: 80 000 Terran, Zerg - unknown
• Allegiance: Kel-Morian
• Diameter/Gravity: 9265 km, 1.09 standard
• Axial tilt/Climate: 13.5º, ±34ºC, very low humidity
• Geography/Major settlements: 18 small dust seas, 28 upland regions, 12 major settlements, 86 mining outposts, 12 refineries
• Moons: Pyramus, Thisby (gray, medium size, over 2000 km diameter)
• Dominant terrain form: Wasteland/mountain/desert
• Dominant life form: Human - Kel-Morian Combine/Terran Dominion
• Indigenous life form: None/Zerg infestation (minor)
• Imports: Mining equipment, personnel, food, water
• Exports: Refined minerals, unrefined ore, vespene gas, terrazine gas, scrap salvage

 

From the description Mar Sara will be rich in minerals and gas so resources should not be the problem. Here are the screenshots for this incinerated desert planet.

 

StarCraft board game

Well, I am a year older now and a proud owner of the StarCraft - The board game. This was my birthday present from my family - really, really cool one!

This is the first board game based on the computer game that I have seen from close up. I saw Doom while ago but never heard anyone how it is to play it.

What's inside?

Let's see what is inside the box. This is a big box and there is a lot of stuff in there. Well, on the top there is the manual "Rules of play".

This is quite demanding reading with 43 pages of descriptions, rules, examples and tips. It is very nicely done in usual StarCraft look and feel.

Now, there are 12 boards with various elements - planets, navigation routes, variety of player tokens, base and order tokens, depletion tokens, conquest track and markers. Below are shots of all boards before tokens were removed from frames.

We also have "Faction sheets". There are six cards and they are for

• The Queen of Blades (Zerg)


• The Overmind (Zerg)


• Aldaris (Protoss)


• Tassadar (Protoss)


• Jim Raynor (Terran)


• Arcturus Mengsk (Terran)

These are very important and they show faction's special abilities, victory objective, what can you build. It also represents your base configuration. Face of the sheet contains brief biography of the character while the back is used during the game.

Here is a closer look at The Queen of Blades and The Overmind faction sheets.

Next lot of 6 cards is a set of Reference Sheets. They contain useful summaries of the effects of the various order tokens, as well as each player's special victory objective. They also summarize units' statistics and list their average attack values.

Cards - there are quite a few cards in the box. The cards are divided in four groups:

• Resource



• Combat



• Technology



• Event

Now comes the cool part - game pieces! There are six sets and the colours are blue and red for Terran, yellow and orange for Protoss, green and purple for Zerg. Game pieces are quite nice but there were some broken pieces - joint with stand for flying units are relatively fragile so I'll have to do some fixing.

Here are close up shots of each faction.

Zerg

Protoss

Terran

So, this is firs look at the game content. How does it play? Well, I had a test "game" with my nephew last weekend and it is hard to play it for the first time. I'm sure we will get it right eventually and have a lot of fun.

When I figure out how to play it properly I'll try to explain and describe it in separate post.

If anyone would like to see a something in close up view (e.g. Hydralisk :)) I can add more images.

Zeratul's biography added to heroes section

Zeratul is a rebellious one that didn't want to be submerged in Protoss mind link. He is also known for slaying a Zerg cerebrate.

Zeratul went on to fight alongside Tassadar to bring about the destruction of the zerg Overmind during the invasion of Aiur, and then helped the protoss evacuate the planet as it continued to be overrun by the zerg. When the Swarm followed the refugees to the dark templar world of Shakuras, Zeratul helped recover the Khalis and Uraj crystals, which allowed the protoss to activate the xel'naga temple there and wipe out the invaders. Later, when the dark archon Ulrezaj threatened to destroy the Aiur protoss "violating" Shakuras, Zeratul was instrumental in thwarting Ulrezaj's schemes.

 

He has a bit of history with Zerg, Queen of Blades.

Zeratul has a long and bitter history with the Queen of Blades, having been manipulated and betrayed by her more than once as she destroyed the remaining zerg cerebrates in order to secure her control over the Swarm after the Overmind's death.

One could say he has some of the human (Terran) characteristics...

Diablo III announced and demonstrated!

At Blizzard Worldwide Invitational Diablo III is demonstrated on stage. For several days there we teaser images and finally they have revealed it.

 

 

Here are some details from live blog from this presentation:

12:40 Okay, the MCs are back and talking about how we're the first peeps to see Diablo3 in action. Now they're asking for people from various countries to give a shoutout. It was really quiet when asked "anyone from Portugal"?
12:35 Now all four peeps are fighting giant evil trees. Afterwards, a bossfight against a bigass demon called the Siegebreaker assault beast (descriptor: living siege engine of hell). It's charging around the area a lot. The barbarians are jumping wihle the witch doctors are firebombing. The boss just instant-killed someone by biting and tearing a la the Rancor from Return of the Jedi. It takes a bunch more beatins before dying. Mad applause right now after it does down. And now a ton of skeletons advance forward as the title screen shows up.
12:33 The Witch doctor also has a firebomb spell to deal damage and a mass confusion for crowd control. He also has a grody wall of zombies spell. Now, female barbarian and witch doctor has joined the group.
12:31 Out of the dungeon and into the forest. He uses the locust swarm to take out crowds of enemies. He conjures up the Mongrel pet (well, four of them), and gives them additional disease damage by casting locust swarm on them. Witch Doctors can sort of suicide-bomb their near-death mongrels. Even though his mongrels are dead, the witch doctor uses horrify to put fear into the enemies.
12:30 Introducing the witch doctor class. He's got pets and mind control abilities, and is the second player for co-op in the demo.
12:27 Now taking on some skeletal archers. He needs to use his jump to stun them and take them out while they can't shoot. Now he's taking out some possessed dudes who are described as "ticking time bombs." The wall just came crashing down while the mercs are panicking behind the barbarian. Some chicks in a circle just exploded (probably as a sacrifice) to make the Thousand Pounder, who is a hugely fat dude with two maces (his descriptor is "Gluttony Incarnate").

12:26 HOLY SHIT DECKARD CAIN IS IN THE DUNGEON TOO!!!!!111 Cain tries to get you to stay awhile and listen, but the barbarian cuts him short. The barbarian is using Cain's mercenary guards as backup now.
12:24 He took out the four dudes and got a full set of armor from the trapped chest.All gear is custom designed for unique look. Barbarian can still leap about. He just knocked a wall down to take out zombies, and is now using whirlwind.
12:22 New red orb drops now are used to heal without use of potions. He's fighting berserjkers right now. He's dual-wielding on some fools. Environmental destruction allows for stuff to be knocked around. Now he's tripping a trap that causes four duders to spawn into the room.
12:20 Yep, he's a barbarian. Pure brute force, exemplifies design philosophy of "no such thing as too much power." There's now a hotbar wherethe potion bar used to be, to use your skills easily. Can now quickswap between skills with mousewheel. Looks like the same sort of upgraded isometric a la StarCraft 2. Now he's using frost-enchanted gear.
12:19 Lead designer Jay Wilson is on stage to demo. There's a barbarian-looking guy stomping around, saying "this place has the stench of ghouls."
12:16 Middle eastern music, and a girl talking about people in fear and stuff. And praying for a quick death. Now there's images of castles and battles and stuff blowing up. DIABLO III just showed up. AIRSTRIKE APPROVED.
12:15: OH DAMN some guy is playing an acoustic version of the Diablo theme!!!!1111 Now it's time...
<bR>

New update - Diablo 3 web site look as you would expect from a Blizzard, beautifully crafted and already hosting gameplay video and cinematic teaser. If you can get anything from that site that is. It is overloaded and this is not a surprise.

This is an example of what to expect in game

More to come tomorrow morning...

Char - Zerg's primary planet

Starcraft II web site is updated with first description of a planet from Starcraft universe. For a change it is not a Terran planet but Zerg's primary hive - Char.

Char is similar in size to Earth, 10,521 Km diameter. Axis inclination is a lot smaller, only 4.1°. This is where similarities end. Char is covered with 18 volcanic mountain chains, lava lakes and 5 lava seas. If this is not enough add just imagine 10 billion Zergs crawling on and below the surface. By the way, there are no indigenous life forms present, not now anyway.

Two small moons, Eris and Ate orbit the Char and are also populated (very densely) with Zerg.

Because of very active volcanoes Char is very rich with heavy metals and was a target for Confederation's exploitation. 

In spite of the hellish conditions, Char was originally settled to exploit its fantastically rich reserves of heavy metals to fuel the rapidly growing Confederate economy. However, the planet became a source of friction between the Terran Confederacy and independent mining guilds operating out of Moria.

 

On the other note, I like the references to Moria, Guild Wars and Death Valley.

New Zerg unit revealed - Baneling

After over two months of waiting here is a new Zerg Unit - Baneling. This is not the first time we saw this unit. It was shown in gameplay videos but that was about it.

Now we know more about this unit. Here is official brief about it:

At first the baneling was identified as an unstable zerg mutation of an unspecified genus. Subsequent observations have revealed it to be a morph of the zergling, the most numerous zerg subtype.

This is a good, very good news for Zerg players. Zerglings are cheap unit and can be produces in large numbers. This is giving a great opportunities for some aggressive gameplay.

As expected there has to be a downside.

Zerglings have been seen entering a brief chrysalis phase before emerging in their new form.

I guess during this phase chrysalis will be reasonably vulnerable and they will have to be defended by units like Hydralisk.

Banelings can be exploited as very effective offensive unit. Since they are produced from Zerglings potential numbers can be huge. Of course they have to be used wisely since they self-destruct and in the process produce a lot of damage to units and buildings. Combine this with burrowing and you are in for a treat. Just imagine a choke point with dozen or more baneling burrowed and second after a convoy of Terran tanks passes Bunelings pop up from ground and waste all tanks... 

These living bombs are highly effective against both structures and ground forces; in fact, a clutch of them is capable of wiping out a group of vehicles and infantry in the blink of an eye. The banelings' lethality is further enhanced by the zerg predilection for burrowing. An apparently safe area can soon turn into a deathtrap as these monstrosities emerge and roll into the midst of their foes, giving them virtually no time to react.

Modeling for Unreal Tournament 3

UT3 is very good FPS game based on very powerful engine. Unreal engine 3 is driving a lot of games and few of these you may be playing yourself. It provides highly detailed models, textures, effects and everything in between. More about is available at Unreal Technology site.

 

Games like UT 3 come with smaller or larger number of maps with very detailed and crafted meshes and models. Creation of meshes or models can be is very demanding and creative process. Unreal Editor is quite good editor but it can get you only to a certain level in map/character design. To release your full potential use applications like Maya or 3D Studio Max.

Guys at 3D Buzz have always been great in providing detailed tutorials for a whole range of applications and among these are Maya and 3DS Max.

 

Now they have released a brand new 6 part tutorial how to create an AT-AT walker for Unreal Tournament 3. Videos are available here.

 

If you are interested in modeling in 3D Studio and UT3, grab a cup of coffee (you'll need more than one if you are going to watch all of them) and keep your eyes peeled.

Oh, there is one more thing -you need to register to see videos 2 - 6.  Registration is free and I believe you won't regret it, so go on and register.

Lengths of videos are:

• Part 1, Getting Started - 26 min
• Part 2, Base Foot Shell - 57 min
• Part 3, Toe and foot pad   - 33 min
• Part 4, Underside of foot - 26 min
• Part 5, Ankle track - 49 min
• Part 6, Foot/Ankle details - 35 min

This shows how to create a attractive model that can be placed in the game and with good textures used it's a sure thing!

Doom IV is coming

Two days ago id Software has announced that the work on Doom IV has begun. The news is quite short (read it here) but if you are high caliber programmer or an artist and have a passion for first person shooter horror games you can apply for a position at id Software. 

 

In some of earlier interviews (released when id Tech 5 engine was demonstrated - see my earlier post) John Carmack said that id will stay away from horror/shooter games. Therefore they started working on Rage. I don't know if Rage is still in the works but definitely id wants to cash in on the legendary Doom series.

I have do doubt that Doom IV will look amazing and feature plenty of new features from modern games like very high poly count for player models, world textures (mega textures used in Quake wars), dynamic lighting (maybe radiosity and ray tracing) and something new John Carmack is hiding in his sleeve.

 

Let's hope Doom IV will not be repetitive as Doom III was. I did enjoy playing it in the beginning (first several levels) but then it became quite predictable - dark corner means there is an imp hiding, shoot him, another monster behind you, shoot him, few more from the front, etc. Also, levels close to the end of the game were to gruesome for my taste. 

Starcraft story - Brood war

Second part of the Starcraft - Brood war is here. This is a complex storyline with allies between Protoss and Kerrigan and their search for long lost crystals, traitor among Protoss.

You'll also read about a weapon that could block Zerg communications. What happens with PSI Disrupter?

Well, this is a relatively long read and I don't want to spoil too much.

The whole story is here.

 

"New" Terran unit - Tauren Marine

They did it again! A new super unit for Terran is revealed. It is Tauren Marine. Short blurb about it says:

The obscure planet of Azeroth was found to harbor a dizzying selection of humans, mutants, and aliens in a state of perpetual superstition and conflict. The most physically imposing of these warrior races were the so-called 'tauren,' an anthropomorphic bovine genotype with super-human stamina, overpowered racial combat abilities, and bizarrely well-developed horticultural skills.

While most tauren were satisfied with their agrarian culture and primitive existence, the Confederacy was able to lure away large numbers of young bulls for a life of adventure and violence along the galactic rim. Other tauren referred to these adventurers as 'mad cows,' and they were ostracized from the rest of their kine. The newly created tauren marines didn't care--they got neat-looking armor and big guns to own everyone else with. These beefy new soldiers are now an integral part of the Confederate military, and have managed to horn in on the roles traditionally filled by firebats and other infantry units.

 

See them in action against Terran

or against Zerg

 

For the real gems check the link and watch the moovies. Some serious butt kicking there!

 

 

No, this is not a spelling error or typo. They wrote moovie...

 

P.S. Did you really  believe them? On April 1st news?

Starcraft II gameplay video

There is a new gameplay video available on GameTrailers. It if focused on the Protoss (the player) fighting both Terran and Zerg. The nice feature is commentary of old units with new abilities and new units as well.

Here is the video (standard resolution). Be patient, it is about 21 minutes long.



If you want to see this in HD head over here.

The real treat is at the very end of the movie (if you like Zerg)...

First Zerg units in Starcraft II revealed

Finally, after a long wait first units for Zerg are here. There is a brief description of the Zerg race which I'll quote:

The zerg are a race entirely unlike the terrans or the protoss. They are composed of many different species integrated into the Swarm via zerg infestation. These creatures are rapidly and selectively evolved into deadly and efficient killers to further the driving zerg imperative of achieving absolute domination. The zerg make no use of technology to create their weapons, armor, or starships. Instead, these functions are efficiently fulfilled through biological adaptation and planned mutation of the zerg strains. Even zerg buildings are in fact specialized organs within the living, growing organism of a zerg nest.

When the zerg first arrived in the Koprulu sector, they were unified by their absolute obedience to the zerg collective sentience known as the Overmind. The Overmind ultimately directed the actions of every zerg creature in the Swarm, functioning through a hierarchy of lesser sentiences. The first and most important tier of these consisted of the cerebrates, each entrusted with direct control of a sizable section of the Swarm. The cerebrates' commands were disseminated in turn by the overlords, which directly ordered and controlled the mass of zerg creatures both in their nests and on the battlefield.

Although the Overmind was primarily driven by its desire to consume and assimilate the advanced protoss race, it found useful but undeveloped material in humanity. Taking a powerful terran psionic, Sarah Kerrigan, the Overmind evolved a new and unique creature: the Queen of Blades. When the protoss destroyed the Overmind during the invasion of Aiur, the Queen of Blades manipulated the dark templar into eliminating the surviving cerebrates. As a result, she came to dominate the Swarm.

After this I guess you want to see the new Zerg units. Now, back to the units. Not surprisingly, first two units are Hydralisk and Mutalisk.

Hydralisk

The origins of Hydralisk are from planet Slothien. Before the Zerg assimilated them they were peacefull herbivores. Now they have a reputation. A one as vicious killers... Main "weapon" is the armor piercing spine. Hydralisk is using great deal of muscle power (total of 4000 muscles) to launch spines. A single spine will go through 2 cm of solid neosteel at maximum range. Recommended defense for Terrans - siege tank. A very handy feature of Hydralisk is burrowing ability (I've been using that a lot). Hydralisk is known for getting convoys by surprise or waiting for slow and vulnerable units to come close and then destroy them.

Mutalisk

This is the flying force of Zerg. Mutalisk can attack targets both on land and in the air. This makes them quite versatile unit capable of good defence or attack. The primary attack is glave wurm - voracious symbiote that can rapidly strike at several opponents as it explosively disintegrates. In large numbers they can devastate a moderately defended base.

Now we have some videos to see how new units actually look like and how they operate.

Zerg vs Protoss gameplay

From GameTrailers here is the video of Zerg fighting Protoss. First half of the movie shows more or less standard destruction and burrowing of Hydralisk. In the second half you will see how Protoss got tricked into chasing remaining Zerglings just to find their own destruction by some new awesome powerful and self-destructing Zerg units.

Zerg vs. Terran

Here is how to trash the Terran army, again from GameTrailers. In the beginning there is a new unit, travelling underground and undetected by Terran infantry. They infect the barracks and then the carnage begins... Mid section of the movies shows another new unit defending the base -very efficiently against Marines and Vikings. Next, there is a new flying unit infecting several Battlecruisers.

From other source (GameVideos) comes a shaky cam of new Zerg trailer.

That is all for now. We expect a lot more soon...

Unreal engine 3 updates

At GDC some improvements to Unreal 3 engine were demonstrated. At Gametrailers site you can see the HD video of these. The list includes:

• ambient occlusion - adds more realistic display of the individual objects in the level by generating more realistic shadows
• advanced character lighting - this really helps to see the actors. Check the video to see the difference!
• high density crowds - now you can blast away hundreds of enemies
• dynamic fluid surfaces -now water looks very real
• matinee improvements - now with real time preview in editor
• soft body physics - now famous demo with "meat cube" showing incorporation of Ageia's technology for soft body physics and liquids.
• destructible environment - an extension of PhysX engine. Just check the video to see new level of realism that can be achieved.

Here are some examples in relatively low quality (screen capture from the video)

Horde

Fluid surfaces

Soft body

Destructible environment

My favourite feature is destructible environment. If used wisely in a level it can influence gameplay in a really good way. Let say we have a level with multi level buildings but with destructible components (roofs, walls and floors). The battle starts and as the time progress top level(s) or building(s) crumbles and changes the way you play - there is no more cover or it is greatly reduced.

DM-Lego map for Unreal Tournament 3

This looks like a fun map to play. It is simple and destructible! To see what I mean heave a look at the video.

If you like it get it from here.

If you would like to know more about UE3 updates check this inverview with Tim Sweeney on Team Xbox site - 4 pages long.

Ender's Game will become a game

Not too long ago Chair Entertainment announced on their News & Press page that they have bought interactive rights for Ender's Game. The plan is to bring this novel to all next generation consoles and PC.

If you are not familiar with Ender's Game I would recommend you go to the bookstore and look for a copy. The novel was published in 1985 by Tor Books. Of course, I won't re-tell the story! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. As reassurance of my recommendation this book won Nebula award and Hugo award next year as well!

Personally, one of most memorable parts of the book are the 'Battle Room' war games descriptions. Quite often I would find myself imagining the battle in zero-gravity and how I would tackle the situation instead of reading the book. Now I will have a chance to do that!

From technology point of view, game will use Unreal 3 (U3) engine. The U3 engine is one of the leading game engines on the market right now. The best examples of capabilities of it check out games like Unreal Tournament III, Gears of War, Bioshock and lots of other titles. As core technology U3 engine is supporting Ageia's PhysX hardware acceleration. If you read my previous post there are some really exciting news on that front.

Lets' wait and see if all factors will fall in place (nVidia making cheap PhysX cards in mass production, Chair Entertainment doing a good job and U3 engine handling game content) and hope we don't have to wait too long.