23rd October 2011 / Appearances / On Sale / Shang-Chi / Videogames
SPIDER-ISLAND: THE DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU #3 goes on sale this week. This is the final part of the story, and features some nice treats for fans of the Immortal Weapons.
The jaw-dropping villain revealed! A conspiracy of horror exposed! Shang-Chi, master of kung fu, uncovered a monster threat to humanity’s very existence in the midst of the Spider-Island infestation… but can he stop it in time?
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing Shang-Chi. He’s one of the few characters I’ve lobbied Marvel for, and I’ve been talking to them about doing a standalone Shang series for a while. Fingers crossed it’ll come to pass, but for now I wave a sad farewell to The Master of Kung Fu.
(This is also the last book I worked on with editor extraordinaire Alejandro Arbona before last week’s bloodletting, which makes me doubly sad.)
The order code is AUG110600, and you can read a three-page preview at Comic Book Resources.
Also, a couple of appearances to announce:
First, I’m doing a short signing at the MCM London Expo this weekend. I don’t have a table at the expo this year, and will unfortunately only be around for one day. So if you want to catch me for any reason, make a note: Saturday 29th, 1-2pm @ The Comic Village signing table.
And the day before that, I’ll be on the Writing Games 2.0 panel at the London Screenwriter’s Festival, along with top-flight writers Steve Ince, Andy Walsh and Ed Stern. I’ll also stick around for the Q&A afterwards, so if you’re attending the festival, come up and say hi. This one is Friday 28th, 5-6pm @ Regents College.
7th June 2011 / Interviews / Shang-Chi / Videogames
Couple more interviews about THE DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU for you to read; the first is at Newsarama, which is perfectly normal, and features an exclusive announcement of mine and Seba’s next book together!*
The second, a little more unusual (and a lot more exhaustive) is at Iron Fist Fan, because of Iron Fist’s involvement in this series. I’ll be honest, I certainly didn’t expect that.
Finally, some minor game news. You may recall I mentioned that I spent some of April writing lines for a sports fitness game. Well, it’s finally been announced; a console version of Adidas MiCoach, a formerly mobile-only regime in which real athletes instruct you through runs and workouts. I can’t give any further details at present, but suffice to say you’ll understand more when I can reveal whose lines I wrote…
*No actual news of future books, bushy-tailed or otherwise, is implied or should be inferred. By reading this disclaimer, you are now unable to avoid thinking of squirrels.
4th June 2011 / Videogames
I’m finally allowed to talk (but only a little) about one of the games I worked on earlier this year: XCOM, a modern reboot of the classic ’90s X-COM series, which is in development by 2K Marin.
My involvement in the game isn’t huge; sadly, the timing was bad and I couldn’t commit to a lengthy period of work, so I didn’t do any narrative design or cutscene scripting (though I know the guys who are doing all that stuff, and believe me, it’s in very good hands).
What I have done is write all the dialogue for the AI teammate characters, and contributed to enemy AI lines, which means you’ll hear a lot of my dialogue while playing the game. It also means the only audible line in the new E3 trailer is one of mine. Nice.
I was a big, big fan of the original X-COM series (I remember spending days and days playing through the first game with a friend, locked away in a bedroom with nothing but Pringles and Coke for sustenance. Good times). So I was really excited to contribute even a small part to this remake, and I can’t wait for next April.
8th May 2011 / Musings / Videogames / Wasteland
Yikes. Just noticed that I haven’t posted here in over a month. The fact that I hadn’t even realised says all you need to know, really — I’ve had my head down, busy as hell and loving it.
In the past month I’ve started two new miniseries for Marvel (one is due to be announced at the end of next week, I’ll post again then); written an issue of WASTELAND (new issue coming soon, promise!); delivered a version of my Comics to Consoles talk at Black Rock Studios (went well); started some more work on Binary Domain (Nagoshi-san isn’t kidding about how much dialogue the game has); been out to Slovenia (lovely place); worked on concept and narrative for a couple of new games; and scripted a bunch of lines for a sports/exercise game.
Of course, the problem as it relates to blogging is that 99% of this stuff I can’t talk about yet. But that should change in the months to come. And the Marvel stuff, in particular, should make people who enjoyed my previous work for them pretty happy.
28th January 2011 / Dead Space / On Sale / Videogames
Not content to bundle it with DEAD SPACE 2, I’m informed that EA has now also made the PS3 version of DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION available as a standalone download, from the PlayStation Network. It definitely seems to be getting a better reception this time around, which is nice.
Meanwhile, on the App Store, over 90% of all ratings for DEAD SPACE (iOS) are a full five stars. Also nice!
I’m off to the US for a week (up at 5am for a 12-hour flight! Joy!), so updates here — and the usual messages and replies on email, Twitter, Facebook, etc. — will be slow at best until I return.
25th January 2011 / Dead Space / On Sale / Videogames
DEAD SPACE for iOS is now on sale from the App Store (iPhone & iPod Touch / iPad).
This is another prequel to the main game of DEAD SPACE 2; you take on the role of a mysterious Sprawl engineer known only as ‘Vandal’, who’s on a mission to… well, I don’t want to spoil it for you. Suffice to say, this is DEAD SPACE and things don’t go well.
The iOS edition has been garnering rave reviews all over the place for its graphics and gameplay, which is truly as close as you can get to the original on a touch device. It’s a pretty astounding technical feat, and hey, the story’s not bad either.
Speaking of the main game, DEAD SPACE 2 itself is also on sale today, and if you cough up for the PS3 Collector’s Edition, you get a new HD version of DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION thrown in. The PS3 version, as you might expect, is compatible with the Move controller (though you don’t need a Move to play it).
ADDENDUM: I’ve just been informed that Visceral devs say EXTRACTION is in fact included with all PS3 versions of DS2, not just the Collector’s Edition. Hurrah!
EXTRACTION was a bit of a lost gem in the DEAD SPACE series. It won awards, got some fantastic reviews praising its story, acting, atmosphere and pacing, from people who actually played it… but frankly, not enough people actually played it. So here’s hoping the game gets a new audience, and a new appreciation, on the PS3.
1st December 2010 / Appearances / Daredevil / Shadowland / Videogames
DAREDEVIL #512 goes on sale this week — alongside SHADOWLAND #5, and together they round out the main storylines of the Shadowland event (All that remains is SHADOWLAND: AFTER THE FALL, an epilogue which goes on sale next week).
Years of acting as the Guardian Devil of Hell’s Kitchen have taken their toll on The Man Without Fear. Hell’s Kitchen lies in ruins, and it is up to the people of New York to start anew and begin rebuilding. In this last chapter of his story, will Matt Murdock at last find final redemption for the events of SHADOWLAND?
This was a hell of an issue to write, and even a little emotional at the end. The issue code is SEP100605, and I hope you all enjoy it.
A quick round-up of other news:
— Sega have announced BINARY DOMAIN, a new videogame from the creators of the Yakuza series, to be released in 2012. So now you can probably guess why I was in Tokyo earlier this year…
— While I was down in London for Thrilling Wonder Stories II, I made time to pop in and be interviewed for the We Are Words + Pictures show on London Fields Radio, talking to host Michael Leader about comics, games, writing, and heavy metal, though not necessarily in that order. It was a great show, with a fantastic playlist (biased, moi?) and some lovely coffee to boot. You can hear it online at Mixcloud, download it from the WAW+P site, and read Michael’s show notes at his own blog. You can also follow WAW+P on Twitter.
— Finally, the guys from Geek Syndicate filmed me hawking my wares at the recent Thought Bubble, all in the pursuit of naked capitalism. (Wish they’d told me one of my collar points was askew, but you can’t have everything…)
10th November 2010 / Musings / Videogames
You may recall I attended GDC Online, the Game Developer’s Conference in Austin, last month. I was invited to talk about working in both comics and games, in front of a crowd of working games writers — which frankly scared the bejeezus out of me, but I’d been considering attending anyway, so I figured what the hell.
The talk I gave was called Comics to Consoles, dealing with the similarities (and differences) between both media; where games can learn from comics; and how writing comics can help you develop skills useful for writing games.
It went down quite well, I managed to not make a complete arse of myself, and that was that. I knew they were video recording all the talks, but I also knew the video archive would only be available to view by registered attendees…
…Until now. In their infinite wisdom, GDC have decided to make a select few talks available for free viewing, by anyone. Including mine. I find this both awesome, and slightly terrifying.
Click here to watch me babble along at a mile a minute (Warning: requires Flash, it’s an hour long, and you really need to watch the slides too for full effect).
12th October 2010 / Dead Space / On Sale / Videogames
DEAD SPACE IGNITION, the “prequel / prologue / sidequel / whatever you can want to call it” to DEAD SPACE 2, is available today to download on Xbox Live. I’m pretty sure it’s out on PSN today, too, but I don’t have confirmation of that. From the official release when it was announced:
IGNITION will show fans what happens in the hours leading up to the beginning of DEAD SPACE 2 with gameplay that is fast-paced and accessible.
[It] combines an interactive comic-style story with three unique hacking games; Hardware Crack, Trace Route and System Override. Each game offers a fun arcade experience that will challenge players with puzzles and twitch gameplay.
IGNITION features a unique ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ type narrative, allowing players to survive the initial Necromorph outbreak on the Sprawl in multiple ways, with four different endings.
And for the gotta-have-that-edge hardcore players among you, each different ending also rewards the player with an unlockable for use in DEAD SPACE 2. Probably a spare pair of underpants, or something.
DEAD SPACE IGNITION costs 400 points on XBLA, $5 on PSN — or if you’re a smart cookie and pre-ordered DS2 in the US, you should receive a free download token to get it.
7th January 2010 / Interviews / On Sale / Videogames / Wasteland
WASTELAND #27 is now on sale. This is the second part of the “Enemy Within” story arc, following Jakob’s perspective on the six months following the Sand-Eater attack.
The order code is JUL091015, and here’s the solicit:
After saving the city from the Sand-Eaters, Jakob has a plum position in the city Watch… but Golden Voice’s call for freedom will give him pause for thought. Working for a man he despises and abandoned by his faith, Jakob must decide where his loyalties lie as Newbegin faces a Sunner rebellion!
(Observant readers will have noticed that WASTELAND #29 hasn’t yet been solicited; don’t panic, we just ‘paused’ solicitations when it became clear #26 and #27 would be delayed, because we all hate soliciting books that we know we can’t ship. We’re getting back on track now, so #29 will be solicited next month.)
Of interest to the videogame crowd: the inimitable Fran Shergold of Ready Up! recently interviewed Rhianna Pratchett and myself about writing for games, and it turned out pretty interesting. You can read the whole thing here.
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