Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning, by 38 Studios (Curt Schilling's company)

[Maawdawg]

First Vin Diesel and now this. Recently retired MLB pitcher Curt Schilling is heading up a game studio that has been working for the past 24 months on an MMO. The working name is Copernicus and it is tentatively dated for 2010.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/24/ov...es-hed-made-a/

Author R.A. Salvatore (Forgotten Realms books, notably the Drizzt series and Icewind Dale series) and artist Todd McFarlane ("Spider-Man" comics, creator of Spawn) are the other founders of the studio, along with Schilling.

Digging through some old articles it looks like he has some decent people working on the project and running sections of the studio.

*company CEO is Brett Close, formerly of Midway and EA
*UI designer is Irena Pereira (WoW, WoW:BC, WoW:WotLK)
*music by Aubrey Hodges (King's + Space Quest, Doom, Quake)
*art design by Thom Ang (Medal of Honor, also from X Files)
*system designs by Travis McGeathly (former lead designer of Everquest)

It is being developed on the Unreal 3 engine.

Looking into it at first I figured it would be some whimsy of his as I knew he was an EQ addict from interviews of him on the Red Sox. It really seems this project is moving though and he has a lot of talent on the roster putting it together. I will probably end up keeping an eye out for more news now.

[Ender]

Hmm, interesting.. I'll have to keep an eye out on this as well, sounds like it may be a decent project. I wonder what his awesome new idea is though.. If it's just another WoW clone.. *thumbs down*

[Jurgy]

Do you happen to know if this will be a console or PC game? Please post any updates you get on this, because I'm interested to see what this game is all about. All the development on this sounds pretty good, so I'de like to keep up with this.

[Maawdawg]

I haven't seen anything definite but I would assume it will be a PC game first and foremost due to Schilling's PC MMO addiction, though with Unreal it could go to consoles as well. If I see anything else I will pop it up in here. I will probably hunt around for some more info tomorrow.

[Eleazar]

I heard about this a long time ago on ESPN.

[Maawdawg]

here is a decent interview with Schilling from G4TV.

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/69...m-Sessler.html

[Ender]

I watched the interview with Schilling, and it seems that it is to be.. what I was dreading- a WoW clone. I'm all for story driven content in games, but the market for fantasy based MMO's is SATURATED.

[Maawdawg]

They haven't really said anything about the game at all so you never know what the final product is going to be like. It obviously isn't going to be a completely different style but I don't ecpect a cookie cutter game either. There is only so far you can go with an MMO. To call it a clone when nothing has even been hinted at as to game info may be a bit premature.

[Ender]

Nah, I listened to him say that it was a fantasy MMO, which, in my opinion, is a saturated market. The already established lore of WoW runs deep, and I wouldn't bet any new IP that comes along is going to be deep enough, and readily accessible enough for people to really break away from WoW.

If the game was accessible enough to the masses, I wouldn't bet it had depth enough to keep players at it, again like WoW. I'll still keep tuned in on this, but I'm just voicing my opinion on what we have to go on, which is admittedly not a whole lot. My earlier statement about it being a WoW clone was a throw away one; but the point remains the same in the regard that the MMO market is pretty well saturated at this point with most of everyone who wants to be playing having a WoW subscription. Sure, those players may break away to try out the biggest new MMO, but numbers and polls have shown that most of those people turn back to WoW in a relatively short amount of time.

All I'm saying is that I personally don't have much hope for this game. Maybe I'm just sick of hearing about MMO's. We shall see.

[Maawdawg]

Yeah, no argument on the fact that WoW has a stranglehold on the market. It has already survived a few "WoW-killer" games. The people just go for a few months then come right back.

[Maawdawg]

Here is the trailer for their first game.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/22/ki...s-o/#continued

some art and screenshots
http://kotaku.com/5594132/first-reck...ising/gallery/

A Salvatore story brought to life from the lead designer of Oblivion doesn't sound bad. I will have to keep an eye on it. I should have a new PC by fall 2011, since that will be around Diablo 3 time.

[Redenbacher09]

This hammer, is freaking awesome.


Besides that, this reminds me a whole lot of Everquest 2. It does look very pretty, however, and it also looks like a PC game at first glance. I can't really see any substantial sized MMO's appearing on the 360 simply because of the limited disc space, but I suppose if it was downloadable, they could make it any size they needed and you would have to install it on your HDD.

[Maawdawg]

This one isn't the MMO, it is a single player open world RPG. They have a couple games in production right now. I didn't know this one was going to be console released as well but it is coming to all 3 platforms.

The character designs and game visuals are done by the creator of Spawn too, which could be awesome. Almost as awesome as that hammer. They need to port that thing into Red Faction: Armageddon.

new interview with Schilling
http://www.hookedgamers.com/features...schilling.html

He seems like he as a pretty clear view of the gaming market, and his intentions in it. Pretty crazy that he dumped 30+ million of his own money into this company to get it rolling. It could be an amazing investment though in the end, because it seems like he wasn't afraid to go recruit the best names possible for what he wanted created.

This is always nice to see as well...

"Curt Schilling: Absolutely. I don't know if you know Fires of Heaven at all. Fires of Heaven was a website, a very edgy one. But I've been posting on there for four years. I've always interacted with the community, when I was with the Phillies and when I was with the Red Sox. I always talked to fans on some obscure fan sites because I grew up a fan. I was a gamer long before I was in game development. I know what it is like to wait two years for a game that is been hyped, to log in and play the game and go, "Wow, this sucks." And there's a lot to be learned in and around those forums and those websites. "

He has always had a deep fan interaction and acts like a fan himself so it doesn't surprise me to see him take that approach. He did so often when he played in Boston. When researching the signing that got him here he joined SonsofSamHorn forum, which is a really hardcore Boston Red Sox fan forum and read and participated there and used it to find info for his decision and get a feel for the fanbase. He also was known as "Curt in a car" here because of his propensity for calling WEEI (our area sports station) to discuss/argue about the team with the radio personalities there and fans he thought were out of line.

He is definitely passionate about what he does, so hopefully that shows in the final product.

[Redenbacher09]

Well then I might have a new single-player RPG on my horizon. If that's what it's going to look like, I'm already impressed. Especially if he understands, unlike some other developers, that what the fans get hyped up about, is what they expect in the game.

[Nicholbert]

I had no prior knowledge of this, and because it is Schilling, I would rather watch it burn than piss on it to put it out. At least, those were my initial thoughts. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have zero respect for Curt Schilling. However, with his passion for gaming, and the investment he has put forth in this studio, I might just give the ****er a chance. I will keep my eye on this thread for future updates...

I really hate Schilling.

[UnHoly One]

I had no prior knowledge of this, and because it is Schilling, I would rather watch it burn than piss on it to put it out. At least, those were my initial thoughts. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have zero respect for Curt Schilling. However, with his passion for gaming, and the investment he has put forth in this studio, I might just give the ****er a chance. I will keep my eye on this thread for future updates...

I really hate Schilling.

So why don't you tell us how you feel about Schilling?

Don't hold back, now.


lol

[kouper]

hey look, a yankee's fan. :-)

[Nicholbert]

So why don't you tell us how you feel about Schilling?

Don't hold back, now.


lol

I wish I could, but I just don't have the time...

hey look, a yankee's fan. :-)

It's true, but my hatred raged long before he went to Boston and colored his socks with a red sharpie...

[Redenbacher09]

He's a new man now! This is Schilling the Game Developer, not Schilling the Baseball Player. Come on, his making an RPG, and he just changed classes!

Spoiler:

I have no idea who Schilling is. My opinion is not exactly backed up with anything of merit. I force you to accept it and assimilate anyway.

[Nicholbert]

I think assimilate is a word which needs to be used more often...

Curt Schilling was a MLB Starting Pitcher. He is best known (by the streamlined kids) as the guy who pitched in the World Series with blood soaking through his sock due to a fake ankle injury. And by blood I mean red sharpie ink, as indicated previously. But throughout his career he was an outspoken, classless, uncouth, representative of MLB. He was a mullet wearing trailer park junkie in Philly, and he was just a trailer park junkie in Boston. Now, he has a radio show, is a guest analyst on ESPN's BBTN, and apparently a game development studio owner. I will admit at times, he makes valid points, especially in the realm where substance abuse is concerned in professional sports, but mostly he is just a pompous asshole.

[Redenbacher09]

Hah! Sounds like the perfect person to be a spokesperson for a game development studio! This should be interesting

Thanks for the background by the way

[Maawdawg]

Nicholbert's opinion is pretty much anyone outside of Boston's opinion on Schilling, but ESPECIALLY Yankee fans. Schilling is to them what A-Rod is to Red Sox fans. The only thing I disagree with is the fake injury thing. It may have been over dramatacized by FoxSports and ESPN due to the World Series and trying to get ratings/hits, but it wasn't fake. He missed an entire year after pitching those two games and was really never the same after. He is definitely a loudmouth who strays too far into the political when he has a mic in front of him which has earned him many of his detractors, but he is a really passionate person/fan when it comes to bseball, video games, and competition in general.

He is one of the few stars who jumped up right away and begged for steroid testing in MLB and is one of the only people who would/will criticize people in the MLB players union and call out other players he thought used to gain an advantage over clean players.

[Nicholbert]

Nicholbert's opinion is pretty much anyone outside of Boston's opinion on Schilling, but ESPECIALLY Yankee fans. Schilling is to them what A-Rod is to Red Sox fans. The only thing I disagree with is the fake injury thing. It may have been over dramatacized by FoxSports and ESPN due to the World Series and trying to get ratings/hits, but it wasn't fake. He missed an entire year after pitching those two games and was really never the same after. He is definitely a loudmouth who strays too far into the political when he has a mic in front of him which has earned him many of his detractors, but he is a really passionate person/fan when it comes to bseball, video games, and competition in general.

He is one of the few stars who jumped up right away and begged for steroid testing in MLB and is one of the only people who would/will criticize people in the MLB players union and call out other players he thought used to gain an advantage over clean players.

Alright fine. It wasn't fake. But it should have been. Goddamn media. As far his passion goes: yeah it's true. And I bet that is why whatever products this studio puts out will be top notch in quality. I admit I have a slight bias against him, but I try to keep that out of it. But if I get the chance to paint him for what he is, I will.

[RAziel1979]

This looks great!! I love RPG'S!!!

Trailer: http://reckoningthegame.com/

Check out the screenshots on the main Page.

http://reckoningthegame.com/

[kouper]

I thought there was already a thread on this? Or maybe it was mentioned somewhere... anyway Im fairly excited, hoping its as good as oblivion