It was recently divulged that 38 Studios has acquired a license to use Unreal Engine 3. Now why would a company do that? Because it is making a new game, of course! This has been revealed by Steve Danuser himself in a recent interview. More on this after the jump!

Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling's video game company, 38 Studios, just announced that it signed an agreement with Epic Games to use the Unreal Engine 3 technology in its upcoming MMORPG. With an all-star cast in its development team, Copernicus is shaping up to be a promising title for 2010. Know more about it at the full article.

 

It was back in September of last year that we announced the troika of Curt Schilling, Todd McFarlane, and R.A. Salvatore - the group who created Green Monster Games (GMG). This company looks dead serious in creating a kickass and innovative MMORPG, but aside from the job opening, we haven't heard anything about that kickass MMO from GMG. This next tidbit may give you a slight idea of what they're planning to cook up.

Recently, Schilling announced the appointment of Brett Close as GMG's president. Apparently, this guy is great when it comes to marketing games and among the games that he has delivered are Medal of Honor: Rising Sung, Medal of Honor: Frontline, and Nightcaster: Defeat the Darkness. And for his first announcement, the newly positioned GMG prez has appointed Mary Kirchoff as Senior VP of Marketing and Brand Development.

Kirchoff was responsible for the branding, business development, and all that jazz for Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast's popular titles (like Dungeons & Dragons, Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance brands). President Close also welcomed Chaz Sutherland as Art Director. Sutherland comes from the company firm Shiny Entertainment and recently dabbled as a Visual Effects artist and visual effects animator on games like Matrix: Path of Neo, Medal of Honor : Rising Sun , and Allied Assault: Spearhead , Golden Eye 2.

With the core group already being completed, all we need now is some updates on that MMO they are working on.

Curt Schilling. He may be the starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, he may be a self-confessed fan of EverQuest II. But does his Green Monster Games has what it takes to churn out a great MMO, or any MMO for that matter? Well, for now, nothing is certain, but Curt Shilling's recent interview with The Escapist may give us a glimpse of what he can or can't do with his team-up with Salvatore and McFarlane.

When he was asked if he sees Green Monster Games as a mere pet project or as something he'll be someday working on full-time, this is what he had to say:

This is something I will focus on explicitly and completely when I'm retired. Outside of working out for this season and my family right now, it's taking up every minute of my day.

Ok, we've settled that issue. So what would Curt do at Green Monster? He said that he is the founder and CEO of the company. He got a president and they'll be creating the core team over the next six months. That team will consist of 30 people. So what would be R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane do with the company. Schilling has this to say:

R.A. was hired on as the creative director. R.A. will drive the creative vision, the story behind what we're doing. He's got a pretty decent track record of writing some pretty good stories.

Todd will literally be the art director. He will be behind the artistic vision of R.A.'s story. We will have an art director in house that will collaborate with Todd and Todd's team to take Todd's conceptual vision and turn it into a game world and game players and game characters.

Although he didn't mention anything about what kind of MMOs Green Monster Games are preparing for, a little optimism doesn't hurt. But then again, one can't live on optimism alone. To read more of Curt's interview, click on the Read link below.

Call it a dream team of imagination, fantasy, art, and gaming. Red Sox pitcher and EverQuest fan (and NPC loot-dropper) Curt Schilling, Spawn's Todd McFarlane, and sci-fi/fantasy author R.A. Salvatore form the trinity behind Green Monster Games LLC, and they're aiming to pitch their first MMO to the market. And to do so, the dream team's looking for new members, fresh blood to complete their dream. Someone with talent, someone with passion. Preferably someone who knows his way around C++ and Gamebryo.

GMG's looking for a Lead Programmer to take change of developing the first of what they plan to be "industry-changing games." Aside from C++ and Gamebryo engine experience, candidates should also be able to design, develop, document, and debug quality code, design and implement server/client side game code for MMOs, possess a strong background in client/server/network programming, and work well in a team of highly-talented developers, artists, designers, and programmers (and they're not just talking about Todd, Curt, and R.A.).

Looks like Green Monster Games is poised to break into the MMO scene big-time.

Word on the net says that baseball legend and avid MMO fan Curt Schilling is teaming up with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and popular sci-fi/fantasy author R.A. Salvatore to form a new Boston-based video game company called Green Monster Games.

Schilling, who pitches for the Boston Red Sox, is already known for his interest in gaming. He owns a small paper-gaming company called Multi-Man Publishing and was recently turned into an evil NPC in EverQuest II in the name of the ALS Association charity. Schilling has also been a longtime EverQuest player.

The names Todd McFarlane and R.A. Salvatore became associated with Green Monster Games through the job ads the company has posted on various game job sites. McFarlane will apparently be helping the company as the lead artist on their new project, with Salvatore taking on the role of creative director for Green Monster Games's output.

Green Monster Games is apparently named after the 37-foot left field wall at Fenway Park, home to Schilling and the Boston Red Sox. Green Monster Games aims to create what it describes as "industry-changing games."

So far, there have been no concrete news yet on the games that Green Monster Games might be developing. With the weight of the names behind this company, though, it seems not too presumptuous to expect something big once Green Monster Games finally makes their first game announcement.

Fantasy fans are in for a real treat at this September's Dark Age of Camelot Roundtable Fan Gathering, as EA announced today that bestselling author R.A. Salvatore will keynote the event.

Salvatore is one of the fantasy genre's most beloved and successful authors. Through iconic and well-written characters such as the dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden, he has attracted a tremendously loyal following. Salvatore’s most recent book, The Promise of the Witch-King, the second book in the Sellsword Series, debuted on The New York Times best-seller list.

At the Roundtable, Salvatore will speak about how he got started writing, his experiences with computer gaming and projects he is currently working on.

The Roundtable Fan Gathering will take place at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 29th and 30th.

Here's a little multiple choice test for you:

It's Saturday night. What are you doing?

a) Making a short story based on the latest Dungeons and Dragons Online quest you made.
b) Rendering a sketch on this interesting DDO character you saw, except you're making it all pretty, with fairy wings, unicorn horns and a bright, pink dress.
c) Tinkering around with photoshop. You like tweaking screenshots from DDO.
d) Playing DDO.
e) Drooling over Drizzt's Du'Orden pictures.
f) Pretending to BE Drizzt Du'Orden.

If you answered yes to any (or all) of the choices, then DDO has a treat for you. There will be three contests for the month of August, and a Dark Elf Trilogy book, signed by R.A. Salvatore himself await winners for each category. One is for the best original DDO artwork, another is for the best in-game DDO artwork (screenshots or what-have-you's), and the last one is for the best DDO short story. Take note that all entries must be original and there'll only be one winner for each category, but you can send as many entries as you like.

Entries should be sent via email; include your forum name in it, and send a message to the thread that you've already sent your entry. Winners will be notified via PM and the contest results will also be posted in the forums.

If you're a fan of any Sony Online Entertainment's MMORPG's, listen up! If you're coming to San Diego's Comic-Con on Saturday, 22 July, SOE is inviting you to their first-ever Block Party, going from 3 - 7 PM!

SOE is offering shuttle buses for Con attendees from the San Diego Convention Center between 3 and 5 PM  (look for the SOE signs near section B of the Convention Center). Return trips to the Convention Center will be run  every 30 minutes until the party's over.  It's highly recommended that party-goers take advantage to this service as parking will be very limited.

As for what you can expect there - in addition to food, drink and door prizes, attendees will get a guided tour of SOE's San Diego facility and a chance to try out some game demos - including a special preview of their upcoming PS3 title, Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom! Those in attendance will also have the opportunity to meet team members and staff (and might get to drop some of them into a dunk tank!) Other party guests include fantasy author R.A. Salvatore and comic writer and Matrix Online tale spinner Paul Chadwick.

The best part of all this...? It's *FREE*!