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Writers begin to turn to Video Games

Brian Mohr — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:12:38 -0600

Hmm. Wonder if he's hiring?

It's approaching almost a month since the Writers Guild of America, for television, film and radio, has gone on strike. While writers are waiting for demands, some are turning their attention towards a new option: video games.

Variety magazine recently talked to one such writer, who commented that "It has been an interesting shift. The literary agents are now saying, 'Why don't we get our clients over there during the strike?' even though in the past they thought the money wasn't good enough or the work is too demanding."

Video game writers as a whole make far less than their screenwriter counterparts. This is due in large part to the fact that game writers are not in unions.

This new interest in games for writers is making the WGA consider adding them to the union. So much so, in fact, that they even plan to feature an award at the Writers Guild Awards this spring.

"By recognizing the skill and craft of video game writing, the Writers Guilds intend to raise the profile of these writers so that they can get WGA contracts and benefits for this work," WGA West president Patric Verrone said.

New Guild Wars: Eye of the North Screens

Solomon Lee — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 14:32:00 -0500

This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

NCsoft has released four new screenshots for Guild Wars: Eye of the North on the PC. Enjoy.

Guild Wars: Nightfall Announced, PvP Event This Month

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 10:27:00 -0500

This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.The original author is Evan Lahti.

NCsoft Europe announced an upcoming addition to its popular MMORPG today, the next game in the award-winning franchise, Guild Wars: Nightfall. The company also announced that Nightfall has entered the beta testing stage and Guild Wars players worldwide will be invited to participate in a special player-versus-player event beginning on July 28.During the PvP "preview event," both Guild Wars: Prophecies and Guild Wars: Factions players will get a first look at Guild Wars Nightfall, and will be able to try out the two new professions being introduced in the game; the Dervish, a scythe-wielding holy warrior, and the Paragon, guardian angel of the Elonian people. In addition to testing out the new professions and arenas, players will also be able to compete for items that will be exchangeable for a variety of rewards throughout the weekend event. Read more details about the professions straight from NCsoft below, and check out two screenshots of the character models:The ParagonThe Paragon is a brilliant battle commander who wields a shield and throwing spears, using a variety of verbal chants and shouts to provide temporary empowering boosts to themselves and their allies. Through their insight, Paragons can also help allies resist hexes and conditions. The Paragon's armor is ornate and usually made of a mixture of metal and leather inset with ivory, mother of pearl, and other semiprecious materials. Paragon armor has an angelic motif, usually in the form of wings engraved onto the metal plates.Paragons are the guardian angels of the Elonian people, chosen by the gods to serve as emissaries among mortals and serve as that land's champions against malevolent threats. Each has experienced an event in their early lives where they should have died, but did not. They ascribe their survival to the gods themselves, and dedicate their lives as the gods' servants in the mortal world.The DervishDervishes are scythe-wielding holy warriors who can attack multiple enemies at once. Because the broad sweep of a swinging scythe can strike multiple foes at once, the Dervish seeks the very heart of a battle. The Dervish will calmly and intently cast spells on themselves even while surrounded by foes, and suddenly unleash a flurry of devastating, whirling, scythe attacks. The Dervish has a variety of combat-related enchantments and inherent healing and protection abilities. Their greatest power, however, is that of transformation. The Dervish, when roused, may channel divine powers and change their form to temporarily become the physical embodiment of a god.The Dervish's attire is a testament to the dual nature of the Dervish as both a priest and a warrior. They wear a robe to show their faith in the divine, bracers to demonstrate their prowess in combat, and a hood to mark their humility before the gods. This garb provides limited armor, but the Dervish is shielded in battle by their agility and by the enchantments that they cast upon themselves. These enchantments make them resistant to injury, turn aside the attacks of their foes, and lend elemental power to their attacks.

Guild Wars Passes Two Million Sales Worldwide

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 08:24:00 -0500

Proving that a subscriptionless MMO can have real legs in the genre, Guild Wars has gone double-platinum globally. In related news, NCSoft announced that their new expansion title, Guild Wars Factions, was the top-selling PC title in North America in May.

Yeah, I know. It's no WoW. No way you can scoff at those kinds of sales figures, though.

About two years ago now, I chanced to run into Richard Garriott's brother Robert at a private party in the mountains of New Hampshire, who was very gracious to my somewhat starstruck self. Discussing the as-then unreleased Guild Wars title he and Richard were then working on, he'd mentioned that, based on GW's bandwidth-nonintensive design, they'd need to sell about a million units in order to reach a point of 'reasonable profitability' with the title (my friend also tried to finagle a beta invitation for our gaming clan, which went nowhere).

Well, Robert, the world has seen your million units, and raised you another mil. Congratulations to the Garriotts and NCSoft from this gamer.

Guild Wars Breaks 2 Million Mark

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:28:00 -0500

ArenaNet and NCsoft have announced that Guild Wars and it's stand-alone follow-up, Guild Wars: Factions, have sold over 2 million units combined. That's quite an impressive feat for any franchise, but the fact that GW can only be found on the PC is a testament to the appeal of the series. Some of that appeal, however, could be attributed to the fact that the online component does not require a fee to play.

If you're not one of the 2 million that own a copy of either title, you can pick one up for $49.99.

GH Preview: Guild Wars (PC)

Tim Grube — Sun, 22 May 2005 16:10:00 -0500

This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

The team from NCSoft gave us a sneak-peek at a few upcoming additions to their popular PC title, Guild Wars. The big thing that they plan to implement is the spectator mode so gamers can watch matches all over the world. Before, players had to be playing in that group to be able to watch it. Many gamers have wanted this for quite sometime now, and from the looks of it itll do a great job in that area.

Besides spectating mode, the team is also hard at work on a few upcoming maps. A map that contains polar bears and a mountain range will be implemented very soon. Guild Wars Chapter 2 was also discussed and they still stuck to their plan that Chapter 2 will be released in 2006.

We didnt see much on these new updates, but from what did we see it seems to be coming along very well. Spectator mode will be a huge hit in Guild Wars. Well have more on this as soon as it becomes available.