big-huge-games posts

This trailer is something that most fantasy lovers will be giddy over, but will most likely go over the heads of those less buried in the genre. Standard epic music and flashy character designs don't really distinguish Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, even if it does look competent. Rather, it's the names associated: R.A. Salvatore (creator of several best-selling fantasy book series), Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn), and Ken Rolston (lead design on Oblivion). Despite these famous names, though, this trailer is merely alright. All flash, no detail.

Download the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning 'Visions' trailer
Check out all Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning downloads

When 38 Studios officially announced plans for its single player fantasy RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning back in July 2010 the game was slated for release sometime in the fall of 2011. Not any more, according to a new preview of the game over at VG247.com.

The extensive preview of the game confirms that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is now slated for release sometime in 2012. While it's not stated in the preview it's possible that 38 Studios wanted to move the game out of the way of another big single player fantasy RPG release due in fall 2011, Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim.

The controversial decision by the state of Rhode Island to approve $75 million in loan guarantees to developer 38 Studios earlier this year is still generating lots of opposition from local political officials. GamePolitics reports that the state's general treasurer Frank Caprio has now fully thrown his hat against the deal after previously sitting on the fence.

Caprio, who also happens to be running for Rhode Island's governor seat for the Democratic party, has now said he wants credit rating firms Moody's and Standard & Poor's to "hold off on reviewing the project until a new governor can take office." Naturally some of his political opponents have accused Caprio of flip-flopping on his views. 38 Studios, which is currently based in Massachusetts, wants to move its main offices to Rhode Island in order to make its fantasy MMO title code named Copernicus.

Earlier this month we reported that 38 Studios was considering moving its main headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts to Rhode Island in order to secure loans from that state's government. Today Boston.com reports that the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. has indeed voted 8 to 1 to give 38 Studios a whopping $75 million in loan guarantees to move to the state. 38 Studios claims it will bring 450 jobs directly to Rhode Island by the end of 2012. If the developer shuts down operations, the state will have to repay the loans.

The game studio, founded by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, just announced its first game last week, the fantasy RPG Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning, which is being developed by Maryland-based Big Huge Games. 38 Studios' main office is working on a fantasy MMO code named Copernicus.

Another Massachusetts-based game developer, Demiurge Studios, made the unusual move of emailing to the press an open letter written to Schilling. The letter, which is also available on Demiurge's web site, asks Schilling to reconsider moving 38 Studios out of the Boston area. Demiurge's CEO William Reed states, "As 38 Studios' in-development MMO grows, you will soon realize that although the capital you have secured will fund your endeavors, the most vital and necessary component to completing your project is the vast pool of talent and resources you are leaving behind." Reed adds that members of 38 Studios who don't want to move are "more than welcome to join the team at Demiurge Studios, the state's soon-to-be largest independent game studio."

As promised, developer 38 Studios and publisher Electronic Arts has released the first teaser trailer for their upcoming and epic single player fantasy RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The game's official web site has also launched with some screenshots (reproduced in our gallery) and more info about the title from 38 Studios' Big Huge Games division.

From the looks of the CGI trailer and the in-game screenshots this title looks a bit like the Elder Scrolls games hopped up on crystal meth. There's still not a lot of concrete info about the game but perhaps today's San Diego Comic-Con panel will give up some more info. In the meantime you can check out the teaser trailer (not for the kids, by the way) after the jump:

Download the HD version of the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning teaser trailer at Big Download

Jumping the gun a bit on its Comic-Con presentation on Thursday, publisher Electronic Arts and developer 38 Studios have announced that the upcoming fantasy single player RPG previously known as "Project Mercury" now has the official name of Kingdoms of Amalar: Reckoning. The game is set for release in fall 2011.

Developed by 38 Studios' Big Huge Games dev team the game will feature "a magical world, filled with strange landscapes, exotic cities, colorful characters and terrifying creatures" along with a "fast-paced, graphically stimulating action combat experience." More specific info, including the release of the game's first trailer, will still be revealed at the Comic-Con panel starting on Thursday afternoon.

Later this month the sold out San Diego Comic-Con begins and it's becoming more and more of a place for game developers and publishers to show off upcoming titles and even make a few game announcements. The official Comic-Con web site has just posted up their panel schedule for the first day of the convention, Thursday, July 22, and it reveals that one game will be getting its world premiere during the show.

That game will be "Project Mercury" the code name for the upcoming RPG title from 38 Studios, the game developer formed by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, and its subsidiary Big Huge Games. Big Download confirmed that the panel will indeed be about "Project Mercury" via a 38 Studios rep. The panel discussion, which will feature Schilling, art director Todd McFarlane, author R. A. Salvatore and designer Ken Rolston, will reveal the actual game title and will also have the premiere of the first trailer for the game.

July 22's panel schedule for Comic-Con is going to have lots of other game-themed programming including panels on City of Heroes: Going Rogue, Dead Rising 2, World of Warcraft, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2 and more.

After several years of developing their projects on their own, 38 Studios, the game development studio founded by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, finally has a publisher for its first game. Today on the first day of GDC 2010 it was announced that Electronic Arts has signed on to publish the game known at the moment only as "Project Mercury". It's the open world single player fantasy RPG that's being developed by Big Huge Games, the development company that 38 Studios bought from THQ in 2009.

38 Studios was first formed several years ago with the idea of launching a fantasy MMO under the code name Copernicus. The game that Big Huge Games is developing is not that MMO but is apparently set in that same universe with its background being developed by author R. A. Salvatore and with art design by comic book artist Todd McFarlane. Little info on the game has been revealed and EA's announcement today did not reveal a release date for "Project Mercury" (not the game's real title by the way).

Over a year ago we did a feature article about all those games that were currently known to be in development but were unannounced (and did a sequel adding even more of those games a few months later). We referred to them as "Black Ops Games".

Since those two articles have been released there have been lots of developments. So it seems appropriate to look back now on our previous two articles to find out which games on the list have been revealed, which ones are still secret and which ones we can now add to the "Black Ops" list. First, we will take a look back at the games on our first two Black Ops game lists that have since been officially announced or now known to have been canceled.

It's been some time since now former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling announced that he was forming 38 Studios, a game development company that is working on a fantasy MMO game with the code name "Copernicus". Since then the game itself has stayed mysterious while 38 Studios made a major acquisition this year when they bought the development studio Big Huge Games from publisher THQ.

The Boston Globe web site has an update on what's going on with the company. The article has an actual target day for the release of 'Copernicus" saying that 38 Studios is targeting December 2010 for its tentative release. However the article also points out that any AAA MMO game needs a ton of money to develop it to completion. So far Schilling has been the company's biggest investor but has failed to attract any other outside investors to help out.

Update: Our sister site Joystiq has received official word from 38 Studios that the release date mentioned in the Boston Globe story is incorrect and there is no set release date. However, 28 Studios is planning to finally release details about the game sometime in 2010.