project-mercury posts

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.

While developer 38 Studios is getting close to announcing the first concrete details of its upcoming RPG code named "Project Mercury" at Comic-Con next week, the company is apparently thinking about moving its home offices in Massachusetts to a location in Rhode Island.

The Boston Globe web site reports that 38 Studios is interested in taking part in a state-run program in Rhode Island that will give high-tech companies loan guarantees in exchange for setting up shop in their state. The story claims that 38 Studios is looking for as much as $75 million in loan guarantees. 38 Studios was founded by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and perhaps because of that history Massachusetts' state government is considering options to try to keep 38 Studios in their state. The developer also owns Maryland-based Big Huge Games.

[Via Blue's News]

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.

It's well known that former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling decided to form the game developer 38 Studios with his own money, he went all out. As reported by Gamasutra, a new case study published by Harvard Business School has Schilling state, "I have put the majority of the money I've earned in my life on the table."

In fact he put down the first $5 million investment in 38 Studios (then called Green Monster Games) without telling his wife. In the end he realizes that perhaps starting the company was in some was a bad idea, saying, "There was no way I should have started the company when I did. It wasn't fair to the Red Sox, it wasn't fair to these people, and beyond all of that it wasn't fair to my wife." However Schilling is determined to put 38 Studios on the map, saying, " . . . the only failure scenario is a quit. Quitting is not an option."

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).