My initial thoughts on MASS EFFECT 3's ending. (SPOILERS!)

I was up until 2:30 this morning finishing Mass Effect 3. I'm a huge fan of these games and this was the fastest I've ever finished any of them. Not because it was easier or shorter than the rest but because I deliberately rushed through it, which is counter to the way I usually play these games. I am a "stop and smell the roses" kind of player; I think people who blast through content in order to get to the ending more quickly are doing it wrong. Epic games like this are meant to be enjoyed and savored and made to last as long as possible, especially on a first playthrough, which you only ever get to do once. But in this case there was so much public controversy and discontent swirling around the internet from people who had blasted through it to see how it all ends that I felt like it was only a matter of time before I ran into a massive spoiler - and when it very nearly happened this week I decided to stop smelling the roses and race to the finish before my luck ran out. So now I know how the story ends.

Guess what? I didn't hate it, although I do have many questions and a few criticisms. On the whole I thought it was audacious, provocative, and only partly nonsensical. I haven't yet had time to dive into the wealth of comment that's out there and review the criticisms in detail, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suspect that a lot of the discontent comes from people who have been coddled for too long by easy "Hollywood" endings in which the hero saves the galaxy, gets the girl and everyone lives happily ever after - but with one tiny dangling thread that leaves the door open for another installment. That's been the standard endgame language of big, epic, high-production storytelling for decades, and it's created expectations that cause us to be upset and confused when they're not met. The story of the Mass Effect trilogy does not end in an easy, feel-good way which leaves a clear path for future games, nor do I suspect it was designed to make the player feel comfortable. But it's not unprecedented in storytelling, in fact I can think of at least one other very popular story, a pretty old one, in which the hero sacrifices himself to save all of mankind and in doing so becomes an immortal legend that people still talk about and follow thousands of years later.

So for those reasons I didn't hate it. But did I think it was a good ending? I don't know yet. It's still very fresh, I'm still processing, and I'd be lying if I could tell you what it all means. And I'm okay with that. Again, I don't think storytellers have an automatic obligation to answer every single question and tie off every single loose end when a story concludes. It's good to leave some stuff ambiguous and open to interpretation and debate. Now it's possible BioWare erred a little too much on that side of the line here, and I'm less surprised about some of the complaints in this area. There are certainly some ways in which the ending does not make sense, at least to me. (I had EDI as part of my London assault team so the fate of the Normandy makes even less sense than it does to most.) But I think the bigger problem is really how the final sequence was handled - it was way too talky, with so much complicated and lengthy exposition being thrown at the player in a very short space of time that it was impossible to take it all in, much less fully comprehend. Remember that scene at the end of the second Matrix movie with the Architect waffling on endlessly about stuff we barely understood? Yeah.

The other criticism flying around is that there's not enough variation in the endings, that the player is left feeling like after all they've done they don't really get to make a choice that makes much difference to the fate of the galaxy. Okay, I get that. For the record, I took the middle path, and just watched a video that shows how the other choices play out. I think BioWare simply over-promised here. The previous games had different endings but they're really just minor variations on a theme that allowed players to more or less continue from a common point in the galaxy next time out. But if you're going to fundamentally alter the galaxy I imagine it's difficult to realistically present the player with a lot of choice over the nature of that change and still keep the door open for future games. Like the previous two games, the endings of Mass Effect 3 are variations on a theme, not the wildly different scenarios some players may have been led to expect. I understand that. Although here again I think a lot of the upset is coming from people who have been conditioned by storytelling tropes to believe that the hero should always be in control and the master of their destiny - where in reality of course that is almost never the case. In the end Shepard does all he can, and makes the ultimate sacrifice, when finally faced with a situation too galactically massive for even him to fully affect.

I think BioWare made a really gutsy choice to end Mass Effect 3 the way they did and I applaud them for having the courage to do it. I do think it could have been executed a little better. But I think it has to say something that the ending has generated so much discussion, and that this is the first time ever I've written an entire article about a game's ending. It seems like BioWare is now scrambling to respond to public demand and is making noises about "fixing" the ending. I think that's a shame. When you're writing a story you should always go with what you think is right rather than try to guess what your audience wants, and I think the same is true retrospectively too. No matter all the whining and complaining I think BioWare should stick to their guns. I'm sure they had a plan for where this would all go next before the game released, so why they are second-guessing themselves now I have no idea. And I think they should be flattered that all the complaints are stemming from a place of love and affection for the characters and the universe they created. Going back to my original point, an audience conditioned by decades of endings of no real consequence and easy reset buttons because storytellers are afraid to upset the apple cart is always going to be perturbed by an ending like this one which dramatically alters the nature of the universe and characters they have come to love while leaving no easily predictable way forward. But I love that. Even if there was no way forward and this was the end of Mass Effect I'd be okay with that. Because as much as I love the games and want to keep playing them, that's what all good stories eventually do. They end.

Oh, and to those people contributing to the growing meme that the ending sucks because it's not sufficient reward for all the "work" they put in getting there? Shut the fuck up. Games aren't work, if they were you wouldn't play them. They're fun, and the game is hugely fun to play even if the ending does leave a bad taste in your mouth.

The Book of Eli - deleted scenes

Last time I posted a scene from my movie The Book of Eli which was filmed but was excised from the final cut. Now, here are a couple of scenes that were cut from the script before the film was shot.

It's interesting to me that many people assume The Book of Eli is a Christian film with a pro-religious message. For the record, I'm an atheist, and for me the film is as much about the destructive and pernicious power of religion as it is anything else. I love the film that was made and feel very lucky that it is extremely faithful to the script I wrote, but if I have one regret it's that I wish we had pushed that angle a little more. Aside from allusions in the backstory to how the world was destroyed, in the film that point is really only made in a couple of scenes in which Carnegie (Gary Oldman) talks about the pervasive influence of The Bible and how it can be used to control people. But in movies it's always better to show rather than tell and so I wrote a couple of scenes designed to really illustrate how Carnegie ran his town like an old-fashioned biblical despot. Those scenes never made it into the shooting draft and they are published here for the first time.

Actually they're two versions of the same scene. In the final film the Carnegie minion charged with standing guard at Eli's door but lets him escape is punished with a simple bullet to the head, which is shocking but not as shocking, or as thematically on point, as these two variations might have been. Here's the first one:


EXT. DESERT TOWN - POTATO FIELD - DAY


On the outskirts of the town. A few acres of ground have been ploughed into a POTATO FIELD. The soil is dry, baked by the blazing sun.


Carnegie walks between the plowed furrows, with JORDACHE - the guard who fell asleep beneath Eli’s window - alongside. Jordache has sobered up, appears very nervous to be here.


Ahead in the distance, THREE MEN are at work in the field, driving some kind of STAKE into the earth at its center.


Carnegie squints as he gazes up at the searing sun. CROWS circle overhead, cawing. More fly low over the potato field, pecking at the crops.

CARNEGIE

Damned crows. As is it wasn’t difficult enough to raise a crop out of this blighted earth...

JORDACHE

Mister Carnegie... I’m so sorry for what happened this morning.

Jordache looks at him imploringly, desperate. Carnegie pulls a potato from the earth and examines it. A meager specimen.

CARNEGIE

Look at this. They said nothing would ever grow here. If this here isn’t proof of a miracle...

He stands and looks again to the sky, contemplative.

CARNEGIE

God doesn’t ask us for much. Not in comparison to all that he has given us. But when he does ask - when he sends us a sign - we have a duty to heed it, to set aside our own selfish wants and desires.

They’re closer now to the field workers, the three men just about finishing up their work.

JORDACHE

I know. I was weak. I’m so ashamed. All I ever wanted was to do my part for you and this town. If you could find it in yourself to forgive me-

CARNEGIE

But it’s not my forgiveness you should be seeking, is it?

JORDACHE

Of course. I’ll do whatever I’ve gotta to get square with the Lord.

Carnegie puts a comforting hand on Jordache’s shoulder. 

CARNEGIE

You don’t need to do anything. That’s the beauty of it. He’s already forgiven you.

Jordache breathes a sigh of relief.


As the three field workers finish up, we see their completed work - TWO WOODEN POLES tied together in a T-shape and driven into the earth.


The sight of it unsettles Jordache. But before he can react ONE OF THE WORKERS JUMPS HIM FROM BEHIND, wrapping a LENGTH OF CORD around his neck and pulling it taut.Jordache slumps to his knees, eyes bulging, choking. Flailing helplessly as the cord is pulled tighter. Carnegie looks down upon the dying man dispassionately.

CARNEGIE

It’s comforting, isn’t it? To know in your final moments that all your worldly sins are washed away. And that even in death, God can find for you a purpose.

TIMECUT - Carnegie and his men walk away across the field, headed back toward town.


Jordache’s dead body has been CRUCIFIED ON THE WOODEN POLE, arms outstretched. Arranged to form a GROTESQUE SCARECROW.



And here's an alternate version of the same scene:


EXT. DESERT TOWN - MAIN STREET - DAY


Carnegie stands before a wall, where an old TELEGRAPH POLE has been staked into the ground. The wall is POCK-MARKED, dented and beat-up, peppered by a thousand small impacts.


Tied to the post is JORDACHE, the guard who fell asleep beneath Eli’s window. Now stone sober, he WEEPS, terrified. Carnegie regards him impassively. Addresses himself to an UNSEEN AUDIENCE, off-camera. Once again, in performance mode.

CARNEGIE

God doesn’t ask us for much. Not in comparison to all that he has given us. But when he does ask - when he sends us a sign - we have a duty to heed it, to set aside our own selfish wants and desires.

Carnegie looks at the terrified Jordache with disdain.

CARNEGIE

Or else we betray him.

Turning back to the unseen audience:

CARNEGIE

Ours is a loving God, but he is also a vengeful one. He doesn’t tolerate failure or infidelity. He has no mercy for those who pervert or undo his works - and as his faithful servants, neither must we. 

(beat)

I wish this were not necessary. But our Lord has made his judgment be known, through me. If this town is to continue to receive his blessing and protection, he demands of us a show of our commitment - our loyalty - to his divine will.

Carnegie glances back at Jordache, who stares directly ahead, tears streaming down his cheeks, mortally afraid.

CARNEGIE

May God have mercy on your soul.

Carnegie steps away - and as he does so, our new angle reveals a GROUP OF TOWNSFOLK standing a few yards away, facing the bound man. Men and women, adults and children - each of them holding ROCKS IN THEIR HANDS.


A child steps forward and HURLS HIS ROCK. It strikes Jordache’s forehead, cutting it open. He CRIES OUT in pain. But there is no sympathy for him - the first stone thrown serves as a floodgate for all the others that follow.


The townsfolk STONE THE MAN TO DEATH in a barbaric execution the like of which we haven’t seen in a thousand years.

Eli and Raiders

I don't know if anyone ever really picked up on this, but my movie THE BOOK OF ELI is really one big fat homage to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, my all-time favorite movie.

In both movies, the forces of good and evil battle for possession of a sacred religious artifact. The hero understands its intrinsic worth and wants to preserve it for the right reasons. The villain is only interested in using it to control the world.

In both movies, the hero is to some extent protected by God, who has a vested interest in the artifact reaching its intended destination. By the end of both movies the existence of God is pretty much undeniable (although in Raiders it is more overt).

In both movies, the villain eventually manages to steal the artifact from the hero while the hero is captured, but the villain ultimately realizes that the artifact is not what he expected and he and all his henchmen are killed.

In both movies the artifact reaches its intended destination and is put in storage, its future uncertain.

There are a bunch of other parallels but I can't remember them right now, will edit them into the post if they come to me later.

And no, I am not religious.

Why I'm boycotting STAR WARS on Blu-ray

I first saw RETURN OF THE JEDI when it came out in 1983, I was 11 years old. My dad took me to see it at the old Dominion cinema in London; the Dominion is now a big West End theater. It was one of the big formative cinematic experiences of my life; I can trace the origins of wanting to be a screenwriter to specific moments in that movie. 

When we came out they were selling ROTJ t-shirts in the lobby. I asked my dad if I could have one and he said no. As we left the theater I started crying because I was so affected by the the awesomeness and emotional power of the film's ending. My dad thought I was crying because I couldn't have a t-shirt so he took me back in to get me one. I didn't correct him because I was happy to get that t-shirt. 

So for anyone who wonders why some of us get pissed about these movies getting fucked with, it's because of memories like this which are now getting shat on by Lucas. If you feel the same way I do, send Lucas a message; boycott the new tampered-with Blu-ray editions of Star Wars and let him know why.

THE BOOK OF ELI - deleted scenes #1

In the process of writing a script and then turning that script into a movie, a LOT of things change along the way. The "Eli" folder on my computer holds almost 70 different drafts of the screenplay, some consisting of very minor changes, others more drastically revised. As I was digging through some of these old drafts recently I thought it might be interesting to post a couple of scenes that got cut during the development and production process to illustrate how and why things change.

This particular scene actually survived through all those different script drafts and was filmed, only to be cut during the editing process. The intention of the scene was to show that Carnegie's men were constantly on Eli and Solara's trail, but that Eli was doing what he could to slow them down (a necessary invention since Eli and Solara were on foot and Carnegie's team in vehicles).

But when the scene was filmed the directors felt that it simply didn't play as well on screen as they had hoped, which can happen for any number of reasons, and also that it maybe slowed down the pacing of the film during the third act in which things are usually expected to move at a more urgent pace. The deleted scene doesn't appear on any of the home video editions of the movie so it's interesting at least to see it in its written form. Click HERE to download/read it.

So this scene takes place in the silo where Eli and Solara hide out for the night. If you look at the movie and see the transition between the scene where Carnegie's men show up outside the silo and the next scene where Solara is following Eli and asking him about faith, this deleted scene was meant to go right between those two. And here's a still from that scene showing Gary Oldman at his demented best, which is probably all you will ever see of it!

A MIND FOREVER VOYAGING

I was a child of the 8-bit computer gaming boom in the 1980s and as both an avid gamer and a young person with a growing fondness for the written word I was captivated by the "interactive fiction" that the late, great Infocom pioneered during that period. They were more than just text adventures; they painted worlds with words and brought you into them utterly. Zork, Planetfall, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Trinity, Suspended, Deadline... the list of Infocom classics goes on and on, and today the company remains rightly celebrated as one of the true pioneering forces in gaming's development as an art form.

But for me the high water mark of Infocom's work was A Mind Forever Voyaging, a fascinating and thought-provoking piece of science fiction by Steve Meretzky, who also created many of Infocom's other greatest hits. It stuck with me long after I first played it on its debut in 1985, so much so that many years later, as I started to dabble in screenwriting, I wanted to take a crack at adapting it into a movie.

By that time the publishing rights to Infocom's catalog had become buried beneath a pile of legal red tape at Activision and so I knew the chances of ever getting an official thumbs-up would be slim to none, but I pursued writing it anyway as a passion project. Through the connections I'd developed during my time in the gaming industry I was able to reach out to Steve Meretzky, whom I'd met a few times before (he was one of the 25 "PC Gaming Gods" profiled in a photo-feature I organized during my final year as Editor-in-Chief of PC Gamer in 1999) and he very graciously gave me his informal blessing to take a crack at adapting his mind-bending work of interactive sci-fi into a screenplay for a feature film. Endlessly helpful and supportive, Steve even sent me copies of his original research materials and design and story notes to help me with the adaptation and was warmly receptive of the finished work when I sent it to him to read.

That was back in 2002. I would have liked to have taken it to the next step, acquiring an option on the underlying rights so I could have shown the script to producers and seen if there was any interest in actually making a movie. But every attempt I made to talk to Activision about the idea came to nothing. I must have tried ten different avenues of approach, only to hit a brick wall of apathy every time. Eventually I gave up.

My love for the project has never really gone away, and I tried again to enquire about the rights just last year, this time with the assistance of a major producer who had a real interest in making the movie, only to be foiled by supreme indifference on Activision's part yet again. It's a shame to see something you've written gather dust, never to be read by anyone, so I thought I'd make the screenplay available for those fans of the game and any other curious souls to download and read if they wish. I do this with the VERY LARGE DISCLAIMER that this was written nearly ten years ago, when I was still very much at the beginning of the long and difficult process of learning how to write for the screen, and it should be read with that in mind. I've learned a lot since then and I if the opportunity to actually do this movie should ever arise in the future, I would without doubt go back and heavily, heavily revise it. But for now here it is, my unproduced and previously unseen 2002 screenplay adaptation of A Mind Forever Voyaging. Enjoy.

Download A MIND FOREVER VOYAGING (287K PDF)

Star Trek TNG marathon companion notes

Tomorrow me and some of my nerdier friends will be plumbing the depths of geekery with a 12-hour, 17-episode Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon to celebrate Martin Luther King Day - after all, weren't MLK and Roddenberry's dreams of a united, peaceful humankind basically the same? (FACT: The first ever inter-racial kiss on TV happened on Star Trek!)

The action will officially get underway at 10am, athough the livestreams will probably start a little earlier than that - details will follow on Twitter about how to tune in. If you want to follow along with us, here are the episodes that will be on our playlist which you should pull from your box sets in preparation!

A Matter of Honor

The Measure of a Man

Yesterday's Enterprise

The Best of Both Worlds

Remember Me

The Nth Degree

Darmok

Cause and Effect

The Inner Light

Relics

Starship Mine

Parallels

The Pegasus

Lower Decks

All Good Things

I think most Trek fans would agree that's a pretty damn strong list. It was arrived after a long and passionate debate by the marathon participants. Personally there are a few episodes I'm sorry not to see on there, like Disaster, Deja Q, Captain's Holiday, The Wounded, Tapestry and Frame of Mind, but when you only have 17 episodes to select from more than 170, some brutal decisions have to be made.

Anyway, I hope you'll join us on teh livestreamz tomorrow! We'll have Romulan Ale, Klingon Gagh, and even a lovingly-baked cellular peptide cake with mint frosting (thanks @leah)! Yes, we are taking this seriously. As should you.

PAX Prime 2010!

Tomorrow I jump on a plane for Seattle, and PAX - my first time attending this Mecca of gaming and geek culture, and I'm very excited to be there. For those interested in saying hello, here's my schedule:

FRIDAY
1:30pm - Machinima.com booth #3452
I have no idea what I'm actually doing there yet, some kind of on-air interview? My old chum and fellow former PC Gamer Editor-in-Chief Rob Smith works at Machinima.com now and he asked me to stop by so that's what I'm gonna do!

8:30pm - GIANT BOMBCAST LIVE! - Pegasus Theater @ Sheraton
Giant Bomb's Ryan Davis roped me into a secret (well, I guess now not-so secret) appearance at what is sure to be a fun live event. I'll be joining forces with my old chum Jeff Green (of CGW/GFW/Brodeo/Bombcast and all other kinds of fame) and a SPECIAL MYSTERY INDUSTRY GUEST who is sure to stir things up.

SATURDAY
1:30pm GAMES WRITING 101 - Raven Theater
I'll be up on stage with James Portnow (Extra Credits), Pixar's Dan Floyd and a panel of other writers, all of whom have more distinguished game-writing credits than I do, to talk about storytelling and writing in videogames and taking questions from the audience.

So that's it! The rest of the time I'll just be wandering around, checking out videogames and also looking for donuts. If you happen to catch me trying out Dance Central, as I intend to do, PLEASE do not film it.

Those were the days...

Via my Facebook and Twitter feeds I've seen a few comments recently from bloggers and online journalists talking about what heroes they are for their feats of prowess and everything they have to put up with on their game/film/whatever websites. These young whippersnappers don't  know they're born! Like an embittered war veteran I don't often talk about the early days of my own games journalism career, but allow me to put the hardships and heroics of today's young web journalist generation into perspective by detailing some of the things my generation had to put up with to put out a monthly games magazine.

I started writing about games professionally in early 1988, first for Commodore User and then The One for 16-Bit Games. Back then, this is what it was like:

* Word processing? LOL! It wasn't until the early 1990s when the first Macintoshes arrived in the office and we marveled in awe at the technological luxuries that the current generation was born taking for granted. Before then, back in my day, we wrote our game reviews on an electric typewriter which may or may not have had error correction (the few that did were highly coveted and fiercely fought over - the rest of us had to do make do with liquid paper).  Once it's all written out, pull out your red pen and go through it to correct all the mistakes you missed while the paper was still in the typewriter, as well as any notations for bold, italics etc. Don't forget to use the correct typographical notation marks or the typesetters won't have a clue what you mean. 

* Desktop publishing? ROFL! No. After the raw copy is approved it is faxed (a wonder of the modern age) to the typesetters hundreds of miles away, who a day or two later (if you're lucky) will send you galleys with the text formatted into (if you're lucky) the correct typeface and column widths. (Hope that there are no mistakes because there's no way to fix 'em without having the whole thing typeset over again.) Now it's time to take those long strips of text and lay them out. Of course, you can forget about using Quark XPress (or whatever the pros use these days, I don't even know) with all those neat text flow/wraparound tools and other things that make basic magazine layouts so fast and easy. Here, take this razor-sharp exacto-knife and this can of 3M Spray Mount. Try not to cut yourself or inhale too many of the highly carcinogenic fumes as you cut and paste (yes, that's not some imaginary term, there was real cutting and there was actual paste) the text galleys around boxes of the 35mm transparencies of screenshots that you hope will look okay when blown up later - who knows?

* Capturing screenshots using state-of-the-art screengrab utilities and hardware? LMAO! Here's how we did it - go into the "dark room" (usually a small cupboard-like room with garbage bags taped over the windows to keep out the sunlight), set up your 35mm film camera so it's pointing at the game you want to screenshot, then assemble your home-made tent of more garbage bags and scotch tape (because the ones over the window don't really keep out all the light) and hope to God the game has a pause mode that doesn't splatter the word PAUSE all over the screen. Or maybe it does but PAUSE flashes on and off so you have to snap your screenshots in the little half-second windows when it's not there. Or maybe it doesn't at all and you just have to take super fast-exposure pics and hope they're not too blurry after the roll of film comes back from the developers a day later - if you're lucky. Oh, and did I say after it comes back? I meant after you've walked six blocks to the developers to pick it up yourself.

* Internet? ROFLMAO! If you want to talk to someone or send them a message, pick up the phone. If you need to research something, get down to the library. Try just for a moment, tender young weblings, to imagine doing your job in a world where Google and Wikipedia don't exist. Where email doesn't exist. Where none of the internet exists. Yeah.  And even after word processing came in, forget about even moving files electronically around the office using some fancy-schmancy file-sharing network because that shit ain't been invented yet; or if it had our office didn't have it. Dump that copy onto a floppy, son, and walk it over to whomever needs it, or put it in a little envelope marked up with the correct info (article title, author, revision number, etc) and leave it in the correct tray for collection.

* Finally, it's time to publish. What is it you kids today do again? Oh right, you press the button that says "Publish". As opposed to staying up all night waiting for the acetate film sheets of the final layouts to come back from the color house then going painstakingly through the C, M, Y and K separations (because full-color Chromalines were a luxury affordable only for the front cover and a few select pages) looking for errors.

There's more, much more, but the more of this I type, the older I feel.

Kids today, I swear.

Blog - rise from your grave!

Wow, it's been so long since I updated this thing I practically forgot I had it. Well, I've been busy. But THREE YEARS? That's just poor blogging form. So let's try to get back on this horse and see if I do any better this time.

First of all, a disclaimer: if you're expecting this to be one of those awesome screenwriter blogs, informative like John August's or hilarious like Josh Friedman's, you should probably just bookmark those dudes instead. I'm not nearly that good. This is much more garden-variety online narcissism, mostly about work-related stuff. Okay, with that out of the way...

Lots of stuff has happened since my last ancient blog post. To summarize:

* The movie I wrote, The Book of Eli, got produced and released. The whole experience was amazing and the movie came out pretty much entirely faithful to what I intended, which is the rarest of rarities in this business. I'm so thankful to Denzel Washington, Allen & Albert Hughes, Joel Silver, Erik Olsen, Alcon Entertainment and everyone else who played a part in bringing the movie to life for their amazing work. Oh, and of course Atticus Ross, the phenomenally talented composer who created the film's breathtaking soundtrack.

Since the film was released in January it's been a fairly decent-sized hit, grossing around $95m at the US box office and $156m worldwide. It got fantastic reviews from the likes of Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, Rex Reed, Time, Newsweek, The Huffington Post, IFC, Sci-Fi Wire, Ain't It Cool News, The Onion AV Club, CHUD, Collider, The New York Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Denver Post, Chicago Tribune and many others. It was also nominated for three Academy of Science Fiction Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film.

The movie was released on Blu-ray, DVD and online in June and has been #1 in sales and rentals on Nielsen VideoScan, Amazon, Blockbuster, iTunes, Zune Marketplace and On Demand. So far it's sold well over a million copies on Blu-ray and DVD. So I ain't complaining. But more than that I've been amazingly gratified and in many cases touched by all the kind messages I've received from people who appreciated the film; that, in the end, is what it's all about. Thank you!

* Post-Eli I've started work on a couple of new film projects that I'm really excited. Reaper, a supernatural thriller I originally wrote before Eli has had a resurrection of sorts after years in development limbo. Currently titled Undying (though that may change again) the movie now has Kurt Russell attached to play the lead role of private detective Virgil Lone and will be directed by the excellent Jon Amiel, who gave us The Singing Detective, The Core, Copycat, Entrapment and the recent Charles Darwin biopic Creation. We're currently polishing the script in the hopes that we'll finally get it in front of cameras later this year for release in 2011. I'm also working on a couple of other film projects that are as top-secret as they are awesome, and I hope to be able to talk more about those soon.

* I currently have the temporary honor of guest-writing the comic strip for Penny Arcade, one of the greatest webcomics in creation and a major totem of videogame and geek culture. I'm filling in for Tycho and Gabe while they're away at Comic-Con with a new story in their fascinating Automata universe which just started yesterday - you can read Part One here - and runs all through the coming week. It's illustrated by the brilliant Ben Caldwell. Thanks so much to Gabe and Tycho for inviting me to do this, as a long-time fan of Penny Arcade it's a real privilege.

* I'm also currently collaborating on a new original creator-owned comic-book series with the incredibly talented Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan, The Boys) which hopefully we'll be able to unveil soon. The way we're planning to do this project is pretty mold-breaking and I can't wait to be able to talk about it as soon as the various pieces are all in place.

* I somehow managed to snag a walk-on (well, more like a shamble-on) part in one of the year's most anticipated new TV shows. Can't talk much about that either - check back in October.

* Was featured on PlayStation's online magazine Qore, interviewed about past, present and future projects and generally geekiness by the most excellent Veronica Belmont. If you are a PS3 owner, check it out, it's Episode 25.

* Gave a little talk about the journey of The Book of Eli from script to screen at this year's WonderCon, which I was surprised to see so well-attended. I'm doing a similar thing at Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles in October, so if you're around come along and say hi! Oh, I'll be at PAX Prime in Seattle in September too, no panels or anything, just wandering around.

Okay, that's it for now. I can be found on Facebook and Twitter if you're into that stuff.

Back from San Diego

So so tired. Just got back from Comic-Con, must now enter regeneration cycle.

Thanks to everyone who came by for our panel on how to break into the games industry. The whole room was packed out with even more people standing in the back. We were scheduled for an hour but had so many questions to field from the attendees that we ran over by an extra half-hour. While I waffled on aimlessly, some great advice was dispensed by my co-panelists Chris Charla (Foundation 9), Mark Vitello (Sony), John Middleton (Mad Catz) and Christian Svensson (Capcom).

Here's a pic, courtesy of Kotaku:


Next, off to Blizzcon in Anaheim on Friday and Saturday for two days of hardcore Warcraft/Starcraft/Diablo fandom.

Comic-Con details confirmed

Yes, it's that time again. Here are the two places to catch up with me at this year's Comic-Con:

THURSDAY JULY 26 - 6PM-7PM
BREAKING INTO THE VIDEOGAMES INDUSTRY
Chris Charla of Foundation 9 Entertainment and industry friends Gary Whitta (Death, Jr.), Mark Vitello (Sony), Bob Stevenson (Planet Moon), Christian Svensson (Capcom), Jon Middleton (Mad Catz), and Frank O’Connor (Bungie) talk about how to weasel...er, work your way into the world of video games!
Room 30AB

FRIDAY JULY 27 - 3PM-4PM
"DEATH, JR. 2" SIGNING
Ted Naifeh and I will be signing copies of the recently-released "Death, Jr. 2" graphic novel. Come by and say hello! That's at the Foundation 9 Entertainment booth, #4630

Hope to see you there!

"Death, Jr. 2" online order details

If you want to grab a copy of the new graphic novel online, here's at least one reputable site where it's available: Things From Another World.

Here's a direct link where you can put it in your shopping cart and earn a whopping $1.50 discount.

Oh, and here finally is a proper look at Arvin Bautista's cover artwork.

Now appearing on Facebook

I really hate most of these social networking sites and resisted them for a long time. Particularly MySpace, which looks to me like someone dialed the internet ten years back in time to when almost all sites were hosted by Geocities *shudder*.

But Facebook I guess is pretty cool and my old chum Gary Liddon convinced me to give it a go. So here I am.

"Death, Jr. 2" trade paperback

Yup, it's in stores NOW - just picked up my very own copy from the excellent Isotope Comics here in San Francisco.

Turns out the cover image I posted previously (culled from Image Comics' very own site) was not the actual cover. I can't find an accurate cover image online, so this will have to do:

San Diego Comic-Con

Wow, is it that time again already? AWESOME!

I'll be there again this year for the fourth year running. Come by on Thursday 26th July where I'll appearing on a panel about how to break into the games industry.

There's a chance that Ted Naifeh and I may also be signing copies of the new "Death, Jr." graphic novel too, but nothing confirmed. Stay tuned...

San Diego Comic-Con link.

"The Book of Eli"

Here's some big news in Gazland: I recently sold an original movie screenplay called "The Book of Eli" to Warner Bros. for Silver Pictures to produce. It's a post-apocalyptic drama, and we're currently in development. Allen and Albert Hughes (Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, American Pimp, From Hell) are directing. You can read more about the project here in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

This is all very exciting - more news as it develops. In the meantime I'm working on a couple of other really cool film projects which I hope to be able to talk about in more detail soon...

Hey, I met Simon Pegg

Recently I attended a screening of the excellent "Hot Fuzz" attended by Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost. Thanks to my awesome chum Darick Robertson who is buds with the Peggster, we all got together at Simon's hotel after the screening to bitch about the Star Wars prequels and drink lots of beer. Fried gold!

"Death, Jr. 2" trade paperback out now!

According to the Image Comics website the latest "Death, Jr." trade paperback, collecting all three issues of the most recent comic series, is shipping to comic-book stores right now! WOOT! And here's a glimpse of the excellent cover art by Arvin Bautista.

This is probably the last excursion into the comic-book world of "Death, Jr." for myself and artist Ted Naifeh as we're both busy with other projects for the forseeable future. But DJ keeps going strong with new videogame titles for both PSP and Nintendo DS, and a Pandora-centric manga spin-off. There's even a range of Halloween costumes! And there's always the chance of a "Death, Jr." movie at some point down the road. Stay tuned.

"Death, Jr." is complete

Well, we have at last wrapped up the latest (and probably final) run of "Death, Jr." comic-books. The second and third (and final) installment were recently published and they look great - as usual Ted Naifeh did a fantastic job on the artwork.

Here are the covers for Issues #2 and #3:

GameTheory podcast

The Next Generation Online podcast is no more, but it's been replaced now by the Game Theory podcast, which is run independently by myself, co-host Colin Campbell and producer Jeremy Williams. We're 12 episodes into the show already and it's going great. Hit the link for the site, or catch it via an iTunes subscription.

Next Generation podcast

Seems I can now be heard on not one but two weekly videogame podcasts. In addition to my regular guest spots on the PC Gamer podcast, I'm now one of the voices of the Next Generation Online podcast, which has a broader, all-formats scope. So for anything from The Nintendo Wii to PlayStation 3, the Next Gen podcast is the podcast for you. Seriously.

In other, completely unrelated news, my good friend - and brilliant artist - Chris Weston has published an interesting little oddity on his blog, the result of our brief (and hopefully not last) collaboration. Check it out here.

Another DJ 2.1 review

Sabrina Peyton of Fractal Matter has given the new "Death, Jr." a thumbs-up! Check out her review here.

First DJ 2.1 review

Well, at least the first one I've spotted. Comics blogger Johnny Bacardi gives the new issue of "Death, Jr." an A-, making it one of his top picks of the last two weeks. Hey, any time I get a good review from someone named after a hard liquor, I'm happy.

Check out The Johnny Bacardi Show for all his comics reviews.

Comic-Con signing... it's over!

Just returned from San Diego, where Ted Naifeh and I once again sat down together to sign copies of "Death, Jr." In addition to the Series 1 graphic novel, we also scrawled and sketched on copies of the newly-released first issue from Series 2.

Thanks to everyone who came by to say hello and say nice things about the book! I love you guys.