Marvel MMO -- Back On Line?

I was disappointed when I heard that the alliance between Cryptic Studios and Marvel fell through, and the Marvel Universe MMO had been canceled.

While I am somewhat looking forward to DC Comics Online (ever the optimist), knowing SOE and the crappy company they are, I have a feeling I will not be playing that game. This leaves Marvel, if I want to play a super hero MMO in a recognized universe. Knowing that Cryptic is a good company, having made City of Heroes, a fun game that I still play regularly -- I thought the alliance would be a good one. Obviously that didn't work out, and Cryptic is now involved in other projects.

Anyway, Marvel has now struck a deal with a company I am not familiar with -- Gazillion Entertainment. Looks like they are starting out with a kid's game, which doesn't surprise me, but it also seems they will be developing something for us old comic freaks.

Here is the announcement, made yesterday:

03/17/2009
Gazillion in agreement with Marvel Entertainment to bring iconic super heroes to massively multiplayer games audience, unveils new company and studios

Games in Development with Marvel Entertainment
in Addition to Original IP for All Ages

SAN MATEO, Calif. — March 17, 2009 — Gazillion Entertainment today unveiled a key partnership to develop massively multiplayer online (MMO) games based on one of the world’s most revered entertainment brands, Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL), as part of Gazillion’s plan to bring high quality MMO entertainment to wide audiences. While operating in stealth mode as NR2B Research, the company assembled four development studios and has forged long-term partnerships with select entertainment brands worldwide.

Despite the tough economy, the video game industry continues to grow, and MMO games for mass audiences represent the next big opportunity for the upcoming decade,” said Rob Hutter, President and CEO of Gazillion. “This is particularly the case for established global entertainment brands like Marvel, which possess hundreds of millions of touch points with fans worldwide. The next step is exceptionally high quality MMO entertainment, and that’s our mission at Gazillion.”

With team members from Apple, Blizzard Entertainment, Microsoft Game Studios, Pixar Animation Studios and many other leading companies, Gazillion has assembled talent from across the landscape of MMOs, console video games, animated feature films and technology to address the mission of building breakthrough MMOs capable of resonating with wide audiences. Privately held and backed by leading venture capitalists, Gazillion is comprised of four wholly-owned production studios as well as publishing, operations and an innovative online payments group.

MMOs Extend Franchises, Offer New Market Opportunity
“The global online PC game market is expected to reach $19 billion in 2013, and Casual and AAA MMOs are expected to reach $11.8 billion in 2013, representing a growing shift beyond the core to audiences of all types and ages,” said David Cole, founder and president of DFC Intelligence. “The keys to success will be the ability to release products for a range of audiences and a focus on making games a quality ongoing service. As the market grows, large entertainment brands will play an important role in expanding the audience. Marvel has taken the lead in going after this emerging opportunity and it speaks volumes that they chose Gazillion as their partner in this space.”

Gazillion today announced a worldwide licensing agreement with Marvel to develop and publish MMO games featuring Marvel’s iconic universe of more than 5,000 Super Heroes, including elements from its films and animated series. The first game in development is a casual MMO for younger audiences based on Marvel’s Super Hero Squad property. Super Hero Squad features an exciting, super-stylized look for the greatest Super Heroes, including Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Thor, Fantastic Four, Captain America and many others.

In addition, Gazillion will be developing and publishing Marvel Universe, a highly anticipated MMO for PC and consoles. Further details on Marvel Universe will be released in the upcoming months.

“Marvel’s library features a large and world-renowned stable of characters, making it tailor made for massively multiplayer entertainment that will appeal to a wide audience eager for more opportunities to interact with these iconic character franchises,” said Simon Philips, President, Worldwide Consumer Products for Marvel Entertainment. “Gazillion’s excellence in casual and AAA MMOs makes this an ideal partnership to fully leverage this powerful entertainment arena, bringing fans an exciting, interactive experience with the Marvel brand.”

Studios and Services
Gazillion has assembled a world-class roster of online game development professionals within four wholly-owned but individually operated studios, in addition to its publishing and operations centers in San Mateo, CA. Details currently being shared include:

* Amazing Society (Issaquah, WA), which is developing the Marvel Super Hero Squad Casual MMO;
* Gargantuan (San Mateo, CA), which is developing the Marvel Universe PC and console MMO;
* NetDevil (Louisville, CO), which is developing the LEGO Universe and Jumpgate Evolution MMOs;
* Slipgate Ironworks (San Mateo, CA), which is developing an original MMO property; and
* SmartyCard (San Mateo, CA), the award-winning payment service for kids and leading online games.

Additional titles under development have not yet been announced.

About Gazillion, Inc.
Gazillion Entertainment, Inc. is a leading developer, publisher and operator of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games for wide audiences. Gazillion has assembled talent from across the landscape of MMOs, videogames, animated feature films and technology to address the mission of building breakthrough massively multiplayer experiences featuring world class brands and original franchises, superior production quality and unmatched gameplay. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Gazillion has four independent but wholly owned MMO development studios located in California, Colorado, and Washington currently in production on Casual and AAA MMO properties. The company also owns the award-winning SmartyCard payment service for younger audiences which works with leading online games and more. For more information on Gazillion, its products and services please visit www.gazillion.com.

About Marvel
Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 5,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in licensing, entertainment (via Marvel Studios and Marvel Animation) and publishing (via Marvel Comics). Marvel's strategy is to leverage its franchises in a growing array of opportunities around the world, including feature films, consumer products, toys, video games, animated television, direct-to-DVD and online. For more information visit www.marvel.com.

Super Hero(es) is a co-owned registered trademark.

Let us pray....

Resign or Commit Suicide?

This is what I call putting the ASS in GrASSley:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Have a safe and fun day, everyone!

Collins: Why this Scientist Believes in God

I've been debating with a bunch of atheists over at MMORPG.com lately; and while googling, I found this very nice essay:

Collins: Why this scientist believes in God

POSTED: 9:37 a.m. EDT, April 6, 2007
By Dr. Francis Collins
Special to CNN


Editor's note: Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the Human Genome Project. His most recent book is "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief."

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- I am a scientist and a believer, and I find no conflict between those world views.

As the director of the Human Genome Project, I have led a consortium of scientists to read out the 3.1 billion letters of the human genome, our own DNA instruction book. As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan.

I did not always embrace these perspectives. As a graduate student in physical chemistry in the 1970s, I was an atheist, finding no reason to postulate the existence of any truths outside of mathematics, physics and chemistry. But then I went to medical school, and encountered life and death issues at the bedsides of my patients. Challenged by one of those patients, who asked "What do you believe, doctor?", I began searching for answers.

I had to admit that the science I loved so much was powerless to answer questions such as "What is the meaning of life?" "Why am I here?" "Why does mathematics work, anyway?" "If the universe had a beginning, who created it?" "Why are the physical constants in the universe so finely tuned to allow the possibility of complex life forms?" "Why do humans have a moral sense?" "What happens after we die?" (Watch Francis Collins discuss how he came to believe in God Video)

I had always assumed that faith was based on purely emotional and irrational arguments, and was astounded to discover, initially in the writings of the Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis and subsequently from many other sources, that one could build a very strong case for the plausibility of the existence of God on purely rational grounds. My earlier atheist's assertion that "I know there is no God" emerged as the least defensible. As the British writer G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, "Atheism is the most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative."

But reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one to think with the spirit as well as with the mind. You have to hear the music, not just read the notes on the page. Ultimately, a leap of faith is required.

For me, that leap came in my 27th year, after a search to learn more about God's character led me to the person of Jesus Christ. Here was a person with remarkably strong historical evidence of his life, who made astounding statements about loving your neighbor, and whose claims about being God's son seemed to demand a decision about whether he was deluded or the real thing. After resisting for nearly two years, I found it impossible to go on living in such a state of uncertainty, and I became a follower of Jesus.

So, some have asked, doesn't your brain explode? Can you both pursue an understanding of how life works using the tools of genetics and molecular biology, and worship a creator God? Aren't evolution and faith in God incompatible? Can a scientist believe in miracles like the resurrection?

Actually, I find no conflict here, and neither apparently do the 40 percent of working scientists who claim to be believers. Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things.

But why couldn't this be God's plan for creation? True, this is incompatible with an ultra-literal interpretation of Genesis, but long before Darwin, there were many thoughtful interpreters like St. Augustine, who found it impossible to be exactly sure what the meaning of that amazing creation story was supposed to be. So attaching oneself to such literal interpretations in the face of compelling scientific evidence pointing to the ancient age of Earth and the relatedness of living things by evolution seems neither wise nor necessary for the believer.

I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship.

Here's the video I believe they are talking about in the text:

Watch more YouTube videos on AOL Video

I'm Fishermage, and I approve of this message.

Ron Paul PWNs Stephen Balwin

...with the TRUE conservative Christian perspective on the war on drugs:



Paul didn't say it, but IF God owns you, as sold out Christians like to claim, then YOU, not the state, are the steward of the body and mind that God gave you. Therefore, the Powers and Principalities have no place in regulating how you and God work out what you do with that body and that mind.

The Purpose of the government is not to curb vice, but to protect rights.

It was fun watching a real conservative Christian beating a fake one to a pulp. Good going, Ron.

/hat tip to Scott over at Tomato blog.

"Especially Those Who Believe"

An interesting discussion of 1Tim 4:10, which I discussed here:

Lex Luthor Bailout

Lex wants his own piece of the Obama pie.

"Lex Luthor Bailout" with Jon Hamm - watch more funny videos