Monday, April 27, 2009

While I Was Out ...

Goodness. I've been home three days and I am still digging my way out of previous posts and announcements. Here's the latest news:

ArenaNet has announced that we've sold 6 million copies of our games, just as we are coming up to our 4th anniversary. I'm delighted by the continued popularity of the Guild Wars and am excited about where we are going with the game.

Also, the company has started distributing the game on Steam, so you can purchase stuff online.

In other news, The Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 2, (which contains Ed Greenwood's story, "Elminster at the the Magefair", adapted by yours truly) has been nominated for an Origins Award. I am delighted by the nomination, though I think both the fiction and nonfiction categories are tough this year.

Jim Lowder was both an editor and a contributor to the WoD&D Vol 2, and is also the editor of the recently announced Family Games, The 100 Best 100, sequel to Hobby Games, the Best. Yep, I have something in this one, too.

But not all news is good. I got this note from my agent, Ashley Grayson, about the recent Google Books settlement, which legitimizes the "not evil" corporation's previous posting of other peoples' copyright material and gives creators the chance to "opt-out" of their continued use of such information by a method that is currently on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'. Right now I am trying to figure out which (if any) of the shared world projects which bear my name would be covered by this, and if I need to brave a leopard. Oh, did I mention you have to decide RIGHT NOW about this?

And watch, they can put up the Starcraft Archives without any prob, but I'll get in trouble for quoting Hitchikers' Guide.

More later,