I'm heading to Los Angeles on Saturday for the Annie Awards Ceremony. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is nominated for "Best Animated Video Game of the Year" and my game partner, Joe Olson, and I (and a few other members of our crew) will be there with our fingers crossed. The show will be streaming live Saturday, February 04, at 7:00 PM PST right here, and according to the program book, the video game award will be the first one of the night!
If the window above doesn't work on your computer, go to UStream.com to watch it live.
One of my childhood dreams was to one day have my own comic series. So in early 2001, I made that dream come true and started writing and illustrating a cute yet grotesque science-fiction series called ZED. I planned to tell the story over 10 issues and felt pretty confident at the time that I could have the whole thing wrapped up in a couple of years. Little did I know that it would take me eleven years to finally bring the series to fruition. One thing I realized was that doing an independent comic series all by oneself is hard work.
The first four issues were done relatively quickly as I enjoyed the novelty of the medium and my enthusiasm was high. By the time I reached number four, I was running out of steam and my interest shifted to other things. However, I promised myself I'd return to ZED one day. After a hiatus of two years, I did issue five and made a vow that I would find time to do at least one issue a year from that point on. I kept my vow until issue 9 which was released in 2008.
Then, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and Fixed Fragmented Fluid (as well as quite a few other things) happened and all my free time was highjacked. I had the entire issue 10 in my head but no time to bring it to physical form. Finally, at the end of last year (2011), I got the necessary time to get it done.
So there you have it: A sci-fi epic eleven years in the making!
Issue 2 of The Independent Gamer is out and it features an interview I did with them about a week ago. You can download a digital copy of the magazine for free or get a printed one for $3.80. Check it out! You can also visit their official website here.
Meanwhile ITSP is still gathering good press. Check out these recent reviews from IGM (they named ITSP Best XBLA game of the year!), Lexington Herald Leader, and this one from Spain.
One of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet's mode is called Lantern Run, which can be played with up to four players on line or locally. Recently, I received a YouTube message from Davio14U informing me that the Lantern Run world record had been captured on video, and that it would be uploaded soon. I got a notification this morning that the videos are up! Those guys are crazy good players! Check out the three-part video below.
The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, February 9th at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas during the 2012 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit. They will be hosted by comedian, actor and proud game enthusiast, Jay Mohr. This year’s IAAs will be streamed live on GameSpot.com in its entirety at 7:30pm PT / 10:30pm ET.
One of my goals last year was to finish ZED, my 10-issue comic series started way back in 2001, over ten years ago! Well, it's done! I managed to turn it in just hours before the new year. The issue should be on sale before the end of the month. Now, I going to start tackling my next project. Stay tuned and Happy New Year!
Xbox Marketplace has kicked off its holiday sales with "Countdown to 2012" and is offering Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet at 50% off for the entire duration of the promotion. Quite a steal, if you ask me.
You might also want to pick-up the add-on, Shadow Hunters. The add-on is awesome, but we need more people playing it on Xbox Live so that gamers can get the full benefit. It really shines when you can get a team together.
In the meantime, the game has been picking up more award nominations. Here are the latest:
You should also check out the first issue of a new gaming magazine called, The Independent Gamer which features Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet on it's cover. You can read the magazine on-line for free, or order a print version for $4.50.
I've been informed by Image Comics that The Saga of Rex is going into a 2nd printing. I'm glad they're not letting the book sell out.
The second printing is being done in South Korea instead of Canada and will feature a different kind of paper. I hope it looks as good as the first run.
Comikkazee.com recently reviewed The Saga of Rex and gave it 10 out of 10. You can read the review here.
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My latest book project, 
