Orson Scott Card Collaborating on Ender's Game Game

Chair Entertainment Group and Orson Scott Card are joining together to bring Card's renowned SF classic Ender's Game to the PC, next-gen consoles and handhelds.

The games will be based on the "Battle Room" scenarios taken from the novels, in which human children undergo harsh military training as part of Earth's war effort against a hostile alien race known as the Formics. Development on the games is expected to begin later this year.

"From the moment I started working with Donald Mustard and his team at Chair, I knew that these were the guys I wanted to do the first Ender's Game videogame," Card said. "It's not enough to slap the Ender's Game name on just any game - it has to be exciting, memorable, and endlessly replayable. Chair shares my understanding of this and I am looking forward to working with them to ensure the game is authentically Enderish as possible."

Donald Mustard, Creative Director at Chair Entertainment, said, "I have been a huge fan of Ender's Game since I was ten years old, so it is a true honor for our team to be entrusted with creating the first videogame inspired by this classic story. Our goal is to create an authentic Ender's Game experience that delivers awesome gameplay and can be enjoyed by both longtime fans and gamers new to the series."

Ender's Game is a series of novels and short stories by Card which debuted as a novelette in the August 1997 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. The expanded novel won the 1985 Nebula Award and 1986 Hugo Award for best novel, while its first sequel, Speaker for the Dead, won the same awards the following year, making Card the only author to have ever won both awards in consecutive years.

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At bloody last.

It better be incredible. The Battle Room has been playing over and over in my mind since 2002 when I first sat down and read it properly. The whole series had a fairly strong influence on me.

Good to see they're focusing on replayability. The Battle Room itself is a rather small play-space compared to any GTA or Half-Life or any other modern non-sports game.

For serious?!

The better not screw this one up. I don't think I could bear watching the series be mutilated into a video game like so many other franchises. But it sounds like both parties are taking it seriously, which is a relief. I can't wait to see more on this.

Well, with Card in on it, this might be a good game.

I just can't see it being endlessly replayable, though.

Oh man, now my girlfriend is going to get another campaign together to read this book. It wouldn't be too bad if she didn't have me queued up for three other books.

This could be potentially awesome if done right. Hope they don't fuck it up.

With modern physics tech, the BR should be awesome. You could actually have multiple types of games in this: On the station, in the BR, on Eros, and the "Simulators."

Malygris:
Ender's Game is a series of novels and short stories by Card which debuted as a novelette in the August 1997 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. The expanded novel won the 1985 Nebula Award and 1986 Hugo Award for best novel, while its first sequel, Speaker for the Dead, won the same awards the following year, making Card the only author to have ever won both awards in consecutive years.

The novelette didn't debut in 1997, because the novel first released in '85. I think the novelette debuted in 1977.

Anyway, I'd love to see a quality game for the Ender universe. Let's hope it turns out better than Advent Rising.