Game Designer and Author Matt Forbeck Interview on Geekerati Radio Monday, July 2.

Award winning game designer and author Matt Forbeck will join the panelists at Geekerati Radio at 7pm PDT. In addition to discussing his latest projects, Forbeck will talk with the panelists about his influences and his general thoughts about media tie-in fiction, SF and Fantasy, and the state of the gaming industry.

Fans can listen to the show live, and call in with questions at (646) 478-5041, by visiting the Geekerati website (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/geekerati) during the broadcast. Those who miss the live broadcast will be able to listen to an archived version of the show approximately fifteen minutes after it airs online. During the show, the Geekerati panel will be giving away copies of his first Blood Bowl novel and his Eberron novel Road to Death.

Matt Forbeck has worked full-time on games and fiction since 1989, when he graduated from the Residental College at the University of Michigan with a degree in Creative Writing. With the exception of a four-year stint as the president of Pinnacle Entertainment Group and two years as the director of the adventure games division at Human Head Studios, he freelanced for most of that time. He has worked with many top companies, including Atari, Ubisoft, Wizards of the Coast, Games Workshop, Playmates Toys, Mattel, TSR, Decipher,White Wolf, Pinnacle, Green Ronin, AEG, Reaper Miniatures, Image Comics, WildStorm Productions, Idea + Design Works, and Human Head.

Matt has designed collectible card games, roleplaying games, miniatures games, and board games, and has directed voiceover work and written short fiction, comic books, novels, and computer game scripts and stories. Forbeck is currently working on several projects, including the novelization for the upcoming Mutant Chronicles film starring John Malkovich, Ron Perlman, and Thomas Jane. Forbeck was co-designer of the Mutant Chronicles Second Edition roleplaying game, upon which the film is based. Additionally, Forbeck worked on upcoming
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law video game for the PSP and PS2.

Matt is a proud member of the Alliterates, a group of fiction writers and game designers, all of who have been published by TSR or Wizards of the Coast. He also belongs to the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers and the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design and is a member of the board of directors of the Madison chapter of the International Game Developers Association.

Projects Matt has worked on have been nominated for 23 Origins Awards and won 12. This includes the Best Roleplaying Game for Deadlands and The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game, Best Miniatures Rules for Warzone and The Great Rail Wars, Best Roleplaying Adventure for Independence Day, Best Fantasy Board Game forGenestealer, and Best Short Story for "Prometheus Unwound" from The Book of All Flesh. He has also won five ENnies.

ABOUT GEEKERATI RADIO – Geekerati Radio is an online radio show hosted by Christian Johnson, Shawna Benson, Bill Cunningham, Eric Lytle, Wes Kobernick, and Steven Merrill which features discussion of popular culture by geeks for geeks and is a featured show in the BlogTalkRadio network. The Geekerati Radio show airs Monday nights at 7pm Pacific and the archives are available 24/7.

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Interesting News on the Gaming Front for Fantasy Movie Fans

Two Years ago I gave a review of Fantasy Flight's excellent game Beowulf the Legend, designed by Reiner Knizia. If you haven't played it, you should check it out because it might just alter the way you look at board games. The game utilizes a series of different bidding systems that, as the game unfolds, reveal a winner. The game mechanics are very common in "euro" style games, the kind of games that Knizia develops, but are rare in the "american" style war games.

It seems that Fantasy Flight is releasing a "follow up" to this game that will be released in "October." I put October in quotes because Fantasy Flight is notoriously tardy with game releases and the FFG website lists November. The follow up game is a licensed board game adaptation of Robert Zemeckis' upcoming Beowulf film. I cannot understate how HUGE a deal it is that a small time game company, though FFG is certainly an excellent and growing company -- they are no Hasbro, to acquire this license. The board game will share the Beowulf theme with the prior release, but will use systems based on Reiner Knizia's game Kingdoms. Unlike Beowulf: the Legend, the Kingdoms game (which the upcoming Beowulf the Boardgame's systems will be based upon) is a territory control game where players attempt to acquire resources.

According to the press release the Beowulf rules will significantly modify the basic rules of Kingdoms, including the addition of a "three act" structure which follows the Beowulf narrative. The game will feature high quality plastic pieces and use artwork from the film.

I am excited to see this game released and hope that it might provide a "gateway" for new people into the board game hobby.

Monday, June 25, SF and Fantasy Author Susan Palwick Discusses Her New Novel Shelter Live on Geekerati Radio.

Award winning Science Fiction and Fantasy author Susan Palwick will join the panelists at Geekerati Radio at 7pm PDT. In addition to discussing her latest novel, Palwick will talk with the panelists about her influences and her general thoughts about the state of SF/F today.

Fans can listen to the show live, and call in with questions, by visiting the Geekerati website (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/geekerati) during the broadcast. Those who miss the live broadcast will be able to listen to an archived version of the show approximately fifteen minutes after it airs online. During the show, the Geekerati panel will be giving away two copies of her most recent novel, Shelter, and one copy of her previous novel, The Necessary Beggar.



Susan Palwick holds a doctoral degree from Yale and is an associate professor of English at the University of Nevada, Reno. She has written three novels, Flying in Place (Tor Books, 1992, reprinted 2005), The Necessary Beggar (Tor Books, 2005), and Shelter (Tor Books 2007). A collection of many of her short stories, The Fate of Mice (Tachyon Publications 2007) was published earlier this year. Flying in Place won the Crawford Award for Best First Fantasy Novel, presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. The Necessary Beggar received starred reviews from PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, BOOKLIST and LIBRARY JOURNAL (which also named it one of the best genre books of 2005). Additionally, The Necessary Beggar was honored with an Alex Award from the American Library Association, won a Silver Pen award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame, and is a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award. Shelter recently received a starred review from LIBRARY JOURNAL. Palwick’s stories often examine issues of identity and the relationships between the individual and society.

ABOUT GEEKERATI RADIO – Geekerati Radio is an online radio show which includes Christian Johnson, Shawna Benson, Bill Cunningham, Eric Lytle, Wes Kobernick, and Steven Merrill in a round table discussion of popular culture by geeks for geeks. Geekerati Radio is a featured show in the BlogTalkRadio network. The Geekerati Radio show airs Monday nights at 7pm Pacific.

You can contact the Geekerati Crew at geekeratiradio_at_gmail.com.

Jurassic Park with Cyberdinosaurs

Be careful what you hunt for.

Pinkberry Contains Yogurt

Los Angeles Times finds that Pinkberry does contain yogurt.

Los Angeles Times: Pinkberry, the taste that launched a thousand parking tickets.

Pinkberry's Official Site.

Wikipedia: Pinkberry.

Listen to My Radio Show... Dammit.

For those of you who didn't listen live, our most recent radio show, from Monday at 7pm ,is now available for listening.



If you are the first listener to email me at geekeratiradio@gmail.com answering the trivia question on the show you will win an autographed picture of Katee Sackhoff.

Finding Neverland Director to Helm Bond 22

Coming on the heels of Martin Campbell's redefinition of the Bond character in Casino Royale, Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction) will be directing the next Bond film. The 22nd installment of the franchise will also see the return of Daniel Craig in the starring role.

Initially, the choice of Forster to direct the new film may seem an odd one, but I think it might be a further step in the right direction. While Campbell's Casino Royale was one of my favorite Bond films in years, I think that had more to do with the inclusion of Alexander Witt as the Second Unit Director than it did with any input Campbell had as Director. Casino's strengths were in the action and Craig's acting, and not in the subtle direction of small scenes.

Let us ask the question the following way. Please allow for the underlying assumptions (the "given" statements) for the sake of the argument, even if you disagree.

1. GIVEN: That Casino Royale was one of the best James Bond films ever made.


2. GIVEN: The Bourne Identity was a key film in the redefinition of the spy film genre.


3. GIVEN: One of the things that made Casino Royale so entertaining was the way the action sequences awed the audience.


4. GIVEN: Martin Campbell directed Goldeneye, Vertical Limit, and No Escape in addition to two Zorro films without Alexander Witt as Second Unit Director.


5. GIVEN: The above films had wide range of quality, from good to bad.


6. GIVEN: Goldeneye has a very different "feel" than Casino Royale


7. GIVEN: Alexander Witt was Second Unit Director on Black Hawk Down, The Bourne Identity, Gladiator, Black Rain, and Speed.


8. GIVEN: The action sequences in the listed Alexander Witt films have certain stylistic similarities that contributed to the entertainment value of those films.


9. GIVEN: Casino Royale had a "Bournesque" feel to a lot of the action.


10. THUS: Alexander Witt had a lot to do with what was entertaining about Casino Royale

With all of the above in mind, I think that bringing in a director who has directed some very entertaining (non-action based) films in the past is a way that the Bond films could improve. But only if they hire the right Second Unit Director.