Morning Discussion

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From The Chatty
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    August 11, 2009 7:01 AM

    Shadow Complex menz... So, I had the chance to have a long talk with Orson Scott Card last week. The first write-up of that is posted. He talks about his love of gaming (dude is OLD school), Shadow Complex and -- in an exclusive -- goes over plot points of the second "Empire" book.

    http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2009/08/orson-scott-card-on-gaming-shadow-complex-and-his-new-book.html

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      August 11, 2009 7:04 AM

      Morris, any word on a PC version of the game? :[ :[

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      August 11, 2009 7:05 AM

      Morris are you going to be at Q-Con?

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        August 11, 2009 11:13 AM

        Sadly, no. I wanted to go, but couldn't sell enough stories to clients about the show to pay the cost of going. There's gonna be a ton going on, but it's not really the sweet spot for most of my clients. I'm quite bummed.

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      August 11, 2009 7:09 AM

      So is Shadow Complex the continuation of the Advent Rising story, or is it something completely different?

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        August 11, 2009 7:21 AM

        It's based on his Empire books, which are about how the Lie-berals destroy America or something. Card's politics are retarded.

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          August 11, 2009 7:34 AM

          ^^^ This

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          August 11, 2009 8:49 AM

          So would it be best to read empire before playing the game?

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            August 11, 2009 11:18 AM

            not really. the game doesn't involve the same characters, though the book will give you a better feel for the game universe.

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          August 11, 2009 1:30 PM

          wrong. politics is retarded doesn't matter which side. Both sides act like asshats

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      August 11, 2009 7:13 AM

      did you ask him why advent rising was so awful? and if he was a "script doctor" why was it heavily promoted as being written by him? I like his writing and hope he's as equally good writing for video games

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        August 11, 2009 7:24 AM

        Speaker for the Dead is a good read, though in very different ways from Ender's Game. If you go in knowing that I think you might enjoy it. Xenocide is not very good though, it feels like it should have been the last chapter of Speaker, but yet it is longer than Speaker was. Children of the Mind again just felt tacked on, it does resolve everything but by that point the whole series has gone insane.

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        August 11, 2009 7:38 AM

        I liked advent rising, had lots of issues but still liked it. Sad the rest of them aren't coming out.

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          August 11, 2009 8:33 AM

          I wanted to like it but it was so generic

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        August 11, 2009 11:21 AM

        He came in pretty late to the process there. the game's plot was done.

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          August 11, 2009 1:16 PM

          it was marketed as if he had written the story specifically for the game.

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      August 11, 2009 7:17 AM

      I actually just finished up Ender's Game yesterday. Are the other books in the Ender's series any good and in what order should I read them?

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        August 11, 2009 7:19 AM

        Speaker for the Dead is next and it's decent. Don't expect it to be anything like Ender's Game though.
        Xenocide is a turd

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          August 11, 2009 12:51 PM

          Speaker for the Dead is fucking fantastic. It's nothing like Ender's Game but it is goddamn awesome.

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        August 11, 2009 7:20 AM

        Ender's Game is the best. the rest are okay.

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        August 11, 2009 7:20 AM

        Speaker is worth a read, though I found it a lot slower than Ender's Game. Skip the rest, they go bad in a hurry after Speaker.

        Some people say the Shadow books are good as well, but I haven't read them.

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        August 11, 2009 7:29 AM

        The alternate series is good.. Enders Shadow? (i think that's what it was called) - same story but from Beans point of view.. the series is a few books long too.

        I thought the rest of the original series were pretty crappy.. far too preachy.

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        August 11, 2009 8:47 AM

        The sequels are very good but very different.

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        August 11, 2009 9:38 AM

        Read Ender's Shadow and Speaker for the Dead. Any of the subsequent books in the "shadow" and "speaker" branches are of much lower quality, and should only be read if you really want to see how the character's lives play out.

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          August 11, 2009 12:52 PM

          I completely agree with this. Speaker and Shadow are the ones you should read, and the order doesn't matter. Speaker is the direct sequel to Ender's Game but it takes place pretty far in the future, and Shadow is the same story as Game told from Bean's point of view.

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        August 11, 2009 12:43 PM

        The books deviate sharply in tone from there. The rest are more anthropological and sociological (at least, the rest of Ender's books). Bean's books are more in line with Ender's Game and are pretty good.

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        August 11, 2009 1:03 PM

        just stop now, it's all downhill from there.

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        August 11, 2009 1:13 PM

        Speaker for the Dead is good, stop after that.

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          August 11, 2009 1:20 PM

          iawtp. i read most of the series. After Speaker for the Dead it goes downhill fast.

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      August 11, 2009 8:47 AM

      The most famous shacker of all?

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      August 11, 2009 9:04 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 11, 2009 9:15 AM

      Please tell me you punched him in the face.

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        August 11, 2009 11:23 AM

        Pretty hard to do in a phone interview. Plus, since we avoided hot button topics, he was a pretty nice guy. Very chatty.

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      August 11, 2009 9:19 AM

      Morris, I'm sorry I never sent your WE :'(

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        August 11, 2009 11:24 AM

        grumble grumble.

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          August 11, 2009 1:50 PM

          I never got one this year either Morris. lets be pals.

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        August 11, 2009 1:39 PM

        why don't you fix that then?

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          August 11, 2009 1:40 PM

          Seriously!!! Hood a Morris up!

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      August 11, 2009 11:23 AM

      His son is really cool dude too, I worked with him when I was Amaze way back. I think he's still there as a lead game designer.

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      August 11, 2009 11:25 AM

      Remember when Shia Saide LaBeouf declared he was hardcore...

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