Drew
Karpyshyn Creative Works
The Official Homepage of Drew Karpyshyn
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Archive Here is a list of all my news updates from 2006 and 2007 Back to NEWS main page. December 24, 2007 Okay, this is it – the last update of 2007! Kind of a short update today, as I’m starting to get into holiday-family-celebration mode. It’s a mad week of friends, family and food for the Karpyshyn household over Christmas and New Year. Add in my work on the Mass Effect sequel novel (below), and I’m - as usual - swamped for time. So, on to the news! First: Rule of Two comes out in 2 days! Actually, it’s on shelves in some bookstores already, and some people who pre-ordered it online already have it. And here’s an interview with me about the novel over at the SW official site. Expect an update to my SW Blog (linked at the top of the page) sometime later this week talking a bit more about the book. And, on the heels of my first sequel, we’ve just announced my SECOND sequel novel. Mass Effect: Ascension is coming out in July 2008. Here’s the press release over at the BioWare site, and a short sneak peek of what the novel will focus on over at the BioWare ME forums. (Scroll down to my post at the bottom of the page.) Happy holidays, and talk to you all again next year! Drew December 10, 2007 Well – interesting couple of weeks for me. Got back from the Spike TV awards in Vegas, where Mass Effect picked up RPG of the Year. I had a good time in Vegas, though I got my ass handed to me on the craps and blackjack tables. But we hit some good restaurants and the Spike awards were… let’s just say “interesting” and leave it at that. On other fronts, things are going well. Even an injury to Tim Duncan couldn’t slow down my Spurs – Parker and Ginobili have done a great job of picking up the slack. (Remember – Ginobili and I share the same birthday, so it must be a good time to be a Leo!) Now, if the Chargers can just get Merriman back healthy for the playoffs everything will be just peachy in the world of sports as far as I’m concerned. In other aspects of my life, the praise continues to roll in for Mass Effect. Most recently we’ve been included in Time Magazine’s top 10 video games of 2007. And Mass Effect: Revelation has gone into a FIFTH printing – not too shabby for a first time novel for a brand new IP. (That’s “intellectual property”, a buzz word referring to a unique world, universe or setting.) I’m still hard at work on the second Mass Effect novel, and Rule of Two – my Darth Bane sequel – is coming out in just over two weeks! Remember – DECEMBER 26 – use those Christmas gift cards to buy it at your local bookstore and celebrate New Year’s with the Sith! Honestly, I’m still a bit surprised by the release date being so close to Christmas, but I trust my publishers know what they’re doing. And, with any luck, Rule of Two will crack the top 10 in the New York Times Bestseller list. (No pressure on my fans out there… no pressure at all. Hint, hint.) Watch for several interviews and profiles with me in the next few weeks at various games and Star Wars sites as we continue to promote both Mass Effect and Rule of Two. I don’t have any dates right now, but I will post them on my site here on my next update. And I’ll be making posts on my SW BLOG blog each of the next two Thursdays to promote Rule of Two, and offer some sneak peeks into the novel. Drew November 26, 2007 Good week for me. The Spurs are rolling, the Chargers are
back leading their (admittedly weak) division, and Mass Effect is out – the
game is on shelves now in North America, Mass Effect was also nominated as a game of the year contender (along with a bunch of other awards) for the Spike TV Video Game Awards. I don’t know if we’ll win or not, but a few of us from the team are heading down to Vegas for the awards ceremony just in case. (Plus… Vegas, baby!) So now that the game is finished, I’m going full bore on the next Mass Effect novel. For those who are curious, it will be set after the first Mass Effect game, and it will help set the story for the ME2 game in the same way Revelation set up the story of the original game. I’ll see if I can sneak in a few more details about the story in my next update. Until next time – Go, Spurs, Go! Drew November 12, 2007 Another two weeks has come and gone, so here I am to give another update on where my world is at. I finished reviewing the page proofs for Rule of Two – that means all the changes are done, signed off and I’m on to my next project… in this case, the Mass Effect sequel novel. Can’t say too much about it right now, but I’ll have more info next update. (Look for a press release from BioWare sometime this week for more details.) Also, I’ll have more details on the final touches we put on Rule of Two on my SW Blog later this week, and I’ll talk a bit about how it feels to juggle two vastly different universes like Star Wars and Mass Effect. As for Mass Effect the game, we’re starting to see the hype machine gearing up now. The official release is November 20, so we’re already getting in some of the early reviews. Not to brag or anything, but this game totally kicks ass. I’ve worked on a lot of great games at BioWare, but there’s no doubt in my mind this one is the best thing we’ve ever done… and the reviews are starting to bear that out. We’re also doing a bunch of interviews for TV and internet to talk about the game. Check out Spike TV’s GameHead online at Game Trailers if you want to see me (and other Mass Effect team members) talk about the game. Or you can watch it on November 16th on TV. My stuff is towards the end of the first video, just after the Conan review. (I’m the round-looking guy with the big nose.) You can see more of me in some of the other videos linked on this page as well. Another interview with me and Major Nelson from Xbox live on podcast (audio only) here, and some video footage of me and the Major on YouTube. (I show up around the 2:30 minute mark.) Also, on check out Mass Effect on Sci vs Fi airing on the Sci-Fi
Network on November 20th. (Not sure if or when this airs up here
in Okay, that’s about it for now. Next update I’ll focus on something really important: how my Chargers and Spurs are doing! Drew October 29, 2007 Hey, everyone. Time for my bi-weekly update. Things are going along at a nice little clip for me now. Mass Effect is officially done, which means we’re into a much more relaxed frame of mind around the BioWare studios right now as we go into the pre-production for the sequel. It’s kind of nice to be getting home between 6 and 7pm each night. The semi-break from work has allowed me to focus my
attention where it needs to be: sports and Magic the Gathering. Sadly, golf
season is basically done here in Also, the NBA is about to kick-off, and the Spurs are trying to go back-to-back for the first time in franchise history, so I’ve got that to look forward to. And the Chargers seem to be out of their funk and back to the style that puts them back into the mix of Super Bowl contenders. (Although the Pats and Colts are definitely the teams to beat right now.) As for Magic, I just entered my first tournament in about 2 years last weekend. If you care (and even if you don’t), I played an elf deck and ended up 3-3, but I made a few play mistakes. (That’s what happens when you don’t play for a long time; it’s a complicated game.) I’m looking forward to getting my rating up from TEH SUCK to at least MEDIOCORE over the next few months. But it’s not all fun and games for me. I just did a book signing over the weekend, and I got to meet a lot of other local authors. It really made me appreciate how lucky I’ve been to hook up with BioWare and Lucas – most of the authors there were self-published, and it sounds like a tough gig. I’m really blessed to be able to have books come out in mass market, and I want to thank all you fans for making that possible. Without your support I don’t sell books, which means I’d be back working as a loans officer or – god forbid – teaching a room full of students somewhere. (Not that I have anything against teachers; I just hate most children. And teenagers. And… well, people in general. But not you – my loyal fans!) I’m reviewing the final page proofs for Rule of Two. (I think the title is official now – hooray!). And I’m starting on the Mass Effect sequel. (Title pending.) I’m also doing a lot of TV and web interviews for Mass Effect… I’ll start posting them next update as they become publicly available. Okay, that’s about all for this update. Thanks for reading. Drew October 15, 2007 Okay, it’s been a couple weeks since my last update, and I’ve been hella-busy. (That’s Eric Cartman from the South Park Halloween special “hella”, not Gwen Stefani “hella”.) First, a little shameless self-promotion: Drew
Karpyshyn Author Event Saturday, October 20th 11am-5pm at Chapters Bookstore 9952-170 Street, Okay, I’ll be honest… it’s not a “Drew Karpyshyn” exclusive event. I’m just one of a number of local authors being featured at the event, so there should be plenty of literary types on hand. Come on down if you’re in town and I’ll gladly sign copies of Mass Effect: Revelation; Path of Destruction; Temple Hill; Throne of Bhaal; any BioWare game or anything else you want me to put my name on. (And I do mean anything…) Now for the big news: BioWare was bought out by Electronic Arts! Here’s one of the many websites talking about the deal in case you’re interested. I can’t really comment on this since I don’t want to run afoul of insider trading laws, but it sounds like things will be business as usual for us at BioWare, so nobody panic. I’ve also got back the editor comments for Rule of Two. I’ll talk more about that on my SW BLOG on Wednesday, but the short answer is they liked what they saw and I only had to make minor revisions. I finished them up over the weekend, so we’re into the final push on the book! And we’re starting to see some early press reviews of Mass Effect. I hate to sound immodest (yeah, right) but it looks like people think the game KICKS ASS! Keep an eye in the next few weeks for those reviews to be published – I’ll link to them here as I find them. Okay, that’s about all for now. Hope to see some of you on Saturday at my book signing. Drew September 30, 2007 Just completed the Darth Bane sequel and sent it off to the editors at Lucas and Del Rey today. I’m feeling pretty good about the novel, and I always get a nice buzz when I finish a project. (That’s a natural high, kids – just say NO to drugs.) I’ll be updating my SW BLOG on Wednesday with some more info about the book, so check it out there. It’s a good thing the novel worked out, because things
aren’t going so well for me in the sports world. The Chargers continue to stumble,
and the I guess it’s not all bad. Mike Weir knocked off Tiger
Woods on the last day of the Cup in front of the home crowd. Moose power!
(That means Okay, that’s all I’ve got. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go golf my brains out until the snow flies. September 16, 2007 Wow – seems like I’ve been away for a while. Probably because I have. A lot has happened in the past three weeks, so I should just jump right into my update. But I won’t. Because first I need to point out that I’m going to a bi-weekly update schedule for the news section. Updating every week was just getting to be too much work, so I’m cutting back. Deal with it. Now, on to the good stuff! Had a good time down in Austin, hooked up with some
friends who’ve transferred down there from BioWare
Edmonton to work on the top secret MMO project that I’d love to talk about
but really can’t. And the talk I presented with Mac and Mike (more BioWare writers) seemed to go pretty well. There’s a
couple good write ups on “Writing the Rule of Two Update: I’ve got some big news on the Darth Bane sequel… but you’re going to have to check out my updated SW BLOG on Wednesday, September 19th. That’s right – I’m making you wait. Worse, I’m luring people in with faux content so I can drive traffic from my website to my own blog. Tacky, yes? So, to make up for it and earn some “www karma”, I figured I’d link to a couple blogs written by other people I know. Blog the first: http://titacookie.blogspot.com/ Cookie Everman is the editor for the Mass Effect writing team over at BioWare. She’s also a good friend and a serious blogger. She gives updates every few days, unlike those jerks who only update every couple weeks. And she gave me a little shout-out on her site this past week, so I figured I’d return the favor. (Plus, we’ve got a little thing going where we want to see who drives more traffic to the other person’s site.) Blog numero dos: http://pats-quinade.livejournal.com/ Patrick Weekes is a fellow writer at BioWare who worked with us on Mass Effect before moving on to THE PROJECT THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED. He doesn’t know I’m linking to his blog yet, though I will advise him in an e-mail so he doesn’t get completely blindsided. There. That should atone for my sin of bouncing people back and forth between my own personal websites. For anyone else out there wanting to send me a blog link, DON’T! If I know you personally, speak to me face to face and I’ll give you mention. Otherwise, don’t bother. (Note: Drew does not play well with others.) Okay, I guess that nearly wraps this session up. Except for me to say that I’m thrilled the NFL season has finally started again. Hopefully my Chargers offense will realize the games actually count now, before they hit the suck-trifecta and stink the joint out yet again in Week 3. (It’s always hard cheering for teams with high expectations. If they win it’s no big deal, if they lose you get pissed-off. But we all have our cross to bear.) At least my Chargers don’t cheat by using illegal cameras and recording devices. They only cheat by taking steroids. (Sigh...) Drew August 26, 2007 Okay, you may have noticed the next website update isn’t until September 16th. WTF, right? Well, thinks are crazy busy right now. Busy, busy, busy. Next weekend is the Labor Day holiday, so no update then… I’m taking a much needed break. The week after that I’ll be coming back from GDC Austin, so no update then. That takes us to… September 16th. Seriously. Time flies by when you’re crazy busy. Quick update on where things are at in the world of Drew. Everyone on the ME team at BioWare is still working hard on those finishing touches to Mass Effect, which was shown at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) (video over at Game Spot) and the Leipzig 07 Game Convention. Click on the links to see details. Also, there’s a spotlight on game writers over at a site called Gamer’s Block, and I’m lucky enough to get a mention in the article. This coming week I’m also working with Mac Walters and Mike Laidlaw – two of the other writers at BioWare – on polishing up our presentation for GDC Austin. We’re presenting on Thursday, September 6th at 4:30 pm. All the details for our session, Writing the BioWare Way, can be found by clicking on the link. Hope to see some of you in Drew August 19, 2007 Not much news to report this week. There’s an interview with me up on the Firing Squad website where I talk a bit about writing for BioWare and working on the Mass Effect novel. You can check it out HERE. And I’m scheduled to speak at GDC Austin in the first week of September along with a couple other BioWare writers, so as we get closer to that date I’ll post some details. Other than that, still working on Rule of Two at home and still working on Mass Effect at BioWare. You’re probably getting sick of seeing those same two things over and over as updates, and I gotta be honest… I’m a bit sick of seeing them. Mass Effect is going to be awesome when it comes out in November, but now that we’re this close to the finish line I’m looking forward to taking some time off so I can recharge my batteries. On the bright side, the NFL is already in pre-season, the
NBA is looming and my billiards league starts up in a few weeks. And my golf
game is finally looking up again. Fired a couple rounds in the 70’s recently, and my short game is really coming together.
Maybe I was inspired by the LPGA players stopping into Now the trick is squeezing in every last round over the
next 2 months before the way-too-short Drew August 12, 2007 Some new footage of Mass Effect on 1UP Gaming. Just click on the link and check the video. It can take a long time to load, but there’s about 10 minutes of ME coverage starting at about the 18:20 mark. They talk a little about my novel Revelation, as well. I find it interesting that the two hosts who read the book seemed to enjoy it (based on how much they remembered and their general reactions), yet when asked directly whether it was “good” one of them dismisses the writing style. It’s almost like he’s afraid to admit he enjoyed it. (And maybe he didn’t… but based on his comments in the piece he sure seemed to “get into” it.) It’s funny – the main criticism I hear about my work has to do with my “writing style”. Now, I don’t expect everyone to like my work, but I think I see a bit of an interesting bias common to most of the criticisms. There seems to be a school of thought (more prevalent among critics than fans) that plain, easy to read writing is somehow inferior to a more obvious “literary” style. This always seemed a bit backwards to me. While there are examples of excellent literary science fiction and fantasy, I do find that many writers let their writing get in the way of telling a story or entertaining their readers. Too many times a novel gets bogged down in overlong descriptions, or writing that screams out “look at me – I’m ART!”. I’ve always believed that if a reader notices the writing during the story, then the author is trying too hard. I prefer to use a style that doesn’t draw attention to itself and moves the story along quickly. You could say that’s my video game background showing through… except that I was writing this way long before I ever went to work at BioWare. If anything, my style emulates the classic “pulp fiction” feel – and I consider that a good thing. I doubt I’ll ever win any prestigious literary awards for my work, but I’m okay with that. As I’ve said many times, I’m not in this for awards or recognition… I’m all about the cold, hard cash. Luckily for me, the vast majority of readers aren’t “critics” and, based on sales and the e-mails I receive, there are a large number of fans who don’t feel they have to apologize for liking my work. So I should be able to keep at this for a while. So why am I telling you this? No reason, really. Just
making some observations because I don’t really have much else to talk about.
I’m still working on Rule of Two. I’m still working on Mass Effect. I’m still
working on my golf game. And Tiger Woods continues his run of mind-boggling
excellence by winning another of golf’s majors. Nothing new to report.
(Although fellow Canadian Stephen Okay, that’s it for this week. Drew August 5, 2007 So it’s a long weekend here in In other Mass Effect news we’ve announced that we’re going to be showing the game off at PAX, the Penny Arcade expo. You can find details on the main ME website. Rule of Two, the Darth Bane sequel, is still rolling along. Obviously I can’t talk too much about it without giving anything away, but I’m pretty happy with how things are going on that front. My golf game, however, sucks right now. I got myself some flashy new irons hoping that would turn things around, but right now my short game has gone to hell. Obviously I need to put some practice time in… so don’t be surprised if my updates are a bit short for the next couple weeks. Okay, that’s all for this week. Drew July 29, 2007 Not much of an update today. (Hell, it’s only been a few days since my last update.) I’m back at work as we put the finishing touches on Mass Effect, and I’m pushing forward on the manuscript for Rule of Two, so it’s keeping me pretty busy. I did discover that a disturbing number of replies I’ve sent out to e-mails I’ve received have disappeared into cyberspace, so if you sent me an e-mail and I never got back to you that’s probably why. Please send it again. (Generally I try to reply to every e-mail sent to me within 2 weeks.) Okay, that’s all I’ve got this week. I’m tapped. Drew July 24, 2007 Hello, all. As you can see (read?) I’m back from vacation. I’ll be catching up with e-mail over the next few days, so if you’re waiting for a reply from me be patient. So how was the vacation, you ask? (Well, you didn’t ask.
But I’m telling you anyway.) It was good. I spent some time in But now I’m back to the grind. I’ll be updating my SW Blog today with a bit more info on the sequel to Path of Destruction, so check it out if you’re interested. And while I was away, BioWare and Mass Effect made a big splash at this year’s E3 show. We won a bunch of “Best in Show” awards, the press reaction has been amazing and we finally announced our release date: November, 2007. For details on the press coverage, some new trailers and other ME goodness go to this LINK and click on the “Coverage” tab about halfway down. And finally, there’s an interview with me posted at the EU Cantina Website. Okay, that’s it for now. Look for another update on Sunday. July 8, 2007 Okay, first off – if you notice the date above you’ll see
there is NO UPDATE next week. In fact, it’s going to be a little over two
weeks before my next update. Why? Well, I’m going on vacation. Mass Effect is
finally at a point where I can sneak away for a short break. So Jen (my wife)
and I are heading down to But before I go, a couple small updates. I sent off the outline for the Darth Bane sequel for approval this weekend. So if there aren’t any major changes requested by the publishers then I’ll be hitting the manuscript full time when I get back from my trip. And the July/August issue of Avenue Magazine is finally out. Turns out they don’t release on July 1st like I thought. I haven’t even seen the actual magazine yet, although they’ve updated the online site. I don’t know if they ended up using my photo on the cover (like I said, I haven’t had a chance to check out the actual magazine yet), and the website is still showing the cover from the May/June issue. However, the on-line contents are up to date, and you can see a little blurb from my article and a small picture of me HERE. If you look at that picture you can see why I rarely smile for photos. Makes me look like a goofy doofus. I usually go with the sullen/serious look whenever a camera shows up. And the shirt… well, that was chosen by the photographer. I rarely wear anything that isn’t black or dark navy blue… and I never wear shirts with buttons or collars (golf T-shirts are the only exception). But, all in all, I guess I don’t look *too* bad. (And I can’t blame the photographer… he can only work with the face God gave me.) Okay, that’s it. Talk to you in a couple weeks. Drew July 1, 2007 Happy That’s right – we have our own day here in the Great White North! We may be a modest people, but we still have national pride. We even do fireworks. Of course, we only get a 3 day weekend to celebrate the formation of our country, rather than the big 4 day celebration like our neighbors to the south. I blame it on the weak Canadian exchange rate. Unfortunately for me, I only have 2 work-free days this long weekend. (Or 2 golf days, depending on your point of view.) BioWare’s gearing up to show Mass Effect at E3, so I was in Saturday with the rest of the team pushing hard to get the game all spiffed up for the press demos. I can’t release too many details about E3, but if you go to the Mass Effect forums you can see more info in this thread here. In book news, Path of Destruction is out in paperback now. No sales numbers yet, but it’s been spotted on the shelves in local bookstores. Seems like most stores around here are getting 24 copies (my dad counted them), so it looks like somebody somewhere is expecting some major sales. (No pressure or nothing.) I’m going on vacation in a couple weeks, and I’m hoping to see it in the airport gift shops, too. It’s cool to see the book out in paperback - gives me a nice rush as I’m starting work on the sequel. Also, there’s an interview with me in the July/August
edition of Avenue Magazine – a local Calgary/Edmonton
publication. They said they were going to have a picture of me on the cover
of the Okay, that’s about it for me today. Except to say this – I promise Sunday updates to my website. But they’re LATE Sunday updates, so if you come here and it’s not updated don’t fire off an angry e-mail. Just check back on Monday and it’ll all be good. June 24, 2007 Only a few days left until Path of Destruction is out in paperback! You can order the novel through Amazon by going to my Novels page and clicking on the link – hopefully the paperback can match the hardcover performance and make it onto the bestseller lists! Also, as confirmed on StarWars.com I am doing a sequel to PoD, due out December 26, 2007. No, that’s not a typo – the book is actually going to be on the shelves before the end of this year. How do I get a book I’m just starting to write out in roughly 6 months? Check my Star Wars blog on Wednesday to find out! The Mass Effect novel continues to get good reviews: these were recently posted at Ars Technica and Game Spectrum. As for the Mass Effect game… we’re getting real close now. There are new updates on at the BioWare Mass Effect website and some previews on the krogan species from the game over at IGN, so check them out. June 17, 2007 Happy Father’s Day! I’m trying something a bit different now. Going to be updating the website every week. I guess this will kind of be like a blog – I’ll give people a little peek at what’s going on in my world in the remote hopes that anyone out there actually cares. Here we go… Look for an update to my Star Wars Blog in the next couple days. Might have some interesting news to share with people about Darth Bane… (say no more, wink-wink, nudge-nudge). Also, check out this interview with me at Game Spectrum – gives you a glimpse of what it’s like behind the scenes at BioWare. Other than that, it’s been a fun week for me. My San
Antonio Spurs win the Larry O’Brien trophy yet again in an odd numbered year…
now I just hope they can repeat. Got to watch most of the US Open on TV (all
4 days) and got to see fellow Albertan Stephen Mass Effect: Revelation sales seem to be going well; they’re going to a second printing, so that’s good. Also seems to be getting a lot of favorable response from the fans. The Mass Effect game still has no official release date, but we’re getting closer and closer. Hopefully we’ll have some release date info soon. Path of Destruction comes out in paperback June 26. Pretty excited about this; I’m hoping the paperback sales will expose a whole new set of Star Wars fans to Darth Bane’s world. June 14, 2007 CONGRATULATIONS TO THE Duncan, Parker and friends did it again! It wasn’t pretty, but they walk away with the rings for the 4th time in 9 years. Now the only question is… can they repeat in 2008? On a more “Drew” related note, I plan to start updating the news section of this site every Sunday, so be sure to check back often. April 27, 2007 Lots to update, so let’s get right to it. Mass Effect: Revelation – my prequel novel to the Mass Effect video game - is about to hit the shelves! May 1st you can buy your copy for your first look into BioWare’s Mass Effect universe. There’s a free preview of the prologue posted over at the Mass Effect site here. Also, Path of Destruction is coming out in paperback in June, so it’s an exciting time for me. (And a busy one, what with me working on finishing off the Mass Effect game.) I’ve also updated my Star Wars blog, including some my reaction to the Robot Chicken Star Wars special. Check it out at the link above. Golf update: still no courses open on permanent greens
here in NBA update: My Spurs are in a dogfight against the Denver
Nuggets as they go to the Look for more updates in a couple weeks once early reaction of Mass Effect: Revelation starts to trickle in. February 25,2007 BioWare and Del Rey have officially announced Mass Effect: Revelation, my first Mass Effect novel. It’s a prequel novel set in the Mass Effect universe that takes place 18 years before the events of the game. It’s coming out in early May, so I’ll be updating my novels section soon with more information as we get closer to the release. If you want to discuss the novel, check out the Mass Effect forums here. January 10, 2007 A New Year springs with hope and promise… and lots of snow
here in I’m now back at work after a much needed break over Christmas. I’m putting the finishing touches on my next novel – and hoping to officially announce it soon – as well as starting the final push for the Mass Effect game. (Not much of a news update, I know. Give me a break. I’m still new at this.) Since I don’t have any current news I’ll throw in some retroactive news. Back when I was on my book tour for Path of Destruction in October I was made an honorary member of the 501st Legion. Here’s a link from the Rebel Scum website detailing the festivities: http://www.rebelscum.com/story/front/Drew_Karpyshyn_Signing_100941.asp I just wanted to say a belated thanks to Bryan White and
all the members of the Old Line Garrison down in December 27, 2006 Okay, my web page is up and I’m officially launching my pan-media empire upon the world! |