So, ah, with all due respect to Warren... Warren came at the very beginning of the game; we figured we needed a writer and Warren came in and we had our direction, our ideas. We knew we wanted a religion running through it and we knew we wanted psychological terror as well as grotesque terror. Warren is more of sci-fi writer; how many of these ideas are leftovers from what he wrote, I don't know – I'd have to go back a reread all his work. But he's just a good guy... we tried a bunch of writers. The one thing he really helped us out with was, when we first started to do the comic book, we asked Warren. He hit deadlines for us, he did everything right – but he came on two and-a-half years ago and some of the ideas filter out.

I think Warren also helped out on some of the back-story of the characters, the naming of them – because he was good at that. But what he did was he also introduced us to Anthony Johnson who became our writer for the comic series. Then Anthony eventually wrote most of the dialogue for the game. As a comic book writer, he mostly wrote in short sentences, which is what we need.

Ah well. Kinda sucks for Warren. Then again, we're sure he got paid either way. In cigarettes. Cartons and cartons of Silk Cut cigarettes.

Dead Space AU Interview [IGN] [Image]

Oh, I got released from an NDA the other day, so I can finally say that I wrote a bunch of the groundwork, backstory and structure on the forthcoming EA videogame DEAD SPACE, which recently got a comic prequel from the hands of Antony Johnston and Ben Templesmith. I believe there was at least one other writer on the
project, but I'm sure there's some of me in there somewhere.

Very good! Dead Space just got that more interesting.

Thanks Austin for the tip!

Still, we're a long way off from seeing Castlevania: Dracula's Curse for ourselves, as Ellis points out.

Notes [Castlevania: Dracula's Curse]

Today, however, Ellis finally gives us a look at a portion of the screenplay's first draft. While Trevor Belmont, the featured vampire hunter, is present but remains tight-lipped you'll want to stick around for the goat fucking.

You read that right. Goat fucking. Looks like Warren isn't looking to Captain N for his animated Belmont cues.

First Draft Excerpt [Castlevania: Dracula's Curse Blog]

There's very little content currently, but I suspect that virtually every detail will be covered over the course of development. Seems like a promising look into the film's creative process.

Since production is currently in its early stages, the production company is still seeking artists. If you love Castlevania and want to submit your digital portfolio, hit up the production blog for more details.

I'm going to try out for the voiceover role of Red Skeleton #3. Fingers crossed! Michael McWhertor

Castlevania: Dracula's Curse
Warren Ellis to Write Castlevania; Collective Geek Orgasm Soils Entire Planet [Kotaku]

Warren Ellis, creator of Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Nextwave, and the upcoming webcomic showcase Rocket Pirates is slated to write the Castlevania animated film.

Also, I got the nod to say what the animated D2DVD movie I'm writing is called. It's called CASTLEVANIA. Based on the longrunning series of videogames. For an entity currently known only as Project 51 Productions. A production blog will follow on the official site.

Nothing else is known at this time, but the best insurance against this movie being steaming moose pucky is hiring Ellis to write it. With a touch more luck we'll get some decent artwork and it'll all come together. Eliza "Jerusalem" Gauger

Castlevania [WarrenEllis.com]

WE GOT CONCEPT ART! Hit the jump!

Art by James Jean.

Transmetropolitan's scribe extraordinaire Warren Ellis spotted this girl with eerie error message eyes in Second Life, moments after a server crash and reboot.

As Warren says:

Aa random person I spotted in Transylvania two minutes after the grid went back up earlier today. In her eyes, you can make out part of an error message, denoting that a graphic or script from her customised "avatar" or representative form in Second Life is missing. It means that the system, that's been crashing and hiccuping constantly since an upgrade on Wednesday, is failing to find and/or process the entirety of her body. Elsewhere, I've seen people wearing that message over swathes of their skin, projected there by the system.

As Ellis notes, there's an excellent Philip K. Dick story in all this, perhaps to stand alongside his 1954 visionary classic, The Madame With The Wireframe Vulva. Florian "Eliza Should Have Done This Post, Not Me!" Eckhardt

Second Life Sketches [Warren Ellis]