studios

The fate of 38 Studios' video games -- and the company's debt -- may now rest in Rhode Island's hands.

The video game company run by former Red Sox star Curt Schilling filed for bankruptcy, with plans to liquidate, Reuters reported today.

The news comes shortly after 38 Studios laid off nearly all of its staff and lost its funding from Rhode Island. The state's officials, hoping the video game company would bring in more jobs, had given 38 Studios a $75 million loan guarantee.

The company, which released the well-regarded "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning," … Read more

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's 38 Studios gaming company is crumbling around him.

As news spread over the past week that the company was hurting for cash, spending $49 million of a $75 million state loan, the Boston Globe reports that the young video game publishing house laid off all of its nearly 400 employees as of today.

"I'm stunned, and I'm heartbroken," Leominster fantasy author and consultant to 38 Studios R.A. Salvatore, told the Boston Globe. "This is one of the best teams I've ever seen assembled. They were doing … Read more

Editors' note: A day after this commentary was published, Curt Schillings' 38 Studios laid off its entire staff of nearly 400 employees.

For retired Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, the Legend of the Bloody Sock is taking a back seat to the tale of bloody dumb loan his videogaming company received from the Rhode Island state government two years ago.

I say this as a diehard Red Sox fan (as you can see from my bio below this post). I say this as someone who popped champagne when the Red Sox won a World Series in 2004. I say this … Read more

In an exciting development and confirmation to long-standing rumors, developer Zenimax Online Studios today announced The Elder Scrolls Online, a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set for release in 2013.

Initially revealed by Game Informer, the long-anticipated game offers a massive world "set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm," according to the magazine. … Read more

The overall movement in technology is to slim things down, make them dainty, make them portable, and create ever smaller versions of hardware. Studio Neat is bucking the trend with the $25 Cosmonaut wide-grip stylus.

The Cosmonaut is proudly low-fidelity. It's meant to feel like a dry erase marker rather than a fine-point pen. It has a rubber grip and will work on just about any capacitive touch-screen device.… Read more

Seeking to boost original content for its Amazon Instant Video service, Amazon Studios today put out the call for pilots for comedies and kids shows.

Since it launched in November 2010, Amazon Studios had focused on films, both full-length features and shorter films. This is its first foray into episodic programming.

"In the course of developing movies, we've heard a lot of interest from content creators who want to develop original series in the comedy and children's genres," Amazon Studios director Roy Price said in a statement.

Amazon Studios works differently than traditional Hollywood production companies. … Read more

Jetpack Joyride (Free), from Halfbrick Studios, makers of hit iOS games Fruit Ninja and Monster Dash, has now added Gadgets -- tools you can purchase with earned coins that help you get further into the game.

Now, when you go into the Stash (the store where you can buy new jetpacks, outfits, and more), there is a new Gadgets category. There are a total of 15 gadgets to choose from (once purchased with earned coins), but you only have 2 slots on any given run. Each of the new gadgets have specific properties that help you on your run. For … Read more

In a post on Sony's PlayStation.Blog, game director Todd Papy has announced that the fourth God of War console game will be called God of War: Ascension and will come to the PlayStation 3.

Judging from the teaser-trailer, Ascension looks to be a prequel of sorts, telling the story of Kratos before he became known as the Ghost of Sparta, "a time when something other than rage consumed him."

Sony will have more information about God of War: Ascension on the PlayStation.Blog April 30, but don't expect to be playing the next Kratos epic until spring 2013. … Read more

Here at Crave, we've seen some mighty impressive interior decorating from geeks over the years: offices inspired by "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," apartments and home theaters that are dead ringers for a "Star Trek" set. Well, if the "Thermosaurus" radiator is for real, it could make for some pretty hot "Jurassic Park"-themed abodes.

Design firm Art. Lebedev Studio posted renderings of the gadget on April 1 -- yes, that date gives us pause -- saying the device is a "heat exchanger" that "installs like your regular central-heating radiator" and "is highly efficient and energy-savvy, thanks to its complex structure that includes a skull, spine, ribs, legs, and tail bones." The studio also posted a nice page of sketches and other ephemera that supposedly went into the design of the Thermosaurus.… Read more