System Shock 3 and Warren Spector
Veteran game developer Warren Spector has taken the position of studio director at Otherside Entertainment to work on System Shock 3. Previously Spector was working in the less demanding role of creative advisor but has been tempted back to work full time, cutting short his spell in academia.
Talking to GamesIndustryBiz, Spector revealed "when the opportunity to have a bigger role in bringing Underworld Ascendant to life, as well as playing in the System Shock universe once again, helping to bring these games to a 21st century audience, I just couldn't say no." He went on to spell out how excited he is to take on the new project(s) "Working on System Shock was one of the most fulfilling things I've done in my career and it's hard to describe how much I'm looking forward to sharing with players what SHODAN has been up to since the last game was released."
The founder of Otherside Entertainment, Paul Neurath, was also the founder of the studio that was behind the original System Shock. The pair also collaborated on Ultima Underworld and going forward Spector will help develop Underworld Ascendant.
There is already a teaser website dedicated to System Shock 3 with a large picture of the SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network) and a survey asking about your interest in virtual reality.
Master of Orion voice cast
While on the topic of the revival of olde games and big names in the entertainment industry, Wargaming has announced the star-studded voice cast of its Master of Orion revival. This turn-based strategy sci-fi reboot (the original was published in 1993) will benefit from a list of well known sci-fi actors lending their distinctive voices, as follows:
- Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker in Star Wars films)
- Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek: TNG)
- John de Lancie (Q from Star Trek: TNG)
- Robert Englund (Freddie in A Nightmare on Elm Street films)
- Dwight Schultz (Murdock in the A-Team, and Star Trek: TNG)
- Alan Tudyk (Firefly)
As well as the above Hollywood film and TV stars, there is a hefty roster of well known games voice actors on board. Master of Orion will be released on 26th February.