ENDER’S GAME – It’s About Time…

In August 1977, Orson Scott Card’s novelette ENDER’S GAME was published in ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION AND FACT and it amazed the sci fi world with its tale of very young, extremely smart, children trained to play war games for an upcoming battle with an alien species called the Formics, a group who had already beaten Earth forces 70 years before, and who are now back to finish the job.

Now, finally, more than 30 years after the story was released and a host of expanded and sequel novels were published (XENOCIDE, SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD, CHILDREN OF THE MIND, FIRST MEETINGS IN THE ENDERVERSE), director Wolfgang Petersen (TROY) is currently working on a film version of the book series with Card writing the screenplay. (Of course, the whole project has been in “development hell” for years, and no list of actors is attached yet, so no guarantees that it will make it for the 2008-2009 movie season, especially since Warner Brothers put it into “turnaround” but I’m keeping my fingers crossed…)

Orson Scott Card has also given Chair Entertainment Group the exclusive license to create games based on the Ender books. They plan to offer the games on all next-generation console, hand-held and PC platforms. With Card’s help, Chair Entertainment will begin development later this year on a game inspired by the Battle Room, the mainstay of ENDER’S GAME. The first version is expected for release via downloadable platforms.

In the meantime, we wait for a chance to train at Battle School to see for ourselves how we’d stack up against a bunch of precocious kids. (Can you say movie “tie-ins”?)

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