永不落幕的《无尽之剑》

    玛斯塔德说：“我们想把‘无尽之剑’系列做得不单单只有一种互动式体验。大家可以先玩《无尽之剑I》，在游戏中体验这个故事和它的世界。然后可以关掉游戏应用，打开布兰登•桑德森写的电子书，在书中继续了解那个世界和发生在那里的故事，但却是通过一个完全不同的媒介。等你看完书后，可以接着玩《无尽之剑II》，故事又会继续进行，然后你又可以阅读第二本电子书。用这种方式，我们可以在同一款设备或是不同的屏幕上享受更加一致化的媒体体验。它扩展了故事和故事里的世界，而且它仍然不离你的手掌。”

    《无尽之剑》系列采用了英佩游戏的虚幻引擎3技术，使它的体验与传统游戏机的差距越来越小。《无尽之剑II》甚至催生出了一种立式的大型游戏机，可以用手指滑动操作，大家可以在美国的Dave & Buster’s连锁餐厅或者一些其它地方看到它。如果在高清电视上玩的话，这款游戏的震憾视觉效果甚至堪比时下某些优秀的游戏机作品。

    玩家们也非常喜欢《无尽之剑》中的世界。到目前为止，《无尽之剑》第一、二部仍然是最畅销的手游之一，全球有超过4000万名玩家玩过这款游戏。

    游戏业调查公司Newzoo的创始人彼得•沃尔曼指出：“今年全球游戏玩家已经为《无尽之剑II》贡献了大约600万美金。其中40%来自美国，日本是其第二大市场。虽然《无尽之剑》已经告别各大排行榜的榜首很久了，但是如果你关注一下付费游戏市场，你会发现它仍然是有史以来表现最好的游戏之一。”

    《无尽之剑》的玩家花在这款游戏上的时间比玩家玩iTunes上其它游戏的时间平均长三倍。Chair Entertainment公司已经在游戏里设置了一个商店，鼓励玩家购买电子书和原版音乐。不久的将来，这家公司可能还会引入玩具或漫画等新产品。

    桑德森说：“我当初之所以同意参加这个项目，原因之一是我为新媒体的这种发展前景感到非常兴奋。”本月23号，桑德森还有一本传统的精装纸质书《钢铁心》（Steelheart）即将上市。上周末，桑德森的另一部作品还获得了雨果奖，这个奖项的获奖作品都是由世界科幻小说协会（the World Science Fiction Society）会员评选出的最佳科幻作品。

    似乎一切都在朝着这个方向推进。大家的Xbox不再只是一台游戏机，还能播放电影和电视剧，比如即将播出的《光环》（Halo ）系列。大家的iPad也不再只是一个用来看电子书、玩游戏、上网页的设备。它还可以连到电视上，或者当家用电器的遥控器。随着新一代技术的普及，很多东西都会融合为一体。“它使我们这些讲故事的人可以以一种史无前例的方式去讲故事。”玛斯塔德和桑德森相信，《无尽之剑》的世界里仍然有更多的故事可以讲。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎     

    "We wanted to make the Infinity Blade franchise more than 'just' an interactive experience," said Mustard. "You can literally be playing Infinity Blade I and be experiencing the universe and the story, shut the game application, open the digital book that's written by Brandon Sanderson, start reading about the universe, and continue the story on the same device, but in a totally different medium. Then you finish the book, start playing Infinity Blade II, and the story continues. Then you can read the second book. It's a way that we can start to have these more unified media experiences on one central device or multiple screens, but that it expands the story and the universe all still in the palm of your hand."

    The Infinity Blade franchise, which is built on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 technology, is also blurring the line between mobile and console gaming, as well. The second game even spawned a stand-up, swipe-based arcade machine that can be found at Dave & Buster's and other locations around the country. The game's vibrant visuals, when played on an HD TV, look on par with current generation console offerings.

    Gamers have loved this universe. To date, the Infinity Blade games remain among the two bestselling games in the mobile space. Over 40 million players around the globe have played the game.

    "This year mobile gamers have spent approximately $6 million dollars on Infinity Blade II across the globe," said Peter Warman, founder of video game research firm Newzoo. "Forty percent of that comes from the U.S. Japan is their second biggest market. It has been a long time since the original Infinity Blade topped any chart. But looking at the paid games market, it's still is one of the best performing games of all time."

    On average, Infinity Blade game-play sessions are three times longer than the average game-play session on iTunes. Chair has been able to utilize an in-game store to seamlessly drive fans from game to books to soundtrack. In the near future, Chair will add new products like toys and comics to the universe.

    "One of the reasons I agreed to doing this in the first place was because I'm excited by this prospect of new media," said Sanderson, who has a traditional hardcover book, Steelheart, shipping on September 23. This past weekend, Sanderson won two Hugo Awards for some of his other projects. The honors focus on the best works of science fiction as voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Society.

    "It seems like everything is pushing this direction. Your Xbox is no longer just a video game console, it plays movies and even original TV shows like the upcoming Halo series. Your iPad is no longer just this device that you read books, play games, and web browse on. It can hook to your TV and control your house. Everything is blending together with this new generation of technology. "It allows us as storytellers to tell stories in a brand new and unprecedented way." Mustard and Sanderson believe there are still more stories to tell in this universe.