The Broken Kingdoms by Darren Reid and NextGenBooks has some new stuff to offer this week. The biggest of which is a brand new quest that requires no violence and some sharp thinking, like all of the other quests in the game. The Tavra Cirty Quest will throw you into the thick of things as you try to find the lost histories for Lord Graceland.

If you're not familiar with the game, it's an MMORPG-style title for the Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, DS, and PSP. It balances action with puzzle-solving to make the game as diverse as can be. It has simple point and click controls that can be used to interact with the environment. The game is run using the browsers of each platform for ease of use.

One key feature that The Broken Kingdoms offers is that it has an in-game forum and profile creator that allows players to interact and create stuff at a whim. The developers call their title a more "casual" MMO which anyone can pick up and start to role-play with.

A new update is coming July 25th, so brace yourselves for some minor changes. If you haven't read up on The Broken Kingdoms just yet and are completely blurry on it, you may want to see our past posts and find out exactly what we're talking about.

Author Darren Reid and NextGenBooks have announced over the press hotwire that they've finally launched a beta preview of their multi-platform point-and-click MMORPG at their official website. The Half Broken Crown: The Broken Kingdoms is a web-based game that can be played on your internet browsers, which means that you can play it not only on your Mac or PC, but on your PS3, Wii, PSP, and DS as well.

We've tried it out ourselves and it seems pretty robust. Just click around to where ever you wanna go, to what ever object you want to examine, or to what ever person you want to talk to. Text and descriptions are seen on the left side of the screen, while action commands are on the right.

Some might be a bit put-off by the simplistic gameplay and presentation, however it was designed to be a "casual" MMO - something you can just pick up and play to pass the time. For the puzzle enthusiasts though, you could easily immerse yourself in this game - and being an MMO, it'll chuck in the factor of solving puzzles with a group of people.

A little note, though. If you're going to be playing the game on the DS, you're going to have to wait a bit for it's release on the 24th of this month. Due to the system's limitations, the developers are still trying to make ends meet with its own unique community interface.

If you want to try it out, you can click the Read link below. Make sure you click the correct platform you're playing it on.

Fantasy author Darren Reid is spinning tales again, but this time, paper isn't his medium. Reid has entered a collaborative project with NexGenBooks to bring to life a spin off of his soon to be released novel "The Half Broken Crown."

The game, fully titled as The Half Broken Crown: The Broken Kingdoms, is going to be a first-person MMORPG that will have a unique gameplay style that's rewarding to solve when playing in a group. Players must think as a unit and cooperate in order to pass areas and clear objectives.

The game will launch in June as free download (with optional microtransactions) on NextGenBooks.com, with individual web-based versions for the Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, the PC, Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Shown here are some of the early screens of the game. The developers didn't say exactly at what platform they were taken from.

"Of all my upcoming projects this is perhaps the one I am most excited about," says Reid. "It is a unique opportunity for me to expand upon the [upcoming] book and to tell new stories."

  

If you enjoyed Darren Reid's "The Sword of Oz" interactive ebook, then you might be happy to know that even more fantasy and scifi titles from a variety of authors optimized for next generation console browsers and handhelds are on their way, thanks to NextGenBooks.com.

"The great thing about the new wave of consoles," explains NextGenBooks.com founder Darren Reid, "is that we can deliver our content to a whole new audience – people who love Zelda, Resistance, Oblivion and Gears of War have the chance to download and read brand new stories and novels at no charge from some of the best new voices in the genre."

The first new title, Kim Silva's "The Dreamers", is slated for an April 27 release. Following this first release will be a series of science fiction and fantasy titles from authors Kyrinn Synthea Eis, David Goyette and Darren Reid. Even more titles are expected to follow in the coming months. Each of the upcoming titles - which are all completely free - will appear exclusively on NextGenBooks.com.

   

"Love Can Build a Wall. Hate Can Tear it Down. Justice Stands Forever."

Or so the tag line goes. Intriguing, eh? That's the basic theme that Darren Reid's graphic novel "Xevicom Forever" revolves around. The first two issues launched today for the PSP and PC mark Reid's very first release for your beloved handhelds.

There will also be enhanced online editions for the Wii and PS3 soon, which will also allow DS users in Europe and Japan to view the novel. (Currently, you can view the Wii/PS3 online browser versions at Reid's website, the link to which is in the Read link)

And the fun (?) doesn't end there: the novel's third issue will be released on March 16th, and the fourth and final one to be launched on March 23rd. But if you don't wanna go through the hassle of downloading the issues one by one, you can opt to wait 'til March 30, when you can download the whole novel in one bundle.

With previous works that include The Sword of Oz, Darren Reid still has quite a few novels up his sleeve. So if you like what you see in Xevicom Forever, make sure you keep an eye out for his future releases.

Download: Xevicom Forever for PSP
Download: Xevicom Forever for PC

 

"Best Selling Fantasy and Science Fiction Author Darren Reid is to release his debut fifty page graphic novel as a free download on March 9th," says the press release from NextGenBooks.com and DarrenReid.co.uk about "Xevicom Forever," a graphic novel (comic book) that was Darren Reid's first writing project. "Xevicom Forever" predates all of Darren Reid's currently in-print work.

"Xevicom Forever" follows the story of three new heroes in "the nightmarish future of Xevicom city." The press release describes the novel as "a dark and twisted tale of broken lives and shattered dreams" and "a glimpse into the lives of the three protagonists and a hint of what it takes for a man to become a hero."

The graphics were made by Michael Bushnell, Alex Cowles, and George Williams - "three of Britain's best up and coming artists."

Wizard magazine (the world's largest comic book magazine) liked "Xevicom Forever," and so do we. And hey, it's free. So download it on March 9, 2007 - the offer is available for a limited time only for:

• PC
• Wii
• PS3
• PSP
• DS
• iPod (The press release made no mention of this, but we assume there will be one; his other projects have iPod versions.)
  

Darren Reid is also known for his "Sword of Oz" interactive ebook project that we've written about in previous articles.

We have good news for the readers among us today. If you've been reading "The Sword of Oz" interactive ebook by author Darren Reid, then you'll be happy to know that in light of the publication's success, "The Sword of Oz: The Emerald Ring" expansion pack will be released this February 19, and will also be free for download.

"The Sword of Oz" - the first  "Dark Witches of Oz" trilogy novels - predate the original Wizard of Oz story by L. Frank Baum, and allows readers to make decision for story protagonist Arthur Gale.

The ebook launched back on January 19 was met with considerable success - "Sword of Oz" was noted to have picked up 10,000 downloads, with a little more than 50 % of console users accessing the free download.

The original novel and its expansion pack are currently available at the NextGenBooks website (accesible on the read link), with the novels readable on the PC, Wii, DS, PS3, and PSP. Also expect to see a possible novelized version of "The Sword of Oz" in the near future.

NextGenBooks.com announced today that "The Sword of Oz," the first in the planned "Dark Witches of Oz" trilogy, is now out for PC, Wii, DS, PS3, and PSP. Written by best selling fantasy author Darren Reid, "The Sword of Oz" is an epic fantasy prequel to L. Frank Baum's classic masterpiece "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

"The Sword of Oz" is an interactive ebook that explores Oz's tragic past. Featuring a multi-branching story where readers get to choose the course of their adventure, "The Sword of Oz" merges book and videogame with literally dozens of possible combinations that create a vibrant and vividly imagined world for players to experience.

Those interested in more tales set in Oz would be glad to know that two further episodes are in the works and have been tentatively titled "The Empire of Oz" and "The Rise of the Dark Witch of Oz." Reid has also mentioned the possibility of novelized versions of these stories as well as the whole series in the future. A spin-off PC adventure game entitled The Sword of Oz: The Emerald Ring is also currently in development.

"The Sword of Oz" is out now and is available exclusively at www. NextGenBooks.com and is completely free for a limited time. Strike a blow for literacy and check it out.

...But this one's not a game.

"The Sword of Oz", the first of a planned trilogy of "The Dark Witches of Oz," has been transformed into an epic fantasy adventure interactive ebook for the PC, DS, PSP, PS3, Wii, and the iPod. Yes, the iPod. The story is based on the classic "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum.

"The Sword of Oz" is set before before the wicked witches overthrew the old king of Oz and prior to the arrival of Dorothy and Toto. Instead, it's Dorothy's future grandfather Arthur Gale who is wearing the ruby slippers, so to speak.

Gale is the character through which this new chapter in Oz’s history is experienced. "The Sword of Oz" is a multi-branching adventure and readers can pick which adventures Arthur will take on. The different paths through the narrative vary widely but also closely connected so events not directly experienced by a reader in one sitting still affect those in the adventure they choose to experience.

"The Sword of Oz", written by best selling fantasy novel author Darren Reid ,will be available exclusively at NextGenBooks. NextGenBooks is a new website where PC and console (Wii, DS, PS3, and PSP) users can access Darren Reid’s free ebook library. The Sword of Oz interactive ebook will be released on January 19. Hopefully, it will create a generation of interactive e-bookworms.

For more info on "The Sword of Oz", Darren Reid, and NextGenBooks, please click on the "Read" link below.

Well, everyone is climbing on board the next-gen bandwagon, and it's about time, too. We all know that several homebrew applications which allow us to read ebooks or view comic books on the Nintendo DS are already out there, but (correct me if I'm wrong) for the first time, an author has officially announced that he and his publishers will be compiling some of his work in a format which is custom-tailored for the DS, the Wii, and the PS3.

British sci-fi and fantasy author Darren Reid has just given the announcement that he would be releasing free ebook versions of his novel "The Lord of Darkness and Shadow: The Chronicles of the Shadow Book One". The said ebook has been optimized for use with the browsers of the mentioned consoles, and will be followed by further releases within the next few months.

Other titles that are already scheduled for distribution by the end of this year and by early 2007 would be "Two Wizards: A Chronicles of the Shadow Prequel", the graphic novel "Xevicom Forever", as well as another unnamed project.

Could this be the start of a new trend among the literary world? Would we soon be reading Shakespearean Classics, "The Iliad", "Harry Potter", and (gulp) Jude Deveraux novels on our high-def plasma TVs while waiting for a demo to finish downloading? Neil Gaiman, are you reading this? Because I already have a list of titles that I would love for you to please get on the Wii. Please?

And lastly, who says that novelists can't be modern? Ah, if only Douglas Adams was still around... I could almost picture him inspecting his Wii-fied ebook, using a Wiimote to scroll through the pages. Either that or the old man would spend hours making Miis.