Epic Games announced that it has recently acquired Chair Entertainment, the dev studio behind the Xbox Live Arcade title Undertow.

Chair's also working on a game series based on the "Ender's Game" novels, so it'll be interesting to see how this new arrangement will affect that project. More details on the acquisition are available in the full article.

Apparently, Orson Scott Card has given the Ender's Game as a video game idea some very thorough thinking. Chair Entertainment has announced a partnership with Card that will allow them to release a game series based on the novel's Battle Room. Details regarding this matter are available in the full article.

Independent video game developer Chair Entertainment has announced that it has signed an exclusive deal with Epic Games to use the Unreal Engine 3 for all its present and upcoming projects. The deal will cover all games Chair Entertainment develops for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 gaming platforms.

The first game to be released under the new agreement will be Undertow, an Xbox Live Arcade title slated to go live all over the world this summer. Undertow features a 15-level campaign for single player or co-op. The game also supports multiplayer for up to 16 players. Pretty impressive considering Undertow is reportedly just 50MB.

Here's what Epic Games vice president Mark Rein said about the deal:

We love working with cool independent studios like Chair that are truly focused on delivering value to gamers and creating experiences that break new boundaries in gameplay and creativity.

Sure, we love working with the big developers and publishers too, but there’s something really satisfying about seeing a young company with great talent doing some awesome stuff with our technology. Undertow is just the first great game you’ll see from these guys – prepare to be wowed some more.

It must have felt this way during the Civil War. How should you feel when you've been asked to point your gun at a fellow countryman? That's the subject of acclaimed science fiction writer Orson Scott Card's Empire - and the eponymous shooter video game from Chair Entertainment appearing in whatever platform will handle Unreal Engine 3.0 (hence PS3, Xbox 360, PC posting).

Card sets Empire, book, game, and whatever else may come out of it, in a near-future America ripped apart by blue state/red state politics. But the center of the book and the game is not the politics, but "the desire to tell a story about living, breathing people," he tells Wired News. And to him, the books-video games-movie connection tend to fall relatively flat on their face because, for most games, they tend to ignore that need of characterization.

Video games are a viable storytelling medium, but the trouble is that video games always have the same protagonist, which is the player. And he always has the same set of motivations, which is to kill and don't die. That's not conducive to great novels.

So enter Ender's Game the Empire game and novel. Card explains the characterization in the game best.

The experience from beginning to end in this game is that characters have their own agendas, which is not necessarily the players' agenda, but is fully understandable to them. Gamers will sympathize with what the characters are trying to do. They will want them to win. So it will not be a matter of just killing mindlessly. It will be about achieving really important objectives.

It's not that the entire industry is guilty of, in Card's view, falling flat on their faces. Card really blames the "mindless" video games publishing industry for pushing deadlines and agendas onto video game creators that, frankly, do not need the pressure and the dictation. There could be some "really great games" in Card's view, if devs didn't have to be pressured by publishers' requirements. Part of the reason why Card teamed up with indie developer Chair Entertainment.

Then again, it's not that we haven't seen interesting characterization that Card seeks from the industry - think Hideo Kojima's Solid Snake, for example. On the other hand, Kojima himself tends to have quite a (relatively) free hand from Konami, so there's Card's thesis confirmed somewhat. Then there's Japanese RPGs, and... catch our drift? Perhaps it should be considered a challenge directed to next-gen gaming, a challenge Card knows that the developers can meet if they weren't burdened with publishing dictates.

Apart from graphics or gameplay, can you create a game that's humanly compelling? When more details on Empire come out, we'll see if the game meets Card's own expectations.

Chair Entertainment was founded in 2005 and consists of a core design team under the direction of Donald and Geremy Mustard. The team has worked together for years gaining experience in many facets of entertainment including art design, digital animation, game development, storytelling, and comic books.

Several of Chair’s founding members were part of the development team responsible for Advent Rising, released in 2005 for Xbox and PC. They also directed the story and art design for the 360ep comic book series, Advent Rising: Rock the Planet.

Chair is currently developing a new entertainment franchise, code named Empire. The Empire franchise is scheduled to launch fall of 2006 with the release of a novel written by acclaimed author Orson Scott Card. The book will be followed by the launch of a comic book series, next-generation video game, and feature film, all offering a unique experience within the Empire universe.

In case you have no idea who Mr. Card is, he is an accomplished writer who's authored "The Abyss" (James Cameron made a movie out of that), the "Women of Genesis series", "The Tales of Alvin Maker" and "Advent Rising". Giving the attention back to "Empire" (the novel), the novel gives an eerie picture of a warring American society of the future.

The battle rages between the high-technology weapons on one side, and militia foot-soldiers on the other, devastating the cities, and overrunning the countryside. But the vast majority, who only want the killing to stop and the nation to return to more peaceful days, have technology, weapons and strategic geniuses of their own. When the American dream shatters into violence, who can hold the people and the government together? And which side will you be on?

Pretty intriguing, huh? So what do you think of this game? Do you think it'll be a hit or it would be a flop? Is the topic too boring or is it something that rings close to reality and sounds interesting? It runs on the Unreal Engine 3, so it's unlikely to come out for the Wii, so do you think it'll come out for the PS3, the Xbox 360, or both? Tell us what you think through your comments.