Brandon Sanderson to release original graphic novel trilogy set in the Cosmere

Brandon Sanderson has announced that his planned White Sand trilogy of fantasy novels has been re-tooled as three graphic novels, to be published by Dynamite Comics.

The White Sand series has been percolating for many years. Set on the planet Taldain, it is part of Sanderson's wider Cosmere universe (also including his Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series, and his novels Warbreaker and Elantris). Taldain is a tidally-locked planet where one half of the world is under permanent daylight and the other in eternal darkness. The 'Daysiders' and 'Darksiders' each have their own unique abilities, with the Daysiders able to use the sand of the title as part of their magic system.

According to Sanderson, the novel trilogy will now not be published, with the story exclusively set to feature as a graphic novel series. The first volume will be published in 2015.

Community: Season 4

Jeff Winger's time at Greendale Community College is coming to an end. Graduation, and a return to his former career as a hotshot lawyer, is now in sight. But standing in the way is a villainous English history teacher, his own (reluctantly growing) sense of community and events unfolding in another timeline altogether.

Every long-running series has its Attack of the Clones, Crossroads of Twilight or "Jack's tattoo episode" moment, when the creative engines misfire and things fall out of alignment. Characters don't gel like they used, lines are delivered with less conviction and everything just goes a bit wrong.

In the case of Community, this problem was inflicted on the show by the studio: creator and showrunner Dan Harmon was fired between Seasons 3 and 4 and the show had to struggle on without its primary creative force. Given that Community is a finely balanced mix of meta-commentary, comedy and character development and even Harmon couldn't get it right all of the time (see the uneven opening to Season 1 or the middle of Season 3), it's unsurprising that Season 4 is a bit of a mess.

The show remains entertaining, even though the moments of out-of-character behaviour and dialogue grate. The performances remain strong and there's some genius moments of casting, with Malcolm McDowell playing the hard history teacher and a reasonable turn by Matt Lucas as an Inspector Spacetime fan to rival Abed. There's also some nice follow-ups to earlier seasons, with the finale combining both the 'darkest timeline' storyline that began in early Season 3 and finding a way of bringing back the paintball game in a different way. Even Britta recovers from her Season 2/3 descent into ditziness and is a moderately more interesting character this year. There's also a clever episode - a puppet musical - which pokes fun at the whole idea of high-concept episodes and feels like it could have been made on Harmon's watch.

Unfortunately these high points only emphasise the lows: the over-reliance on the Dean and the now utterly-redundant Chang for cheap jokes, the mishandling of Abed and indeed the whole pop culture angle (often just referencing things rather than using them to highlight plot or character) and the total sidelining of Pierce until he basically just vanishes from the show altogether. The actors, directors and writers make a heroic effort to make up for Harmon's absence, but there is no disguising that the show is no longer operating on the same level. Fortunately, the studio saw sense and Harmon was reinstated for the fifth (and, for now, final) season, which has been much more positively received.

Community's fourth season (***) is certainly watchable, with its share of funny moments. It also does move the characters and storylines forward more successfully than I was expecting. However, there are too many moments which misfire, too many moments when characters say and do things that feel off and too many lazy references to previous, funnier episodes. There's some fun to be had from revisiting Greendale, but Harmon's absence is palpable. The season is available now in the UK and USA.

LOCKE LAMORA TV series in the works: update

A couple of years ago, there was a rumour that Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora (and presumably the rest of the Gentleman Bastard series) was going to be adapted for television. The novel had previously been optioned for a movie before it had even been released, but after several years in development hell the rights lapsed.

At an event in Santa Fe this week, writer Ryan Condal is reported to have said he is working on a pilot script for a TV series based on the novel. Condal is the writer of the pilot for The Sixth Gun, a potential TV series based on the comic books by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt. NBC passed on the series, but the pilot has been aired in several locations and seems to have gone down well. Condal also wrote the script for the new Hercules movie starring Dwayne Johnson, due out in July.

When asked about the rumour, Scott Lynch replied:

"I can neither confirm nor deny the denial or confirmation of anything potentially requiring denial or confirmation."

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Cover art for Steven Erikson and Robert Holdstock

Tor Books in the USA have unveiled a rough mock-up of the cover art for Steven Erikson's next novel. Willful Child is a comic SF novel which riffs on Star Trek.

The blurb is as follows:

A wickedly entertaining spoof SF space adventure by Steven Erikson, a life-long 'Star Trek' fan and author of the multi-million copy selling 'The Malazan Book of the Fallen' series.

These are the voyages of the starship, A.S.F. Willful Child. Its ongoing mission: to seek out strange new worlds on which to plant the Terran flag, to subjugate and if necessary obliterate new life life-forms, to boldly blow the...

And so we join the not-terribly-bright but exceedingly cock-sure Captain Hadrian Sawback - a kind of James T Kirk crossed with 'American Dad' - and his motley crew on board the Starship Willful Child for a series of devil-may-care, near-calamitous and downright chaotic adventures through 'the infinite vastness of interstellar space'...

The bestselling author of the acclaimed Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence has taken his life-long passion for 'Star Trek' and transformed it into a smart, inventive and hugely entertaining spoof on the whole mankind-exploring-space-for-the-good-of-all-species-but-trashing-stuff-with-a-lot-of-hi-tech-kit-along-the-way type over-blown adventure. The result is this smart. inventive, occasionally wildly OTT and often very funny novel that deftly parodies the genre while also paying fond homage to it.

Steven Erikson's next Malazan novel, Fall of Light, is due for release in 2015. His collaborator Ian Cameron Esslemont will release his new Malazan novel, Assail, on 17 July this year.

Meanwhile, Gollancz are adding Robert Holdstock's seminal fantasy novel Mythago Wood to its Fantasy Masterworks range, with a striking new cover image.

Mythago Wood was originally published in 1984 and has attracted considerable critical acclaim since its release, least of all by me.

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS 5th Edition launch details given

Wizards of the Coast have detailed their launch plans for the 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. It's been confirmed that the name 'D&D Next' was just a placeholder and has now been ditched: the game will officially just be called D&D but '5th Edition' is an informal description for it.

The launch schedule is as follows:

15 July: D&D Starter Set
19 August: Player's Handbook, Hoard of the Dragon Queen (adventure)
30 September: Monster Manual 
21 October: The Rise of Tiamat (adventure)
19 November: Dungeon Master's Guide

Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro are betting a lot on the release of the new edition, especially as their plans for a tie-in movie franchise were torpedoed by a legal challenge by the previous rights-holders. 4th Edition, release in 2008, was a financial failure (after an initially promising start) and its mixed critical reception tore the core D&D fanbase apart. Many D&D fans have moved onto games like Pathfinder, 13th Age and Numenera, not to mention various 'retroclones' (games by third parties based heavily on older editions of D&D). The high price of 5th Edition ($50 each for the rulebooks and $30 for the adventures) isn't likely to do much to tempt them back.

One factor in D&D's favour is that its primary competition (and the pen-and-paper RPG market-leader for the last few years), Pathfinder, has now been going for over five years and is starting to get a little long in the tooth. With no proper second edition on the horizon for that game, D&D 5th Edition may tempt some fans to at least take a look. However, if 5th Edition fails to do well, we might be looking at the retirement of the D&D game for some time to come.

Batman: The Animated Series

In 1992 Warner Brothers Animation capitalised on the success of the Tim Burton Batman films with a new animated series which took its cue from those movies in terms of visual design. The result was one of the most acclaimed cartoon series of all time, Batman: The Animated Series. It ran for three years and spawned a number of spin-off films and sequel series, not to mention the entire DC Animated Universe.

The series was immensely successful for three key reasons. The first is its visual design, which moves away from the traditional primary colour aesthetic of cartoons to something much darker. This was achieved by painting light colours on black backgrounds rather than vice versa and setting most of the action at night. The art style also draws heavily from the Burton movies' mixture of art deco and retro design with modern technology. Stylistically, Batman may be one of the coolest and visually engaging series ever made.

The second key to success is the writing. Whilst the show occasionally fumbles with a fairly obvious cops 'n' robbers story or an episode more suited to the 1960s Batman series,  for most of the time the writing is pretty smart. Whilst overt blood or scenes of death are avoided, the show also doesn't hold back on showing the psychological damage the characters have received and even manages to turn certain characters - Mr. Freeze most notably - into tragic figures. This extends to Batman himself, who suffers occasional bouts of trauma resulting from the murder of his parents. One episode imagines a fantasy world in which Bruce Wayne's parents lived and is appropriately tragic. The series also does a good job of hitting the right note of moral ambiguity, such as in Bruce Wayne's friendship with the doomed Harvey Dent and the depiction of Catwoman as both an ally and an enemy.

The third element of success is the voice acting. It's a remarkable feat given competition such as Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, but Mark Hamill's Joker is now widely considered definitive for his hitting of just the right note of demented insanity in his portrayal of the character. Kevin Conroy's Batman is also terrific, particularly his ability to adjust his performance so that Wayne and Batman have somewhat different voices and people don't recognise him immediately (an idea that carries on into the Nolan films and Christian Bale's performance). One-off guest stars are also excellent, with Adam West (who played Batman in the 1960s TV series) relishing a chance to give a serious performance as a childhood TV hero of Bruce Wayne's who helped inspire him to become Batman.

Episodes are fast-paced and engaging, action-packed enough to entertain children but with enough funny lines and smart moments of character-building to keep adults engaged. However, the show does suffer from a relaxed attitude to continuity. Aside from a few elements (Harvey Dent appearing several times before turning into Two-Face), the show doesn't have much of a developing story and characters appear and disappear randomly, particularly Robin. The show also mixes in-depth origin stories for some villains with others showing up and Batman apparently having known them for years.

The absence of heavy continuity means it's a lot easier to dip in and enjoy the show without having to pay too much attention to details, but it also means some of the much more complex character development of later animated series is missing.

Batman: The Animated Series (****) is a highly watchable and enjoyable show with or without kids, with some beautiful artwork and terrific writing. The absence of more serialised storytelling means some storylines and characters are not fleshed out as much as might be wished, but overall this is an animated series that has aged very well and is worth checking out.

The series is available now in the UK (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3) and USA (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3).

New ELITE: DANGEROUS video shows galactic map and hyperspace

The fourth alpha build of Elite: Dangerous has launched, giving backers a chance to experience the game's navigation and starflight capabilities for themselves. The new version includes the galactic map, which players will use to jump from system to system, and an early version of the hyperspace animation that will accompany these jumps.

Apparently, the fourth alpha of Elite: Dangerous will be the final one. A beta test, which will likely try to combine the different game systems (combat, trading, navigation) together, will begin in a few weeks. The full game should be out towards the end of the year.

Gollancz published three Elite: Dangerous e-book novels last week. They will be released in hardcover on 16 October this year.

Lily Allen turned down role on GAME OF THRONES

British pop star Lily Allen claims that she was offered a role on Game of Thrones that she turned down. Lily is the older sister of actor Alfie Allen, who has played the role of Theon Greyjoy on the show since it started.

In an Ask Me Anything on Reddit, Lily says the producers approached her with a view to her playing the role of Yara Greyjoy (Asha in the books), Theon's sister. Lily felt the role would be a little too incestuous - in their first scene together, Theon tries to feel up his sister, unaware of her identity - and turned it down. She goes on to say she'd quite like to be involved in the series in a musical capacity, similar to the appearances by Sigur Ros, the Hold Steady, The National, Gary Lightbody (of Snow Patrol) and Will Champion (of Coldplay) in the series.

This would have been an interesting choice, but I think Gemma Whelan has made the part her own. In addition, it's interesting that Allen describes the role as a cameo. Whilst Yara has had relatively little screen time - appearing in relatively brief scenes in six episodes out of twenty-five since she debuted - it is still a fairly important role with a lot of dramatic weight. Allen does not have any acting experience (outside of a few guest appearances as herself on various shows). It is possible that the producers envisaged the role of Yara as being much smaller and chose to later expand it.

During the casting for the second season, Lily was suggested several times, half-joking, by fans for the role. More popular was the suggestion of Lily and Alfie's father, the well-known British actor and comedian Keith Allen, for the role of Balon Greyjoy. The role eventually went to Patrick Malahide, who has played the role very well (if infrequently) since the second season.

FAR CRY 4 confirmed

News of the existence of Far Cry 4 leaked a few weeks ago, but it's now been officially confirmed by Ubisoft.

Far Cry 4 will be released on 18 November on PC, X-Box 360, X-Box One, PS3 and PS4. Like its predecessors, the game will be an open-world, combat-focused first-person shooter. You will be able to follow a linear storyline, undertake side-missions, engage in optional tasks to improve your character or mix them up as you see fit. The game will be set in Kyrat, a fictional region of the Himalayas where some dude (presumably the blonde guy on the cover) has set himself up as a king. Your character, I will hazard wildly, has to defeat him through the application of lunatic, gun-based ultraviolence.

Intriguingly, there will be a narrative link from Far Cry 3 to Far Cry 4, with the character of Hurk reappearing (and being playable in several DLC missions). This marks the first time two games in the franchise have been linked together by a recurring element. The previous games did not share locations, characters, storylines or, in the case of Blood Dragon and maybe the original Far Cry, even universes.

I'm a fan of the Far Cry games (particularly the first one), so I'm looking forwards to this. Sadly, the snowy setting and open-world gameplay means that many, many Far Cryrim jokes have already been made, and doubtless many more are to come.

Alpha Protocol

Mike Thorton is the newest recruit to Alpha Protocol, a clandestine American security organisation operating with maximum deniability. When an operation goes wrong and Thorton is targeted for assassination by shadowy forces operating within Alpha Protocol, he is forced to go undercover, expose a devastating international conspiracy and clear his name.

Alpha Protocol is a combat-focused, third-person RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, the developers of Fallout: New Vegas, Neverwinter Nights 2 and the recent South Park: The Stick of Truth. The game is more than slightly reminiscent of BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, with its reliance on cover-based combat and dialogue choices having a huge impact on how the game proceeds. Unlike the team-based mechanics of the Mass Effect trilogy, however, Alpha Protocol's hero Mike Thorton is a lone operator who has a wide array of stealth options to enhance his combat repertoire.

The game is structured around a series of missions in certain cities, including Rome, Moscow and Taipei. In each city Thorton has a home base where he can catch up on email, watch news reports (periodically updated to comment on the chaos caused by his latest operation) and buy new weapons and equipment. From each base he can rally out to do missions, which are sometimes nothing more than short cut scenes as Thorton tries to wheedle information out of someone else but are sometimes long and elaborate infiltration and combat operations. For each mission Thorton can attempt to achieve his objective through sneaking into locations without being seen, going in all guns blazing or attempt diplomacy (or some combination of the three). He also has the ability to hack security systems, remotely unlock doors or set traps. A levelling-and-skill system also gives Thorton a wide array of abilities he can upgrade to improve his chances of success.

The game is also heavily focused on characterisation. Thorton has a reputation with every character in the game, even enemies, and he can improve that reputation by saying the right things to them in dialogue. You can generally engage in conversations aggressively (inspired by Jack Bauer), suavely (inspired by James Bond) or professionally (inspired by Jason Bourne), with occasional extra options available if you have researched the right info about the character. Intelligence dossiers (bought through the black market or found on missions) hold clues as to how people will respond in certain situations, allowing you to manipulate them into helping you out. It's a clever system, enhanced by some satisfying dialogue (written by the mighty Chris Avellone) and some terrific, unexpected outcomes which radically change the way the story develops.

The game's reactivity is probably its best feature, with characters living or dying (sometimes taking entire storylines and occasional missions with them) based on your actions, or how you go about doing things. Alpha Protocol rewards replaying more than most games for this reason, with real consequences to your decisions.

Unfortunately, whilst the plot is excellent and the characterisation is strong, the actual gameplay is occasionally wonky. Infamously, the game was released by Sega in a highly unpolished state, as they had refused to give the game a full QA or testing pass after taking the initial build off Obsidian's hands. Minor bugs - clipping, jumpy camera controls, the physics engine occasionally going berserk - occasionally blight the game but are easily ignorable. More severe are problems with the game not reacting properly to your actions. For example, my usual approach to a mission was to attempt stealth but by around 50% of the way through each mission I'd given up on that and was resorting to gunplay. Yet my version of Thorton soon gained a reputation as a ghost, with other characters reacting to my ability to slip in and out of places undetected with awe. Considering I'd left a trail of blood, fire, chaos and bodies across most of Eurasia behind me, this didn't really make sense. There's also the fact that - especially on PC - the hacking minigame suffers from such poor and unresponsive controls that it's almost unusable.

Combat is reasonable, although pouring points into stealth soon makes you almost invulnerable, able to attack targets at will and hide almost in broad daylight. The stealth part of the game is fun but also made too easy by unconscious enemy bodies vanishing after a few seconds, meaning you don't have to worry about them being discovered. Instant takedowns (lethal or not) are also possible if you take the target by surprise. Played the right way, combat can be trivially easy. There's also periodic bossfights which, depending on the game's whim are either brutally hard or ridiculously straightforward: many areas have blindspots where the bosses can't see you, allowing you to shoot them with impunity.

Alpha Protocol does have a reputation for being heavily bugged, although I did not find this to be the case. Minor bugs abound, but on only two occasions was I forced to reload. Out of a 15-hour game, that's not too bad at all. It's a game clearly in need of a few more months of polishing, but it's still perfectly playable to completion.

Alpha Protocol (****) is a fun, clever, well-written and smart game hampered by minor-but-constant gameplay flaws and a few broken systems. The game is highly replayable and has some great ideas, but in many ways it feels like an early prototype of a style of game that would be achieved with considerably greater skill by Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Alpha Protocol is flawed and underrated gem that is definitely worth a second look. The game is available now on PC, X-Box 360 (UK, USA) and PS3 (UK,USA).