For years now fans of my epic fantasy series A Song of Ice & Fire have been writing and emailing me to suggest… ask… beg for the books to be made into a videogame. I’m thrilled to be able to announce that, at long last, those requests are being answered. Cyanide Studios, an independent videogame developer based in Nanterre, France, has acquired an exclusive option to develop Ice & Fire as both an RTS (Real Time Strategy) and RPG videogame for next generation consoles and PC.

Cyanide will begin development immediately, with an eye toward rolling out the games for release in the summer of 2011. “We are all huge fans of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, so it is a true honour for our teams to be entrusted with creating the first video games inspired by this masterpiece” said Patrick Pligersdorffer, Managing Director of Cyanide. “The twists and turns of the plot will allow us to deliver an experience which can be enjoyed by both long-time fans as well as gamers new to the series. Its rich web of characters, set in a universe where nothing is just black and white, make it an ideal background for both an RTS and an RPG.”

Cyanide first approached me about videogame rights five years ago. No agreement was reached at that time, but Patrick and his colleague Joe Ryan have maintained their interest in the series over the years, impressing me with their doggedness and determination. Since that first contact, Cyanide has opened a studio in Montreal and more than doubled its headcount, and now have the resources to produce both RTS and RPG games that will, we hope, satisfy all my fans and readers, and gamers unfamiliar with the books as well. I am pleased to be in business with the Cyanide, and look forward to working with them on the games.

Cyanide was founded in 2000, and has developed and produced games in numerous genres, including sports management, real time strategy, fantasy, and action RPGs. More information is available through the company website at www.cyanide-studio.com

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Yes, I know, it wasn’t even April 1st, but I couldn’t resist.

Glad you folks enjoyed it.

I’d like to give credit to whoever created the South Park versions of my cast, but I’m afraid I don’t know who it was. The pictures arrived some time ago — last year, maybe even the year before — and I meant to put them up on my From My Readers page. But then I had one of my periodic computer glitches wherein all my email was eaten. I recovered most of it, but not all, and the letter that came with the cartoons was one of those lost. The pictures themselves, having been downloaded, were untouched.

So if the reader who created the pictures is out there reading this, please step up and take a bow. They’re wonderful. Thank you.

(And by the way, people continue to send me pictures of their dogs, cats, babies, and tattoos for my fan page, along with original artwork and all sorts of other things. And I do mean to post ’em there, really… but I’m about a hundred pictures behind. Eventually I should get it all up, but I can’t swear as to when. I’m kinda busy).

From now on I’ll be good, I will, I will.

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