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The ultimate goal for Science Fiction author/swordfighting aficionado Neal Stephenson won’t be an easy one to realize. Judging by the sheer awesomeness of his Kickstarter campaign video, the idea comes across as both lofty and genius — not only in theory, but in what looks like carefully detailed planning, elaborate experimentation, and of course the insane promo that contains it all.
Note: You won’t have to be into swordfighting or Neal Stephenson to appreciate this.
It all seems both admirable and straightforward: to revolutionize the authentic feel and experience of a first-person swordfighting game. He’s clearly disgusted with the swordfighting experience (or lack thereof) modern controllers bring to swordplay in games these days. But how he details this, and reveals his plans, is what makes it all work:
It will also B) allow players a wider variety of sword-fighting moves, more environments, and character selection, all done in real-life with mo-capping, a room full of sword-fighting experts/sword-juggling/cirque du soleil acts etc. being closely monitored by a lady in a labcoat, which clearly means important stuff is happening. Judging by the extremely sharp blades and blacksmith-ing, it’s also deadly serious.
Ready to donate then? Think I can square away about 5 bucks, which leaves me about $2 for top ramen and $1100 to get my transmission fixed — but in the name of good swordfighting, I consider it worth it.
Here is anther video, with Stephenson going into more detail. He’s pretty passionate about it all, which MAKES ME WANT TO DONATE MORRRE…
Jeff Nau – who has written 1264 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Jeff Nau is a main contributor to the Jace Hall Show covering pop culture and music trends in the nerd community. He has contributed to San Diego City Beat, 944, and Ill Literature, amongst others, and spends his spare time working as an artist and photographer.

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