Round Up: Evil Curt Schilling, Double Fusion's Board, Rolston Retires, Da Vinci PS3

Today's round up include news of an evil Curt Schilling in EverQuest II, a new member appointed to Double Fusion's Board of Directors, Ken Rolston's reflections on Oblivion and Morrowind, and The Da Vinci Code playing a key role in the PlayStation 3's upcoming launch, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, product news, Serious Games Source news, and Gamasutra job postings. - Sony Online Entertainment has announced that Boston Red Sox pitcher and self-professed video game fan Curt Schilling is being cast as an evil NPC whom players must defeat in in EverQuest II. Schilling's character will reside within EverQuest II for three days during the Yankees vs. Red Sox baseball series June 5, 6 and 7, 2006 at Yankee Stadium. During this time, anyone can register for and log into EverQuest II to challenge the evil Schilling character, appropriately named "Curt Schilling." In addition, every time a player defeats the virtual Schilling character, Sony Online Entertainment will make a donation of $5 dollars (up to $10,000) to the ALS Association, which assists patients with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Players will also be able to donate money to the ALS Association while playing by typing /ALS. - In-game advertising firm Double Fusion announced that it has appointed entertainment and sports industry veteran Peter Levin to its board of directors. Levin currently serves as president of Bellrock Media, Inc., which produces and distributes entertainment content for emerging platforms, and managing director of Sedona Capital, U.S., where Levin steers the fund's investments and partnerships in the new media and mobile content industries. Levin was also co-founder of licensing and management firm Quattro Media, where he still serves as a partner. Levin also serves on the Board of Directors of Phonebites, Impact Mobile, GamearraY and the Arena Football League, and is on the advisory boards of Mofactor and MESoft. He is also a co-owner of the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League and a partner in Palisades Baseball, which owns and operates three Minor League Baseball franchises. - In an interview with [H]Consumer, Ken Rolston, who served as lead designer on Bethesda's RPGs Oblivion and Morrowind, has revealed that he has recently retired from the video game industry, following significant contributions to both Morrowind and its highly-rated follow-on. During the interview, Rolston also discusses a number of topics relating not only to these two significant projects, but also his career in general, which includes 1984's classic PC science fiction RPG Paranoia from West End Games. Gamasutra wishes him well in his retirement. - A new report from VNUNet reports that Tokyo research firm Nomura Securities believes that the Blu-ray version of the recently released Da Vinci Code film could be play a key role in convincing consumers to purchase Sony's PlayStation 3, which is expected to launch in mid-November for both $499 and $599, the more expensive of which will include extra features including High-Definition Multi-Media Interface (HDMI) video output. "Having a hit in-house movie could be a big factor behind Sony making its target of shipping six million PlayStation 3 consoles in the first year at a price of more than $540 each," said Nomura Securities analyst Eiichi Katayama in a research report. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include news on the apparent resurrection of indie game site TIGSource, characters in EverQuest II engaging in parkour amidst the fantastical backdrop of Norrath, and news on a Flash-based adventure game that stars an exchange student in Sweden out looking for love. - Also updated today: Serious Games Source news on a USA Today report regarding the history of serious games, a study that found doctors work better after playing games, and a new feature from the Games For Health 2006 conference regarding Dr. Albert “Skip” Rizzo's research on PTSD, plus Gamasutra product news on the release of GroundWiz 1.2 and the debut of Incredibuild 2.50, as well as the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Destineer, Iron Lore Entertainment, LucasArts, Monolith Productions, Snowblind Studios, Ubisoft, and Vivendi Universal Games.