Smoking Gun Collaborates With Rushkoff On Cross-Media Project

Vancouver-based independent studio Smoking Gun Interactive announced a collaboration with author Douglas Rushkoff on an unannounced cross-media project. Rushkoff, an award-winning author on new media and popular culture known for titles including Cyberia, Media Virus, and Coercion, will work with the Smoking Gun team on "story narratives across a range of media formats that can feed off one another and exist concurrently," according to the studio. Smoking Gun was founded in 2007 by former Relic Entertainment team members behind Company of Heroes; the game's producer, John Johnson, is now Smoking Gun's CEO and Creative director. He's joined by former Relic senior staffers Angie Pytlewski and Drew Dunlop as art director and lead programmer, respectively. The studio's now up to 20 leads and senior staff. "I'm going to get to work closely with them, writing narrative pathways that carry readers through the universe of the game world," Rushkoff explains, calling the chance to work with the Smoking Gun team "an unexpected wish come true." "We'll all be writing for and stealing from one another, developing plot points, set pieces, and characters that have both stories in the books, and purposes in the games," he says. "Players who have read the books will have a richer game experience; readers who play the game will come to understand the stories from the inside."