In the Texas wilderness, this European executive is able to freely show his game to others, encourage them to play and get feedback, all because Project Horseshoe has a "Code of Secrecy and Blabbing" that unifies the small group.Of the 28 members gathered for opening ceremonies on a flagstone terrace, 12 are conference veterans. Introductions begin with haiku.

  Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has become the single biggest product launch in Activision's history, selling over $115 million in its first seven days of release.

  Steve Bergenholtz and Gary Corriveau have announced the formation of Beanbag Studios, a privately-owned developer of high-quality casual games.

  Auran is now giving gamers a chance to see the final release version of Fury in action with a 10-day free trial.

  Electronic Arts has confirmed that its EA Chicago studio is being closed down, citing company projections that show "no expectation" of hitting profitability targets until at least the 2011 fiscal year.

  A new serious game by Duke University professor Zach Rosenthal is intended to help drug addicts control their cravings by placing them within the confines of a virtual crack house.

  The script for the planned Return to Castle Wolfenstein movie is almost complete, but the Writers' Guild of America strike has put the entire development process on hold.

  Videogame developer and publisher Majesco has announced that it will be forming a new studio to produce games exclusively for the casual market.

  The cheapest version of the PS3 retains the 90 nm CPU die but still consumes less power and produces less noise than its heftier variants.

  A 69 percent boost in revenues: Those were the key second fiscal quarter results for publishing giant Activision, which recorded net revenues of a record $317.7 million.

  An expansion for the space-based MMOG EVE Online is due to be released in the first week of December.

  Videogames are a modern art, but at their core, tell stories, just like the stone tablets of The Epic of Gilgamesh. The stories they tell range from brutally awful to heart-wrenchingly wonderful, just like all the stories told in all other media, and one wonders, thousands years from now, which of them will survive, and how will stories be told then?

  Each week we publish letters sent to us regarding previous issues. If you'd like to comment on an article, send your letter to editor@escapistmag.com.

  Wouldn't it be easier if someone else had already done the legwork for you? Created the world, characters and story, filled the page already, leaving only blanks to be filled between the spaces? That's, in essence, what it's like starting a franchise writing project, and the writers for these games are just like any writers anywhere, only a large part of their work is already done. Or is it?Not necessarily. Russ Pitts looks at franchise writing.