NCsoft sent us over a press release this morning announcing that Richard Garriott has secured some rock star DNA for his out-of-this-world “Operation Immortality” project.
Rock Stars to Send DNA Into Space
Planet Make-Over’s Musical Director Stephen Bruton selects Eric Johnson and Patrice Pike to join him in NCsoft’s Operation Immortality to reverse Global Warming
AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 12, 2008 Operation Immortalityâ„¢, the project to create a digital time capsule of the human race, has joined forces with Planet Make-Over, an entertainment driven social network designed to demonstrably reverse the effects of Global Warming. This alliance aims to unite and mobilize the worldwide gaming community with Planet Make-Over’s mission by sending the digitized DNA of rock stars Eric Johnson, Patrice Pike and Planet Make-Over’s Musical Director, Stephen Bruton into space with video gaming luminary Richard Garriott as he travels to the International Space Station (ISS) on Oct. 12, 2008.
Johnson, Pike and Bruton, avid supporters of Planet Make-Over, will be adding their digitized DNA as well as their influences, instruments of choice, and examples of their work, to the (Immortality Drive,) a storage device which Garriott will store on the ISS as part of Operation Immortality. The Immortality Drive is currently in the process of being loaded with information from people all over the world at the OperationImmortality.com website.
Visitors to the website can submit their suggestions for humanity’s greatest achievements, leave their immortalized message for future generations, and may even have their DNA selected to join the rock stars on an out of this world trip to possibly become the future of mankind.
Garriott is a game developer at NCsoft and creator of the Ultima series of games and the recently released Tabula Rasa®. The goal of Operation Immortality is to have a space-borne record of human DNA and a record of humanity’s achievements in the event a global calamity dooms the human species, like what happens in the Tabula Rasa video game.
Planet Make-Over and Operation Immortality have a shared goal of the preservation of the human species, and both believe that the power of online social networking is crucial to uniting the world towards taking action; Garriott has millions of loyal online gaming fans demonstrating the proof of this power. Garriott’s visit to space is an attractive platform for Johnson, Pike and Bruton to bring attention to Planet Make-Over’s strategy to reverse the effects of global warming through music, fun, and social networking.
(The Concept of Operation Immortality is much more than a theme to an online game. The Earth’s population needs to quickly adjust our behavior regarding global warming or else fiction quickly becomes our new reality. When we learned that Richard Garriott will be conducting environmental research while in space, the stars all aligned to support him,) said Gary Fortin, creator and executive producer of Planet Make-Over. (Planet Make-Over is about saving the planet. The message is serious but the process can, and should be fun.)
(I know first hand the power that music has to unite people, and I know that Global Warming poses a serious and pending threat to humanity,) said Eric Johnson. (The first step is to come together and collectively change our daily habits or Operation Immortality becomes way too real; this is the serious part. The fun part is involving musicians, their DNA, schematics of Fender guitars, and a record of Planet Make-Over’s strategy as part of Operation Immortality to set an historical benchmark of the moment the planet took action to reverse this threat to humanity.)
(I am very excited to have rock greats such as Johnson, Pike and Bruton bringing their message to save the Earth from environmental catastrophe,) said Garriott. (My current gaming project, Tabula Rasa, starts with the Earth being devastated by hostile aliens, however, regardless of how humanity faces its doom, Planet Make-Over and Operation Immortality are working for the same result.humanity’s survival.)
About Stephen Bruton
Stephen Bruton is the music director at Planet Make-Over and a Grammy nominated producer. Bruton is also a successful recording artist and singer/songwriter. He has also amassed a daunting resumé, having served as a sideman/guitarist, songwriter, or producer for such industry notables as Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hal Ketchum, Christine McVie, T-Bone Burnett, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Patty Loveless, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Alejandro Escovedo. Bruton grew up in Ft. Worth, Texas, the son of a jazz musician and record-store owner. He got his first big break when Kris Kristofferson tapped him to fill a vacant band slot in the early ’70s. After working with an impressive array of artists for over 20 years, Bruton released his first solo album in the early ’90s. Bruton’s fourth release, (Spirit World), a mixture of blues, country, and rock & roll, came out in early 2002, followed in 2005 by From the Five. For more information on Bruton go to: www.stephenbruton.com.
About Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson is a guitarist and recording artist from Austin, Texas. Best known for his success in the instrumental rock format, Johnson regularly incorporates jazz, fusion, new age and country and western elements into his recordings. Guitar Player magazine calls Johnson “One of the most respected guitarists on the planet.”
Johnson composes and plays not just instrumental songs, but also sings and plays piano. His critically-acclaimed, platinum selling 1990 recording Ah Via Musicom produced the single “Cliffs of Dover,” for which Johnson won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. For more information about Johnson, go to: www.ericjohnson.com.
About Patrice Pike
Patrice Pike is an award-winning singer songwriter from Austin, Texas. Having been a professional musician since she was 16, she has co-created numerous records and musical groups and has performed all over the United States and Western Europe. Her most notable groups are Sister Seven and Patrice Pike and the Blackbox Rebellion. For more information on Pike, go to: www.patricepike.com.
About Operation Immortality
For information about Operation Immortality, including full terms and conditions, go to http://www.OperationImmortality.com. For information on Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa go to http://www.rgtr.com. Currently NCsoft is offering free trials of Tabula Rasa. The game is rated Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
About NCsoft Corporation
NCsoft North America is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation. NCsoft, with its own development and publishing offices in Texas and California, also works with other NCsoft subsidiaries and third party developers throughout North America to develop and publish innovative online entertainment software products. The company has successfully launched multiple online titles in the last three years and continues to support its franchises, which include Lineage®/Lineage II, City of Heroes®/City of Villains®, Guild Wars®/Guild Wars Factions®/Guild Wars Nightfall®/Guild Wars: Eye of the Northâ„¢, Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, Dungeon Runnersâ„¢ and Exteelâ„¢. More information about NCsoft can be found at www.PlayNC.com.
About Planet Make Over
Planet Make-Over® is an interactive, entertainment driven, musician/celebrity-led, global movement to reverse the effects of global warming though social networking. The Planet Make-Over endowment for the arts is a pending 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to convert climate concerned people’s awareness into measurable action that enables the reversal of global warming through the efforts of Artists worldwide.
Planet Make-Over is designed to deliver compelling and dynamic information to millions of people via the Internet and virally spread it across social media networks through the impact of celebrity driven entertainment content beginning in January 2009.
Because Planet Make-Over relies so heavily on the artist community around the world to ignite action and increase membership, Planet Make-Over has created an endowment to assist and support artists in their efforts to contribute to the Planet Make-Over mission.
This is really starting to get bizarre.
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