Showing results by publisher "Audible Studios" in Cyberpunk

Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.

Hilketa is a frenetic and violent pastime where players attack each other with swords and hammers. The main goal of the game: obtain your opponent's head and carry it through the goalposts. With flesh and bone bodies, a sport like this would be impossible. But all the players are "threeps", robot-like bodies controlled by people with Haden's Syndrome, so anything goes. No one gets hurt, but the brutality is real, and the crowds love it. Until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field.

Cosa succederebbe se i nostri ricordi potessero essere trasferiti sul cloud e le persone potessero condividere i propri pensieri in tempo reale? Sorgerebbe una nuova forma d’intelligenza – una coscienza collettiva condivisa – oppure sarebbe l’inizio di un processo di espropriazione delle esperienze personali che porterebbe alla scomparsa dell’individualità umana e al caos? Ecco le premesse del romanzo di Regina Kanyu Wang, Nuvole e nebbia, ambientato in una Cina futura che altro non è se non lo specchio della nostra società, sempre più connessa e dipendente da tecnologie tanto comode e pervasive quanto piene di rischi e pericoli.

A corporate mercenary wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him, for a mission more dangerous than the one he's recovering from: to get a defecting chief of R&D-and the biochip he's perfected-out intact. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties-some of whom aren't remotely human.

When Martin's raiding guild join the latest virtual reality MMO, they discover a challenge like no other. Strata Online is a 100-floor mega-dungeon, filled with an ever-shifting ecosystem of monsters. Martin's team soon find themselves in a race against the world’s strongest guilds, all competing to be the first to reach the unbeatable game's lowest depths. But unlike other games, Martin will need as much courage as skill to progress. Because the deeper he goes, the darker Strata gets.

The award-winning William Gibson goes beyond science fiction to the broader mainstream fiction audience. His unique world features multinational corporations and high-tech outlaws vying for power, traveling the computer-generated universe.

A new update arrives to the ultra-popular online game, Realm of Arkon. With Patch 17, the level of immersion experienced by players in their gaming capsules has made virtual reality indistinguishable from the real world. But every gamer's dream becomes a nightmare for Roman Kozhevnikov after he gets confined to Arkon against his will. And not just to Arkon, but to its deadliest zone - Demon Grounds. Playing - or rather living - as his character Krian, it's not just about survival for Roman.

A new update arrives to the ultra-popular online game, Realm of Arkon. With Patch 17, the level of immersion experienced by players in their gaming capsules has made virtual reality indistinguishable from the real world. But every gamer's dream becomes a nightmare for Roman Kozhevnikov after he gets confined to Arkon against his will. And not just to Arkon, but to its deadliest zone - Demon Grounds. Playing - or rather living - as his character Krian, it's not just about survival for Roman.

What kind of god would you be? Deep beneath the earth, Corey finds himself reborn as a God Core - a sentient crystal with unusual powers. His new worshippers? A colony of incompetent gnomes, scratching out an existence in their underground grotto. If that wasn’t bad enough, Corey soon realises that his gnome denizens are about to become extinct. They are threatened by groups of blundering adventurers and abducted by raiding kobolds to be sacrificed to their own dark god: an ancient, mysterious foe who does not take kindly to Corey’s arrival.

The Argus Space Station looks down on a nightmarish Earth. And from this safe distance, the Committee enforces its despotic rule. There are too many people and too few resources, and they need 12 billion to die before Earth can be stabilised. So corruption is rife, people starve, and the poor are policed by mechanised overseers and identity-reader guns. Citizens already fear the brutal Inspectorate with its pain inducers. But to reach its goals, the Committee will unleash satellite laser weaponry, taking carnage to a new level. This is the world Alan Saul wakes to.

Rydell is on his way back to near-future San Francisco. His job has him convinced that his career is going nowhere, but his friend Laney, phoning from Tokyo, says there's more interesting work for him in Northern California. And there is, although it will eventually involve his former girlfriend, a Taoist assassin, the secrets Laney has been hacking out of the depths of DatAmerica, the CEO of the PR firm that secretly runs the world and the apocalyptic technological transformation of, well, everything.

The perma players' new reality gains depth and color. The virtual world has seen its first birth - and its first death. The invisible umbilical cord connecting AlterWorld to Earth grows thinner, and even the Fallen One cannot prevent the looming catastrophe. Could Max have ignored the Russian girl who'd just escaped slavery in a virtual China? Could he have turned a deaf ear to her pleas as the desperate fugitive clutched at straws on hearing her native tongue?

The Keiko is a ship of smugglers, soldiers of fortune and adventurers, travelling Earth's colony planets, searching for the next job. And nobody talks about their past. But when a face from Captain Ichabod Drift's former life sends them on a run to Old Earth, all the rules change. Trust will be broken, and blood will be spilled.

Rico has a problem. The experimental program that gave him the high intelligence and lightning reflexes he needs as a hit man for a galactic crime syndicate left him incapable of internalizing moral imperatives the rest of us take for granted. It takes real effort for him to pass as a normal human being and he avoids it whenever he can. But he has a job he loves, a fast ship, and plenty of cash. So life is good.

Once a seasoned gamer, Max has cheated fate, swapping his dying body for an immortal avatar in the world of sword and sorcery MMORPGs. He joins the ranks of a new race of people: perma players, forever stuck in the virtual castles and cities of AlterWorld. Now they have to obey the ever-changing rules of their new home while learning to live together in peace, love, and justice. But freedom and immortality are a poisoned chalice. Some of Max's new friends crave power; others become traitors and spies.

Hilketa is a frenetic and violent pastime where players attack each other with swords and hammers. The main goal of the game: obtain your opponent's head and carry it through the goalposts. With flesh and bone bodies, a sport like this would be impossible. But all the players are "threeps", robot-like bodies controlled by people with Haden's Syndrome, so anything goes. No one gets hurt, but the brutality is real, and the crowds love it. Until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field.

The Russian cluster. The ground shakes as the enemy approaches. The angered gods frown as they look down from the sky. Intelligence agencies are locked in a brutal fight. Hundreds of thousands of sentient beings happily slaughter each other. This is no longer a game quest nor a petty fight between clans over some land rich in resources. This is war! A war of civilizations, religions, and all the dimensions of the world.

Dirk's epic run of success in King's League has drawn new gamers to Dawnshire, but not all of them are there to play nice. Rumors about mysterious Graydon's Armor pieces are quietly spreading across the Realms. It isn't long before someone attempts to take away everything Dirk possess as powerful forces conspire against King's League's newest player sensation.

In a desperate move Damien throws himself into the Streamer Contest of Saga Online, the latest fantasy VR-MMORPG. Winning will provide the funds for his mom’s surgery. Yet early betrayal and a close run in with a vampire almost ruin his attempt before he even begins. Stuck at the bottom of a dungeon with no gear, no allies and little hope, Damien must embrace the undiscovered Occultist class, master control of his new demon companions and take the contest by storm. His plan is simple enough. Topple the most famous player in Saga Online.

Eric McCaffrey is very good at VRMMORPGs; he's played most of them, but the lack of funds is starting to affect his ability to play popular games. It's time to move on to something more...obscure. Battlegrounds Online is the only game of its kind. A VRMMOFPS. A military warfare game so realistic that it scares away most players daring enough to try it.