Frank Herbert

A decade or so ago there was a period when all videogames and especially all Unreal Engine videogames had to be brown and grey and dingy. "The Gears of Warrification of graphics," we used to call it, huddled up in the chest-high trenches with our Xbox 360 controllers. Survival MMO Dune: Awakening threatens to bring that back in a big way: the novel and films on which it’s based unfold, after all, on an entire planet made of sand.

The first trailer for the upcoming prequel series has been released.

Following his death in 1986, the stewardship of Frank Herbert’s Dune universe passed on to his son, Brian, who has continued to publish novels to this day diving into the history and lore of his father’s epic sci-fi universe. If your encore viewing of Dune: Part Two has left you with an urge to learn more about the Dune universe, Humble is currently offering a collection of 16 novels authored by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson that explore the houses, events, and other key players that have shaped the Dune universe for just $18. In addition to this expansive library of fiction, you’ll also receive a copy of Frank Herbert’s biography, Dreamer of Dune, penned by Brian.

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Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures have set Premium Digital Ownership and 4K UHD release dates for Denis Villeneuve’s .

It's official – Dune 3 is in development. Dune: Part Two has proved a huge success so far, crossing the $600 million mark at the box office and surpassing the first film's total, so it's perhaps not a huge surprise. 

As a massive fan of survival games and Dune, I’ll admit to being a bit skeptical about an open-world survival game that takes place on the famously barren planet of Arrakis, but after an hour-long presentation of the upcoming Dune: Awakening, those concerns have disappeared entirely. Based on the hands-off showcasing of what’s to come when this MMO survival game hits early access later this year, it certainly appears that developer Funcom has taken their hard-won learnings from the underrated Conan Exiles and applied it to this ambitious multiplayer world set in one of sci-fi’s most beloved galaxies. Whether it was the impressively detailed character creation options, the intricate RPG systems filled with skill trees and craftables, or the absolute insanity of trying to outrun a Shai-Hulud or escape a massive sandstorm, Dune: Awakening appears to be on track to become the sci-fi survival game I’ve always dreamt of, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Dune has had its fair share of adaptation attempts. Denis Villeneuve and David Lynch brought Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel to the big screen in 2021 and 1984, respectively, while Ridley Scott and Alejandro Jodorowsky also made their own efforts that never came to fruition. 

In 1974, my aunt and uncle returned to the United States from a honeymoon world tour. Over the course of their travels, they ventured through India, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey, before winding up in Israel, where my aunt’s sister — my mother — had recently lived for two years on a collective kibbutz.

When Paul Atreides moved from his home planet of Caladan to Arrakis, his life changed in countless ways. His dad died, he met a girl, and he… maybe became a dark messiah who will be responsible for the deaths of 61 billion people. But the most immediate change for Paul was that he moved from a gorgeous planet with oceans and cliffs to Dune, which is just a giant desert. That sucks.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movies can seem like a rebuke to Hollywood’s quip era. They are as far as you can get from the Marvel rule that no situation is so grave, no stakes so high that they can’t be punctuated by a smart, self-aware gag. These are solemn, earnest movies, modeled on classical cinematic epics like Lawrence of Arabia and intent on delivering the bizarre visions of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi books in as straight-faced a manner as possible.

Dune: Awakening's developer says religion will have a reduced role in the upcoming open-world survival MMO compared to its source material.

Trading card games aren’t just popular with players. They’re also incredibly popular with executives, as they can be lucrative for publishers and distributors alike. Magic: The Gathering became a $1 billion brand for Hasbro in 2023, which went quite a long way to improving its bottom line, if we’re being honest. As the company increases its Universes Beyond offerings, incredibly powerful tools for selling cards to people not yet comfortable playing a game of Magic, how can other TCGs hope to compete? What must new games like Disney Lorcana, Star Wars: Unlimited, Altered, and the more established Flesh and Blood do to thrive? A few possible answers may lie in the story of the 1990s-era Dune: Collectible Card Game.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's gameplay reveal, we've learned more about Funcom's upcoming MMO, Dune: Awakening, which remains shrouded in mystery. Crucially, we knew the story would take place in an alternate universe set a few years before the events of the Frank Herbert books or Dennis Villeneuve films and would ignore one of the most critical aspects of its universe, religion, for undisclosed spoiler reasons. Now you've got our attention!

Visually, looks like it's set in the world of Denis Villeneuve's movie adaptations, with the studio behind these films, Legendary, having shared assets with the development team at Funcom, as well as inviting them on set. Despite this, the game's story has made at least one massive change from the book and the movies that could have major consequences going forward.

Joel Bylos, chief creative officer at Funcom and creative director of Dune: Awakening,has stated that the game will focus on a «topical» war «between humans and artificial intelligence.» 

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two film wormed its way through theaters over the weekend, and if you’ve still got sand in the brain, there’s plenty more where that came from. Namely, Funcom shared a closer look at the upcoming Dune: Awakening survival game, which is in the works for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Denis Villeneuve’smovie adaptations of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel, Dune, has become a cultural and commercial hit. That’s big for Team Hollywood, but I still have a hard time believing that Dune has done more for movies than it has for video games — so long as you ignore the kerfuffle over whether it influenced Star Wars.

The Spice is undoubtedly in the air, with Part Two of Dennis Villeneuve's Dune film adaptation of Frank Herbert's epic sci-fi series now in theatres. Striking while the iron is hot, we also got a stunning gameplay trailer from Funcom for the upcoming survival MMO Dune: Awakening, which was revealed in August 2022 and prophesied to come to PS5 someday.

Developer Funcom has confirmed that Dune Awakening will let you join guilds under two factions, along with a third that is yet to be revealed. 

Dune Awakening had to make some changes to its source material, and the developers needed express permission to make that happen.

While looks to provide players with an authentic Arrakis experience, two iconic parts of creator Frank Herbert's world haven't made it into the game. Given the gigantic scale of and the various aspects that must be included to authentically adapt the sci-fi universe, it stands to reason that certain aspects would need to be changed or added through future updates. Fortunately for players, developer Funcom has good reason for leaving out some iconic parts of the franchise.

Following the early box office success of , as well as its critically acclaim, many are wondering whether or not Dune 3 is in the pipeline.

Funcom and Nukklear GmbH have released a new, previewing the upcoming open-world action survival MMO game currently in development.

A presentation for Dune: Awakening has explained why developer Funcom chose Unreal Engine 5 to craft its open-world survival MMO. The Dune: Awakening Direct comes shortly following the release of Dune: Part Two, the highly anticipated sequel to Denis Villeneuve's film adaptation of Frank Herbert's titular novel.

The Bene Gesserit are masters of intrigue in the Dune novels, executing millennia-long schemes that involve manipulating the Emperor and Great Houses, seeding prophecies, and breeding a chosen one. Writer-director Denis Villeneuve shows off their mysterious power and the scope of their influence in his movie adaptations of theDunebooks, but author Frank Herbert spent a lot more time exploring and explaining how the organization actually works — particularly in his last two novels, which are unlikely to ever be adapted for the screen.

Dune: Awakening, a survival MMO set in the world of Dune, isn't toning down the threat of sandworms to work in the game. In fact, developer Funcom says that they're completely unkillable and will have to be avoided or diverted rather than defeated. If one of them goes after you, the developers say you have "seconds" to react before it kills you.

Following the theatrical debut of last Friday, it has been confirmed that Watchmen star Tim Blake Nelson’s mystery character didn’t make it into the final cut of the sequel.

Dune: Part Two director has revealed which character he found most painful to cut out of the massive sequel.

Sandworms in Dune: Awakening will be unkillable, Funcom has revealed. The confirmation of their immortality arrived as part of a new developer diary featuring an extensive behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming game, and offering some other details about how Dune: Awakening will handle the most iconic creature from the seminal sci-fi saga.

Developer Funcom provided a new look at Dune: Awakening, an upcoming open-world survival MMO game. The new trailer and deep dive into Dune: Awakening comes just days after the opening of the Dune: Part Two film in theaters. The roughly 25-minute presentation gives fans a look at some of the core features coming to the game based on Frank Herbert's epic sci-fi novel, including base-building, combat, and traversal.

Dune: Awakening, the massively-multiplayer take on Frank Herbert’s sandy sci-fi universe from dong-loving devs Funcom, has shown off some more of its online, open-world Arrakis in a lengthy developer direct. We’ve also learnt more about what we will - and won’t - be able to do during our time exploring the planet.

Like Dune before it, Dune: Part Two is a feast for the eyes. But even in a movie full of tantalizing visuals, there’s one scene that stands apart: the starkly glowing Harkonnen arena.

Although women played an important role in 2021's sci-fi epic Dune, in this year's sequel Dune: Part Two they take center stage, with the second half of director Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's groundbreaking sci-fi novel placing a greater focus on the female characters. Whilst the first movie arguably has only one three-dimensional female figure in Rebecca Ferguson's Lady Jessica, this time things are different. Take Zendaya's returning character Chani, who has gone from barely any screen time to arguably being the beating heart of the whole story. In fact, director Villeneuve described her as his "secret weapon" when it came to making this chapter, seeing Chani as the key to unlocking this tale and honoring Herbert's original intentions.

Director Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi films have “always looked incredible,” we wrote in our review of Dune: Part Two, and if you feel quite the same way, you’re definitely going to want to put your eyeballs on The Art and Soul of Dune: Part Two.

Dune: Part Two is all about the rise of Paul “Muad’dib” Atreides, but that doesn’t mean it tells his whole story. If you’ve already seen the movie, or have heard that there are another seven books in the series, you probably know that there’s a lot more story left to tell. The good news is, you won’t have to wait for director Denis Villeneuve to return to the series to continue the tale.

This afternoon, Funcom announced the first in a series of Dune Awakening Direct showcases. Slated to go live on Monday, March 4 at 6 PM CET (noon Eastern Time, 9 AM Pacific Time) on Twitch and YouTube, it'll be hosted by Soe Gschwind and include new footage of the open world survival MMO. Fans will be treated to the Gameplay Reveal Trailer and a featurette titled Creating Worlds, from Book to Film to Game.

The world of Dune is a wild one. On any given day you’ve got clairvoyant sisterhoods poking your neck, giant spicy worms, and Javier Bardem spitting on your floor — and I haven’t even started on the really weird stuff. Capturing the tone and flavor of this eccentric setting isn’t easy, and while I’m not opposed to getting a lengthy monologue from Virginia Madsen, the right audio direction can do a better job of laying the groundwork for a sci-fi epic. And music has always played an important role in the various adaptations of Frank Herbert’s Dune universe across movies, TV, and games.

With all of its warring houses, assassinations, spycraft, and sandworms, the world of Dune contains no fewer than three of the key ingredients needed for an awesome game. Plenty of developers have drawn inspiration from Frank Herbert’s universe to create some interesting, and occasionally legendary games.

Most tabletop role-playing games place their epic storylines more or less entirely in the hands of the players at the table. Their choices open up a myriad of opportunities and branching paths for their own private games, each presenting a unique experience that changes at every turn. Dune: Fall of the Imperium takes a different approach. Just as in Frank Herbert’s novels — and in Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming film, Dune: Part Two — House Atreides will fall. Muad’dib will rise, bringing the Jihad with him. The only question asked in Modiphius’ lavishly illustrated new expansion is if you and your house will weather the storm and come out on the other side as a major player in the new galactic regime, or if you will misplay your hand and fall into ruin like so many houses before you.

Much like the mystical religions spread by its Bene Gesserit, the influences of Dunespread to every corner of the universe of science fiction. In some stories, the inspirations are woven so tightly into the fabric of the story they’re nearly impossible to pick up, maybe even for the author themself. In others, the homages to Dune are unmissable, occasionally to the point of being distracting. And then there’s Star Wars, the most blatant ripoff of all — at least, according to Frank Herbert.

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If you thought the cast for Dune was stacked then wait until you see the sequel, with several big names joining the all-star line-up for the highly anticipated Part Two. One of these is none other than Florence Pugh, the Oscar-nominated star of hit films including Little Women, Oppenheimer, and Don't Worry Darling. 

With his Dune movies, director Denis Villeneuve is trying to do what even Frank Herbert couldn’t: make Paul Atreides a villain

We’ve found an excellent deal for anyone looking to dive into the sands of Arrakis ahead of the theatrical debut of Dune: Part Two on Mar. 1. Right now, Amazon is offering discounts on virtually every book in the Dune franchise, including box sets, as well as the excellent, award-winning graphic novel adaptation. As an added bonus, if you purchase three participating books from this sale, Amazon will knock 50% off the cheapest eligible item in your cart (this promotion also works on Blu-rays and video games!). Below, you’ll find just a handful of selections from this Shai’hulud-sized sale.

Dune: Awakening, the upcoming survival MMO based on Frank Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece, has shown off its base-building systems for the first time.

The 2024 list of our most anticipated multiplayer games is hugely dominated by the survival genre, which is bleeding into all kinds of franchises and settings nowadays. It's worth noting that we focused on brand new titles here; for the upcoming expansions and DLCs to existing multiplayer games, head to this list.

Max Evry, the author of "A Masterpiece in Disarray: David Lynch’s Dune. An Oral History," has found a half-written script for the sequel, he revealed in WIRED on Wednesday.

Dune: Part Two might be delayed, but it's still going to be pretty long.

Hello Games have announced Light No Fire, the Guildford, UK-based developer's most ambitious new game since 2016's space sim No Man's Sky. In development for roughly five years so far, it's an exploration-driven fantasy experience with building mechanics, a range of curious mythological creatures, and a procedurally generated open world that is apparently Earth-like in both geography and scale. Hello have just screened a trailer at this year's Game Awards. Earlier this week, they invited me down to their Guildford offices for a quick, informal chat about the game, which I am going to characterise as Fable meets Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Shiro Games and Funcom’s 4X genre-blending strategy title Dune: Spice Wars is heading to Xbox later this month. 

Another month, another batch of fresh games set to hit Xbox Game Pass. This time around, you can expect new games like Persona 5 Tactica and the console version of Dune: Spice Wars, as well as DLC and updates, and more. And, per usual, some games are leaving Xbox Game Pass this month. Let's break it all down below. 

Shiro Games’ Dune: Spice Wars, a 4X strategy game based on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel, is coming to Xbox Series X/S. It launches on November 28th for consoles and Game Pass (with the PC version currently available on the service).

LEGO Icons Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter, revealed on Tuesday, is a loving recreation of the dragonfly-esque vehicles used in Frank Herbert’s seminal science fiction series as brought to life in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part One and upcoming Dune: Part Two. When its 1,369 pieces are brought together into a two-and-a-half foot-long build, it features aircraft blades that flap, retract, and rotate through 180 degrees of motion, as well as movable landing gear.

Digital Extremes' Warframe is an online action role-playing game that not many other titles can compare to. This isn't just in terms of its approach to the free-to-play model and consistent content updates, but also in its unique visual style built on the uncanny pairing of a bizarre, far-future sci-fi setting with stylized high-fantasy action of 'space ninjas' fighting across the universe.

Sci-fi games allow game developers to craft incredible worlds and characters and see how far their imagination can fly. Here are some games in 2024 that’ll scratch that itch for gamers.

The board game adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune, first published 40 years ago and long out of print, is back — and it’s on sale for October Prime Day. Snag the legendary strategy game before it goes back up to full price.

The Halloween season is finally here, and that means we’ve got a whole slew of new movies and television to watch — spooktacular or otherwise. Whether you’re following along with our yearly countdown calendar or looking for the best horror movies on Netflix or other streaming services, we’ve got you covered. Aside from those, there’s a ton of exciting new films arriving on streaming this month.

Star Wars has certainly had a fair share of fantasy elements baked into its DNA from the beginning. From its central “chosen one” monomyth to its deployment of the “special weapon” trope to a central plot arc that can be described as “storming a castle to rescue a princess,” Star Wars has never been a purely science-fiction story. Yet George Lucas has made it very clear that science-fiction stories like Buck Rogers and Frank Herbert’s Dunewere a much larger influence on him than the foundational fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Frank Herbert’s Dune holds a special place in the gaming community, providing the basis for one of the first true real-time strategy titles, Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty. Shiro Games is treading on hallowed ground with its latest title, Dune: Spice Wars, and the studio seems to know it. The game’s recent 1.0 release still has some pain points after a year in early access, but it's clear that Spice Wars was developed with a clear passion and understanding of the assignment.

The hybrid 4X and RTS set in Frank Herbert's universe of Dune will launch out of Early Access this week, on September 14th, as Shiro Games releases Dune: Spice Wars. First released last year, Spice Wars is a surprising hybrid of the two genres that you'd expect from modern RTS innovators Shiro Games, who previously made Northgard.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!

Shiro Games has announced that Dune: Spice Wars will be leaving early access on September 14.

Funcom’s Dune: Spice Wars will exit early access for PC on September 14th. Developed by Shiro Games of Wartales and Northgard fame, the 4X real-time strategy is based on Frank Herbert’s Dune. It will launch with its sixth major update, adding House Ecaz for six playable factions.

I never got round to playing Shiro's 4X-plus-RTS adaptation of Dune, but chuckling spice baron Nic Reuben deemed it "intricate", "polished" and "well-considered" in his early access review last year, and I trust his nose for these things. The game now has a 1.0 release date - 14th September 2023 - which will also bring a sixth major content update featuring the politically adept House Ecaz faction - who, if the press release speaks true, "wield power like a paint brush". You love to see it!

Denis Villeneuve has spoken before about a potential, but the director recently confirmed that he has actually begun writing some of what could be a third movie in the franchise.

Spice is life, and it’s about to flow in full as Dune: Spice Wars prepares to leave Early Access. Developer Shiro Games and publisher Funcom announced plans to bring Version 1.0 to Steam in September 2023. There’s also a release trailer to go along with the news. The new preview shows off more of the real-time warfare and the various means of political sabotage at your disposal.

Dune: Part Two has been delayed. The second of Denis Villeneuve’s Frank Herbert adaptations has been pushed back several months due in large part to the ongoing strike against the AMPTP by the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild. The movie’s new release date will be March 15, 2024.

Dune Awakening is an upcoming survival MMO from the creators of Conan: Exiles. It aims to adapt the books and films, giving players the challenge of surviving on Arrakis, the most dangerous planet in the Universe.