Enlarge By 38 Studios Schilling: Gaming debut this week. Enlarge 38 Studios Limited edition "Reckoning" poster designed by Todd McFarlane to be given away after Comic Con panel this Thursday. Former major leaguer Curt Schilling is set to make his first official pitch in a new arena: video game development. A six-time All-Star pitcher, Schilling four years ago started 38 Studios (named after the uniform number), which is unveiling its first release, the role-playing game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, this week at Comic-Con in San Diego. Schilling, 43, has parlayed his love of online games such as Ultima and EverQuest into a managerial role launching his own game company. "Next to baseball, it's been the one thing that has been consistent in the last 30 years of my life." GAME HUNTERS: Curt Schilling and 38 Studios' throws its first pitch at Comic-Con To create the game, which is due in fall 2011, Schilling has drafted an all-star team that includes artist and toy creator Todd McFarlane (Spawn), best-selling author R.A. Salvatore (The Ghost King) and game studio Big Huge Games (Rise of Nations), acquired by 38 Studios last year. "I wanted to put together a team like the 1927 Yankees (which included Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig), arguably the greatest team that was ever assembled," Schilling says, "and to do that, in my mind, I had to start with some visionairies." The first peek into their collective vision is a special poster and one-minute cinematic that McFarlane created for Comic-Con. "We are going to set the mood," says McFarlane, who along with the other principals will make a presentation Thursday. "We will show a little bit of a hint of magic in it, a hint of the scale of the bad guys (and) the intensity of some of the action." Salvatore, who has written numerous books based in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, is tight-lipped about Amalur, but says that he has created a Tolkienesque 10,000-year-long back story: "I think we can say that we are talking about a high fantasy world with multiple races." The goal is a game that combines role-playing complexity with action-game intensity. "I hope it will be a breath of fresh air," game designer Ken Rolston says. 38 Studios hopes to create a franchise for multiple games, books and other products; planning is already underway for a massively multiplayer online game. On entering the online role-playing realm ruled by the 11-million-member World of Warcraft, Schilling says, "If we focus on what we are trying to do and deliver on our vision, people are going to want to play our game. It's the same thing as science fiction movies. They didn't stop making them after Star Wars. Everybody will watch a good movie. Everybody will play a good game." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more