The following people will be receiving cool Epic Weapons loot like Dragon Age pendants, sword replica letter openers and coasters:

Winners, we’ll contact you via Twitter direct message to get your address, or if you left a comment and don’t have Twitter, get in touch via our contact form.  Thanks for participating, and thanks again to Epic Weapons for sponsoring this giveaway – visit their website and their Facebook page for more great licensed weapons from Dragon Age and more!

Connecting with the fans is always our top priority at Comic-Con, so the cast was busy every day with one or two signings at our booth.  Hundreds of fans came by daily to get autographed posters, DVDs and other merchandise, and get a few minutes and a photo with the cast.  Between our awesome intern Sophia and a crew of volunteers (most of whom were extras in Season 5), we kept the lines moving quickly and the cast full of coffee (or tea with honey, in Felicia’s case).

The cast and crew attended lots of parties and even made some additional appearances, such as Vork’s appearance at w00tstock, continuing his standup career.

We also try to talk with the press, and between The Guild, Eureka and Dragon Age: Redemption, Felicia was booked solid from morning to night doing interviews and appearances.  We also lined up interviews for other cast members, and will post those as they go live.  Here are a few of the great stories mentioning The Guild:

The Hollywood Reporter: “Felicia Day: How a Girl Geek Made It Big on Her Own”
Time Magazine: “Comic-Con Royalty, Part One: The Queen”
Daily Motion: “Felicia Day Interview at Comic-Con 2011″

On Saturday we had our panel in the jam-packed Indigo Ballroom and announced three new cast members for Season 5: Doug Jones, Erin Gray and Maurissa Tancharoen.  We announced some new licensing deals, which we’ll round up in another post over the weekend.  We screened a Season 4 recap along with episode 1 of Season 5. Marc Hustvedt has a great writeup of the guild panel (‘The Guild’ Season 5, Comic-Con, Honeybadger and Jones Soda) on Tubefilter, and you can watch the panel itself here or here.

Thanks fans for another great year at Comic-Con!

Photos by SnugEZ, Kipicat,

Wednesday, July 20
6 – 8 pm: Signing at booth #4201

9 pm (doors, 9:30 show): Hammer Improv Show at 4th & B (345 B Street) Ticket link

Thursday, July 21
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 pm: PANEL, The Evolution of Web Series: The Guild to Dragon Age. Room 7AB

12:30 pm – 2:30 pm: Signing at booth #4201

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201

Friday, July 22
11:00 am – 1:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: PANEL, Eureka. Ballroom 20

*4:45 pm – 6:45 pm: Signing at booth #4201 (moved back 15 min)

Saturday, July 23
*12:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201 (changed to 1 long signing instead of 2)

4:00 – 5:00 pm: PANEL, The Guild. Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront

Sunday, July 24
11:00 am – 1:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201

Season Five of Felicia Day’s The Guild Debuts July 26
Hit web series will appear at Comic-Con with a panel on Saturday July 23 at 4pm

Los Angeles, CA (July 15, 2011) – Season five of The Guild will return to Xbox LIVE on the Zune video Marketplace and MSN Video on Tuesday, July 26, sponsored by Microsoft and Sprint. Picking up where season four left off, season five takes the Guild members out from behind their computers and throws them into the real world like the show has never seen before, with new locations, guest stars, celebrity cameos and more!

The Guild stars writer/creator Felicia Day (Eureka, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog) as Codex, a lovable geek gamer addicted to an online role-playing game. Season five follows the characters of The Guild as they travel to a gaming convention called MEGAGAME-O-RAMACON. “Conventions like San Diego Comic-Con and Penny Arcade Expo have been a part of our experience promoting The Guild and connecting with fans,” says Felicia Day. “I wanted to bring that unique experience of a going to a con to the screen.” In addition to regular cast members Vincent Caso, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh and Robin Thorsen, season five will feature recognizable guest stars from the science fiction and genre community as well as over 200 extras.

The Guild will appear for the fourth consecutive year at San Diego Comic-Con with daily signings at booth 4201 and a panel at 4pm Saturday, July 23 in the Hilton Bayfront Indigo Ballroom, Comicon’s second-largest venue. The panel will include a preview of season five and Q&A with the cast.

About The Guild

The Guild is an award-winning independent comedy web series about a group of online gamers created by and starring Felicia Day, now with over 100 million views. The show is available for free on Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE, MSN, Zune.net and The Guild website. Launched in 2007 and funded initially by the show’s fans, The Guild has since been sponsored by Microsoft and Sprint. Previous seasons of the show are also available on YouTube, DVD, iTunes, Netflix and Hulu.

# # #

Download this press release as a PDF or Microsoft Word Document.

Press Photos available via The Guild’s page on Flickr. Season 5 trailer (link) embedded below.

 

 

We’re pleased to announce our schedule for 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, which will include a panel on Saturday and signings every day at our booth, #4201.  The entire cast will be in attendance and all of the schedule signings will include them.  In addition, we’ve listed the times for the Dragon Age: Redemption and Eureka panels, both of which feature Felicia Day.

Bookmark this page, we’ll update it with other Guild-related events if they are added, and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for late-breaking updates.

Wednesday, July 20
6 – 8 pm: Signing at booth #4201

Thursday, July 21
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 pm: PANEL, The Evolution of Web Series: The Guild to Dragon Age. Room 7AB

12:30 pm – 2:30 pm: Signing at booth #4201

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201

Friday, July 22
11:00 am – 1:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: PANEL, Eureka. Ballroom 20

4:30 pm – 6:30 pm: 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm: Signing at booth #4201

Saturday, July 23
10:00 am – 12:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201

12:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201

4:00 – 5:00 pm: PANEL, The Guild. Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront

Sunday, July 24
11:00 am – 1:00 pm: Signing at booth #4201

photo by The One True b!X

We’re pleased to announce a Comic-Con panel for the upcoming Dragon Age: Redemption web series on Thursday, July 21 from 11am – 12 noon in Room 7AB.

The Evolution of Web Series: The Guild to Dragon Age— Writer/actor Felicia Day (The Guild), actor Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth), Dragon Age: Redemption director Peter Winther (Leverage), and Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah discuss the secrets to The Guild‘s success and what happens when you take that winning formula to the dark fantasy video game universe, Dragon Age, for the upcoming web series Redemption. Room 7AB

As leader of the Knights of Good, Vork rules with an iron spreadsheet. Having devoted his life to gaming and the pursuit of Goodness, he’s earned the nickname “Goody–Two–Greaves” within the game world, but there’s more to Vork than his guild knows. Written by Felicia Day and Vork himself–actor Jeff Lewis–this hilarious one–shot delves into the man behind the rule book!

As previously announced by Dark Horse, The Guild comics will continue with a one-shot for each of the remaining Guild characters.  The Vork comic can be found in your local comic shop, find a shop at ComicShopLocator.com or by calling 1-888-ComicBook, and is available online from Things from Another World and other online retailers.  Coming a day after the release of Season 4 to DVD and iTunes (see yesterday’s blog entry) and recent release of The Guild trade paperback/graphic novel, it’s a very Guildie Holiday for us as for the first time, we have some great brand new merchandise out for the holidays.

In other, holiday/end-of-year news, we’d love it if you voted for The Guild for Clicker’s Best of 2010, the show is in the category Best Web Comedy (Serial).  There’s no registration required, and please take a look at the many other web series listed there – we’re betting you’ll discover some new ones that would love for you to check them out.

The Guild graphic novel has been nominated by fans for a Goodreads Choice Award in the graphic novel category, and we’d love your votes for the book there (NOTE: you need to sign in to Goodreads to vote, but creating an account doesn’t take to long).  If you don’t know Goodreads, it’s a social networking site built around books and reading.  You can vote for The Guild here, and be sure to friend and follow Felicia, who’s a very active Goodreads member.

The DVD is packed with tons of bonus features, including many DVD-only extras.  Bonus features on the DVD include the “Game On” Music Video, The Making of the “Game On” Music Video, Back to Cheesybeards featurette, Oh Mommy! featurette focusing on Avinashi (Zaboo’s Mom), the Cheesybeards commercial, Season 1 and 2 recaps, Season 3 recap by Auto-Tune the News, Table read by the cast, Audio Commentary with the Cast, Audio Commentary with the Creator, Director and Producer, Axis of Anarchy Interviews, Gag Reel, PDF of Script, Play All Feature and English Subtitles.  The Amazon.com DVD release comes on two DVD-R discs by Amazon’s Create Space, and is NTSC format, region-free. Buy Season 4 of The Guild on Amazon.com now.

Season 4 also hits iTunes today, available in HD and in standard definition.  As with previous iTunes releases, The Guild episodes are bundled into two episodes per iTunes download – so even though it looks like there are only 6 episodes, that’s just an iTunes thing, you’re getting the full season.  This season there is an iTunes exclusive 9-minute bonus feature “The Making of the Team Cawkes Painting” included when you buy the entire season.  Each two-episode iTunes bundle is $2.99 for HD or $1.99 for standard definition, while the entire season is $9.99 for HD or $5.99 for standard definition.  Buy Season 4 of The Guild on iTunes now.

Thanks so much for your continued support of The Guild!  We couldn’t do it without such dedicated fans.  Many of you have asked “What about Season 5?” and we have nothing to announce at this time but we’ll update you as soon as we know something.  Microsoft and Sprint have been wonderful partners and sponsors, funding seasons 2 through 4 and helping bring the show to many new fans, and we hope this great relationship continues for Season 5 (and there’s no indication that it wouldn’t – no campaigns need to be launched, loyal Guildies!).  Fans always ask what they can do to help support the show, and purchasing Guild merchandise including the DVDs and iTunes downloads are one great way.  Introducing the show to new fans is another powerful force that has helped us so much – so thank you for doing that for 4 seasons!  And best of all, that doesn’t cost a penny!

Discuss the Season 4 DVD and iTunes release on our forums, and talk to us on Facebook, Twitter or by leaving a comment here!

Thanks so much for your support, and happy holidays!
The Guild Management

Publishing the comic in trade paperback form gets The Guild into traditional bookstores and gets it in front of new audiences.  The Guild comic received great reviews, and that continues with the trade paperback.  The New York Journal of Books calls it “Equal parts geeky love letter and cautionary tale … (it) succeeds on a number of nuanced levels and should appeal to most readers, regardless of their own backgrounds in pop culture,” and Tor.com has a great review which calls the book “a well-written, well-drawn mini-series that should entertain new readers and fans of The Guild alike.”

The Guild from Dark Horse Comics is available in bookstores everywhere, as well as comic shops (find your local store at ComicStoreLocator.com or by calling 1-888-ComicBook).  Online you can purchase at TFAW.com, Amazon.com, Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Chapters.ca and more.

In other release news, The Guild Season 4 on DVD will be released December 21 exclusively on Amazon.com.  Yes, for the first time, we scrambled and got the DVD out in time for Christmas.  Here’s the cover of the DVD:

Two new shirts debuted this year for The Guild for Season Four: the Cheesybeards shirt and the 8-Bit Baby shirt (seen below).  Big thanks to J!NX for being our T-Shirt partner – your purchase of Guild loot supports the show!

AUTOGRAPH SIGNING WITH THE GUILD CAST EVERY DAY at The Guild booth, #4201, listed under “Signal Fire Studios/The Guild.”
Wednesday Night, July 21
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 22
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Friday, July 23
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 24
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
3:15 p.m.- 5:00 p.m
Sunday, July 25
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

WEDNESDAY (NEW): Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em Improv Comedy show, 9pm (doors at 8:30pm), Lyceum Theatre 79 Horton Plaza, 92101.  Join Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis, Alex Albrecht, Tony Janning, Tara Perry and Brooke Seguin for the incredibly popular improv comedy show that’s been a huge hit in LA.  Tickets available here (Comic-Con badges not required).

THURSDAY: W00tstock, 7:30pm at live music venue 4th and B.  Join Paul and Storm, with Guild cast member Wil Wheaton and Adam Savage of Mythbusters for “three hours of geek and music.”  As Paul might say, it’ll be a “big huge blastie.”  Info (including the ever-expanding roster of awesome guests) is on w00tstock.net and tickets are available here (this will sell out! – Comic-Con badges not required).

FRIDAY: Panel, “Movies, TV, Comics, Web: Girls Gone Genre,” 5pm to 6pm, 24ABC, with a powerhouse lineup of producers/creators, including Felicia Day, Kathryn Immonen, Laeta Kalogridis, Marti Noxon, Melissa Rosenberg and Gail Simone.

SATURDAY: Panel, “The Guild,” 2pm to 3pm, Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront hotel, Q&A with the cast, announcements and debut of new content.  There’s a Facebook event here if you’d like to use it as a reminder.

SATURDAY: “Celebrate the Web,” 4:15pm to 6:15pm, Bristol Hotel. Several web series will be screened, including a sketch from the Sean Becker & Jeff Lewis created “Jeff Lewis 5 Minute Comedy Hour” (FREE, Comic-Con badges not required).

SATURDAY (NEW): Signing, “Dollhouse,” 5pm to 5:45pm, Dark Horse Comics booth #2615, featuring Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Zack Ward and Felicia Day.

SATURDAY: Panel, “The Legend of Neil,” 7:30pm to 8:30pm, room 7ABC, with cast Tony Janning, Felicia Day, Mike Rose, Angie Hill, Eric Acosta, Scott Chernoff, and show creator Sandeep Parikh.

The Guild panel at 2009 Comic-Con

The Guild will be at Comic-Con!  We’re pleased to announce that we’ll have a booth, a panel, new merchandise and some surprises.  For the second year in a row, we’ll be sharing a booth, so you can find us listed in the exhibitor guide under “Signal Fire Studios/The Guild” and we’re at booth 4201.  We can confirm that, at this time, the entire cast of The Guild will be in attendance, and we will have at least one signing opportunity per day at the booth.

The Guild’s panel is scheduled for Saturday, July 24th from 2pm to 3pm in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront hotel, recently announced as one of the new official venues for Comic-Con.  After last year’s standing-room only panel, where we had to turn away several hundred fans, we asked for a larger room and the fine folks at Comic-Con were kind enough to honor that request – so big thanks to Comic-Con.  The panel will feature a Q&A with the cast along with the premiere of some new content from The Guild.  There will be more info and a complete schedule of Guild-related events posted as we get closer to the Con.  Join us on Twitter and Facebook for the most up to date info.

A few other events we’d like to mention:

• Felicia Day will be on a panel called “Movies, TV, Comics, Web:  Girls Gone Genre” on Friday, July 23rd from 5pm to 6pm in room 24ABC, with a powerhouse lineup of producers/creators, including Kathryn Immonen, Laeta Kalogridis, Marti Noxon, Melissa Rosenberg and Gail Simone.
• The Legend of Neil will have a panel on Saturday, July 24th from 7:30pm to 8:30pm in room 7AB with cast Tony Janning, Felicia Day, Mike Rose, Angie Hill, Eric Acosta,  Scott Chernoff, and show creator Sandeep Parikh. (EDIT: we previously listed 24ABC, but 7AB is the correct room)
• Our friends Paul and Storm, with Guild cast member Wil Wheaton and Adam Savage of Mythbusters are bringing their popular w00tstock to San Diego during Comic-Con on Thursday, July 22nd at 7:30pm at live music venue 4th and B.  All the info is on w00tstock.net and tickets are available here (this will sell out!).
• The next Celebrate the Web event will take place in San Diego in conjunction with Comic-Con on Saturday, July 24th at the Bristol Hotel with sessions at 4:15pm and 5:15pm (and mingle time before and after).  Several web series will be screened, including a sketch from the Sean Becker & Jeff Lewis created “Jeff Lewis 5 Minute Comedy Hour” (5minutehour.com).

<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-CA&#038;vid=ed36f5e6-10be-4663-8eda-82f9610b7a41" target="_new" title="&#39;The Guild&#39; Season 3 Recap: Auto-Tuned">Video: &#39;The Guild&#39; Season 3 Recap: Auto-Tuned</a>

Please share this with friends! And for more info about The Gregory Brothers, check them out on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  They also have a debut EP called “Meet the Gregory Brothers” available via their website and iTunes.  And join us in our community forums (or in comments below) to discuss the Season 3 recap.  If you’d like to watch the previous season recaps, you can find them here: Season 1 and Season 2.  And yes, this video is our first official word on the release date for Season 4 – coming July 13th!

And coinciding with the release of The Guild #3, issue #2 is now live in the iTunes Store.  You can purchase issue #1 and issue #2 for 99 cents each, viewable on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.  Issue #3 should arrive to the iTunes store in about a month.

Again we’d like to state that the response to the comic has been amazing, proving once again that fans of The Guild are the best ever – thanks for all the support.  Felicia has blogged about how rewarding (if difficult) it was to extend the world of The Guild into a new medium, and all the cast has been thrilled to be depicted as comic book characters.  Join us in our forums to discuss the comic.  And if you’re a Guildie who is new to comic books (many of you told us you were), we direct you again to this insightful “Making of” feature from Dark Horse Comics that shows issue #1 in various stages.

Also, we’ve answered some frequently asked questions below

-The Guild management

Q: Just 3 issues, is that all?
For now, yes.  Dark Horse Comics has been a great partner, Felicia enjoyed writing the comic and the reviews from critics and fans was very positive.  If you would like to see more, the number one thing you can do is purchase the comics in print and via iTunes, because that speaks the loudest in terms of a business decision to produce more comics of The Guild.  In addition, you can contact Dark Horse and Felicia (via The Guild contact form) and let us know you want more of The Guild in comic form.

Q: Can I get the comics outside the US?
It depends.  We know that in the UK it’s available (check Forbidden Planet). Some online retailers in the US do have international shipping options.

Q: Will these 3 issues be compiled and released in graphic novel form?
There are no plans to at this time, but it might be a possibility in the future.

Q: Will the comic app work on my (Android/PC/non-iPhone-iPad-iPod) hardware or on another comic book reader?
No, it’s an app for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch only.  If you’d like to encourage Dark Horse Comics to develop for other platforms, we suggest writing them via their contact form.

Season 3 DVD in stores now

The DVD of season 3 of The Guild arrives in retail stores today throughout the US and Canada.  The artwork and content is identical to the previous Amazon.com DVD released in February, except that the retail release is on a single disc.  Look for the DVD in FYE, Suncoast, Borders, Barnes and Noble and other fine retailers.  If your favorite retail store isn’t stocking it, ask them to!  If you pick up the DVD in a store, share your picture with us on Flickr, Twitter and/or Facebook.

Bonus features on the DVD include the “Do You Want to Date My Avatar” Music Video, The Making of “Do You Want to Date My Avatar,”  the Halloween episode, Guild Applicant Rejects, How to Build Vork’s Sword, Audio Commentary with the Cast, Audio Commentary with the Creator, Director and Producer, Axis of Anarchy Interviews, Gag Reels, PDF of Script, Play All Feature and English Subtitles.  The DVD is NTSC format, region 1 and is distributed by New Video.

NOTE: For you International fans, we are still working on getting DVD releases out for non-North America regions.  We’ll keep you posted.  Amazon.de is currently carrying Seasons 1-3 (region-free NTSC, imported).

Thanks for your support!
-The Guild Management

Season 3 is currently available on DVD exclusively in stores at FYE, Coconuts, Wherehouse and Suncoast.

NOTE: This in-store appearance was originally scheduled for Wednesday, May 19 but a change in the production schedule for Season 4 required this rescheduling.  Apologies to the fans and to the store – and thanks for your patience!

Address & Map Link:

SUNCOAST MOVIES
DEL AMO FASHION SQUARE
21712 HAWTHORNE BLVD
TORRANCE, CA  90503
Google Maps Link

Dark Horse Comics alerted us to the fact that due to a distributor glitch, stores in NY, PA, MI, parts of TX and MO, and most of Canada did not receive issue #2 yesterday but will be getting it next week.  They also announced the release of issue #1 as an iTunes App, so you can now enjoy the comic for 99 cents on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.  Here’s the link to the iTunes Store. Dark Horse will release each of the three issues to iTunes, about a month after the print version (exact dates are hard to know, since iTunes has an approval process which affects the release, but we’ll keep you posted).

Pick up your copy from your local comic shop, or buy online from Things from Another World or any number of online retailers.

If you just can’t get enough of the comic, here are some additional links for your enjoyment: Felicia’s blog entry about issue #2, a quick interview with Felicia by Dark Horse, and a cool “Making of” feature that shows issue #1 in various stages of production.

-The Guild management

Felicia is putting the finishing touches on the script for Season 4, which will pick up where Season 3 left off.  Pre-production is underway, keeping producer Kim Evey and Streamy Award winning director Sean Becker very busy as cameras are set to roll sometime in May.  Seasons 1 through 3 are currently available on watchtheguild.com, iTunes, Amazon and YouTube.

Microsoft has sponsored The Guild since season 2.  The Guild thanks Microsoft – along with all the fans – for continued support of the show.

-The Guild management

Although the show isn’t real, a ton of hard work went into orchestrating this elaborate prank. Extra special thanks goes to Greg Aronowitz and his animation team for doing 3 months of work in 3 weeks, Paul and Storm for writing a theme song so catchy that only death will get it out of our heads and Marc Hustvedt and Jenni Powell at Tubefilter for writing hilariously convincing articles that kept some of our fanbase guessing!  The full credits have been added to the “more info” box on YouTube. And there are a few behind the scenes photos on The Guild’s Flickr page.

The reactions to this ran the whole spectrum, from “this is awful” to “this is amazing” and from “please be an April Fool’s joke” to “I hope this ISN’T a joke.” We appreciate all the comments and discussion and encourage you to continue discussing them in the comments of the video on YouTube.

And for those of you wondering about Season 4, don’t worry, it’s coming.  We’ll have some announcements coming soon. Here’s the video from yesterday in case you missed it (bonus! we uploaded a deleted scene of Vork’s monkey for those of you that want more Lil’ Guildies):

-The Guild Management

We’ll post more details as soon as we are allowed to (or as soon as we make another mistake that leaks top secret project info!), but for now, you can read Jenni Powell’s exclusive write up on Tubefilter, watch the opening credits sequence on YouTube, and discuss the new development in Guild Chat or on our discussion boards.  Here’s the clip:

Special thanks to the fabulous Paul and Storm (website, twitter) who created the theme song and Greg Aronowitz (blog, twitter) who is leading the project.  Behind the scenes photo below of Greg working on the animation.

Thanks,

The Guild Management