Initial bidders are being vetted for the remnants of the Kingdoms of Amalur MMO, Project Copernicus, that was in production when Curt Schilling's 38 Studios went under. The state of Rhode Island will sell the property to the highest bidder in November as part of its continuing efforts to dig itself out of the $US90 million hole it dug financing the failed developer.

Matt Bai of The New York Times has authored a lively, comprehensive deconstruction of the downfall of 38 Studios, makers of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and a planned MMO. The story weaves in Rhode Island's political and cultural forces in explaining the debacle. It's a superb read.

Whether mocked, doubted or venerated, The Bloody Sock is a unique piece of sports memorabilia and it is the symbol of the Boston Red Sox' cathartic championship of 2004, the one that ended 86 years of aching near-misses and collapses. And the reddest of socks may be put up for sale, collateral damage in the notorious collapse of the defunct game maker 38 Studios.

All we've seen so far of "Project Copernicus" the Kingdoms of Amalur MMO lost in the collapse of developer 38 Studios, are still shots and videos of in-game environments. It's helped build up the idea that the game might have been pretty, but it wasn't any good. Curt Schilling, the 38 Studios owner, himself said "the game wasn't fun" and that nobody was playing it inside the studio.

It was meant to be the "first triple-A, hundred-million-dollar-plus, free-to-play, micro-transaction-based MMO," according to the studio's celebrity boss, Major League Baseball all-star pitcher Curt Schilling. But plans for "Project Copernicus" vaporized when Schilling's studio -- makers of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning went under back in May.

Although the studio's founder himself said the game wasn't even fun -- no one internally was playing it -- "Project Copernicus" was one of the most lamented casualties of 38 Studios' collapse, primarily because its screenshots looked so damn good. Not at all like a free-to-play game.

Curt Schilling's 38 Studios fell apart due to a combination of poor management, bad decisions, and a whole lot of missed deadlines. And Schilling says their massively multiplayer online game -- which was shuttered when the studio shut down earlier this year -- just wasn't fun.

Curt Schilling's 38 Studios is no more. The employees have been let go, its projects have been shelved. What's left in the wake of this grand disaster is tales of personal tragedy and assets like this leaked launch trailer, an echo of a dream that died.

I didn't always feel sad when I started up Origin. Vaguely annoyed, perhaps, with the way it always defaults to "Store" instead of "My Games". Somewhat grumpy, when confronted with bugs. But lately, I feel a little pang of woe. And it's not really from Origin at all.

I'm not an MMO fan, not in the slightest, but I can and do appreciate good-looking video games. And Project Copernicus, the now-dead MMO from the now-dead 38 Studios, was shaping up to be one good-looking video game.

Most likely spilled by a disgruntled current/former employee of developer 38 Studios, which isn't exactly having the best time of it at the moment, a Kingdoms of Amalur fansite has what sure look like the first screens from Copernicus, the codename for 38's upcoming MMO.

In a week filled with video-game related drama, one of the main stages has starred 38 Studios. The developer, based in Providence, Rhode Island, is evidently out of money, and can't repay their loans. Worse, the loan in question was from the state of Rhode Island, potentially leaving taxpayers footing the bill for incomplete MMO development. So with the situation changing almost hourly, here's everything we know about the saga of 38 Studios.