Neal Stephenson working on a swordfighting computer game

No, really.

SF author Neal Stephenson - of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, Baroque Cycle, Anathem and Reamde fame - is apparently unhappy with the depiction of swordfighting in computer games, so is now working on a new system. He's set up a Kickstarter (crowd-funding) project and asked for half a million dollars, roping in a whole bunch of experts and some nifty swords-with-sensors-attached to help pitch the idea.

Interesting. Mental, clearly, but interesting if they can actually pull it off. Stephenson's pitch is quite amusing and apparently they raised $30,000 within a few hours of the page going up, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the project succeed in raising the initial investment.