Crossover TV MMOG Plans

Sci Fi Channel is game to join the virtual world has word on the Sci-Fi
Channel's plans to partner with Trion World Network (the same developer as in
the story above) to create an MMOG that ties directly in with a television
series (thanks Mike Martinez and
Kotaku),
a plan they had originally hoped to implement with the Battlestar Galactica
series. No title is revealed fro the project, which is targeted at a summer 2010
release, though it has been revealed gameplay would be set around 80-100 years
in the future, unsurprising since this will presumably carry a science-fiction
theme. Here's a bit: Lars Buttler, co-founder and chief executive of
Trion, said that the game will live entirely online and that vistas will open as
the television series takes the characters throughout their world. The game will
continue to grow, and "footage" of players in battles or other mass gatherings
will be incorporated into the series. The TV show will match the game in its
look, with a green-screen hyper reality, much like the film "300," Howe said.


Buttler's company is partnered with Hewlett Packard and has raised $30 million
from investors such as Time Warner and General Electric. He said the focus of
the company is to pounce on the concept that discs and downloads are being left
behind and that online games are the "clear future."

The virtual world that pulls in fans of the show will also give Buttler and his
team hard data about which characters, settings and story lines stir the most
interests. He said that will help the show's producers bend their story lines to
audience tastes -- a notion that might not sit well with some purists who think
a drama should be guided by decisions of art rather than market research.
Clearly, though, the very nature of television programming is in flux, and Howe
said fans have an appetite for a new level of participation and tailored
entertainments.

"This will be a state-of-the art game and it will be a strong television show,
and watching how those two things interact will be fascinating," he
said.


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