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I'll Never Let Go (of This MMO)

by Chris Remo, Feb 03, 2006 10:15am PST
Related Topics – Atari, MMO, Games: PC

James Cameron, director of such films as Aliens, Terminator, Terminator 2, and Titanic, is currently working on a still mysterious but "completely crazy" sci-fi movie codenamed Project 880. Unsurprisingly, he wants to have a tie-in video game. What's a bit more surprising is that he wants the game to come out well before its big screen counterpart, and what's really surprising is that the game is a massively multiplayer online game. Speaking to Business Week, Cameron described his basic plans.

Movies with game tie-ins have been around since the days of Atari (ATAR ), but the games usually follow the plot. With Project 880 (a working title), which is still at least two years off, gamers could be exploring Cameron's virtual world for weeks before they head for a theater to learn the story. And the game could spawn whole communities of diehards such as those who spend every waking hour immersed in EverQuest, World of Warcraft, and other massively multiplayer online games.
The director did not go into any detail regarding the gameplay or any other facets of the world, nor did he mention the developer. He is, however, on the board of a company called Multiverse, which aims to provide studios with full development tools and network infrastructure for making MMOs. Cameron likens the relationship between his planned MMO and his upcoming film to the relationship between a modern sci-fi author's fictional world and the narratives that take place within it. Modern sci-fi frequently takes the approach of building a large universe with an established history and environment, then for each installment places a narrative within it. By the same token, Cameron's MMO would set up the contextual world, and the following movie would insert the narrative. The implication, of course, is that this would turn into a long-running movie franchise set in an evolving online world, but Cameron has still yet to fully reveal his plan for the initial products, much less the following ones.


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Comments

33 Threads | 75 Comments
  • #23
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    By: Cartman8686 x
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    I just don't think that the truely great MMO has hit yet. The tech just isn't there yet. Planetside has been the only thing close. While games like Star Wars Galaxies, WOW, and FFXI to me have individual aspects that are awesome but never come together. FFXI has the great job system where you really only have to create one character and master every class in the game with it ( or at least try), but then it has the insane time it takes to level up. Then there is WoW with its ease of play, and Star Wars Galaxies with the amazing ammount of jobs and skills everyone has. It basically requires you everyone to work together like a real world (Don't know how much has changed since the beginning). But the biggest problem with all of these is really that they are soulless RPGs. They don't tell a great story and the promesses that MMOs have always promised never come to be to fix this problem (Being able to affect the story yourself). Leveling up and grinding crap is boring. After playing all 3 of these games (plus some others) you see how shallow it really is. There needs to be more things to do in these games. And with better technology they need to be real time eventually. Not every game, because some people love RPG's. However, we need to see more games like Planetside or Huxley. And hopefully not all FPS's. Doing something like this will create a greater sense of living in the world. And even better twitch based gameplay will allow for far more rewarding PvP.

    PS: Give me a player house like SWG in every game!!!! Imagine being a game where you can be a Bounty Hunter or a Hitman and you have an apartment that anyone can see or break into or something.
    Feb 03, 2006 11:21am PST

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  • #27
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    By: Rich McNinch x
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    I predict that this one flops but Ron Howard's XQuest becomes hugely popular.

    People's attention spans are too short. An MMO that leads to a movie might be fun until the movie is out on DVD, then its going to get old. The film needs to take a backseat to the MMO if the game is to be a longterm success. Cameron needs to make an MMO with a movie tie-in, not a movie with an MMO tie-in.

    XQuest, on the other hand, shows real promise. Not so much a game as it is a utility with which to interact with the TV show, its draw will be strong as long as its on the air. Giving participants the ability to interact with the show and a chance to compete in the second season gives them a tangible prize to shoot for, which is something traditional MMOs can't offer. Its also probable that XQuest will be free to play and have minimal system requirements.

    As a gamer, I expect that Cameron's MMO will be more fun and require a gaming rig. If he invests the proper time and resources into it then the monthly subscription he gets plus the DVD sales aught to supplement the likely insufficient box office numbers nicely. He'll make his money back, but whether anyone will care about his MMO a few months later remains to be seen.
    Feb 03, 2006 11:38am PST