Trion's trio capped by Sci Fi Channel deal
By
Tom Magrino
Redwood City-based game maker announces codevelopment project with NBC Universal subsidiary; fantasy-themed MMORPG in the works; PS3 presence revealed.
In 2006, ex-Electronic Arts exec Lars Buttler teamed with former New World Computing founder and president Jon Van Caneghem to form Trion Worlds, a development house that would focus on games for the "broadband era." While Trion has been under the radar since first debuting, the game maker's presence hasn't been for naught. Today, Trion broke that silence with a trio of high-profile announcements.
First, Trion said that it has entered into a codevelopment deal with the NBC Universal-owned Sci Fi Channel. As part of the arrangement, Trion will team with the network to publish an original entertainment property that will manifest as both a game and television show on the channel. Making the most of its cross-media format, Trion promises that gamers will impact the storyline of the show, "building depth and dynamically evolving the world."
"A television show that is on once a week isn't enough. The fans today want the experience to go beyond that," said Sci Fi Channel president Dave Howe in an interview with the LA Times. "For example, we can tell them that there will be an alien invasion at a certain place in the game, at a certain time, and to be there with all their friends and be ready. The outcome depends on them. And then that battle will be part of the universe in the show."
Sci-fi gamers thus accounted for, Trion also announced that it would be developing and publishing a fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Best known for creating the Heroes of Might and Magic universe, Van Caneghem will take the lead on the MMORPG. Trion claims the game will be highly malleable through player-influenced events, and that the game will feature large-scale battles "that an unprecedented number of players can participate in."
Platforms for the MMOG were not announced...but Trion also said today that it has acquired the rights to publish and develop games for Sony's PlayStation 3 in North America. No projects were revealed as part of the announcement, but Trion specifically called out the console's online-connectivity capabilities.
By
Tom Magrino
Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.
Ummmm... Ploop, you realize that it was FOX who canned Firefly. Sci-fi just plays the episodes every so often. IMO Fox is the king of canning 'good' shows. But, I digress. This sounds like it could be really good or really, really bad.
Tv show wise if it is any good the sci-fi network will cancel it. just like the dresden files , farscape , the invisible man and anything really good. and put on more crappy original movies.
The latest Might & Magic was pretty awful. Sony can have them.
this was a good topic.
Could be good, but I need to see more.
sounds great, but chances are it won't be
Sounds interesting if they manage to make the show good and the game good, but I'm very skeptic.
You can't very well hype a game as not being that great, so they over-hype and under-deliver with promises of more coming in the future. MMORPGs are notorious for being disappointing on delivery and unless these people truly know what they're doing and getting into and what their goals with the game are, then we might have something worth playing. But I was never much a fan of the Might and Magic series so I'm not expecting much from this announcement.
Sounds.. interesting
more hype, sweet dreams and empty promises
hmm...this actually sounds somewhat interesting...if it is annoucned for 360 i might consider it...because i love sci fi =)
ps3 only?
This is what I call a "good" syenergy, TV and MMORPG. I hope the blend them well.
I hope they do. This is a grand experiment.
A dynamic tv and video game experience sounds pretty good if they could pull it off
Hopefully, the TV shows can be downloaded for free to your console.
That's too bad. Van Caneghem used to make such awesome games, and as soon as this game gets going good, sci-fi will cancel it, like they always do with good shows.
Sci-Fi channel, huh? Let's hope their games aren't as terrible as their tv movies.
im pretty sure dis will be on sony's platform seeing how so many other mmo's are starting to build on ps3.....but i wanna see da day when these games r done seems like a long way from now.
So they could bring it to the PS3 and the 360. It doesnt say anything about making games for the PS3 only. So cant wait for that 360 version. I say bring it on
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