Firefly was a brilliant television series. Will the MMO live up to that?
Multiverse, a company made up of former Netscape employees, was founded in 2004 with the aim of creating a network of Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Two years later and the company has announced a major coups, the rights to make the MMO for the cult hit television series Firefly. They will now be in charge of a project that will bring the Firefly universe to the internet.
The irony is that the company who canned the television series (to the anger of many) is now commissioning the MMO. Adam Kline, FOX spokesperson told Wired News:
“We see virtual worlds as an extraordinarily promising new entertainment medium. We believe Multiverse can deliver an experience that will remain true to the original series, while enabling a whole new level of personal involvement for fans.”
It’s a bitter-sweet pill for Firefly fans, who will no doubt relish the prospect of jumping into a universe full of Reavers, traders, mercenaries, futuristic geishas and a whole range of bizarre and imaginative locations they know and love from the series. On the other hand they may feel slightly angered by the fact that this all but ends any hope of there ever being a second Firefly series, with Whedon (Firefly director) stating he would never work with FOX again. If the MMO is a success then FOX will not let go of the franchise lightly.
The game won’t be based around the characters that you know from the movie/series. Instead you will build your own characters, probably in a similar vein to how Star Wars Empires worked, and plop them into the universe. The initial aim is to try and create something distinct from World of Warcraft. However, whether this MMO will be any different to the: choose character, take on quest, level up, then repeat ad infinitum, remains to be seen.
Firefly has a dedicated internet following with sites like FireflyFans.net producing fan fiction and Firefly News. There is even a site dedicated to getting a second Firefly 2 series commissioned. No doubt a fruitless quest.
Source: Bit-Tech.net
Written by: Ryan Garside
The universe must listen. I said a long time ago it would be a good MMO source, so long as they didn’t let people BE the characters, because that would be stupid. (Like everyone becoming a Jedi) I’d like it if Serenity existed in the game, though, and you could have a chance of encountering the crew as they go about their own business.
Joy to the world indeed!
Whedon all but dismissed the idea of another “Firefly” series anyway, preferring the idea of a film franchise following “Serenity”. And there’s nothing here to prevent that from happening.
Of course, I’ll believe this when I see it, no matter how much I want it to be true.
Ha ha! I just sent this story to Sam! Should have looked here first, but I was so excited!
For those who might be interested, though, thee is already a Firefly online game. It’s a mod for the Neverwinter Nights rpg. Unfortunately it requires a DM to control the game. Get more info at Neverwinter Vault:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=4030
wow I had no idea these plans were in the making, thats honestly amazing, I cant wait.
i have bad news guys they canceled it in faver of a buffy mmo its bul$#!@