Manuel is a passionate, driven, and techsavvy AV technician, 
Okay, so we’re halfway there, aren’t we? The fact is that many people have wrongly accused director James Cameron of ripping off World of Warcraft. Yes, his film Avatar made a lot of money (much like Blizzard does every year), but it’s not really a ripoff. It’s interesting how much the film lends itself to being an MMO.
The main characters in Avatar enter high-tech machines with the objective of inhabiting technologically designed “avatars”. There are giant walking mechs, a vibrant alien planet filled with lush, living jungles, wide floating mountain ranges, and huge trees, as well as tall, breathtaking alien creatures with a distinct and interesting culture. How is this not already an MMO?
When it comes to factions, classes, or races, it’s not too difficult to imagine the Marines being one, the Nav’i friendly people being another, and the Nav’i themselves as the last. Of course, there are still vehicles like the mechs, fighters, and air craft carriers. Oh, and we mustn’t forget about the possibilities for mounts with the wildlife running about. It may be difficult to find a currency or some kind of wow gold equivalent to run the in-game economy, but ideally, such a game would be free to play driven by real funds trading and microtransactions.
There would need to be a social aspect, and an Avatar MMO is much more likely to depend on physical combat and first-person shooting and third-person action adventuring and exploration than on traditional MMO combat. There would be no orcs, elves, and dwarves wielding magic here.
It seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? In fact, after the film was released and met with such phenomenal success, creators involved with the project did mention that they had considered creating an Avatar MMO.
It’s a matter of if, not when, but it’s also important that the franchise maintains its popularity.
Some of you may remember that we’ve already had a Matrix MMO, but those who actually played the game, or had the misfortune of laying eyes on it, may know that The Matrix Online was, to put it kindly, something of an embarrassment for all involved.
The huge popularity of the films at the time saw Warner Bros. attempt to cash in on almost every chance it got. Comic books, merchandising, terrible single-player video games, anime (which was admittedly very cool), but the worst offender was The Matrix Online.
Gamers were eager for a dark, interesting world that reflected the Blade Runner meets kung-fu aesthetic of the movies. What programmers, Monolith, and publishers, Sony Online Entertainment served up instead was a barren, joyless online world that gamers invested five minutes in, and then decided they did not want to return to again.
The incredibly thick narrative, rich lore, awesome action, choreography, science fiction Early Science Fiction On The Airwaves - Science Fiction in Radio Some might argue that Science Fiction has existed as long as civilization itself, as people gazed at the stars and wondered, "what if…" Juvenile Serials from the 1930s The first scifi old-time radio shows were primarily adventure serials aimed at young audiences, featuring a scientific theme, most notably Buck Rogers and… mechs, ships, and cityscapes of the films were all gone.
It’s a testament to how quickly the industry is maturing that you have to think if The Matrix were to be adapted to the MMO format now, things would be truly different. More care, time, and attention to detail would be taken to ensure that gamers played the game and stayed with the game, instead of turning away in disgust and heading back to Azeroth, Onyxia, and wow gold.
It’s hard to say, but the full range of what the concept behind The Matrix promises might be explored better in a video game MMO than in the movies. An endless amount of worlds and settings, each separate, distinct, and existing in the ether, controlled by The Architect, waiting to be visited by players as they explore each new realm together.
Warner Bros, who produced the well-received Batman: Arkham Asylum last year, seem to be shifting their development efforts towards producing a series of standard games, such as the Lego Harry Potter games. At some point, they may review their portfolio and realize they still have licenses that they could do something with, such as a series of single or limited multiplayer games. It’s anyone’s guess whether this “something” will manifest itself as an MMO, but with games like World of Warcraft continuing to rake in cash, it’s likely that Warner Bros will want a piece of that pie.
Once again, the heavy lifting has already been done, at least on the concept side of things. It’s hard to believe that a film introduced almost thirty years ago, with limited financial and critical success, has inspired Inspired by nature - Artist Robert Tucker talks about himself and his artist experience in this exclusive article. Inspired by nature The glorious portal of a new year is again upon me. My mind has wondered since the start of 2008 as to which direction my creative self will take. For me a torrent of feelings were released in… numerous comics and video games. It’s a testament to how ahead of its time, in terms of concept, the original Tron was.
The original movie saw hacker Kevin Flynn, played by a young Jeff Bridges, infiltrate a video game world of his own creation. Visually dazzling and conceptually brilliant, Tron sparked the imagination, and its most well-known creation, the Light Cycle, became the subject of its own real-world video game.
In a word, Tron is “stylish”. However, Tron has always been difficult to translate into an enjoyable and pleasing electronic world due to its somewhat cold, Spartan aesthetic.
Despite Disney’s eagerness to adapt the franchise to the video game format, an MMO based on the game is unlikely at this point, even if the film’s sequel, Tron Legacy, is a huge hit. But, as stranger things have happened before, it’s not impossible.
Manuel Marino is a seasoned Senior Producer, Music Composer, and Artist with over a decade of experience. He specializes in branded entertainment across various mediums, including video games, films, and advertising campaigns. With 20+ years as a game music composer, Manuel has worked on numerous platforms, creating diverse orchestral soundtracks. HIRE ME
