Firefly MMOG Delayed; Buffy Announced

Bad news for gamers hoping to find some Serenity of their own: The Firefly MMOG has been delayed.

The news follows the announcement of an upcoming MMOG based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly creator Joss Whedon's other, more popular, property. Game Daily News speculates that Whedon and Fox have focused their efforts on the more lucrative Buffy franchise, resulting in the Firefly delay.

The new Buffy MMOG will allow players to experience the game world as either a "fully immersive 3-D environment or as a Flash-based 2-D game," with interaction between players in both modes. The game will be launched as part of Multiverse Places, described by MMOG platform developer Multiverse as a "new social virtual world."

"As a brilliant storyteller and world-maker, Joss Whedon crafts stories that expand perfectly into the new medium of virtual worlds," said Multiverse co-founder Corey Bridges. "Not to give away too much, but when the Buffy team finished the television series, they created the perfect launching point for an MMOG where everyone will feel like they're an important character in the ongoing story."

Fox says the Firefly MMOG is still in the works, so fans shouldn't give up hope just yet, but the property's failure as a television show and movie is a big liability. Presenting the 'verse in a manner that would satisfy fans of the franchise is also a very dicey proposition - you can't all be Mal or Jayne, kids - and questions about the long-term viability of the game are very valid. Serenity ended the Firefly series on a satisfying, if not entirely happy, note; perhaps it would be best to just leave it at that.

Permalink

Not so shiny :(

(random chinese cursing)

In all honesty, I kind of agree though. A Firefly MMO would be hard to pull off, especially with a fan base as rabid as this one is.

"fully immersive 3-D environment or as a Flash-based 2-D game"

This already looks like a blockbuster of an MMOG; how can you go wrong with creating something that translates well as both of those, in all its massive, multiplayer glory? Immersive 3-D! Too many dimensions? Pick one, we'll drop it, and it'll still be good, honest!

(if I broke any sarcasm meters there, I apologize)

BOO - I love me some Firefly :(

...a MMO? When the main point of Firefly was the characters? Great thinking there ~~

Personally I hope both these projects crash and burn ~~

Firefly didn't fail as a TV show. Fox execs are just retarded.

Firefly is a really neat little show that never really got a chance. Even the movie, marketed more as a gesture towards hardcore Firefly fans, didn't get the bank it could have.

That being said, this is a good decision. I love Firefly, but the IP is entirely too small and self-contained to really contain much in the way of accuracy, which means a lot of it would have been completely new. I'd much rather that resources be put towards giving Firefly one last attempt on TV, running the correct, complete set of episodes on more than just an obscure time on Sci-fi or attaching it to another show's coattails. Probably not likely, but it would be nice.

NOOOOO! YOU ******** AAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! FUCK BUFFY!

Well, the problem as far as I'm aware is not that Multiverse didn't get support from Fox/Whedon for the Firefly MMO - it's that they didn't get a development team together.

The Buffyverse is slightly more suitable for an MMO, certainly - everyone can in fact be a Slayer. But this business of "fully immersive 3-D environment or as a Flash-based 2-D game" sounds very vapourware-ish to me.

NO! BAD JOSS! Serenity>Buffy (haven't seen Firefly, so...)!

As much as I love both series, I'd prefer a Firefly MMORPG. And I'm worried by that "fully immersive 3-D environment or as a Flash-based 2-D game" Unless that means that you'll have the game (3d) and some minigame which unlocks XP and items for your character (2d)...still even then I'm worried.

I'd prefer to have a single player Firefly game, where you can have some character development. And Buffy as a whole, i couldn't care less.

But Buffy is far more conducive to MMOG conversion than Firefly. You've already got a well-developed background story that encourages PVE and PVP combat, you've got clearly defined factions and character classes, you've got a game world that's relatively simple to duplicate, and you've got the benefit of building a game around a proven hit rather than a little-known cult phenomenon that, while admittedly awesome, couldn't even finish out a truncated tv season.

For me it comes down to a matter of taste. I loved the Buffy series, but at no point do I see myself actually enjoying being a part of it as one of the factions/characters. The content is already defined, and already seen by me once.

If they're going with all-new stories and concepts that were not already covered, then we're back with wondering why they stopped with Firefly. It's the same Whedon storytelling in a world not already been mined out for 7 seasons of shows (more if you count Angel).

Dammit. Suckage.

Jhereg42:
(random chinese cursing)

Random nothing! BUFFY YOU BITCH, Cao ni zhu zong shi ba dai!
Hope I spelled that right...

Damnit Whedon, why do you let that whore outshine Serenity?

Just think back to early Buffy, and relax.

And we'll get our Firefly, don't you worry. And it better have the series' music, not the Serenity music.