Tom and Jerry Gets the MMOG Treatment

The classic cartoon cat-and-mouse duo is getting its own MMOG, courtesy of the same folks who managed to turn Hello Kitty into an online game.

Of all the cartoon properties you could turn into an MMOG, Tom and Jerry seems like the least likely one. For one, there are really only two characters: Tom and Jerry. And nothing ever really happens in their tiny world aside from Tom trying to catch Jerry and all sorts of cartoon violence ensuing. MMOGs are typically built on franchises with rich worlds and fictional histories. Tom and Jerry‘s a classic, to be sure, but MMOG material? I don’t know about that.

I’ll leave it to Typhoon Games, the developers of the Tom and Jerry MMOG, to figure it out. They managed to turn Sanrio’s Hello Kitty franchise into Hello Kitty Online, so I’m sure they have a few tricks up their sleeves. And, they’ve already got some ideas about what you’ll be doing in World of Tom and Jerry.

“Players will create and control their own cat and mouse characters in the wacky cartoon world where they will embark on quests, customize their cat and mouse avatars,” wrote publisher TurnOut Ventures. According to them, players will use their cat and mouse character to engage in PvE and PvP content, and interact with other players “using a variety of social tools.”

I imagine the PvP part will be more true to the original cartoon, since you know, Tom was always trying to catch Jerry. PvE seems to suggest cats and mice working together to accomplish goals, and anybody with a lick of common sense knows that’s utterly ludicrous.

Tom and Jerry the MMOG will be released for PC and Mac in 2010 in Asian markets, and potentially in Western countries eventually as well.