By Jim Rossignol on January 5th, 2008 at 9:24 am.
Yesterday saw The Sci-Fi Channel debut a trailer for StarGate Worlds, the MMO based on the popular sci-fi film spin-off series. It’s an odd one, I have to admit. StarGate was one of those films that had a fine explosion at the end, but achieved almost nothing else during its 121 minutes. The fact that the TV show incarnation has run so long and hard somewhat mystifies me. Still, it does make the perfect concept for an MMO: the StarGate is so close to being that swirly portal of instancing that we already seen in MMOs every time we’re teleported into a dungeon or private netherworld. Not only that but the StarGate fiction is an evolved fiction of contemporary soldiery and sci-fi absurdities, providing the developers with plenty of fodder for their characters, classes and quests. And there will be characters, classes and quests because we have heard little from developers Cheyenne Mountain to suggest that StarGate Worlds will deviate too far from the Everquest template.
Thanks, Game Trailers!
If you want to follow the development of this MMO a little more closely then the blog and official forums are ripe with info-fruit.
05/01/2008 at 09:47 derFeef says:
Ouch, that hurts. Why this “tv feeling” ? It is a game, not a tv show. I like StarGate, but idk for this one…
05/01/2008 at 10:12 Nuyan says:
Looks quite good graphically, very unlike Eve-O though. I guess it’s even without space-combat? I’ve never watched the tv show.
05/01/2008 at 11:02 Jim Rossignol says:
The fiction certainly supports space combat, but I think the game will be planetary and gate-based.
05/01/2008 at 11:52 Therlun says:
10 Seasons of the most uninspired, most boring and most stupid writing of television history.
05/01/2008 at 12:11 Richard says:
Pah. Stargate was pretty fun. Atlantis is terrible, but the original was a decent show – especially as the goofy Chariots of the Gods type stuff faded out in favour of a ‘humanity taking role in the larger universe’ plot.
05/01/2008 at 12:21 yns88 says:
Am I the only one who thinks that the Stargate movie was good but that the show totally ruined everything?
Anyway, the trailer simply looks uninteresting.
05/01/2008 at 12:38 mrkstphnsn says:
Looks waaay to much like stinky Tabula stinky Rasa to me.
Until someone makes a decent successor to Planetside I’m going to stay with WoW I think.
05/01/2008 at 12:41 John P (katsumoto) says:
!!! You’re all insane.
The series is awesome, and i’ve only seen 2 seasons of it. It’s much better than the film. It’s perfect science fiction. Pah. Pah! Murder! As with all MMOs, however, I have to file this under “sceptical at best”. A bit like the Star Trek MMO, which if done properly would render every other game ever pointless for me, but the chances of that happening are exceedingly slim.
05/01/2008 at 13:17 Janek says:
Show: Good (slightly stupid) fun, and it knows it.
MMO Teaser: I am unimpressed.
05/01/2008 at 13:27 Richard says:
At least being a game, there’s more chance of planets that don’t look like a foresty bit of Vancouver. As opposed to Tabula Rasa, where that’s about all they took, then dumped the base from M*A*S*H on it.
05/01/2008 at 13:30 John P (katsumoto) says:
“Good (slightly stupid) fun, and it knows it.” Yeah man, that’s what I mean by perfect sci-fi :) BSG is better of course. But BSG isn’t perfect sci-fi. It doesn’t even have a time-warp episode.
05/01/2008 at 14:38 Mr.Brand says:
Season 3 and 4 was a downward slope in quality, but picked up again near the end of the 4th.
The last three series were quite uneven in quality, and the final episode aired was not actually the end;
it was a daft timetravel episode. Total filler material. The REAL ending is in the form of a movie :/
05/01/2008 at 14:48 Lacero says:
I liked the Wormhole:Xtreme episode.
05/01/2008 at 19:25 Nick says:
I enjoyed the original Stargate show, especially Richard Dean Anderson’s character.
Lacero: Yeah, the Wormhole: Xtreme episode was really good fun, especially the guy at the end “This isn’t a real show? Am I being paid in real money?”
I was wondering if in the game all the planets would look suspiciously like Canada or a desert =)
05/01/2008 at 20:02 Arnulf says:
My take:
Movie: I loved it. Still have the dvd. Hmm.. maybe that’s an ideal time to watch it again?
Series: could not care enough about it… also I always thought about McGyver somehow. Don’t know why though.
MMO: looks interesting. The concept certainly allows for some good opportunities. Of course a trailer says absolutely nothing how this will pan out eventually.
05/01/2008 at 20:10 Nick says:
Possibly because of Richard Dean Anderson also being McGyver? =)
05/01/2008 at 20:13 Man Raised By Puffins says:
Come on, you have to admit the helmets which retracted into the wearer’s heads were pretty cool too. I felt somewhat short changed when they switched to wobbly rubber snake heads in the TV pilot.
Not really interested in at as a game, or at least not until I see anything substantially interesting about it.
05/01/2008 at 20:38 DigitalSignalX says:
Coincidence finds me slogging through all 10 seasons of Sg1 on DVD in anticipation of watching “The Ark of Truth” which was erm… “released” early online. I love the series, despite the many genre cliche’s. StarGate fans have been keeping an eye on this MMO for some time as the premise of the SG universe has superb gaming potential if it’s developed well enough. I hope it doesn’t turn into a Star Wars Galaxies or Matrix Online though, great ideas that sort of fell through in the long run because of the way the developers vision of a MMO didn’t click with the promise of the potential.
05/01/2008 at 21:51 Pace says:
Outstanding one-line review, sir. Kudos!
06/01/2008 at 01:53 Schadenfreude says:
And there was a certain amount of unsettling “The Crying Game” fallout every time Ra was on screen ::shudders::
06/01/2008 at 18:50 Bobsy says:
An incredibly poor-looking game, from that short trailer. Technically adequate, of course, but manages to look nothing like film or series. Much, much too brightly coloured for example. If we ever explore real alien worlds and they look like that I’m bringing sunglasses.
06/01/2008 at 18:51 Bobsy says:
Oh, and as for the series, it was only really any good thanks to the solid central cast. As soon as they began to tamper with all that the dodgy premise and worried-looking budget became all the more evident.
06/01/2008 at 23:02 NegativeZero says:
While I’m not averse to a good Stargate MMO (though I have my suspicions that this won’t actually be very good) I think I’d much rather have a MacGyver MMO.
07/01/2008 at 10:54 Nallen says:
Is that Bikini Armor™?
I think it is!
07/01/2008 at 16:46 Sal says:
This could in up in one of two ways: 1…end up like Tubala Rasa (great MMO that everyone should play) 2…end up like SOE’s new load in pants. Pirates MMO.