By Jim Rossignol on June 7th, 2011 at 7:00 pm.
Trion and the tediously-named SyFy TV channel are teaming up to create a multiplatform MMOFPS that somehow links into a TV show, apparently going as far as featuring player’s characters in the TV show part of it. The project is called Defiance, and there’s a teaser trailer below showing flowers, part of an insectile monster, a heavily modified Golden Gate bridge, and a man with a gun. Trion offer this explanation: “Set on a future Earth, Defiance introduces players and viewers to a world where humans and aliens live together on a planet transformed by decades of conflict. The game combines the intense action of a “AAA” console shooter, with the persistence, scale, and customization of an MMO, while its TV counterpart weaves the rich tapestry of the world into a series with the scope, characters, and drama of a classic sci-fi epic. Because they exist in a single universe, the show and the game will influence each other and evolve together over time, with actions in both mediums driving the overall story of Defiance.”
I do love the “intense” “action” of a “AAA” console “shooter” on my PC, yes sir. Ooh, snarky! But I had a late night. It does look intriguing, though. We need more details!
07/06/2011 at 19:08 Daiv says:
I look forward to the show’s main character, ROFLPWNCAKES, and his fearless band of compatriots who spend the entire series shooting each other in the face “for a laugh”.
07/06/2011 at 19:11 Wodge says:
surely you mean “For the Lulz”?
07/06/2011 at 19:46 FuzzieBoy says:
Surely YOU mean “for teh lulz” :P
07/06/2011 at 20:20 Daiv says:
Pah. “4 teh lulz”.
07/06/2011 at 21:19 icupnimpn2 says:
Pfaugh; “4dluʫ”
And don’t call me Shirley.
07/06/2011 at 23:13 GameOverMan says:
http://cdn1.knowyourmeme.com/i/25244/original/lulz2.jpg
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09/06/2011 at 15:46 WingNutZA says:
Do it for them!
http://www.funnypictures.com/pictures/the-lulz.jpg
07/06/2011 at 19:15 Hoaxfish says:
I was hoping for some sort of flower/mushroom based combat, then was disappointed by the giant bug-alien/human pullback
07/06/2011 at 21:20 icupnimpn2 says:
Here’s your flower and mushroom-based combat
http://download.cnet.com/Super-Mario-Bros-X/3000-7433_4-10962266.html
08/06/2011 at 20:41 Tatourmi says:
There was a source mod like that, with ants and termites in FPS fighting and building a base of plants and mushrooms, Quite fun but got deserted. Funfact: I met Garry :D on one server at day 1.
07/06/2011 at 19:22 Teddy Leach says:
See! First you think it’s normal Earth, but then you find out it’s alien Earth! Oh god, kill me.
07/06/2011 at 19:24 magnus says:
‘The tediously-named SyFy TV channel,’ I wouldn’t say that, if it was called the Science Fiction Channel then that really would be tedious, they called it the Syfy Channel because it takes less time to say leaving you more time to do things like watch the SyFy Channel.
07/06/2011 at 19:35 Jim Rossignol says:
It WAS called the Sci-Fi Channel, of course.
07/06/2011 at 19:47 magnus says:
Oops hoist by my own Petoad, It’ll be SF Channel next! (internal facepalm)
07/06/2011 at 19:47 rivalin says:
They should make a show about a zany college fraternity with aliens and stuff and call it PSI-PHI.
HA!
Alternatively they could just give their channel a proper name again.
07/06/2011 at 19:48 Bayemon says:
I am still bitter about the name change from Sci Fi to SyFy. It makes me angry.
07/06/2011 at 20:16 Dhatz says:
if the channel itself didnt change with the name it would be ok, how were people supposed to figure out sci-fi logo was for a tv channel when they saw some ads from it anywhere disconnected from america?
07/06/2011 at 20:50 Arglebargle says:
They changed the name to the Sy Fy channel, because they discovered they couldn’t trademark Sci Fi. They are a bunch of brainless bean counters who have no understanding or interest in the ‘product’ they sell. For them, if it has a robot, or a ray gun, or an alien, it’s Sci Fi!
They are a bunch of Bozos on that bus…..
07/06/2011 at 21:33 jonfitt says:
I just ruin their branding by calling it the See Fee channel.
07/06/2011 at 22:52 Rikard Peterson says:
Yes, those pet toads can be dangerous.
08/06/2011 at 08:04 Davie says:
I really want a petoad now.
07/06/2011 at 19:34 aircool says:
I can’t wait to see the main characters ragequit. Then again, if you’d just flipped over to the SyFy channel to be confronted by Octoshark vs Nanageddon ‘again’, then you’d ragequit too…
07/06/2011 at 19:48 Rii says:
Game appears too colourful to be an FPS.
07/06/2011 at 21:07 fallingmagpie says:
Needs more beige.
07/06/2011 at 19:52 phosgene says:
The idea in my head of how awesome this could potentially be could never actually become a reality. An amazingly intense, competitive shooter with an ever evolving storyline and perfectly balanced RPG elements; that also happens to include some of the more entertaining moments in a well written television show. The scale of what would be involved would be enormous.
I mean, these guys made Rift. Grats.
Predicted next step: Create a mediocre/below average fps and a worse television exposition.
I really would like for this to be good though.
07/06/2011 at 20:18 Teddy Leach says:
I agree, the concept is original and amazing. I hope the execution will live up to it.
07/06/2011 at 20:22 JFS says:
Although the trailer really doesn’t look that hi-fi. I mean, if I was planning a revolution and had the personnel and the skills to pull it off in huge quality, I’d maybe try to make the trailer a little more beautiful. I find that it looks like a cutscene from 2003.
08/06/2011 at 21:13 conqueso says:
As much as I hope this game will be awesome, I believe it will just be another FPS with their cut scenes shown on a television.
07/06/2011 at 20:25 Kualtek says:
New rule, gameplay footage or GTFO.
07/06/2011 at 20:30 KindredPhantom says:
The Syfy channel, the channel that shows very few sci-fi shows anymore since they decided not to renew them…
08/06/2011 at 17:15 Cronniss says:
What really gets me, though, is that their episodic television series shows are incredible…but their movies incredibly suck!!! I honestly don’t know how they pull that off.
08/06/2011 at 17:45 SquidgyB says:
@Cronniss
I take it you’ve seen Stonehenge Apocalypse, then?
07/06/2011 at 20:40 Dachannien says:
This is fantastic news! I’ve been waiting for an MMO based on professional wrestling.
07/06/2011 at 21:05 Thunderkor says:
I’m hopeful for this, because Trion is involved. Now, I played Rift for a little while. The reason I didn’t keep playing Rift was more to do with my being tired of the entire style of MMO rather than the game itself. During the time I played I was very impress with how well Trion communicated with their subscribers, responded to issues in the game, and treated me as a customer on the whole.
Were things perfect? No, they made mistakes but it seems like they also not only worked hard to fix problems and make amends for those mistakes, but also to keep in touch with the subscriber base and let them know what’s what.
I’m sure someone out there probably thinks otherwise, but that was my experience and if they can bring that level of service and care for their product to something with some fun action, it could be a winning combination.
07/06/2011 at 21:10 vodkarn says:
I always pronounced the (new) name as “Siff-ee.”
Also: Great idea, will never work.
Particularly as their main audience will likely be PC gamers (is my guess) and there are few of them who like hearing “console” and “shooter” together in their games.
07/06/2011 at 21:27 WMain00 says:
I recall yonks ago this idea being put through as a possible concept by some developer group. It was originally reported in pc gamer actually. I recall it similarly being set up as a game that would be connected with a tv series on sci fi. This was well before the likes of world of warcraft or anything like that.
It’s interesting to see this concept return.
07/06/2011 at 21:36 jonfitt says:
There appears to be a conversion facto needed because if that’s the pre-rendered footage, this “AAA” console shooter, looks very much like a B+ PC shooter.
Or perhaps it’s tricky marketing speak and they literally meant the intense action of a “AAA” console shooter without the production quality.
07/06/2011 at 21:42 Owain_Glyndwr says:
Sound’s interestin’, but then again, it’s the SyFy Channel, which means at some point the serious “drama of a classic sci fi epic” will involve a MegaSharkoctopus of some kind.
08/06/2011 at 09:33 jRides says:
How can that possibly go wrong?
07/06/2011 at 21:42 phosgene says:
I just realized something. If this was developed cross platform, and had “pvp” elements, it would be the first cross platform multiplayer FPS and console users would get completely dumped on due to the inadequacies of their control scheme.
I hope this happens.
07/06/2011 at 22:14 WMain00 says:
It has. its called dust 514.
07/06/2011 at 23:10 Thants says:
Except that it isn’t cross-platform.
07/06/2011 at 22:31 Yosharian says:
MMOFPS? Think I’ll wait for Titan, thanks.
07/06/2011 at 22:54 Navagon says:
It looks bright, colourful and more than a bit silly and self-parodying. So I hope that it embraces this. If it’s unintentional then that’s pretty damn tragic.
07/06/2011 at 23:09 Thants says:
This is going to be about growing a beautiful garden on a bridge, right?
07/06/2011 at 23:28 mjig says:
Sounds like some sort of bizarre 90s experiment.
07/06/2011 at 23:50 Dyst says:
Is this the video game adaption of the hit film Defiance starring Daniel Craig and that one wot sounds russian?
I’d totally play that.
08/06/2011 at 00:09 Ertard says:
It seems crazy. Also, can I be that beast thing? It looked spiky and and quite ugly. I would like to eat mans, not just shoot them. I mean, if it’s a MMO it’s got to have two sides, right?
08/06/2011 at 00:55 fenriz says:
is the idea inspired by that film with Gerald Butler, the gamer?
08/06/2011 at 03:17 Jake says:
Looks a bit like a trailer for A Bug’s Life until it zooms out. ‘Transformed by decades of conflict into somewhere quite pretty.’
They should have televised my exploits in Molten Core, now that was an epic.
08/06/2011 at 04:31 Tacroy says:
As soon as it pulled back and showed the new Golden Gate Bridge, my first thought was “those damn casemodders have gone too far this time!”
I don’t know why.
08/06/2011 at 07:24 Scioptic says:
I predict that the game and show will bomb after one series.
08/06/2011 at 07:58 Neurotic says:
At least they didn’t call it ‘Guardiance’. Heh.