SOE To Make Indian-Superhero MMO

Today's top online gaming story is beautifully unpredictable:

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), a global leader in the online gaming industry, is teaming up with Sir Richard Branson and Deepak Chopra’s Virgin Comics to bring the popular, India-based Ramayan 3392 A.D. comic book universe to life as an MMO video game initially for the PC.

Blimey. They go on to say:

“Virgin Comics approached us with a portfolio of amazing comic properties based on Indian lore. We particularly love Ramayan 3392 A.D., as we feel Virgin Comics’ telling of The R ® m ® yana is particularly gripping, graphically brilliant and lends itself extremely well to an MMO,” said Smedley. “This a fantastic time for us to expand our games to include this culturally rich storyline and we are honored to do this with a diversified, creative and experienced company like Virgin Comics.”

Oh, the snide comments we could make. Is Ramayan set in a world of respawning pigs? AHAHAHAA!

Sorry. Actually there are no details about the game itself as yet, but the whole thing seems like an answer to my ramblings in this Escapist article. Of course if they can't also deliver something a bit more interesting than pig-bashing then the whole thing will be a waste of hot air.

I've seen the Ramayan comics on TV a few times recently, so their media engine is clearly in overdrive. But are the comics actually any good? And do we care about a superhero just because his story was based on Indian folklore? I am unqualified to answer these questions, and probably should have written about something else. Tsk.