Buffy MMO Announced!
While I'm sure my fellow Buffy fans have been whispering about this for ages in one way or another, 20th Century Fox announced today that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer MMO is in the works, and while plot details are scarce, fans can probably guess the setup:
"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."
In other words: slayerfest! But will we have to play as young women? I can't see an army of one-eyed Xanders... maybe we'll get to play as vampire men? That could be all kinds of sexy.
And while it's sad that Fox has essentially shelved the Firefly MMO it announced in 2006, the Buffy franchise is one we can trust Fox not to fudge up - with legions of fans of the movie, tv series, and the excellent "Season 8" comics, Buffy has a lot more financial potential than the much beloved but less commercially successful Firefly.
The Buffy MMO will be unique in having two play modes: a 2D flash mode for a web-based iteration of the game, and the expected 3D PC client. Whether those two modes will run concurrently in the same universe is one of many unanswered questions that we hope to shed some light on when the game enters beta later this year.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer MMO Announced [Newsarama]
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, MMOs, Video Games on 3 September 2008
· Comments (21)
Other stuff like this: 20th century fox, buffy mmo, buffy the vampire slayer, pc
Oh dear god no.
Joss's work is unwitty, unfunny and unoriginal.
He epitomises the under 25 demographic who think they're quick witted and good humoured, and aren't, in any way as such.
So obviously, it perfectly lends itself to an MMO.
Whoa, interesting. I felt like Firefly has a better formula for a MMO, i like space-age games I guess better... but we'll see how this pans out. Go Joss!
@Neo: Riiiight, whatever.
Anyway, I'm excited at least to the extent that I'd like to see where this goes. I'm hopeful it would make for a great MMO experience just because of the audience it would draw.
With regard to character options, it depends on the classes they have. If it's just Slayers, yeah, we're all going to be girls (which isn't really a problem for me). However, if they open it up to demons, magic users, and even 'normal people', then other genders can come into play.
How excited am I for this? Incredibly unexcited.
Buffy is a franchaise that has been run into the ground. The merchandising is out of the control, the Buffy video games have been mediocre at best, and the Season 8 comics read like bad fanfiction. This is a a world I have little to no interest in spending time. I'll always love Buffy, don't get me wrong, but I said goodbye to it when the series ended.
Joss Whedon needs to get his act together.
/dies
i'm soooooooo excited about this!
Yeah, I'm not going to give Whedon any money.
I liked Buffy and Angel (though both series had some major problems) a lot, but everything else I've seen of him has been really, really, really bad.
And the guy himself is an incredibly annoying twit.
Add to that the fact that a slayer class (though they createda way to have a lot of them) will only be available to women characters. I hate gender-specific races and classes in games.
So yeah, I'll leave this to the mindless Whedonites. And the people who just really love Buffy.
hmm i love buffy, and the comics are okay. I'd like to be hopeful that the game might be fun. It could be interesting to take a romp around the buffy-verse.
But will we have to play as young women? I can't see an army of one-eyed Xanders... maybe we'll get to play as vampire men?
Women gamers have had to play as burly male protagonists with no female character options. What's wrong with males reciprocating and only having the option to play as female characters, eh?
That's meant to be Buffy in the picture?!
Is it me, or does she bear a striking resemblance to Mischa Barton?
Perhaps a Gellar-Barton love-child?
Christine: Absolutely nothing is wrong with playing female! (Just take a look at my WoW roster...) I'm curious as to how they'll work the gender-specific lore into an MMO. It would be sad indeed if the Corporate Overlords re-wrote the gender-specificity of the Slayers of the Buffyverse.
This came out of NOWHERE!!!!
Actually this didn't come out of nowhere at all. For a long time now, even before Season 8 started but heavily because of it, there's been people discussing a desire for a Buffyverse MMO. Especially for how the series ended with the activation of all slayers, thus making it all the more conceivable for such a game to exist.
To the people bashing Joss/Buffy....wow...different strokes for different folks I guess but you'd think there'd be a least SOME taste.
And as for the merchandising being out of control....huh? What merchandising? There were the action figures and such but they didn't get a lot of hype...the proposed tarot deck which fell through (which bites given the artwork for it and that it actually seemed to follow the logical characters for each card), and the random as hell Ouija board....what else? Bearing in mind that Season 8 isn't so much merchandise as, ya know, the actual series.
I'm sure it'll be just like the table-top Buffy game where you can either be a slayer, white hat, or hero and customize your character that way...they'll just have to make it more balanced. The Buffy RPG was completely unbalanced when it came to your class and role but it didn't matter much because you were all part of a group. Oh well. I can't wait!
> different strokes for different folks I guess but you'd think there'd be a least SOME taste.
You're right, but oddly enough there are people out there that like Whedon.
So like you said, you'd think there'd be SOME taste.
@LorD: That is indeed meant to be Buffy, although I agree she looks a bit off. It's one of the many covers done by Jo Chen which, in my opinion, is pretty much the only good thing about the Season 8 comics. Seriously, she does some kick-ass art. She also did the cover art for the original Fable.
@Trunkstheslayer: I follow Whedonverse news pretty closely, despite my dislike of the Whedonverse of recent, and I heard absolutely nothing about this . There's always been talk and speculation of video games, but no confirmation until now that an MMO based around the Buffy universe was actually being developed.
To clarify my comment regarding merchandise, I always found the Buffy merchandise to be a little ridiculous. Action figures and comics I understand, but trading cards? Teddy bears? Candy? A Spike puppet? Lunch boxes? I understand Joss' notion that Buffy was to be an icon that would go beyond the television series, but sometimes it's too much. Add to the fact that the show ended years ago and we continue to see companies trying to cash in on this franchaise.
I say most of this out of disappointment. I realize there's a huge number of Buffy fans who enjoy where the Season 8 comics have gone, but I'm certainly not one of them. An idea of an MMO set in a post-series world isn't something I have interest in playing.
I must admit I'm a bit surprised and a bit saddened by the snotty, dismissive attitude some of the posters have displayed. Just because someone finds worth in something harmless that you don't like, there's no need for name-calling and general ass-hattery.
I also don't see a problem with a 'female only' class (or even character option). As Christine pointed out, there have been 'male only' games since the beginning.
I also hope that this might be at least some fun...but as I never play MMO's anyway, I doubt I'll play it.
all I have to say is:
hope its free to play
I think it's cool that the most physically powerful class in this game could be exclusively female. Do female gamers think that'd be cool? I'm a guy, but I can see how it'd be kind of awesome. Also, I bet there'd be almost zero annoying pricks calling everyone faggots.
If I play, I think I'll be a watcher or wizard, something like Wesley in the later Angel years. And I'll just find some ass-kicking slayer to support in battles.
I wonder if they'll use the term "scooby gang" when referring to parties.
The people making this game better be working hard at putting spin on MMO cliches the way Whedon shows do with TV cliches. (Of course, some people will probably call that unoriginal.)
I cant wait (do the smart thing and at least put it on PS3 as well)
as the for the whiners you people are so sad
"i hate gender specific games" ur wrong in this case since all buffy has done is to show strong women, men with feeling lesbians and gay men(if ya didnt notice) were portayed as they should be(yeah the stereotype of male domination wasnt pandered to) If you really dilike the class system etc then im sure you dont like only being able to play as a guy in skate, tony hawk or any other game with similar issues, get over it.
one more thing did you ever consider it might be made for the above mention people OR that like the series the game has come out of a need for a female'ish centered MMOG on the PC like the wii DS and the "casual gamers".
> "i hate gender specific games" ur wrong in this case since all buffy has done is to show strong women, men with feeling lesbians and gay men(if ya didnt notice) were portayed as they should be(yeah the stereotype of male domination wasnt pandered to) If you really dilike the class system etc then im sure you dont like only being able to play as a guy in skate, tony hawk or any other game with similar issues, get over it.
Firstly, I said I disliked gender-specific classes and races.
Secondly, if you actually watched Buffy you'd have seen that while they did portray lesbians very well, their portrayel of gay men was pitifull and VERY stereotypical.
Also, I don't see how the show portraying strong women and men with feelings (so what?) makes me wrong in not liking the fact that in the game female characters only will be able to play the most powerfull and important class in the game. So are all those women complaining about inequality in games wrong too? Or is this a case of feminists mistakingly thinking equality means woman ruling over men?
Selfrightious much?
Tiny - Thanks for your replay on my comment. :) I really dig GayGamer and your explanation of what you meant has only increased my love. You rock!