Some people make great games, but like great directors, they're few and far between. Making a game due marketing opportunity nearly always results in a bad game. I'm not sure what the gaming potential for Serenity is.

And please no MMORPG, I very much doubt it'd get enough players to be a success, and I'm wary of extensions of the 'verse storyline in a format that's open-ended and always demanding of new content (though I seem to recall one is in development?).

MattK | July 19, 23:10 CET

What ever happened to this?

(Link goes to The Multiverse Network.)

TheGamut | July 19, 23:29 CET

Pretty sure it became vaporware... Being one of the few MMORPG's that I actually see myself commit to I'm rather disappointed of course but it is the way it is.

Djungelurban | July 20, 00:17 CET

Games based on Joss' creations tend to end up a dissapointment, because what we love in his stories are not so much the worlds themselves (although, obviously, we tend to be fond of those too ;)), but more the characters that live in those worlds and the stories they get to tell us. And seeing as I don't see Joss doing anything more than filler for an ingame story, it will never mean thát much to play one of these games.

On the other hand, I would like to see him write the story for a stand-alone game once, preferably an involving RPG or some such. But tie-ins? Not my thing. Unless it's something truly great such as the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Games, I'm not that interested :).

GVH | July 20, 01:39 CET

It'd be cool for Joss to take a story he's conflicted about how to end, and make an RPG video game out of it that contains those multiple endings as possibilities for the player(s) (ooh, a 2-player cooperative RPG, that would be wicked). Or even take a story he's determined to end in a way that he predicts will piss some people off, make that into a game, but offer alternate endings that are happier and/or pat, and see if it makes a point about what a quality ending might look like (this comment is in no way related to Dr. Horrible, I honestly think it could be cool). 'Cause the player can play to get all the endings and then compare.

Kris | July 20, 02:12 CET

A game like X - Beyond the Frontier could be cool as a Serenity game. Just playing a tramp freighter captain trying to keep his ship in space.

C.S.Strowbridge | July 20, 04:15 CET

Eh. It's no secret that movie tie-in games are almost always terrible, and I'd hate to see a terrible game made out of Serenity.

RaisedByMongrels | July 20, 04:39 CET

I like GVH's idea for a Joss game; new idea, new story, new media. That way, it's fresh and fun and adaptable, without having other works in that medium to compare it with. Like with Dr. H.

korkster | July 20, 04:41 CET

As much as I can't let go of the 'Verse, I don't think that a video game would really do anything for me. It's almost an afterthought, and I doubt that the execution would do justice to the series or movie. I would love a Joss Whedon video game, though. Maybe an RPG meets Rock Band SugarShock, but definitely open to something original. But with Dollhouse, Season 8 and everything else on the table, that'll probably won't be happening any time soon.

zohrael | July 20, 05:46 CET

If Joss was involved with the story they could make an amazing game. Mass Effect was a recent game that could be the road map for a Serenity game. Huge universe with many planets to visit with their own little side quests to do while trying to complete a main storyline sounds like just what Firefly was all about.

This is kind of funny coming out now because this month's xbox magazine had their top ten games they'd love to see be made and Serenity/Firefly was their number one choice.

Firefly Flanatic | July 20, 06:03 CET

Really ? I'm not surprised that there are Firefly/Serenity fans among the staff of a video game magazine, but I wouldn't have thought that it was still on people's minds three years after the last new material (unless you count the comics, which I guess help keep it remembered). Although I still think about it lots, re-watch the series and film every year or so (there always seem to be folks willing to try it out, they're more open to it than they are Buffy & Angel, not so surprisingly). Oh and I guess I should keep in mind that new viewers are discovering it all the time. 14 episodes + a movie aren't a huge time commitment, it's an easy watch.

Another reason to not have a Joss-involved video game based on one of his previous franchises ? Wider appeal. I imagine to truly appreciate/enjoy to the fullest a Buffy or Firefly game, the player would have to have seen the shows (at least parts of them) to know the characters, settings, rules of the 'verse, etc...Otherwise it's just another action game with probably a good story but not one that you'd be as attatched too and your attatchment to the characters wouldn't be all that strong either. A franchise-based video game (a well-made one that acknowledges continuity without beating the player over the head with it) would come with too much baggage for non-fan players.

Kris | July 20, 08:56 CET

I had a chat with Nathan in May (at this convention: http://thehubproductions.com/general/Previous.htm) where I offered him an idea for a game that he liked the concept of, so I may as well share it here. Basically, the idea would be to have a team-based tactical over-the-shoulder third person shooter game (think Gears of War with the shooting style and more realistic art design of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune), set during the Unification War - essentially, it would be a full, explicit telling of how Mal joined up as a young'n on Shadow, how he first met Zoe, and how he made his way through the war, right up to the Battle of Serenity Valley. A full-on shooter normally wouldn't work in the 'Verse as they only get into the occasional short gunfight, but if it was set during the war, it could be entirely faithful.

Break_Atmo | July 20, 10:57 CET

Yeah that's got a lot of potential and because it's pre-Serenity (the ship) and pre-crew it's unlikely to be an area Joss will want to explore in any detail and so might get approval more easily. And aside from preferring F/TPS style games, they have a definite end and so wouldn't suck my life into a great big MMORPG sized hole ;).

(s'not as if I don't spend too much time online as it is)

Saje | July 20, 11:28 CET