Spoiler Alert: Morpheus is dead. Not dead in an alternate universe or timeline. Just dead. Warner Brothers allowed the face of the the free human city of Zion to be killed as part of an in-game event during The Matrix Online’s short run. The event was scripted and pre-determined, but players we later given the reins, allowed to decide the fate of important events later in the title’s life.
This interactivity was The Matrix Online’s defining and long-lasting feature. Trion Worlds, makers of a little game called Rift, and SyFy Games are set to unveil Defiance, the partnership’s attempt to take persistent interactive worlds to the next level, during E3 2011.
Defiance is not only an upcoming 360, PS3 and PC MMO, but also an upcoming TV series. The game will take place around San Francisco, while the live-action show will be set in the same universe, but in St. Louis.
CEO of Trion Worlds Lars Buttler describes the three-years-in-the-making project as the convergence of games and TV. A true tie-in. “This is essentially the convergence of the television and gaming industry into one fully-developed cohesive property. Syfy is creating a television show that takes place in the fictional universe that the game is set in. The game and the show will constantly [influence] each other from the moment they simultaneously launch.”
Multiplatform MMOGs are difficult enough to launch. Trion and SyFy are looking to not only do that, but make the most interactive persistent world ever. Ambitious much?
Lore Hound will bring more coverage on this and everything MMOG as E3 2011 rages on.