Last year a company by the name of Trion World Networks announced that it was co-producing an MMOG along with the then appropriately-named Sci Fi Channel. The company later announced that it had received the rights to developer and publish games for PS3. However the company did not confirm if both deals affected each other.
Turns out they do. According to Trion’s website, the company is looking for three PS3 developers for the San Diego office. The description of the PS3 Senior Graphics Programmer tipped the company’s hand; tasks include “developing key rendering systems and technologies for the next generation of server-based gaming to be co-developed with the Sci Fi Channel.”
Details on an official job posting are confirmation enough for us, but we hope a PC version is confirmed shortly. It appears that Trion didn’t get the memo from the partner company though.
In case you forgot exactly how an MMOG can be modeled after a network, SyFy’s Dave Howe gave LA Times a good explanation. “A television show that is on once a week isn’t enough. The fans today want the experience to go beyond that,” Howe said. “For example, we can tell them that there will be an alien invasion at a certain place in the game, at a certain time, and to be there with all their friends and be ready. The outcome depends on them. And then that battle will be part of the universe in the show.”
Trion also has a second MMOG in the works, a MMORPG set in a fantasy-themed world. No, not that fantasy world.