Today’s the day the TV/gaming Syfy/Trion cross-media experiment officially begins, as Defiance the MMO (massively multiplayer online) game is now available for Xbox, PlayStation 3, and PC. Start playing it today and by the time the series premieres in two weeks you’ll be familiar with some of the creatures and vehicles, one or two of the characters, and maybe even an item that once belonged to your character.
Last week I spoke about the development of the game and the series with Kevin Murphy, showrunner for Defiance the series, and Nathan Richardsson, Vice President in Charge of Development for Trion, home of Defiance the game. Before we get to that, though, and in honor of Launch Day, here’s a great new trailer for the game:
Trailer: Defiance – Launch: Welcome to The New Age
[youtube]http://youtu.be/5tkGml5V5Ys[/youtube]
By way of introduction, and as you’ve seen elsewhere here on SciFi Mafia, I attended the Syfy Digital Press Tour last October, which included an extensive tour of the Defiance sets and artwork, discussions with production and cast, and a game presentation. Since then I’ve also had a chance to preview the first four hours of the series; my advance review will be posted here prior to the April 15 premiere.
SciFiMafia.com: Hello gentlemen, thanks so much for taking the time to speak about Defiance today. I was at the press tour in October and I was totally blown away by the amount of work that’s gone into the show and into the game. And Kevin, I’ve seen the first four hours of this show and I am totally in. Thank you so much for all that you’ve done for the show.
Kevin Murphy: Thank you for watching.
SciFiMafia.com: Absolute treat. And it just kept getting better, which is so exciting for me. So could one or both of you fill us in on how this all started?
Kevin Murphy: I’ll jump in on that. It’s been five years in the making. About five years ago, Dave Howe from Syfy and Lars Butler from Trion got together because Syfy had made a large investment in Trion and they were looking for a project to do together.
So they looked through the various properties that, you know that Syfy had in development and they settled on this sort of a world. It took five years of development to get the videogame up and running, which is not unusual for a videogame, as I think many think, you know, can attest. And it took that long to kind of figure out how it would work as a television show. I came on board the project about two years ago and kind of got us over the finish line, in terms of the shared world.
And the big idea really was about, “How do we create a big universe with two distinct portals that would allow you to enter that world?” And by creating a new world it gave you sort of an infinite sort of number of permutations of ways to tell stories and ways to find characters.
Nathan Richardsson: Yes, also part of it of course is that it’s happening in two different geographical locations so that instead of the problems that you have with licensed games and licensed shows, is that they’re usually restricting each other, so with geographical difference, and also of course selecting the right kind of world and intellectual property that actually fit for both mediums, both parties are actually quite free to tell pretty compelling stories.
Kevin Murphy: Yes, what’s really special about this is that, unlike an adaptation, rather than one intellectual property being iterative of the other, the game and the show are equals. And they’re – and because they were developed together, the mythology is seamless.
And whenever there’s something that serves the needs of the game, we work it into the mythology of the show. And if there’s something that’s important for the show, the game works it into their mythology. And that allows for, I think a better gaming experience and a better, hopefully, television viewing experience.
Got it? It’s a very cool concept, and a great way to enhance your gaming experience and your viewing experience. During the conference call they also confirmed that there will be a number of crossover events, and that the game and the series share a timeline so don’t delay your viewing too much, or the crossover may come and go without you noticing.
The game continues on in development and the aspects they are working on now will be incorporated in Season 2, if there is one. They are hoping to get word of a Season 2 pickup around mid-May. If, the gods forbid, something happens and either the series is cancelled or the game is discontinued, one is fully prepared to carry on without the other. Hopefully that won’t be an issue, however, and we’ll be talking about Defiance the game and Defiance the series for years to come.
Defiance is available now for Xbox, PlayStation 3, and PC.
Defiance, starring Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, and Graham Greene, airs its two-hour series premiere on Monday, April 15 at 9/8c on Syfy.
