Initially I was thrilled by the news that Mr Weisman (founder of FASA) was getting back in the lime-light. I was thrilled because I was hoping that the Battletech and Shadowrun (hell, perhaps even Earthdawn) franchises might produce some cool nex-gen games.
However, seems from this article [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16535] that he'll be making some kind of online-enabled toys or something. Mr Weisman is rather enthusiastic about transmedia from what I understand.
I've been trying to get my head around the hype. Has any transmedia games really worked? It's been effective as a marketing tool, dropping hints and additional content on obscure websites or whatnot is all the rage, but actual games?
Aside from Transmedia Storytelling, which is usually what is discussed, the few attempts at actual transmedial games have to my knowledge failed rather miserably (ie Majestic).
And then you add "toys" to the equation. Ok, I could imagine a physical Battletech game with online-enabled 'Mechs and what you did in the board game actually transferred to stats on a server somewhere, with an online community and whatnot in the background. That seems a bit too mundane coming from the peeps in the Transmedia Revolutionary Guard, so what do you think it's about?
However, seems from this article [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16535] that he'll be making some kind of online-enabled toys or something. Mr Weisman is rather enthusiastic about transmedia from what I understand.
I've been trying to get my head around the hype. Has any transmedia games really worked? It's been effective as a marketing tool, dropping hints and additional content on obscure websites or whatnot is all the rage, but actual games?
Aside from Transmedia Storytelling, which is usually what is discussed, the few attempts at actual transmedial games have to my knowledge failed rather miserably (ie Majestic).
And then you add "toys" to the equation. Ok, I could imagine a physical Battletech game with online-enabled 'Mechs and what you did in the board game actually transferred to stats on a server somewhere, with an online community and whatnot in the background. That seems a bit too mundane coming from the peeps in the Transmedia Revolutionary Guard, so what do you think it's about?