Buffy Virtual World

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/twentieth-century-fox-licensing-/story.aspx?guid={037588F7-4697-47E5-8ECF-A99752DD2249}&dist=hppr

Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising and Multiverse Announce
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Virtual World
Revolutionary Massively Multiplayer Online Game First Ever to be Available
as Both Fully Immersive 3D Environment and Flash-Based 2D Game

Last update: 3:01 a.m. EDT Sept. 3, 2008
CENTURY CITY, Calif., Sept 03, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Twentieth
Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising and The Multiverse Network, Inc., a
leading provider of virtual world development technology for Massively
Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), educational and social worlds, and
business collaboration environments, today announced the development of an
original "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" MMOG. The virtual world will be based
on the mythology and iconography made popular by the Emmy(R) Award-winning
series. The announcement was made by Academy Award(R) winning producer and
member of the Multiverse Advisory Board, Jon Landau, during his keynote
speech today at the Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo.
The ground-breaking MMOG will offer a new experience for gamers, allowing
them to play it either as a fully immersive 3D environment or as a
Flash-based 2D game, where both types of players can interact. The game
will be launched within "Multiverse Places," a new social virtual world
from Multiverse. Currently under development, "Buffy" will go into "beta"
testing later this year.
Landau, a Multiverse Advisory Board member, who is in production on Avatar
-- the widely anticipated Fox film from fellow Multiverse Advisor James
Cameron -- commented, "Multiverse has the vision and expertise to create
the type of rich environment needed for the best possible game based on the
'Buffy' series. The resources are in place to develop a great MMOG."
Created by sci-fi and comic book legend, Joss Whedon, "Buffy the Vampire
Slayer" racked up critical and popular acclaim during its seven seasons on
television. The series also inspired a line of top-selling comic books and
successful merchandising lines with an avid fan base at retail. Fox
Licensing & Merchandising (Fox L&M) continues to develop the brand for a
number of targeted programs that reach its core market.
"Every once in a while a show comes along that lives long after its run on
television, and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' is that kind of show," commented
Elie Dekel, Executive Vice President Licensing and Merchandising for Fox
L&M. "We think that creating this virtual 'Buffy' world is the perfect
extension of the brand and will attract both fans of the show and newcomers
interested in a great experience online."
"As a brilliant storyteller and world-maker, Joss Whedon crafts stories
that expand perfectly into the new medium of virtual worlds," said Corey
Bridges, co-founder and Executive Producer, Multiverse. "Not to give away
too much, but when the 'Buffy' team finished the television series, they
created the perfect launching point for an MMOG where everyone will feel
like they're an important character in the ongoing story."
In related news, Fox's plans for the development of the previously
announced Firefly MMOG have been delayed, but Fox looks forward to
continuing its collaboration with Multiverse on this endeavor.
Since Multiverse's launch over four years ago, more than 25,000 development
teams -- ranging from garage developers to Fortune 100 companies to
Hollywood legends -- have registered to use the company's platform
technology. In addition, several hundred pre-qualified customers have
already begun building MMOGs and non-game virtual worlds with the
Multiverse Platform.
ABOUT TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX LICENSING & MERCHANDISING
A recognized industry leader, Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and
Merchandising licenses and markets properties worldwide on behalf of
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Twentieth Television and Fox
Broadcasting Company, as well as third party lines. The division is aligned
with Twentieth Century Fox Television, one of the top suppliers of
primetime entertainment programming to the broadcast networks.
ABOUT MULTIVERSE
Multiverse is a leading provider of virtual world development technology.
The company's technology platform has changed the economics of this medium
by empowering development teams to create high-quality virtual worlds --
including Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), social and
educational worlds, and business collaboration environments -- for less
money and in less time than ever before. Multiverse solves the industry's
prohibitive challenges by providing development teams with the Multiverse
Platform, a comprehensive, pre-coded client-server infrastructure and
tools, a wide range of free content -- including sample worlds for
modification -- and a built-in market of consumers. The company gives
consumers a single program -- the Multiverse World Browser -- that lets
them enter all of the worlds built on the company's platform and available
in the company's network. For more information about the company, please
visit http://www.multiverse.net and http://www.mv-places.com.
SOURCE The Multiverse Network, Inc.

 http://www.multiverse.net

-- 
Jolan Tru
Filippo "Hytok" Simone
http://perestroika.iobloggo.com/