If nothing else, you have to give the team over at Sci Fi a couple points for thinking outside the box. This latest rush of creativity finds them partnering with Trion World Network to build their very own massively multiplayer online game to coincide with a companion series. In a nutshell, TV writers will partner with game designers with the end result being a game and series that will work in unison. The kicker being that those fans that play the game will influence the direction of the series.

Exactly what that influence will be is one of the many questions left up in the air after the guarded announcement. The only real details that were given up about the setting and direction of the show are that it is set 80 to 100 years in the future and Earth looks very different. It's not a lot to go on, but it's understandable why they are excited about it. Reading through the quotes from those involved you see things like Sci Fi president Dave Howe saying, "This is the Holy Grail for us, without a doubt." So, if you had Aztec Rex in the Sci Fi Holy Grail pool, you were wrong.

(S04E07) "You could move in with me but I don't live anywhere." - Larry

Calling all nerds! Kind of an odd choice for this show. I know for a fact that my folks and many of their friends love Numb3rs, but after watching this episode, they had no idea what an MMO, an ARG, or an MMORPG were and as a result were lost as to what was going on. I'm not saying I know all there is to these games. World of Warcraft is something that I gave up playing a long time ago. But when it comes to the demographic that this show is trying to reach, I'd be willing to bet that only about 50% of that group knows what an MMO is. Most would probably describe this episode as being "something about computers" (as my Mom put it). But if this episode proved one thing about MMOs, you never know who's behind the avatar.

If you were wondering just how the South Park team went about getting all of the WoW game footage for their "Make Love Not Warcraft" episode, machinima.com has the details. They did a rather detailed interview with three members of the team that put the episode together.

The idea for a MMO story had actually been kicking around for some time, but was initially shelved due to the technical aspects of it. Once they finally decided to go with the WoW episode, it took three times as long to do the WoW footage as a normal South Park episode. And that was with full cooperation from the fine folks at Blizzard. It's an interesting read for South Park fans, WoW fans, or anyone interested in machinima. And if none of that works for you, you can still go watch Red vs. Blue, because that's just good comedy.

[ via slashdot ]