Wheel of Time rolling onto video game scene
by Jason Dobson 
{ Nov 12th 2008 at 4:46PM }
Red Eagle Games' stake in the series doesn't end there, however, with studio execs Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon pulling double duty as producers on an upcoming Wheel of Time feature film. Of course, history has taught us that games based on properties, no matter how popular they are, shouldn't be taken at face value. One thing remains certain, however. Even deceased, Robert Jordan continues to swim in the great big money bin in the sky.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shagittarius @ Nov 12th 2008 4:50PM
There already was a Wheel of Time game using the unreal engine for the PC. It wasn't entirely unlike the series, and it was ok but I don't remember it too well.
Shagittarius @ Nov 12th 2008 4:50PM
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/wheeloftime/index.html
loof @ Nov 12th 2008 4:59PM
That was actually a pretty good game.
Courtney @ Nov 12th 2008 5:07PM
I freaking hated that game, I think because it used the WoT world. It had some intriguing ideas for an FPS at the time, but it seemed like such a waste to take a rich and well-developed fantasy world and cram it into an FPS.
Mike @ Nov 13th 2008 1:13AM
Great game, loved it. I remember being blown away by the graphics at the time. Scared the pants off of me.
MindTheGap76 @ Nov 12th 2008 4:57PM
Shortly before his tragic passing, Robert Jordan made a blog post blasting these guys: http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/?p=88
I am not optimistic about these games and am disappointed that they have been allowed to continue with a license that the late Mr. Jordan did not want them to have.
aj @ Nov 12th 2008 5:02PM
I like the analogy about "peeing in the soup". That sounds like what Mr. Jordan had been doing himself to his own series.
I imagine that the license exists because whoever gets the money from the series wants to keep getting money forever and ever. After all, the wishes of a dead man are worth very little in terms of dollars.
aj @ Nov 12th 2008 4:57PM
An MMO sounds about right. Like the series, an MMO can go on and on and on forever with no sign of a plot, ending, or any real point.
....Hey, I happen to have loved the WoT series up to the point that Jordan decided that he liked having a lot of money more than he liked telling a story.
Deric Lee @ Nov 12th 2008 6:49PM
Agreed.
The Sword of Truth series was better in my opinion, well, except for the ending, it should have been in two books, not rushed and crammed into one.
nickyou @ Nov 13th 2008 2:47AM
the sword of truth series was one of the worst series i have ever read. goodkind ruined the series after the first "good" character passed up the opportunity to kill jangang. this resulted in a series in which the main conflict made no sense, thus the series made no sense.
Jack Spicer @ Nov 12th 2008 4:59PM
Has anyone seen the tv adaptation of the Sword of Truth series of books? Ugh.
A WoT game might be fun, but I'd much prefer the book series to end instead.
343 Guilty Fart @ Nov 12th 2008 5:08PM
How about that awful, AWFUL adaptation of Dragonlance featuring Keifer Sutherland? After that I have absolutely zero faith in any fantasy novel-to-screen adaptation.
Vidikron @ Nov 12th 2008 5:17PM
Yeah, Legend of the Seeker. Disappointing, but about what I expected really. I guess the budget simply isn't there to do anything better. With fantasy it seems like you really need a blockbuster movie sized budget to even have hope that it will turn out decent.
FSK405K @ Nov 12th 2008 5:31PM
They didn't need a monster budget to make Hercules or Xena passably entertaining.
HippoHero @ Nov 12th 2008 5:01PM
How are the movies going to work for this series?
The writers are going to have to cut out a hell of a lot of material to make Jordan's rambling epic even feasible for the big screen.
Will they churn out 12 movies or just smoosh the books together?
Either way, I think I'll avoid it.
El Verde @ Nov 12th 2008 5:14PM
In keeping with Robert Jordan's vision for the series, there will be eight hundred games, each sold for sixty dollars and each featuring the same hour of gameplay repeated four hundred times.
ComicShaman @ Nov 12th 2008 5:23PM
Perhaps there can be DLC to accommodate each fixation that Jordan displayed.
--Expansion! Now with over 25,000 kinds of lace!
--DLC! Featuring new braid-tugging animations
--New Content! Adds "Spanking" gameplay upgrade
Shagittarius @ Nov 12th 2008 6:26PM
As long as by the 4th game I'm playing hoping that all of the characters I now hate will DIAF.
lordcookies @ Nov 12th 2008 11:57PM
Don't forget the omnipresent "Folding her arms beneath her breasts"!! =D
El Verde @ Nov 13th 2008 12:02AM
"--DLC! Featuring new braid-tugging animations"
I almost had to go back and read one of these books to remember exactly why they infuriated me. This insightful jibe saved me sixteen hours.
chispito @ Nov 13th 2008 12:46AM
I read the first book and liked it a lot, but the second one didn't really interest me until toward the end. I will never finish the third book or start any of the subsequent volumes.
Blah @ Nov 12th 2008 5:17PM
I love wheel of time o.o
Its a great series even though its going on a bit too long S:. I don't think I could have read them all as they were being released like some hardcore fans did, luckily I started when 10 was released and never had to wait long.
To hippohero- They might be able to make a nice 6ish movie series if they cut off a few of the pointless story arcs (the black ajah hunting stories, ect) and if they make some radical changes. It won't be the same but they might be able to make it work
FSK405K @ Nov 12th 2008 5:30PM
Would be interested if it was Goodkind instead.
DemonGSides @ Nov 12th 2008 5:32PM
They have this already in RTS format. Go play Starcraft. There are a few WoT:WoP UMS maps.
jarhead906 @ Nov 12th 2008 6:15PM
I love the Wheel of Time series but making a game out of it would probably ruin the whole thing.
Having said that, when (because there's no doubt they will) someone does begin making movies, it sure as hell better be similar to how the Lord of the Rings was presented. That is pretty much the only way to effectively keep it from turning into Harry Potter or Eragon.
blitzkrieg999 @ Nov 12th 2008 6:18PM
A WoT MMO will have the same issue as a Star Wars MMO: Everyone will want to be Aes'sedai/Asha'man. OK maybe a few people would enjoy being Aiel or a Borderlander, but for the most part the real draw to the game is channeling the One Power in various ways.
And it certainly doesn't help that Jordan himself doesn't like these guys. I really hope his wife somehow stops this abomination from being birthed
iFester @ Nov 12th 2008 6:30PM
I started reading the Wheel of Time series back in high school. That was 1994 and pretty much has all the books in the series but it good so long winded I figured I might be dead before it ended or the author would die before finishing it.
I played the FPS on PC and thought it was good at the time yet wasting a lot on the story. I've no real faith any good can come from the announcement of games and movies.
iFester @ Nov 12th 2008 6:33PM
Remind me to proof read before posting. What I meant was:
I started reading the Wheel of Time series back in high school. That was 1994 and pretty much had all the books in the series but it got so long winded I figured I might be dead before it ended or the author would die before finishing it.
I played the FPS on PC and thought it was good at the time yet it lacked a lot in the story. I've no real faith any good can come from the announcement of games and movies. Here's hoping I'm proven wrong.
Simstim @ Nov 12th 2008 7:07PM
Dear Gaming Gods, please make these game awesome and not suck
Temmink @ Nov 12th 2008 10:59PM
Wheel of Time is perfect for an MMO, it's an endless meandering bloated and ultimately un-fulfilling exercise in book sales. They pretty much are the MMO of fantasy book series.
Collin @ Nov 13th 2008 12:00AM
I am confident you have not read more than a tiny fraction of the series.
Wheel of Time is the most fulfilling fantasy series in existence. Comparing it to an MMO is simply ignorant. Wheel of Time has more character, culture and emotion than an MMO addiction could ever hope to wield.
Temmink @ Nov 13th 2008 12:31AM
Actually, I have read the whole series, I have also read many other series, which I am confident YOU haven't. I thoroughly recommend you broaden your horizons and see what you are missing out on. Total page-count is not the best measure of the scale of a series.
aj @ Nov 13th 2008 8:17AM
I want to believe that Collin was just being funny.
nass @ Nov 23rd 2008 10:30AM
As one of the original developers of that 15 year old MUD, I'd say best wishes to LA Studio. If they do it right then I'd expect it to be one of the most successful MMO games ever - it's got everythin a great MMO needs. And, if they need a helping hand from folks who have done it all before, go onto our website and mail us, we're fully supportive =)
Nass
wotmud.org