I’ve seen some pretty good crossover games. You know those based on movies, books, comics and other forms of media. Some have been great! All those “LEGO” games have been mind blowing, from Lego Star Wars, to Lego Indiana Jones. Other cross overs, well they haven’t quite thrilled me. Then are the titles that were being worked on that were abandoned. That is what this is really about, the one crossover I really want to see come to fruition. Back in 2009 EA signed on to distribute a Wheel of Time MMO, if done correctly this could be phenomenal. It isn’t often a title or series of books comes out with the depth, attention to detail, and epic story line that WoT has. It also isn’t often that a series of books practically hands a studio looking to do a crossover every single thing they need for a foundation. WoT has a usable magic system, which could produce varied caster classes, multiple types of warriors, numerous varied monsters, a world with a epic history and story. It would be a monumental undertaking and one that should be done properly, anything else would be an injustice to the books, and the author who died in 2007, but not before he provided input on who would complete writing the remaining 3 books in the 14 volume series. The final chapter of the series was authored by Robert Jordan himself prior to his death, so that the series ended exactly as he intended.
The WoT MMO was in the works, EA partnered with a studio called “Red Eagle” to distribute it. Unfortunately the game has vanished, and is no longer in the works. I would love to see this change in the future, and of all the studios to do it, I’d want Bioware. Many of the things people fault Star Wars: The Old Republic for I can see as being strengths for a WoT MMORPG. Done as largely a story driven game for an epic saga would feel fitting, and thrill many of the fans of WoT. When I see the varied details in landscape designs I can imagine many of them set in an earth-like world. Yes I know the plant life may not fit, but the actual geology in many cases does. The designers envisioning of creatures from the Star Wars universe would be helpful as well, most of the creatures from the game simply look like they belong where they are, the fit their environments. This is something many MMO’s seem to struggle with. Most importantly Bioware has the experience in taking a property that is well loved by millions of people and making it their own. With Star Wars they gained a lot of acclaim with Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II : The Sith Lords prior to creating SWTOR. They changed the time line but used the setting, and imagery from the films to create an awesome universe. The WoT facilitates this due to one of the underlying principle themes. In the WoT universe history actually does repeat itself in infinite variation. People are born, live, and die only to be reincarnated to live again. Technology is lost, then rediscovered, nations fall only to rise up again under a new name years later, only to repeat the process. This would allow the developers a lot of freedom to expand just as they did with SWTOR and the KTOR titles.
You hearing me EA? Get this title moving!