Massively^™

	The Digital Continuum: Six planets KOTORO shouldn't be without There are many worlds to explore in the Star Wars universe. Some are nothing but deserts, while others are covered completely by a single city. So how do you decide which planets to include in something like the upcoming KOTOR MMO?
	PAX08: Hands-on with Mines of Moria his weekend at PAX 2008, Massively had the opportunity to be a part of the first-ever public preview of Mines of Moria with Lord of the Rings Online Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel. During this showing, Steefel showed us many of the main features of this first expansion for LotRO, including the Legendary Weapon system, the two new classes, the vastness of the mines themselves and much more.
	Massively interview: Multiverse explains the Buffy MMO, Firefly's delay Yesterday we brought you word that the folks at Multiverse (the developers of the MMO middleware) are in development on an MMO based on Buffy the Vampire slayer. At the same time, news came out the Firefly MMO will now be delayed considerably while they focus their efforts that other IP from writing dynamo Joss Whedon. Yesterday evening we had the chance to speak with Mr. Corey Bridges, Co-founder, Executive Producer and Marketing Director for the company. Mr. Bridges took some time out of his busy schedule at the Virtual Worlds Expo to explain a bit more about the Buffy/Firefly MMO hoopla.
	PAX08: Interviewing Champion Online's writer, John Layman Amidst the rather large -- but also surprisingly polite -- crowd surrounding the Cryptic Studios booth, we were able to talk with the writer for Champions Online, John Layman. Discussions revolved around the breadth and depth of content within the game's zones and the possibilities of space-based zones lying in wait for higher level characters.
	The Hyborian Backpackers' Guide: Sanctum of the Burning Souls Continuing from where we left you last week, the Hyborian Backpackers have headed indoors for a change on this latest adventure -- but being sheltered from the climate didn't mean we were any safer than before. In fact, inside Age of Conan's Sanctum of the Burning Souls, you'll need a whole group of friends of the appropriate level if you intend to survive for very long at all.

Yesterday we brought you word that the folks at Multiverse (the developers of the MMO middleware) are in development on an MMO based on Buffy the Vampire slayer. At the same time, news came out the Firefly MMO will now be delayed considerably while they focus their efforts that other IP from writing dynamo Joss Whedon. Yesterday evening we had the chance to speak with Mr. Corey Bridges, Co-founder, Executive Producer and Marketing Director for the company. Mr. Bridges took some time out of his busy schedule at the Virtual Worlds Expo to explain a bit more about the Buffy/Firefly MMO hoopla.

Most interesting, it sounds as though (despite the lack of any announcements about it) there has actually been some forward movement on the Firefly MMO! Mr. Bridges could say almost nothing about it because of contractual obligations with Fox (the owners of the Firefly IP), but what he could say left us with the tantalizing impression we may actually see that Firefly game someday. Read on for all of that discussion, plus tidbits on why they're working on a Buffy title, a bit on what the game will be like, and the interactions between the 2D and 3D game spaces.

Are avatars that you create for the 2D experience be able to step into the 3D version of the game?

CB: That's exactly what we're planning for. We're showing it a little bit at this show, we'll be able to show you some of it in Austin at AGDC. We really want to make sure to show this game to people. One thing that I worry about is backlash from Firefly. We announced that so long ago, and people are going "crap, guys, where is it?" It was really important to us that we not announce Buffy before we were already working on it. Once bitten, twice shy.

Believe me, nobody could beat us up that we beat ourselves up about this. We're not at fault, but there are a lot of dashed hopes here. I wanted us to be in a public beta of Firefly here by now!

In an announcement to press today about the keynote address to this year's Virtual Worlds Conference in Los Angeles, the folks at Multiverse have announced a trio of new and interesting projects. One is a Titanic-related project connected to James Cameron, while another is the main connecting 'space' that will link all of Multiverse's worlds - a project called Multiverse Places.

The third is, apparently, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer massively multiplayer game. Multiverse, if you'll recall, is also the company that holds the license to develop an MMO based on the Firefly television show, another Joss Whedon fan favorite. While the Firefly title has now apparently been 'delayed', it sounds as though the Buffy title is already in development. From the announcement: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A massively multiplayer online game based on the critically-acclaimed Joss Whedon television series. Currently under development at Multiverse, 'Buffy' exemplifies a new era of game design, allowing consumers to play it either as a fully immersive 3D environment or as a Flash-based 2D game."

The full announcement is available below the cut.

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	Be sure to check out our exclusive interview with Corey Bridges of Multiverse for plenty of details on the project!