Electronic Arts to distribute Wheel of Time games

Posted Jan 15, 2009 at 9:14AM by QJ Staff Listed in: News Tags: Electronic Arts, Red Eagle
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EA partners with Red Eagle for Wheel of Time series - Image 1WoT! I mean.. woot!

Electronic Arts now officially has my soul. The studio just picked up the rights to distribute the new series of games based on the Wheel of Time books.

The Wheel of Time games was first announced late last year, and will be developed by a new video game studio under the Red Eagle banner. They'll be releasing a game for each movie that will come out for each book. They even have a Wheel of Time MMO in the works.

Happy Happy, Joy Joy.



Stoked!


Via GamesIndustry.biz

 
 
 

Comments [refresh]

by Nezumi - 2009-01-15 07:39
» The Power

I'll have to be careful using `the power` now... There's going to be way too many Eyes out there soon enough...

by Power_Surge - 2009-01-15 08:30
» Wot?

So who killed Asmo anyways?

by blackthorn - 2009-01-15 08:38
» Hmmm

As much as I am a HUGE fan of Robert Jordon I have a very unnerving feeling about this. A new game for each book? Oh dear... sounds like a friggen EA Sports venture tbh.



They've had a crack at making a game based on this theme before but unless you have the talent behind it, it's very hard to portray the WoT universe to any extent that would honestly do it justice. This can't be some other World of Warcraft knockoff - it needs to sink itself far more into the atmosphere of the game. Much of the books were for the want of a better term 'drudgery' of every day life with sporadic moments of 'wow factor' thrown in. If the game devs truly want to capture the feeling of the books and the WoT universe, they're certainly going to have their work cut out for them.



Let's face it, the late Mr Jordon created a cult following in the wake of this series and kind of similar to the trekkie following out there, if any dev *****s up the presentation of this universe in electronic form the backlash from the fans will be severe.



That said... if they can actually nail it and do it justice, they might just have the next online hit on their hands.



The WoT universe is so rich that not even Blizzard could hold a candle to it with their World of Warcraft offerings. It'll be fascinating to see how this pans out...

by Isaac C. - 2009-01-15 08:41
» Never revealed

But I'm thinking it's Moghedien, or Semirhage

by Isaac C. - 2009-01-15 08:55
» Well said

I really hope they don't muck it up.

by FreePlay - 2009-01-15 10:33
» .

"They've had a crack at making a game based on this theme before but unless you have the talent behind it, it's very hard to portray the WoT universe to any extent that would honestly do it justice. "



Buddy, you ain't kiddin'.



A crappy Unreal Engine-based FPS where balefire wasn't even a one-hit kill... bah!

by Shatterdome - 2009-01-15 19:24
» Ya...

I am a huge WoT fan, and i never even finished the first game.....still have the CD, have been thinking of installing it for shytes and giggles...



Still, that game had nothing to do with the actual books, and making it a shooter was just dumb in the first place....



This game needs to be an RPG, a very in depth one, and it needs to follow the books to the t.



I am not so sure about them making a 1 game for every book....seriously, 11 games ? (or whatever, I stopped reading at 8 so I could wait for him to finish, but then...ya) So even if they release a game a year, 11 years ? Same goes with the movies.....



They better have the engine finished, and in such a way that they can do at least 2 games/movies a year....but still...6'ish years ?



It's all abit ridiculous, even if the series is like no other....really, they should have started this alot earlier.

by rickjr82 - 2009-01-16 03:59
» video games could be a better medium than print for WOT

I don't know if they need to follow the books to a "T":



The characters would look like they are having seizures because they are constantly twitching and pulling braids and such.



Only one or two interesting things would happen in each game



The later games in the series would not have a purpose



Before the last game came out, EA would go out of business



I guess if a picture is worth a 1000 words, they can cut out a lot of the scenery talk- and I did enjoy the first couple books. If they focus on the Rand sections, they could be pretty cool games.

by blackthorn - 2009-01-17 19:20
» Well

The most concerning thing for my mind is the dev team in charge of the project. EA has a terrible reputation with gaming and quite frankly, their code is poorly represented, bug ridden and lacks the level of quality you'd expect of better dev teams.



Whilst Blizzard are certainly a cut above and masters of their own universe, there's no denying they nail quality in their releases and are quick to fix problems that arise after release.



EA on the other hand have a terrible record in this department and rather than focus on fixing existing content, they have a nasty habit of leaving it for the 'next years' release. I would play devils' advocate here and say that this is not done by accident, but by design in order to continue selling product (else you'd not bother getting next year's sports game release if your current one was fine).



I'd have far more confidence if a dev house with a much better track record had the rights with a plan for a quality MMO or a quality stand alone linear or sandbox RPG plan.



This 'dozen games' by EA Sports approach to the franchise just sends a cold chill down my spine.



I get the feeling that no matter what EA produce with this, it's going to be unfinished, bug ridden, rushed and leaving fans of the series with a very bitter taste in their mouth.



I've been bitten by EA before. They produce ***** and it really cuts me to know their financial power has enabled them to secure a quality franchise just so they can completely ***** it up and make a cheap cash-in on the fanbase.



A sad day in gaming if you ask me...

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