Even more people can wave goodbye to their social lives, apparently starting sometime early next year. Various news articles seem to be under the impression that the Alex Seropian's Spectrum MediaWorks', (a company which I was unaware of) next project is an MMO callec X Quest. The basic premise of the game is interaction with a FOX reality show, although the description is a little too ambiguous to say much more than that.

I will be honest, this scares me. Not the fact that it is a reality TV game, or that the name is a little silly, (apparently it is a working title) but the fact that it is an MMO. I have stayed away from MMOs for this long for a very good reason. They eat souls. Souls and grades at any rate, I have seen more than one scholarship lost at the hands of WoW. If you throw a game at me that is made by Alex Seropian, which is practically a seal of quality in my mind, there is no way I will be able to resist. Details on the video game remain sparse, and some of the articles suggest that it isn't even definite, and the studio creating it is unknown. If it is in fact a "MMO producer" that seems like it would narrow the field. Wideload is definately out as a possibility. I would assume, however, that any game expected for a release within the next year and a half would have to be well along its path to completion, although it is not clear weather the TV show requires a game or not. The game might be out after the show.

Buzz on the internet has been negative, but unintelligent. Mostly WoW people who feel that the game might encroach on their beloved territory. I fear that the link to a TV show might be fatal. Nobody wants to play a MMO over the short term, it just wouldn't be fun. It is clear however that something completely new is coming, and that it is in the some of the best hands possible.

(This blog post has changed throughout the day, as new information came to light. At one point I assumed that it was a Wideload game, because of the wording in one of the articles.)