Standing in 'Defiance' in both game and TV worlds (Rock O'Bannon)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-0415-defiance-20130415,0,3621559.story

In a transmedia experiment, the new Syfy series and online game will support each other with characters, battles, plotlines and memes crossing from one world to the other.

Photo: http://www.trbimg.com/img-516bb0d9/turbine/la-1408961-et-0409-adv-defiance-2-brv-jpg-20130414/600

Grant Bowler stars in "Defiance." (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)


By Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times

April 15, 2013, 5:30 a.m.

Grant Bowler is a human transmedia experiment.

The rugged star of Syfy's new show "Defiance" is also an avatar in an eponymous massively multiplayer online game that was launched two weeks ago in advance of the show's Monday premiere. Over a period of five years, Syfy worked with video-game developer Trion Worlds to create two windows on the same futuristic world that support one another with characters, weather, battles, plotlines and memes crossing over from one format to the other.

The experiment in intimately linking a television show and a video game has been tried before — the 2004-08 Canadian show "ReGenesis," was an early pioneer — but this joint storytelling venture is the most sophisticated attempt so far. And the success of the multiplatform story built around an American city decades in the future dealing with the arrival of aliens is filled with implications for entertainment.

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"One of the most exciting aspects for me is that occasionally, you can jump into playing the game with a cast member," says Bowler, relaxing on a plush couch inside the Syfy offices on the 14th floor of a building in Universal City. "It's a whole new level of immersion. I just drop in on Twitter and then I'll jump in the game."

FULL story at link.