The Cut Scene - Video Game Blog by Variety

Bioshock MMO, mobile, or movie; Civilization MMO; everything online... Take-Two muses

As part of its presentation to analysts today, Take-Two Interactive presented a few "potential untapped opprtunities" in markets it hasn't yet entered, including MMO's and mobile, as well as licensing to "traditional" media or, I assume, producing itself.

On a slide that was part of its presentation, which I copied above, it even named some potential names, noting that "Bioshock" and "Civilization" could both make great MMOs and that "Bioshock" and "Carnival Games" could work as mobile games.

These are only possiblities, of course, and not reason for fanboys to start clearing space on their hard drives or buying a powerful new phone. Given the way analyst presentations work, I take it as more Take-Two demonstrating to those in attendance that it can move into these markets if/when it is ready, because it has properties that would translate well. It's not a hint that the "Bioshock" MMO is actually in development.

As for the "Bioshock" movie, that should be a big "duh" to Cut Scene readers. As I wrote last month, "Take-Two has been bombarded with  requests from producers and studios interested in obtaining the rights, agents interested in representing them, etc." The only question is which big name is going to get the rights. And whether Take-Two will try to get commercially/creatively involved itself, possibly investing its own money.

Also of note: Executive Chairman Strauss Zelnick said that online play is becoming increasingly important. "Not all of our games have been multi-player," he noted. "Going forward, the bulk of them will be."

My immediate thought? I can't wait to play "Bioshock 2" online multi-player next year. I want to be the Big Daddy.

The iPhone goes gaming, what's the end game?

With its DS-like touch screen and PSP-like high res wide screen, the iPhone has screamed "games" to me every time I pick it up.

Which is why it's very cool, it not surprising, that today's demo of the new applications possible on the iPhone included several videogames. And not just little casual games like we see on mobile phones. Major titles from big publishers.

EA for instance, is releasing a version of its long-in-development "Spore" for the device. Sega demo's a version of "Super Monkey Ball." While using the touch-screen to design a creature could be fun in "Spore," you obviously could only play a very scaled down version. "Super Monkey Ball," on the other hand, which will take full advantage of the device's tilt sensors, would arguably work as well or better on the iPhone than any other device (memory concerns aside).

EA has already confirmed that it has "other games in early stages of development" for the device. Indie developer Freeverse also said it has numerous casual games like bowling and racing in the works.

For me, however, the iPhone isn't too interesting as a place to play casual games. Sure it's occasionally fun, but I already do that lots of other places. My iPhone, after all, is primarily an extension of my life. It's a way to access my e-mail, surf the web, etc. while I'm on the go. In other words, the same things I do at home, but in a scaled-down, mobile way.

That why I think it would be really cool if the iPhone were an extension of my gaming experiences. Like what if I could design creatures on my iPhone that show up in my PC game of "Spore?" Or finish a level of "Super Monkey Ball" and get credit for it on my Wii? You get the idea. I've heard lots of talk from developers and publishers about extending the gaming experience and it seems to me that the iPhone, easily the most powerful mobile connected device we've seen that's completely open (i.e. not the DS or PSP) could truly make that happen.

Wired also has a good round-up of the iPhone's gaming potential