How come no Who vid games?

[The Lensman]

You know, there was a time I could understand why there were no Dr. Who video games. But now game engines are complex enough to allow for complex and detailed story and dialogue. New and innovative ways to interact with the game world, i.e. puzzle solving. And if the BBC doesn't want alot of violence, ways to dispatch enemies without actually killing them. Of course if you're using Cybermen or Daleks, who really cares anyway? "They're just robots" you know?

Just seem especially strange, that with the popularity of NuWho, espcially with Ten, that we haven't seen one. And I love the idea of audio productions, but I'd still like to *see* Dr. Who.

A video game might be the only way we'll get to see all the surviving Doctors in a multi Doc adventure, appearing as they did in their prime.

Just seems strange to me.

 

[StCoop]

Because games need to sell in big numbers in America/Japan to justify their budgets?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

That's the thing. Obviously, Doctor Who would never be a AAA title in the United States. I could see a low-budget shovelware game for the Wii, but I don't think anyone would be happy with that.

Budget is the problem. Use of the iconic monsters means money. And the game isn't going to sell spectacularly well in the United States. (Japan isn't an issue. A Doctor Who game probably wouldn't appeal there anyway.)

And what would the gameplay be?

See, I think Doctor Who would appeal to the people playing LEGO Star Wars or LEGO Harry Potter. Make a Doctor Who game like that -- yes, LEGO Doctor Who -- and it would probably sell decently well. It wouldn't be a best-seller. But it wouldn't be embarrassing, either.

The problem? LEGO doesn't make Doctor Who sets, because LEGO doesn't think there's a market for them in the United States. Which means this game isn't even on Traveler's Tales' radar.

 

[Joy]

I say instead of a videogame, what about an MMORPG in the vein of PotC Online, Free Realms, etc...? A good majority of fandom is propelled by online fans, and an MMORPG would allow fans from all over the globe to participate, as well as possibly enhance awareness of DW here in America, if they market it properly to get people ready for the release.

And what better than an MMORPG that has the potential to be educational due to its time-traveling premise?

Yeah, I would definitely be interested in seeing a DW MMORPG. And no, not just because I don't own any gaming consoles. LOL

Joy

 

[CommodoreKong]

I know Telltales games have expressed an interest in doing a Doctor Who game. I really hope they are able to work out something with BBC, I think their episodic style of adventure games would work well with Doctor Who.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I say instead of a videogame, what about an MMORPG in the vein of PotC Online, Free Realms, etc...? A good majority of fandom is propelled by online fans, and an MMORPG would allow fans from all over the globe to participate, as well as possibly enhance awareness of DW here in America, if they market it properly to get people ready for the release.

And what better than an MMORPG that has the potential to be educational due to its time-traveling premise?

Yeah, I would definitely be interested in seeing a DW MMORPG. And no, not just because I don't own any gaming consoles. LOL

Joy

A world with 1000's of time lords? I just don't quite see how an MMO would work.

 

[Joy]

Yeah, I see your point. Unless they make Time Lords NPCs, much like on PotC Online, the main characters are NPCs that guide you through the storyline. So instead, you can choose to be a Companion or an alien or just some random human who manages to get caught up in alien stuff.

*shrugs*

I dunno. Just the basic thought sounded fun to me. Didn't really think about the specifics. LOL

Unless... If the fan theory about the status of "Time Lord" being something one can be trained to achieve can hold any weight, maybe a "non-canon" premise of an MMORPG would be that you enter as a "Time Lord in Training"? Since you're a trainee, you would start out no different from a human, and you'd gradually earn various tricks and gadgets and what-not. Similar to how in PotC Online you are a pirate-in-training, and each mission gets you better stats for fighting, etc.

Again, just some wishful fantasizing.

Joy

 

[Lindley]

The problem with an MMO: The people in 2009 have to keep dealing not only with constant alien invasions, but also the world changing around them every other minute as the players in 1802 screw around with events.....

 

[Chris3123]

Actually, there are Doctor Who video games. Just not that many, and only one that has been released recently.

Doctor Who video games

 

[Kelthaz]

I know Telltales games have expressed an interest in doing a Doctor Who game. I really hope they are able to work out something with BBC, I think their episodic style of adventure games would work well with Doctor Who.

That would be fantastic.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Screw video games. Allyn has made me want something far greater: Doctor Who LEGOs. And it's not going to happen!

Thanks a lot, Allyn!

 

[votd]

Last christmas my son asked for Doctor Who figures and/or Lego and my grandma went out of her tree cos she couldn't find Dr Who Lego anywhere - she wouldn't accept that he hadn't asked for that and that it didn't exist.

 

[Praxius]

Actually, there are Doctor Who video games. Just not that many, and only one that has been released recently.

Doctor Who video games

Indeed, I played one way back when I was a kid on the Commodore 64:

Took me forever to figure out wtf it was all about and how to play it and yet, I still never really figured the whole thing out, let alone beat it.

 

[Samurai8472]

You land on a planet, make some comment then chastise the inhabitants.

Objective- Run down the corridor

Point screwdriver at door

Face off against creature i.e talk it to death

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

^It's reminding me of some of the weird made-up video games from The Simpsons, like "My Dinner With Andre: The Video Game" and "Escape from Death Row."

"Oh no! The conservative judge! Plead insanity! Plead insanity!"
"It's not working!"
"Hit the change of venue button, now! Oh no, you're in Texas!"
"If I'd just hit the remorse button one more time I would have made it."

Actually, there are Doctor Who video games. Just not that many, and only one that has been released recently.

Doctor Who video games

Indeed, I played one way back when I was a kid on the Commodore 64:

Took me forever to figure out wtf it was all about and how to play it and yet, I still never really figured the whole thing out, let alone beat it.

Kinda reminds me of that lame, confusing Star Trek: DS9 game for the SNES. (It would have been worth it if I'd been able to play as any other character besides Commander Sisko.)

 

[23skidoo]

They did already do a multiple-Doctors game, complete with new footage of Anthony Ainley as the Master and the voices of Tom Baker as Doctor 4 (along with Davison, Colin Baker, and McCoy). It was called Destiny of the Doctors and it came out in the late 1990s. It was a first person shooter type of affair:

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_of_the_Doctors

I'm surprised no one's tried to port/update it, especially given the footage used in the game. Sadly, like many games made prior to the advent of XP and Mac Intels, this is now "lost culture" as it cannot be played on any of today's systems. (By "lost culture" I'm referring to actual film productions incorporated into video games which are now mostly lost in much the same way many old silent films of a century ago are now lost - things like Tim Curry's Frankenstein, or the Psychic Detective interactive movie with B5's Beata Pozniak, or Laurie Anderson's interactive album, Puppet Motel.) The DVD of Survival includes Ainley's footage from the game, at least.

Alex

 

[Meredith]

The problem with an MMO: The people in 2009 have to keep dealing not only with constant alien invasions, but also the world changing around them every other minute as the players in 1802 screw around with events.....

That could be quite fun.....

You could break it up into different time periods and retroactively affect completed quests.....

 

[Cutter John]

Yeah, unfortunatly its hard to work 'running down corridors slaughtering aliens with a BFG' into a Doctor Who story.

 

[captcalhoun]

UNIT FPS would work. Instead of multipe weapons, give em multiple ammo types:

gold to thwart Cybermen
silver for werewolves
copper for Sontarans (or whatever the BS was in Poison Sky)
armour peircing for Daleks.

 

[Lindley]

Tennis balls for Sontarans.