Tom Clancy Is Working On A Couple Of Plots You Can Play.
The marines at Quantico may enjoy screaming "Let's rock" while creaming Doom's evil monsters, but if Red Storm Entertainment has its way, military personnel won't be the only ones waging mighty war online. Armchair generals and foot soldiers alike will soon be able to log on, team up, and vicariously dash across electronically generated battlefields, thanks to renowned military author Tom Clancy, former Royal Navy Commodore Doug Littlejohns, and a host of high-ranking coders at Red Storm.
Two titles set for release this fall - a geopolitical thriller and a science fiction game - will be moderated by game masters at Red Storm's Cary, North Carolina, headquarters and will allow thousands of online players to jack in via PC networks.
The commanders at Red Storm are as tight-lipped as a group of MI-6 operatives about the specifics of each game, but CEO Littlejohns hints that you'll be able to re-create infamous battles. If Marine Doom casts you as bloodthirsty cannon fodder, then Red Storm's titles could turn you into a virtual Alexander the Great or a keyboard-clicking Revolutionary War trumpeter. "This is going to add a whole new level of intellectual depth and interactivity to diplomatic history," says Clancy, chair of Red Storm. "The limitation of writing a novel is that you can only tell a story one way. But we envision a new type of story where the reader participates in the outcome."
If military realism, Clancy's forte, is the yin of Red Storm's success, then an element of unpredictable antihistoricism could prove to be its yang. Clancy hopes to construct scenarios that contain an incentive for participants to collaborate strategically, while still allowing a single player to affect the game's outcome. Not an easy task, but one that will be enjoyed by military buffs and gameheads alike. Let's rock.
