The Wheel of Time: Series gets a Story Director

[Marine Mike]

The Wheel of Time: The Video Game

Robert Jordan's 44-million-selling Wheel of Time series could be next in line for the Lord of the Rings video game treatment, according to a report from Venturebeat this week.

Plans for a big-budget movie trilogy based on the 12 Wheel of Time books are reportedly underway at Universal Studios, but the video game adaptations will be handled by a startup studio, Red Eagle Games. Red Eagle plans to release at least three games to support the movie trilogy, plus a massively-multiplayer online world based in the Wheel of Time universe, and is already hunting for talented staff.

"We want to hire the rock stars," Red Eagle producer Rick Selvage told Venturebeat. The company is targeting consoles, computers, portable game systems and wireless devices.

If all this buzz is giving you deja vu, you're not alone: a spate of games based on the Lord of the Rings books hit consoles and PCs after Peter Jackson's movie trilogy rekindled interest in the 20th century's most successful fantasy series. Hack-and-slash adventure Return of the King and massively-multiplayer hit Lord of the Rings Online proved critical favorites, and both became big hits with consumers.

Can the Wheel of Time world achieve the same success? Considering the last four books in the series all hit number one on the New York Times best-seller list, and there's already excitement surrounding the planned publishing of the 12th and final tome in 2009, it's something to think about.

The Wheel of Time series gets a story director

Expect blockbuster action in the Wheel of Time videogames. Professional screenwriter Chris Morgan is directing the story for Red Eagle Entertainment’s forthcoming videogame series. Morgan is the writer of numerous Hollywood flicks including such greats as Cellular, Wanted, The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift.

The Wheel of Time series is a mess of cold stares and plot holes, but we’re guessing that’s not why Morgan was given the job as story director. The videogame series is described as a set of games “derived” from Robert Jordan’s fiction, thus -- and we’re guessing here -- writers are need to plug in whatever game-y elements are needed to flesh out the digital experience.

We’re cool with this choice as long as we don’t glimpse Rand steering his horse around slick street bends or evading police in future teaser trailers. That would be a bigger bummer than the typical cold (or icy) stare.