Defiance

http://www.defiance.com/en/

I like this time of year because a whole host of TV series, old and new, begin. One which I have been looking forward to is Defiance. As in much of the fiction that I enjoy, there are large areas of grey in this story. We see humans and aliens working alongside each other in peace (even if that peace is troubled, to say the least) and joining to fight those who would threaten their community.

With a brilliantly diverse cast of characters, I was already looking forward to discovering this new tale of survival and tenacity, when I found out about an additional element to the Defiance concept.

Alongside the TV series, there is a game featuring the same characters and storyline. Now, although this is a moneygrabber, merchandising the game as the TV series is launched, it's also a chance for players to be included in the storyline because the characters of major Defiance game players may appear or  be mentioned in the TV series. This is the first time that there has been such a linking between a TV series and an online game.

You can find a more in-depth explanation here.

"The experience of one is going to enhance the experience of the other in ways that are both overt and very subtle."

"Immersive stories on two platforms that are seamlessly living together."

"The real crossovers happen while the season is going since we planned from the very beginning to do this, things like a character leaving the game and going to the show and talking about what they did in the game."

Defiance takes storytelling a step further than a regular TV series or film, drawing the audience in to take part in the peopling of the story and experience the world of the story for themselves. This is a new way of spinning a tale. Fingers crossed it lives up to its promise.