James Cameron Plans Movie/Game Project

James Cameron, Academy Award-winning director of Titanic as well as Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss, has an unusual new project in the works: Project 880, which Cameron intends to launch as an online multiplayer game prior to the release of the eventual film. Currently, Cameron is still working on the film's screenplay, but hopes to begin development of the associated game soon as a way of introducing audiences to the game's world and concepts. "So much of literary sci-fi is about creating worlds that are rich and detailed and make sense at a social level," Cameron said to BusinessWeek. "We'll create a world for people and then later present a narrative in that world." "You're seeing what hundreds of thousands of people in this game environment can create," said the director, who currently holds a position on the board of MMO developer Multiverse, a development assistance company which aids in producing a game based on designers' ideas in return for a portion of the subscription fees. "You are exploring the interaction of technology and the human imagination," says Cameron, "and you play it out in a highly competitive, fast-paced interaction." Cameron hopes to release the film in 2008.