MMO Movie, Gamer, Shows the Future For MMOs May 13th, 2009 by Theo, MMOsite columnist

Ever thought your experiences in a First Person Shooter would make a great movie? Well it seems Directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, creative's behind the Crank movies have jacked into your thought stream. Gamer (formally Game and then Citizen Game) follows the character Kable, as he battles his way through an MMOFPS called Slayers.

“Gamer is a high-concept action thriller set in the near future, a time when mind-control technology has taken society by storm. Humans control other humans in a mass-scale, multiplayer onlinegame. Reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall, Dexter) has created the controversial form of entertainment, “Slayers,” a hugely popular game that allows millions to act out their innermost fantasies and desires - online - in front of a global audience. Gaming has evolved into a terrifying new dimension… mind control… mind manipulation… people playing people!

At the center is Kable (Gerard Butler, Leonidas from 300), the superstar and cult hero of “Slayers,” the savage, ultra-violent first-person shooter game. Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with a rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity, and to save mankind from Castle’s ruthless technology.”

Official Plot, brought to you by slashfilm.com

Some co-stars and actual character names include; "Rick Rape" (Milo Ventimiglia, Peter in Heroes), "Trace" (Alison Lohman from Flicka), "Freek" (played by legendary comedian John Leguizamo who gave an incredible performance as Clown/Violator in Spawn), "DJ Twist" (Efren Ramirez who many of you will recognize as Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite), "Hackman" (Terry Crews, from Everybody Hates Chris and numerous comedic titles), "Gina Parker Smith" (Kyra Sedwick, Brenda from The Closer), "Sandra" (Zoe Bell), and "Humanz Brother" (played by rapper turned actor Ludacris.)

For an Interactive Version of this movie poster simply click the poster or the highlighted text.

Although this movie was filmed before Crank 2, it seems it has been on the back burner for quite some time, speculation from Brendon Connelly of /Film,

"...I'd imagine there have been a number of factors in the relatively long period between production wrapping and Gamer hitting screens. For one thing, there's going to be a certain amount of FX work necessary to realize a film like this; for another, it seems too low key a prospect to toss into the summer maelstrom, and should benefit at the box office from this kindly release later in the year; and also, I fear, there may have been some arguments, recutting and panic after test screenings reports were less than rhapsodic. That last point is, formally, speculation on my part but... erm... let's not kid ourselves.

In the test screened version, at least, Butler's character doesn't speak for over 20 minutes at the beginning of the film and, worse still, when he does finally get some dialogue it doesn't quite add up. This should be an easy change to spot when the film rolls out in September, should revamping have been taking place. Between now and then, my sport is going to see how well this new name takes."

Here is the leaked Teaser Trailer