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64-400: Crimson Skies is a tabletop and a video game media franchise created by Jordan Weisman and Dave McCoy, first released as a board game in 1998 and then as a PC game in 2000. The series' intellectual property is currently owned by Microsoft Corporation through its Xbox Game Studios division. Weisman's former company, Smith & Tinker Inc. , had announced in 2007 that it had licensed

128-498: A board game from FASA . The franchise has since expanded to include a collectible miniatures game from Wizkids , as well as a series of books. The series also includes two arcade flight -based video games published by Microsoft Game Studios – Crimson Skies for the PC and Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge for the Xbox . Both games were well received by critics, though only the second

192-600: A character or fictional world becoming popular in one medium, and then expanding to others through licensing agreements , with respect to intellectual property in the franchise's characters and settings. As one author explains, "For the studios, a home-run is a film from which a multimedia 'franchise' can be generated; the colossally expensive creation of cross-media conglomerates predicated on synergistic rewards provides an obvious imperative to develop such products." The trend later developed wherein franchises would be launched in multiple forms of media simultaneously; for instance,

256-412: A compromise between realistic and arcade flight. One of Crimson Skies' unique gameplay features was the inclusion of "danger zones"—challenging areas through which the player can fly for various effects. The game's focus on barnstorming and relaxed flight physics led GameSpot to comment that " Crimson Skies is very much based on a 'movie reality' where if it's fun and looks good, it works". However,

320-485: A franchise can even be created, which ultimately leads to the creation of brand worlds. Since the creation of Disneyland in 1955, bringing fictional media franchises to life through the theme parks slowly became increasingly popular as the way to perfectly blend tourism and real-life involvement with media itself. Similar to transmedia, the concept of bringing fictional media into a non-fictional space where fans can immerse themselves in real-life versions of elements from

384-424: A modeling agency, several television shows ( Playboy's Penthouse , in 1959), and even its own television channel . Twenty-five years later, Playboy released private clubs and restaurants, movie theaters, a radio show , direct to video films, music and book publishing (including original works in addition to its anthologies of cartoons, photographs, recipes, advice, articles or fiction that had originally appeared in

448-630: A nationwide concert tour, an American Idol book that made the bestseller list and the film From Justin to Kelly . A transmedia franchise however is often referred to by the simpler term "media franchise". The term media franchise is often used to describe the popular adaptation of a work into films, like the popular Twilight book series that was adapted into the five films of The Twilight Saga . Other neologisms exist to describe various franchise types including metaseries , which can be used to describe works such as Isaac Asimov 's Foundation series . Multimedia franchises usually develop through

512-468: A post WWI European setting revolving around the "knights of the air". However, a game with a similar idea came out then; Weisman and McCoy subsequently moved the setting to the U.S. and changed the concept to placing air pirates in a modern setting. From there, they crafted an alternate history to simulate the conditions that gave rise to piracy in the Caribbean in a 1930s setting. Weisman later said about

576-401: A realistic portrayal of the physics of flight. The game's relaxed physics as well as its focus on barnstorming led GameSpot to comment that " Crimson Skies is very much based on a 'movie reality' where if it's fun and looks good, it works". The Xbox game Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge was later developed as a first-party title for Microsoft Game Studios by FASA Studio . Like

640-524: A target and emits a homing signal; the "seeker" rocket follows the homing signal, destroying the target. The Choker rocket disables the target's engine by bursting into a fireball that burns all oxygen around it. The Tesla cannon is a tesla coil -style weapon that fires a bolt of electricity at a target, disabling it. Also featured in Crimson Skies is the wind turbine, a weather control mechanism designed to generate storms. The Crimson Skies board game

704-598: A war pilot, and recounts a climatic confrontation with his nemesis. Wings of Justice: Rogue Flyer , by Loren L. Coleman , was published by FASA in December 2000. It follows the transformation of Trevor Girard from a law-abiding security agent to a pirate with a heart of gold. Crimson Skies was published by Del Rey in October 2002 to promote the future release of the Xbox game. It features three novellas, two originally published on

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768-575: Is similar to the PC game in that gameplay centers on controlling an aircraft, a new feature is the ability for the player to switch aircraft or man fixed weapon emplacements during a mission. The game's mission structure also features a number of other open-ended elements that have led to comparisons with the sandbox gameplay of the Grand Theft Auto games. The game additionally boasted a number of online gameplay modes over Xbox Live . In 2003, Wizkids released

832-479: Is the Japanese term for a transmedia franchise. The term media mix gained its circulation in late 1980s and is first used to describe adaptations of Sakyo Komatsu 's Japan Sinks , but the origins of the strategy can be traced back to the 1960s with the proliferation of anime , with its interconnection of media and commodity goods. Some of the earlier popular Japanese franchises such as Vampire Hunter D in

896-527: Is the primary means of transportation, advancements in both aircraft and weaponry technology would have proceeded at a faster pace than had actually happened in the same time period. Zeppelins with hangar launch bays that can accommodate escort fighters are featured prominently in Crimson Skies ; in actuality, only a few zeppelin-based airborne aircraft carriers saw service. Zeppelins in Crimson Skies are also armed with broadside cannons and are also heavily armored. Radio-controlled rockets are also available in

960-679: The 1928 election . Shortly after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 , Texas seceded from the United States, reforming the Republic of Texas on January 1, 1930. New York was the next state to secede, and persuaded Pennsylvania and New Jersey to merge with it to form the Empire State. California followed suit, creating the Nation of Hollywood, as did Utah , which had already come in conflict with

1024-600: The Crimson Skies collectible miniatures game . The game utilizes collectible figures featuring both planes and pilots from the Crimson Skies universe. These miniatures use WizKids' Clix system , by which a character's or plane's statistics and abilities can be altered during gameplay by way of an adjustable dial located on the base of the figure. The Crimson Skies miniatures game comprises two separate games, each with its own set of rules. The gameplay in Crimson Skies: Aces revolves around pilots battling each other on

1088-433: The Crimson Skies universe, which can be controlled remotely after launch. Other technologies are exclusive to the world of Crimson Skies . Magnetic rockets have the ability to track planes or weapon emplacements over a short distance. Aerial torpedoes are similar to sea-based torpedoes , but are specifically designed to take out airships. Beeper/seeker rockets are designed to work in tandem. The "beeper" rocket attaches to

1152-407: The Crimson Skies website, one previously unpublished. Each story is preceded by a brief history lesson about the Crimson Skies universe that acts as the prelude to the following story. Media franchise A media franchise often consists of cross-marketing across more than one medium. For the owners, the goal of increasing profit through diversity can extend the commercial profitability of

1216-723: The Yukon territories. The core of the former Canadian government established the Protectorate of Ontario . While Ottawa 's authority technically extends to Alberta and the Northwest Territories , these areas are mostly no-man's land, while Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island comprise a self-governing body, commonly referred to as the Northumberland Association. In 1931, the Territorial Government of Hawaii

1280-483: The fantasy and science fiction genres. Similarly, fantasy, science fiction films and television shows are frequently adapted into animated television series , video games, or both. A media franchise does not have to include the same characters or theme, as the brand identity can be the franchise, like Square Enix 's Final Fantasy or the National Lampoon series , and can suffer from critical failures even if

1344-568: The federal government , and formed regional power blocs. The optimism of the Roaring Twenties was upset in 1927 when an outbreak of a deadly strain of influenza in America prompted states to close their borders , further dividing the Union. Though not as deadly as the 1918 pandemic, the epidemic had immense political fallout, bolstering regionalist "strong state" views and decreasing voter turnout in

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1408-423: The 1980s and Pokémon in the late 1990s, acted as benchmarks in the country's transmedia dominance. The latter in particular began as a video game available on Nintendo 's Game Boy , and crossed through the media of television, film, news, and other non-media related realms, such trading cards, merchandise, and more. A number of Japanese media franchises have gained considerable global popularity, and are among

1472-513: The Fortune Hunters, in their crusade to avenge the death of a close friend, Dr. Fassenbiender, at the hands of the Die Spinne organization. Developers decided early on in the game's production cycle that the game would not simply be a port of the PC title, and by the end of the development cycle, many of the story elements that linked the game to the PC game had been excised. Although the game

1536-547: The case of the Spanish Civil War . By the end of 1937, North America was a "hotbed of conflict", with multiple pirate gangs and air militias battling for control of the skies. Europe was no better, as Germany jockeyed for power while France and Britain looked the other way. The Russian States continued to fight their civil war , which threatened to spill over into the Eastern European nations and Alaska. Asia, too,

1600-437: The company has made no formal announcement as to its plans with the franchise, Weisman has assured fans that there will be a new entry in the series. The Crimson Skies series takes place in an alternate 1930s in which the U.S. has broken apart into a number of independent nation states . According to series creator Jordan Weisman: I needed to create a geo-political situation that would result in air-pirates, so I looked at

1664-502: The day-in-the-life episodes of the many different Real Housewives series. Documentaries and docuseries are other highlights of the non-fiction branch of media franchises, such as the popular Planet Earth series, which serves as both a film and television transmedia franchise. Zipper Interactive Zipper Interactive was an American video game developer based in Redmond, Washington and part of SCE Worldwide Studios . It

1728-475: The developers moved to work on another Crimson Skies title for Microsoft; development, however, was cancelled shortly into the project. When FASA Studio was later shut down, Microsoft retained the video game rights to Crimson Skies , although it had no immediate plans for the IP . Weisman's latest company, Smith & Tinker , later "licensed from Microsoft the electronic entertainment rights" to Crimson Skies . Although

1792-439: The development of the universe: Whenever I create different universes— MechWarrior , Shadowrun , Crimson Skies —to me, it's all about looking at 'What are the fantasies that excited us when we were 5?' And if we can find a new and more sophisticated way to tap into that fantasy [...] Crimson Skies is just combining two classic male fantasies: You get to be a pirate; you get to be a pilot. Work on Crimson Skies began under

1856-407: The different media, regardless of the fact that they are being presented in sometimes completely different ways, such as the shared, interweaving storylines and elements of Spider-Man films, television shows, comics and video games. Espen Aarseth describes the financial logic of cost-recovery for expensive productions by identifying that a single medium launch is a lost opportunity, the timeliness of

1920-476: The electronic entertainment rights to the franchise, but no new titles were developed. The Crimson Skies trademark was renewed in 2013 by Microsoft for video games, although the trademark for other related media has been abandoned. The series is set within an alternate history of the 1930s invented by Weisman and McCoy. Within this divergent timeline, the United States has collapsed, and air travel has become

1984-525: The fate of the United States was sealed, and the rest of the country dissolved into independent nations by the end of 1932 with the last legal remnant of the US being the neutral nation of Columbia in what used to be whatever area around Washington could be seized. Though not directly affected by the Texas Secession, Canada found itself dragged down by the collapse of the U.S., with Quebec seceding in 1930 and

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2048-607: The federal government after the establishment of the Smith Law in 1928 that made Mormonism the state religion. Washington, D.C. , essentially powerless, was unable to stop the country from falling apart. The federal government made its last stand against the "People's Revolt" of the bread basket states. When the US Army was defeated by the People's Collective (formerly the Midwest ) forces in 1931,

2112-725: The fictional worlds they love, adds to the overall narrative the franchise creates through its other media. Marvel's Avenger's Campus park is one of the many franchise-based theme parks created in recent times, following the creation of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure and Star Wars' Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and Disney World . Media franchises tend to cross over from their original media to other forms. Literary franchises are often transported to film, such as Nancy Drew , Miss Marple , and other popular detectives , as well as popular comic book superheroes . Television and film franchises are often expanded upon in novels , particularly those in

2176-466: The film The Matrix Reloaded and the video game Enter the Matrix were produced at the same time, using the same actors on the same sets, and released on the same day. Transmedia franchises occasionally release content through certain media that is not canon to the main or greater story that the franchise is built around, meaning that the elements of said content do not truly exist in the main timeline of

2240-603: The focus on the content of the commodity to "overlapping the commodity image with the character image". The book Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan, by Marc Steinberg, details the evolution of the media mix in Japan. Long-running franchises were common in the early studio era, when Hollywood studios had actors and directors under long-term contract. In such cases, even lead actors are often replaced as they age, lose interest, or their characters are killed. Spin-offs and adaptations of popular pieces of media within

2304-564: The franchise and create strong feelings of identity and ownership in its consumers. Those large groups of dedicated consumers create the franchise's fandom , which is the community of fans that indulge in many of its media and are committed to interacting with and keeping up with other consumers. Large franchise-based fandoms have grown to be even more popular in recent years with the rise of social media platforms, as many fans seek to interact with one another for discussion, debate and even to create their own fan-made pieces of media revolving around

2368-405: The franchise, on websites like tumblr , Reddit and Fandom . In the case of successful transmedia franchises, each different medium should expand the target demographic and fandom, build the interest of the consumers and add to the overarching story and narrative of the franchise itself. A connection between the characters, settings, and other elements of the media franchise do still exist within

2432-415: The franchise. Canon content often times breaks continuity, leading fans to speculate or seek to confirm which media are canon and which are not, which can get confusing if the franchise does not provide an answer themselves since entire media can be non-canon to the greater story, with a popular example occurring. On the other hand, specific episodes, volumes or parts of a series can be canon while others in

2496-437: The game's original release was plagued with numerous technical problems, most notably the unreliability of the player's saved game files. Though a patch was released to remedy this issue, the game still retains many technical issues such as long loading times and sluggish menu screens. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge is an Xbox game developed by FASA Studio and released in 2003 . The game centers on Nathan Zachary and

2560-503: The ground, while the gameplay in Crimson Skies: Air Action focuses on dogfighting between squadrons of aircraft. Figures were sold in "squadron packs" and "ace packs", which were formatted in blisterpacks as opposed to the random packaging format used in other Wizkids games. In addition to the tabletop and video games, the Crimson Skies series also features a number of tie-in books and short stories. Spicy Air Tales

2624-496: The history of the United States to get us the dynamic world of Crimson Skies . This alternate timeline incorporates both fictional and actual historic events. According to the series' official backstory, the divergent timeline begins after World War I , when a " Regionalist movement" gains popularity in America following the Spanish influenza pandemic, rallying behind an isolationist platform. Meanwhile, President Wilson 's authority

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2688-473: The magazine), footwear, clothing of every kind, jewelry, housewares (lamps, clocks, bedding, glassware), guitars and gambling, playing cards, pinball machines and pet accessories, billiard balls, bedroom appurtenances, enhancements, plus countless other items of merchandise. Non-fiction media franchises also exist in the television and film media, with reality TV being one of the most well-known examples; ranging from competition shows like The Amazing Race to

2752-400: The media fictional material is unrelated. Non-fiction literary franchises include the ...For Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide to... reference books . An enduring and comprehensive example of a media franchise is Playboy Enterprises , which began expanding well beyond its successful magazine, Playboy , within a few years after its first publication, into such enterprises as

2816-455: The most popular mode of transportation in North America ; as a result, air pirates thrive in the world of Crimson Skies . In describing the concept of Crimson Skies , Jordan Weisman stated he wanted to "take the idea of 16th century Caribbean piracy and translate into a 1930s American setting". Crimson Skies was first conceived as a PC game known as Corsairs! , but was released first as

2880-557: The name Corsairs! . Development started for Virtual World Entertainment , and was later moved to a PC game when Virtual World merged with FASA Corporation . Although the Corsairs! project was shelved, Weisman and a group of FASA employees worked outside of business hours to create the Crimson Skies board game. According to Weisman: "The board game was borne purely out of the fact that I needed to get this universe out of our heads and into

2944-529: The new, aerially-dominated market. Gangs of air pirates formed in turn to plunder airborne commerce. Although air militias formed to counter the threat, rivalries between the nations of North America reduced their capacity to effectively address this issue, and even encouraged the countries to sponsor pirates as privateers so as to direct their illegal operations against opposing nations. In Europe, privateers and other mercenary groups were widely adopted by nations who wished to avoid another world war, especially in

3008-571: The planes in Crimson Skies are designed to be the "hot rods of the air". According to IGN , "the planes in CS are built for style and not function with their redundant wing positions and rear propellers". For example, the Devastator aircraft features a pusher propeller and a biplane design. Because of the history of the world of Crimson Skies , especially given that the nation states of North America are constantly at war with one another and that air travel

3072-566: The point that several small-scale wars broke out. After the dissolution of the United States, the country's interstate railroad and highway systems fell into disrepair or were sabotaged as they crossed hostile borders. Consequently, ground-based vehicles such as the locomotive and automobile were replaced by aircraft such as the airplane and the zeppelin as the leading mode of transportation in North America. Europe soon followed this fascination with aviation to make its own strides into

3136-575: The previous game, arcade flight elements were incorporated in order to focus gameplay on action instead of flight mechanics. Early in the game's production, developers decided upon a "playable movie" concept, but found that gameplay would be restricted by this approach. Consequently, the game's release date was pushed back by approximately one year to allow the development team time to retool the game. The results of this extra development period include more open-ended gameplay features and Xbox Live support. After development concluded on High Road to Revenge ,

3200-423: The production and release is more important than its integrity, the releases should raise brand awareness and the cross-ability of the work is critical for its success. American Idol was a transmedia franchise from its beginnings, with the first season winner Kelly Clarkson signing with RCA Records and having the release of A Moment Like This becoming a #1 hit on Billboard Hot 100. The success resulted in

3264-400: The real political situation that gave rise to the pirates of the Caribbean in the 16th and 17th centuries. We needed a balkanized era so that pirates could escape quickly into another country's territory, we needed things of value to be moved by air, and we needed a constantly churning political environment so that things did not settle down quickly. [...] It took only three little changes in

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3328-610: The rest of the provinces siding with their nascent southern neighbors: New Brunswick and parts of Quebec joined the Maritime Provinces of Maine , New Hampshire , and Vermont ; Newfoundland joined Quebec; Manitoba joined the People's Collective as did parts of Saskatchewan , with the Lakota nation laying claim to the rest; British Columbia merged with Oregon and Washington in the Pacific Northwest ; and Alaska claimed

3392-516: The same medium are not, such as the fact that only some of the Battlestar Galactica comics are canon, with a large amount of them breaking the continuity of the main story. In Japanese culture and entertainment, media mix ( wasei-eigo : メディアミックス , mediamikkusu ) is a strategy to disperse content across multiple representations: different broadcast media , gaming technologies, cell phones, toys, amusement parks , and other methods. It

3456-472: The world's highest-grossing media franchises . For example, Pokémon 's penetration into the American market of the franchise along with others of Japanese origin, such as Yu-Gi-Oh! , gave rise to the recognition of what is variously called transmedia storytelling , crossmedia, transmediation , media synergy, etc. Researchers argue that the 1963 Tetsuwan Atomu marked a shift in Japanese marketing from

3520-555: The world, and it was the best venue to do so quickly". Developer John Howard has stated that the board game was built to "showcase the Crimson Skies property, with an eye towards expanding on it in other ways". When FASA Interactive became a part of Microsoft , Weisman and his team were able to start a new game, and work on the PC version of Crimson Skies began; the game was developed by Zipper Interactive . The game utilizes arcade flight mechanics, focusing on action, as opposed to

3584-408: Was commercially successful. Crimson Skies is an example of the dieselpunk genre, though it predated the genre name. According to series creator Jordan Weisman, the original idea for Crimson Skies came after he had completed research on the early years of aviation; the era and historical characters inspired him to create a game about the period. For their game, Weisman and Dave McCoy settled on

3648-433: Was developed by Zipper Interactive and released in 2000 . The game's storyline is framed around a radio drama that chronicles the adventures of Nathan Zachary and the Fortune Hunters pirate gang during their rise to fame and fortune. Gameplay centers on the control of one of the game's playable aircraft, which the player can customize with different parts to alter performance. The game's flight mechanics were designed to be

3712-803: Was founded in June 1995 by Jim Bosler and Brian Soderberg. It created many different games, including the SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs series of games. SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs was created in collaboration with the Naval Special Warfare Command and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 . On January 25, 2006, Sony announced that it had acquired Zipper Interactive to add it to its group of development studios. On March 29, 2012, Sony announced that it would be closing Zipper Interactive due to "resource re-alignment." The closure of Zipper Interactive

3776-493: Was later confirmed by Sony Computer Entertainment the next day on March 30, 2012. Prior to its closure, Zipper Interactive were working on two unannounced titles for the PlayStation 4 before both projects were cancelled once the closing was complete. One was another entry in the SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs series, and the other was a first-person shooter meant to be a new IP. This United States video game corporation or company article

3840-568: Was left defenseless in the wake of the fragmenting country and was overthrown in favor of reestablishing the Hawaiian monarchy with Jonah Kūhiō as its king. Likewise, America's territorial holdings overseas were surrendered following the nation's formal collapse and the formation of the Federal Republic of Columbia on March 1, 1932. The resulting nation states that formed were no longer unified—distrust between them strained diplomatic relations to

3904-542: Was on the brink, with Japan 's recent invasion of China and the continuation of the bloody civil war in Australia . The planes of Crimson Skies are fictional designs created to fit within the Crimson Skies universe. Although some planes were modeled after actual 1930s era experimental aircraft and other "bizarre and outlandish designs" from the early years of aviation, they still take significant departures from conventional aviation design. Jordan Weisman has stated that

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3968-539: Was published by FASA in 1999. The two-volume series featured short stories that originally appeared on the Crimson Skies website and supplemental material for using characters and planes from the stories with the boardgame. Wings of Fortune: Pirate's Gold , by Stephen Kenson , was published by FASA in November 2000. It introduced Nathan Zachary and his famous band of air pirates, the Fortune Hunters. It follows Zachary's air exploits and daring escapes during his early days as

4032-585: Was released by FASA in 1998. The base game came with card stock, assemble-yourself airplanes included, but later metal miniature planes were offered separately. While the focus was on fantasy over fact, many of the planes in Crimson Skies were modeled after real experimental aircraft of the era. The complex universe of Crimson Skies earned many devoted fans, as dozens of different weapons, planes, nations, air forces, bands of pirates, and characters were all given detailed pasts, and several additional supplemental campaigns were published. The PC game Crimson Skies

4096-414: Was undercut when Prohibition failed as a constitutional amendment leaving the matter to be decided on the state level . The nation soon became polarized between "wet" and "dry" states and checkpoints became a common sight on state borders to stop the flow of alcohol into "dry" states. As the decade progressed, state governments seized more authority , encroaching into areas formerly the responsibility of

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