When Suzanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games, she likely had an idea in the back of her mind that the books could be turned into a movie-- after all, what author doesn't want that? But even Collins probably couldn't have imagined the phenomenon that The Hunger Games became, or the amount of products being spun off from her idea in advance of the March 23 release of the movie. There's the film itself of course, with all signs pointing to it being a huge blockbuster, but also viral campaigns and mall tours and, of course, nail polish. Now The Hunger Games might have reached the true landmark of success in the modern Internet age: it's becoming a Facebook game.
The Huffington Post has gotten the first look at The Hunger Games Adventures, a new Farmville-esque game that will debut on Facebook on March 23, the same day as the film's premiere. Collins and the film's producers collaborated on the game, in which users play as themselves but are given assignments from Katniss and Peeta. You can check out a screenshot from the game below to see what I mean:
Though the interface is very similar to Farmville, the game is made by rival Funtactix, which has also done movie-specific games for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and Rango. The specifics of the game seem a lot less fun than jumping into the arena and mowing down the competition-- you can't actually be killed within the game, and you're sent on missions to do things like chopping down trees and hunting gems. But the game will come with the first-ever official map of Panem, the version of North America where The Hunger Games takes place, so you can finally answer the burning question of which District you live in (District 13 here, baby!) And while only District 12 will be up for exploring when the game launches, it has plans to expand elsewhere, including the Capitol.
I've watched many a good Facebook friend fall into the clutches of Farmville, and while i'm not looking forward to the flood of new alerts showing up on my feed, I might have a hard time resisting the lure myself. Will you play The Hunger Games Adventures? Or will you hold out for the violent, bloody game version that you think it deserves?
