Wheel of Time: the next Lord of the Rings?

Robert Jordan's 44-million-selling Wheel of Time series could be next in line for the Lord of the Rings video game treatment, according to a report from Venturebeat this week.

Plans for a big-budget movie trilogy based on the 12 Wheel of Time books are reportedly underway at Universal Studios, but the video game adaptations will be handled by a startup studio, Red Eagle Games. Red Eagle plans to release at least three games to support the movie trilogy, plus a massively-multiplayer online world based in the Wheel of Time universe, and is already hunting for talented staff.

"We want to hire the rock stars," Red Eagle producer Rick Selvage told Venturebeat. The company is targeting consoles, computers, portable game systems and wireless devices.

If all this buzz is giving you deja vu, you're not alone: a spate of games based on the Lord of the Rings books hit consoles and PCs after Peter Jackson's movie trilogy rekindled interest in the 20th century's most successful fantasy series. Hack-and-slash adventure Return of the King and massively-multiplayer hit Lord of the Rings Online proved critical favorites, and both became big hits with consumers.

Can the Wheel of Time world achieve the same success? Considering the last four books in the series all hit number one on the New York Times best-seller list, and there's already excitement surrounding the planned publishing of the 12th and final tome in 2009, it's something to think about.

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