Movies with game tie-ins have been around since the days of Atari (ATAR ), but the games usually follow the plot. With Project 880 (a working title), which is still at least two years off, gamers could be exploring Cameron's virtual world for weeks before they head for a theater to learn the story. And the game could spawn whole communities of diehards such as those who spend every waking hour immersed in EverQuest, World of Warcraft, and other massively multiplayer online games.

The director did not go into any detail regarding the gameplay or any other facets of the world, nor did he mention the developer. He is, however, on the board of a company called Multiverse, which aims to provide studios with full development tools and network infrastructure for making MMOs.

Cameron likens the relationship between his planned MMO and his upcoming film to the relationship between a modern sci-fi author's fictional world and the narratives that take place within it. Modern sci-fi frequently takes the approach of building a large universe with an established history and environment, then for each installment places a narrative within it. By the same token, Cameron's MMO would set up the contextual world, and the following movie would insert the narrative. The implication, of course, is that this would turn into a long-running movie franchise set in an evolving online world, but Cameron has still yet to fully reveal his plan for the initial products, much less the following ones.