A number of games have been published based on the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.
There have been six licensed Dune-related video games released.
1992's Dune from Cryo Interactive/Virgin Interactive blends adventure with strategy. [7] [8] Loosely following the story of the 1965 Frank Herbert novel Dune and using many visual elements from the 1984 film of the same name by David Lynch, the game casts the player as Paul Atreides, with the ultimate goal of driving the Harkonnens from the planet Dune and taking control of its valuable export, the spice. [7] Key to success is the management of spice mining, military forces, and ecology as the player amasses allies and skills. [7] One aspect of the game allows the player to terraform Arrakis from a desert into a fertile and green planet, at the cost of sandworm habitat and reduced melange spice production.
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty, later retitled Dune II: Battle for Arrakis for the European release and the Mega Drive/Genesis port, was released in December 1992 from Westwood Studios/Virgin Interactive. [9] [10] Often considered to be the first "mainstream modern real-time strategy game", Dune II established many conventions of the genre. [9] Only loosely connected to the plot of the novels or films, the game pits three interplanetary houses — the Atreides, the Harkonnens, and the Ordos — against each other for control of the planet Arrakis and its valuable spice, all while fending off the destructive natural forces of the harsh desert planet itself. [9]
Dune 2000, a 1998 remake of Dune II from Intelligent Games/Westwood Studios/Virgin Interactive, added improved graphics and live-action cutscenes. [11] Though gameplay is similar to its predecessor, Dune 2000 features an enhanced storyline and functionality. [11]
Emperor: Battle for Dune (Intelligent Games/Westwood Studios/Electronic Arts) was released on June 12, 2001. [12] A sequel to Dune 2000, the real-time strategy game features 3D graphics and live-action cutscenes, and casts players as Atreides, Harkonnens, or Ordos. [12] [13]
Released in 2001 by Cryo Interactive/DreamCatcher Interactive, Frank Herbert's Dune is a 3D video game based on the 2000 Sci Fi Channel miniseries of the same name. [14] As Paul Muad'Dib Atreides, the player must become leader of the Fremen, seize control of Dune, and defeat the evil Baron Harkonnen. [14] The game was not a commercial or critical success, and Cryo subsequently filed for bankruptcy in July 2002. [15]
In 2001, Cryonetworks disclosed information about Dune Generations, an online, 3D real-time strategy game set in the Dune universe. [16] [17] An official website for the upcoming game featured concept images, a brief background story and description of the persistent gameworld, and a list of frequently asked questions. [18] The game would be constructed using Cryo's own online multimedia development framework SCOL. [19]
Within "the infrastructure of a permanent and massive multiplayer world that exists online", Dune Generations would let players assume control of a dynasty in the Dune universe, with the goal of first mastering the natural resources of their own homeworlds and ultimately rising in power and influence through conflicts and alliances with other player dynasties. [17] [20] Each of the three available dynasty types - traders, soldiers, or mercenaries - would provide a different playing experience, all with the long-term goal of gaining control of Arrakis and its valuable spice. [17] [20]
A preview video trailer was released in November 2001. [21] The game was still in the alpha testing stage in February 2002, [22] and the project was ultimately halted after Cryo filed for bankruptcy in July. [15]
Dune: Ornithopter Assault was developed by Hungarian studio Soft Brigade 2 for the Game Boy Advance, but was cancelled in 2002. The game was to be a 3D air-to-ground shooter featuring 20 missions, five modes, and multiplayer Link Cable connectivity. Without the license, the game was eventually released as Elland: The Crystal Wars on PC. [23]
Dune: Spice Wars was released on Steam in Early Access by French development studio Shiro Games on April 26, 2022 before being fully released on September 14, 2023. [24] The game is inspired by Dune and Dune 2[ clarification needed ] with a strong influence from the books rather than the films. It is a real-time strategy game with 4X elements. [25] [ better source needed ]
Dune: Awakening is an upcoming open world action survival massively multiplayer online game set on the planet Arrakis. It was announced by its publisher and developer Funcom on Gamescom Opening Night Live 2022; [26] [27] The first trailer was released on August 23, 2022. [28] It is currently scheduled to be released in early 2025 for PC, with ports for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S to follow. [29]
There have also been many Dune-based MUDs (multi-user dimension) and browser-based online games, created and run by fans.
Dune MUD is an unlicensed, online multiplayer game, a MUD active since 1992. [30] [31] [32] [33]
DuneMUSH was an unlicensed, online multiplayer game, a MUSH active in the early 1990s. [34] [35]
Dune II was an unlicensed, online multiplayer MUSH active in the early 1990s. [36] [37]
Behind the Dune is a pornographic, unlicensed, online flash single player game first released in 2016. The game is based on Dune (1992) by Cryo Interactive. [38]
Paul Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is a main character in the first two novels in the series, Dune (1965) and Dune Messiah (1969), and returns in Children of Dune (1976). The character is brought back as two different gholas in the Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson novels which conclude the original series, Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), and appears in the prequels Paul of Dune (2008) and The Winds of Dune (2009). According to Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son and biographer, House Atreides was based on the heroic but ill-fated Greek mythological house of Atreus.
Dune is a 1984 American epic space opera film written and directed by David Lynch, and based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Frank Herbert. It was filmed at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City. The soundtrack was composed by the rock band Toto, with a contribution from Brian Eno. Its large ensemble cast includes Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen, José Ferrer, Sean Young, Sting, Linda Hunt, and Max von Sydow.
Dune is a 1965 epic science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966. It is the first installment of the Dune Chronicles. It is one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels.
The Fremen are a group of people in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. First appearing in the 1965 novel Dune, the Fremen inhabit the desert planet Arrakis, which is the sole known source in the universe of the all-important spice melange. Long overlooked by the rest of the Imperium and considered backward savages, they are an extremely hardy people and exist in large numbers. The Fremen had come to the planet thousands of years before the events of the novel as the Zensunni Wanderers, a religious sect in retreat. As humans in extremis, over time they adapted their culture and way of life to survive and thrive in the incredibly harsh conditions of Arrakis. The Fremen are distinguished by their fierce fighting abilities and adeptness at survival in these conditions. With water being a rare commodity on the planet, their culture revolves around its preservation and conservation. Herbert based Fremen culture, in part, on the desert-dwelling Bedouin and San People.
Arrakis —informally known as Dune and later called Rakis—is a fictional desert planet featured in the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert. Herbert's first novel in the series, 1965's Dune, is considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and it is sometimes cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history.
Funcom Oslo AS is a Norwegian video game developer and publisher that specializes in online games. It is best known for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) titles Conan Exiles, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, The Secret World – and The Longest Journey series of adventure games. The company has offices in Oslo, Norway; North Carolina, US; Lisbon, Portugal; Bucharest, Romania; and Stockholm, Sweden. It also had offices in Beijing, Dublin, and Montreal previously. It is now owned by the Chinese media conglomerate Tencent.
Frank Herbert's Dune is a 2000 science fiction television miniseries, based on the 1965 novel of the same title by Frank Herbert. It is written for the screen and directed by John Harrison, and stars Alec Newman as Paul Atreides, William Hurt as Duke Leto Atreides, and Saskia Reeves as Lady Jessica, along with Ian McNeice, Julie Cox, and Giancarlo Giannini. It was an international co-production between the American cable network Syfy, and companies in Germany, Canada, and Italy. This is the second overall filmed adaptation of Herbert’s novel, following the 1984 film directed by David Lynch, and preceding Denis Villeneuve’s two-part film adaptation.
Count Hasimir Fenring is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is featured in the 1965 science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert, and is also a key character in the Prelude to Dune trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. He later appears in the 2008 novel Paul of Dune, and the Caladan Trilogy (2020–2022).
Dune is an American science fiction media franchise that originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert and has continued to add new publications. Dune is frequently described as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. It won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Hugo Award in 1966 and was later adapted into a 1984 film, a 2000 television miniseries, and a two-part film series with the first film in 2021 and a sequel in 2024. Herbert wrote five sequels, the first two of which were concomitantly adapted as a 2003 miniseries. Dune has also inspired tabletop games and a series of video games. Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-world nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan.
Dune is a 1992 adventure strategy game based on the 1965 science-fiction novel of the same name by Frank Herbert. It was developed by Cryo Interactive and published by Virgin Interactive.
Dune 2000 is a real-time strategy video game, developed by Intelligent Games and published by Westwood Studios in 1998 for Microsoft Windows. It was later ported to the PlayStation in 1999. It is a partial remake of Dune II, which is loosely based on Frank Herbert's Dune universe. The story of the game is similar to Dune II, and is continued in Emperor: Battle for Dune.
Emperor: Battle for Dune is a real-time strategy video game, released by Westwood Studios in June 2001. It is based in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. It follows its predecessors, Dune II and Dune 2000. While Dune II was a distinct story to that of Dune, and Dune 2000 was a remake of Dune II, Emperor: Battle for Dune is a direct sequel to the previous games. In particular, it is a sequel to Dune 2000, carrying on from where it left off, with several of the characters and actors returning. Like Dune 2000 and many of the other Westwood games that came before it, Emperor features live action cut scenes filmed with actors.
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty is a 1992 real-time strategy game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Games. It serves as the sequel to Dune, which came out earlier that same year.
Frank Herbert's Dune is a 2001 Adventure video game based on the 2000 Sci Fi Channel miniseries of the same name. The game was not a commercial or critical success, and was one of the last games by Cryo Interactive, which went bankrupt shortly after the game's failure.
Dune is a strategy board game set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe, published by Avalon Hill in 1979. The game was designed by Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge and Peter Olotka. After many years out of print, the game was reissued by Gale Force Nine in 2019 in advance of the 2021 Dune film adaptation.
Dune is an out-of-print collectible card game produced by Last Unicorn Games and Five Rings Publishing Group, and later Wizards of the Coast. Set in the Dune universe based on the books written by Frank Herbert, the game pits two or more players against each other, each in control of a minor house vying for entry in the Landsraad.
This is a list of terminology used in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, the primary source being "Terminology of the Imperium", the glossary contained in the novel Dune (1965).
Multiple organizations of the Dune universe dominate the political, religious, and social arena of the setting of Frank Herbert's Dune series of science fiction novels, and derivative works. Set tens of thousands of years in the future, the saga chronicles a civilization which has banned computers but has also developed advanced technology and mental and physical abilities through physical training, eugenics and the use of the drug melange. Specialized groups of individuals have aligned themselves in organizations focusing on specific abilities, technology and goals. Herbert's concepts of human evolution and technology have been analyzed and deconstructed in at least one book, The Science of Dune (2008). His originating 1965 novel Dune is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. Dune and its five sequels by Herbert explore the complex and multilayered interactions of politics, religion, ecology and technology, among other themes.
We've a three-point civilization: the Imperial Household balanced against the Federated Great Houses of the Landsraad, and between them, the Guild with its damnable monopoly on interstellar transport.
Dune: Spice Wars is a 4X real-time strategy video game developed by Shiro Games and published by Funcom. In the game, the player tries to dominate the planet of Arrakis diplomatically or militarily. The title is set in the Dune universe, it was released in early access in April 2022 and was fully released in September 2023.
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