Possibility of a Magnum PI Open world game?

[Gamer77]

Hi,

Grew up with the show in the eighties, and just got done watching the run again and was wondering if anyone here reading is able to get in touch with Tom Selleck's agents or Donald Bellisario to ask, but has anyone ever floated the possibility of a Magnum PI, open-world PC or console game title? Perhaps you've seen games such as the 'Saints Row' series by Volition, or the 'L.A. Noir' and 'Grand Theft Auto' games by Rockstar games? They're able to do wonderful things now with games including creating whole towns to explore and drive through. I know John Hillerman has passed but with an open world game we'd be able to get as many of the surviving cast together to do what's essentially voice acting work for an experience that could run as long as one hundred hours depending how you play it.

They'd be able to reprise their roles and the best part is that the game's producers could set the game in any time period between the original series finale and today. No worries about far-out or impossible stunts endangering the actors, or how they'd look today and we'd get to have one last adventure in a recreated version of Magnum PI's Hawaii.

We'd be able, as Magnum, Rick, TC, and possibly Higgins(if they could ever fins someone as good to try voicing the character) to take the controls of Robin 1-3 as well as Rick's mercedes, The King Kamehameha Club's boat, and of course T.C.'s Island Hoppers van and helicopter. We could walk through the halls of the Club, Robin's Nest, the guest house the streets of Downtown Hawaii as well as the Docks, Pearl Harbour and other locations across the islands.

Chase criminals on land. Ask Icepick for information on local syndicates, get bamboozled into helping Carol, explore sunken wrecks under the ocean and paddle a surf ski to victory in another local race. The possibilities could be endless.

Well. Anyway it's just something I've had bouncing around in my head after watching the series from start to finish again. Figured I'd suggest it while there's still time for it to happen. While we're still lucky enough to have most of the actors with us. Thanks for reading.

[☨magnum.t]

I would play the hell out of that game lol. As far as Voice acting I'm betting you could pull 99% of the character dialogue from the series DVDs. It would be awesome to run down a lead in the Ferrari then hop on the SurfSki and race J. Digger around the ocean.

[308GUY]

Would love to see this come to fruition...but I'm still waiting on the chopper flight simulator that was presented a while back!

This is the ONLY way we are ever going to have new stories & the original camaraderie and cast all together again. Of course, we won't have JH unless samples that can cover everything can be pulled from existing media. (Computers...."the wave of the future!" )

Just being able to get behind the wheel of the 308..or even ride shotgun with TM in it....would be worth buying the game for me.

Let us know if this moves forward.

[Gamer77]

Sadly I don't know if it would go forward. I was posting it here in hopes that someone who either knows the stars or their representation would forward it along if they happened to view this site and start the ball rolling between them the networks -whomever- and the gaming studios to make it happen that way.

As with you I'm just another face in the crowd who happens to love this show. And I would love to play this game if it were made. Especially considering that many of the Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row titles have been eighties nostalgia trips with pop culture references as well as in game radio stations playing many of the licenced hits of the day. It's strange that nobody has even tried to get this going. Particularly with the coming release of 'Ready Player One.'

Part of what got me wondering about the possibility was when I'd watched the series again and it was the episodes where Magnum was caught stealing time on the estate's computer system. The wizard adventure game and later ont he expensive game lent by TC that was ruined. On one hand it was a nostalgia trip for the old days of computer gaming, but on the other I was amazed, that even with a thirty year or so remove that Magnum's reactions and his eagerness to get one more play in are still surprisingly relevant to today's gaming culture. It's the little touches, his sneaking about to get that game time in and then Higgins' castigating him for it after he's caught that made the episodes so fun.

That's part of what makes the show special- a certain timelessness and the backs and forths- Hillerman's being so stern but forgiving, and Selleck's wide range on screen- from competent operative, to goofy teenager but still with enough fondness/reverence for Higgins, and morality to feel ashamed of his actions.

For all of Selleck's breaking the forth wall there was almost never a moment(perhaps the backdoor pilot episode or the raiders episode but that was fun) in the series, to me at least, which felt as though it compromised its integrity -where it could have but never strayed toward the sickening trend of today's television to make a character unnecessarily edgy or dialogue endlessly sly and self referential. The characters come across as honest and relatable. In one of the early episodes when Higgins looked down at TC and Rick on the beach and remarked that they'd redone Sevastopol, but that they'd got some of it wrong, I'd rolled on my couch laughing. I couldn't put my finger on it til then, but there's enough of a dynamic within the principal characters on Magnum PI to put it right up there with the big three from original Star Trek, or with Matt, Doc, Chester, and Kitty from Gunsmoke. It's why I'd hoped, and still do, to see them even one more time together, even if it has to be in a computer game.

[Bat22]

I suppose I can see an open world game in the vein of GTA: Vice City with a Hawaii to explore and PI cases cropping up alongside misadventures with Higgins, TC, Rick, Robin Masters, et al.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_VBXRZuHTc

But I also see Magnum PI as an ambitious action-adventure game in the vein of LA Noire, Heavy Rain, and Wolf Among Us where it feels like you're experiencing one episode after another, as a package with installments. Think Season _.5 in the middle of Magnum's run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skAkfQr3e-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXYAwAfJZJg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIgx0vPPDtA
Each adventure you go over the usual minutia of a Magnum episode, dealing with the Lads, driving the Ferrari, casing a shady motel, going on a date, taking a dip, etc.

[J.J. Walters]

My vote would be for an isometric viewpoint game, like the Diablo series or Sim City 2000. First-person, 3D just doesn't do it for me. I know, I'm an old fogey.

[erock308]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFmB5M2 ... FVl3c7VrmV

[Gamer77]

I suppose I can see an open world game in the vein of GTA: Vice City with a Hawaii to explore and PI cases cropping up alongside misadventures with Higgins, TC, Rick, Robin Masters, et al.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_VBXRZuHTc

But I also see Magnum PI as an ambitious action-adventure game in the vein of LA Noire, Heavy Rain, and Wolf Among Us where it feels like you're experiencing one episode after another, as a package with installments. Think Season _.5 in the middle of Magnum's run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skAkfQr3e-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXYAwAfJZJg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIgx0vPPDtA
Each adventure you go over the usual minutia of a Magnum episode, dealing with the Lads, driving the Ferrari, casing a shady motel, going on a date, taking a dip, etc.

I could go for an L.A. Noir style game in Magnum's Hawaii. Plenty of dialogue options and pixel hunting but they still did a grand job of creating an open world environment which allowed for vehicle use. Not so fond of Telltale games and their illusion of choices that matter, but that's just a personal opinion.

[Gamer77]

My vote would be for an isometric viewpoint game, like the Diablo series or Sim City 2000. First-person, 3D just doesn't do it for me. I know, I'm an old fogey.

Nothing wrong with isometric games. Did you ever try playing Jagged Alliance 2?

A Magnum open world game woudl probably be more third person over the shoulder with elements of cover shooters for staying hidden when breaking and entering locations to find clues or eveidence. What small bits of first person play would probably be done for binocular, sniper scope, or 'borrowing Robin's camera' uses.

[Gamer77]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFmB5M2 ... FVl3c7VrmV

Oh my... This makes me want an open world Magnum game even more now that I've seen that!

[Bat22]

A Magnum open world game would probably be more third person over the shoulder with elements of cover shooters for staying hidden when breaking and entering locations to find clues or evidence. What small bits of first person play would probably be done for binocular, sniper scope, or 'borrowing Robin's camera' uses.

I can see it now. In order for Higgins to relinquish the camera, a sub-mission opens up where Magnum has to help Agatha locate a friend who's been missing for a day or two.

Not so fond of Telltale games and their illusion of choices that matter, but that's just a personal opinion.

Telltale also gets flack as a video game but to me their games are more like comic books with reader participation. Even though they don't vary significantly between plot developments and endings (the illusion of choice), they do allow the player to depict their character as they will. This element is appealing to me because you get to choose between aspects of Magnum's character in reacting to the story. There's at least man-child Magnum, aggressive Magnum, wisecracking Magnum, and sheepish Magnum.

[Rands]

I'm not a gamer having lived too many "adventures" in the real world, but the creation of a Magnum, P.I. game, could make me one!

[nha trang]

I had the same idea years ago in another thread, i still agree it would be awesome

Has to have fan involvemenr to be made correctly and coop and multipayer modes along with free roam

[Orara]

Hi Guys, new member - first post. Not sure if anyone is aware of a game made by Atari Games called Test Drive Unlimited that came out around 2006 on PC/Xbox 360/PS3 etc. Pretty impressive for the time, it is an open world game where you in your chosen car you can drive and explore (unfortunately trapped within the car) the entire island of Oahu. From my admittedly limited knowledge of the island it looks like to me a pretty accurate 1:1 representation of the landform and road system.

Also along the Kalanianaole Highway in the game at the approximate location of where Robin's Nest (Pahonu) should be, is a car dealership and repair shop specialising in British and euro cars. I've looked online to see if this was a nod by the games developers toward the show and Higgins but haven't been able to confirm that this is the case. I must say if you do get a chance to play this game then do so as it is really fun and relaxing to be able to cruise around the island in a Ferrari no less living the dream in paradise.

[Gamer77]

Played Test Drive Two unlimited but never made it to the island. Fun game though and certainly better than what it evolved into with 'The Crew.'