G-Nome, KOP Media's first title, is an interactive movie which combines rendered sets and vehicles with digitized video of live actors. (In case you're curious, KOP represents the first letters in the last names of the three principal founders of the company: Stephen Kennedy, Jerry O'Flaherty and Todd Porter.) Scheduled for release late next spring, G-Nome is the story of war hero Joshua Pullen.

	In a setting 2000 years in the future, Joshua's been appointed sheriff of a backwater group of systems. On first landing on the planet Ruhelen, he learns that mysterious creatures have been slaughtering hunters. He encounters a variety of different characters scattered across the face of the planet: scientists, gangs, spies, hermits, bartenders and alien races. Slowly but surely, Joshua is drawn into a complex and sinister plot culminating in his battle with the fearsome G-Nome.

	Many companies are tossing around the term "interactive movie" these days. KOP's idea of an interactive movie uses digitized actors in a fairly linear story without much branching. Don't assume that this means weak gameplay, however. A longtime veteran of the likes of Origin and SSI, designer Porter doesn't believe in sacrificing gameplay for glitz. During the course of the game, you must sometimes solve puzzles or complete action sequences to further the plot. The bulk of the game, however, revolves around interacting with its many intriguing characters.

	To this end, the interface takes an approach previously seen only in Access Software's forthcoming Under a Killing Moon. Instead of choosing a scripted remark from a list, you select Joshua's attitude. Do you reply in a soft spoken, aggressive, funny or shy manner? Choosing the right attitude for dealing with each different non-player character is crucial to successfully completing the game.

	This unusual offering has an unusual genesis. G-Nome was inspired by the Human Genome Project (hence the name), an international research endeavor which is currently attempting to completely map out human DNA. Porter was drawn to the similarities between what these researchers are trying to do and what a game designer does when creating statistics to represent a character's abilities in a game. G-Nome is ultimately a tale of misuse of the kind of knowledge we stand to gain from the Human Genome Project, although that isn't absolutely clear until the game's conclusion.

	Even though it is still in its early stages, G-Nome already looks intriguing. It is clear that the graphics are going to be simply phenomenal; if the developers' concern for matching that with a superb storyline and quality gameplay is any indicator, it could well be a title to watch out for in mid-'95.