E3 2011: Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson Follow Trend Of Games Based On Movies
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
In the first of a five-part series recapping the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, NY1's Technology reporter Adam Balkin reports on how games based on popular movie franchises are usually a safe bet for developers at this video game convention.Hearing that famed Hollywood director Steven Spielberg is connected to a video game based on the cartoon character Tintin might be reason enough to give it a shot, but with "Lord Of The Rings" and "King Kong" director Peter Jackson also on board, it has almost becomes required gaming for film buffs.
"Tintin: The Game" will launch alongside the 3-D, motion-capture film the power duo is working on, "Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn."
"Not only are they genius movie producers, they're also avid gamers," says Drew Quakenbush of Ubisoft. "So when we go to them and show the gameplay and talk about how the story needs to wrap around the gameplay, they understand that."
Incidentally, the big-time trilogy Peter Jackson is best known for is spawning yet another video game. The "Lord Of The Rings" game is expanding on the story in the books and movies in an entirely new way.
For starters, "Lord Of The Rings: War In The North" was built from the ground up, to either play alone or as a fellowship of up to three people playing cooperatively online.
"We've got the book rights and the movie rights to the Peter Jackson films and the [J.R.R.] Tolkien books, so we're able to do a completely original story, a new story that lets player explore Middle Earth," says Michael DePlater of Snowblind Studios.
Finally, Spider-Man has spawned so many comic books, movies and even a musical that carry his name, but now Spidey has inspired a video game with a fresh angle. In "Spider-Man: Edge Of Time," users play as two Spider-Mans -- Spider-Man of today and how the web slinger will be about 100 years from now.
"An evil scientist of the future has traveled back in the past to rewrite history which ultimately leads to the death of the Amazing Spider-Man, but in order to avoid this the two Spideys have to communicate and work together," says Kevin Umbricht of Activision.
Players will have to be mindful of the space-time continuum, as the future Spider-Man can be affected positively or negatively by one's actions on the other side of the timeline.