You know the video game industry is big time when two new major movie releases, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Ironman, have movie assets that are directly for the video game. According to Sci Fi Wire, Caspian has two scenes filmed exclusively for the video game version, and the Ironman game based on the movie is utilyzing the film's computer model used by Industrial Light and Magic in creating the movie.
I can see using the computer models from the movie in the game. Now this is a very expensive intellectual property, and we are talking big bucks for ILM to put this together like it is happening, but it really moves the game and the movie so much closer together. In a lot of ways this blurs the line between the two, and the game almost becomes an extension of the movie.
Actually filming extra scenes for the game version of Caspian ties together the effort of movie and game as well, with both efforts being of high importance in the design and execution of the entire project. We can see how the video game is becoming part of the movie itself, not just an impression afterwards.
There are several favorite movies I would have liked to see given this much thought to their disappointing video game counterparts. However, with the cost of movie making spiraling upward, we can expect the same with the video game production, especially if it is tied this closely to the movie itself. The video game represents the movie more now than ever and it can be argued that the attachment is justified, but does it leave any room for the smaller development efforts to compete?
I guess it will be just a matter of time where the line is drawn between the big budget Hollywood games and Independent games. I just hope that these new indie games, like the seemingly bulk of their Indie film counterparts, are not subtitled as well… It takes away from the fragging.
Aloha from the Beach,
greg
