John Woo Establishes Game Studio With Sega 21
Thanks to Gamerfeed for pointing out that renowned film-maker John Woo has established a game development studio, Tiger Hill. The studio will work with Sega of America to co-create new game properties that'll hopefully capture some of the stylised action so many games have 'borrowed' from John Woo movies. What kind of chance does a film-maker have of making a difference in videogames, now films are becoming more game-like and games are becoming more film-like?
A new way? (Score:2, Interesting)
However he's an expert in entertainment, and that's what it all really comes down to, right?
The site [tigerhillgames.com] doesn't show much promising stuff yet. Just a few images.
I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Re:A new way? (Score:1)
However he's an expert in entertainment, and that's what it all really comes down to, right?
It's a good point in one way, but in another way;
Re:A new way? (Score:2)
Re:A new way? (Score:1)
Although Tiger Hill only supervises the products and projects it is associated with, we are adamant about their quality and service to our fans
This just means they will produce ideas and have sega produce games around them. I wonder if specialisation in games can be driven so far. How will you control that your concept will become what you truelly wanted when you are not even in the same office?
The whole idea sounds interesting but practically it
Re:A new way? (Score:2)
Ever heard of LucasFilm Games / Lucas Arts [lucasarts.com]?
George Lucas opened that studio in the late 80s/ early 90s I believe. It's created some wonderful games. Maniac Mansion has got to be one of my all time favorites.
Shigiru Miyamoto got his start as an art director designing art for video game cabinets. He wasn't a coder at all. And do you think he's kept up with technology enough that he could sit down and contribute code to Wind Waker? I doubt it.
But he's a great Producer / Director.
Re:A new way? (Score:2)
Although Tiger Hill only supervises the products and projects it is associated with, we are adamant about their quality and service to our fans.
So I guess that answers that question.
Woo-isms (Score:4, Insightful)
Pidgeons or doves flapping their wings in slow motion during a small interval during a major firefight.
Guns in churches or church-like locations. Firing guns in churches is a plus.
Slow motion. This is NOT bullet time, slow motion violence is the epitomy of movie violence.
Two guns aerial fighting - Matrix ripped this off of the Master Woo, he makes firing guns and leaping seem so easy that even a wimp can do it.
Gun-play, through having AWSOME golden guns, twirling them in mid air or - the coolest of all Woo-isms - the release of the magazine and the reloading while the good guy and bad guy have a breather between more lead exchange.
Silence, five minutes of silence in an action flick is like a cool breeze in the middle of a hot summer's day. Silence and slow motion together create the perfect atmosphere during a fire-fight, add that to a reloading scene and you've got me in tears.
:)
I've yet to see a flick with so much style as John Woo manages to put in his. Glorified Violence, as my girlfriend calls it.
Re:Woo-isms (Score:2, Interesting)
To me, the most satisfying experience in an arcade is pumping a dollar into Lethal Enforcers and gunning through the game with both guns blazing. I don't know why a company didn't release a game that used two guns for a single player by design. Sure, you don't get twice the quarters from the people who already play these games that way BUT I don't think that many people are playing that way. But anyway, I'm getting off topic here - yeah, two guns at the same time rule. I've heard it described as J
Re:Woo-isms (Score:1)
John Woo? Vin Diesel? (Score:4, Insightful)
The one thing that Woo will be able to bring to the table is his ability to connect good and bad characters in such a way that they find themselves intractably bound to eachother... But as games require hundreds of faceless, nameless mooks, such character on character interaction would be less important.
Unfortunately, this is just another example of the hollywood types trying to get into something they don't understand. Nobody expects Stephen King to be able to cross over mediums from books to movies, why do people make that assumption from movies to videogames? Simply saying that they are both visual mediums and are on some sort of "convergence" shows just how little Woo understands this industry.
Re:John Woo? Vin Diesel? (Score:3, Insightful)
I disagree. Game developers have often employed triggers, timers, spawn points, hidden doors, environment changes and the like to sculpt the player's actions into a clearly scripted experience, even in FPS games.
Case in point: U
What about Barbra Streisand? (Score:1)
Come on, Sega et al., give gamers what they want!
Re:What about Barbra Streisand? (Score:2)
Re:What about Barbra Streisand? (Score:1)
I didn't mean my initial post to be taken seriously (I don't think Barbra Streisand is the right person for this sort of thing), but maybe a movie tie-in like this might attract customers from the "Sims" demographic.
Re:What about Barbra Streisand? (Score:2)
You know, with all respect to everyone out there who bought and is enjoying "The Sims", every time I see someone play that piece of crap I think "well, what do you expect when you de-marginalise gamers - you get pointless drivel for people without the skills to play proper games"... Again, no offence...
John Woo movies aren't all "bullet ballet" (Score:2, Informative)
What kind of chance? (Score:4, Informative)
I know this seems like a shameless promotion since it comes out tomorrow, but the answer to that question will be answered with "Enter the Matrix." [enterthematrixgame.com]
This is a very rare project where film directors are in the director's chair for a video game. This is revolutionary mainly because it breaks taboos in Hollywood about video games.
A few weeks ago, Emerson College [emerson.edu] in Boston held their 'Web Night' panel discussion which included Randy Fenton, the founder of Dare to Play (DtP) [daretoplay.com]. DtP is a tool to create a non-liner narrative structure using a hotmail-like account to interact with characters. The intent is for branding for movies where audiences experience a sort of prequel to a movie (as well as some Edutainment applications).
The common problem he has faced is being labeled as a game. For example, DtP was featured under the Sundance Interactive Festival [sundanceon...stival.org], but only by a hair. The board was at a fight between calling DtP a game or not. Sundance Interactive do not want to incorporate 'games' into the festival, but how can an interactive project not be constructed as a game? Under this logic, titles like 'Myst' [imdb.com] or 'The Longest Journey' [imdb.com] do not have narrative merit. This is the challenge between the movie and gaming industries.
Hollywood thinks all video games are variations of Pong.
There are a lot of reasons and theories as to why, from union issues to change in audience positioning. But now, special effects work is very similar to video game creation, especially with motion-capture and human scanning practices. The film industry is already making mini-videogames as non-interactive movies for a few years now. Something needs to point out this fact to the industry.
I believe the Wachowski brothers will make that point with The Matrix. The principal photography of the new series of The Matrix was of 3 main units, "Matrix: Revolutions," "Matrix: Reloaded," and "Enter the Matrix." Film people made a video game. [enterthematrixgame.com] The game may or may not be revolutionary for the audience (out side of the plot's involvement with the movie), but it will be for the process of creating a video game.
It shall be exciting to see what happens next...
The tide might be against him (Score:2)
Brian de Palma thinks (Score:1)