Would Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas be the same without Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda and James Woods?
Digital Journal — Even in video games, you can never underestimate the power of celebrity. James Bond fans can expect another 007 adventure this year, with Sean Connery reprising his role as the suave secret agent. Just don’t look for it on the silver screen. Rather, Connery will be pixelated in an interactive version of the 42-year-old flick From Russia with Love, coming soon to your local console.
Gamers can also expect new Scarface, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Matrix and Dirty Harry games in late 2005 and early 2006.
Whether it’s a sign of creative fatigue from the gaming industry or an offshoot of the convergence rampant in the film world, movies and video games are joining hands in a marriage that brings familiar characters and plot lines to an increasingly popular medium. Both industries are hoping to attract consumers who love escaping into and ultimately controlling fantasy worlds.
Video games based on well-known entertainment franchises aren’t anything new (Tron, anyone?) but they’re becoming more common in newer consoles like Xbox and PlayStation. “The current generation of hardware has helped unlock the visuals, physics and artificial intelligence that game makers use to create hyper-realistic play environments,” says Tammy Schachter, senior manager of corporate communications for Electronic Arts (EA), the world’s largest entertainment software company.
Schachter points out that this relationship is reciprocal: “If you look at the way that movies are edited, scripted and paced, you could argue that they have taken a page out of the games business playbook, too.”
Blending similar media makes perfect sense to industry execs. Video games are part of a multibillion-dollar industry with annual sales that often outstrip Hollywood box-office receipts. When a game is paired with a successful film franchise, it’s a recipe that usually works. Spider-Man 2 from Activision, for example, has sold close to four million units. Timing can play a role, too, as Atari’s Enter the Matrix sold more than one million units in its first week alone, when it coincided with the release of The Matrix Reloaded in May 2003.
Even in video games, you can never underestimate the power of celebrity. Would Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas be the same without Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda and James Woods? In spring 2006, EA hopes to have an equally big hit in The Godfather, complete with voice talent from James Caan, Robert Duvall and even Marlon Brando, who recorded his parts in February 2004, five months before he died.
But critics point out that relying on movie tie-ins stalls the creativity engine. “We are seeing less and less innovation because the stakes are so high,” Scott Orr, a former executive at EA, told The Economist last year. So the industry’s challenge is to release celebrity-heavy games that blend strong stories with repeat playability — gamers want artificial intelligence to match the pretty face floating on their screen.
It’s not just Hollywood that has a love affair with button-mashing. Video games have also been called “the new radio” as they can expose emerging musicians to millions of listeners. When a new track is played in a sports game, it’s not unusual to see a music video-like graphic appear with song, artist and album information. Publicity in pixels is propelling big stars to get in the game, including superstar rapper 50 Cent, who will star in his own game later this year.
Unlike some celebrities who simply lend their names or likenesses to games, 50 Cent says he takes pride in the amount of work he put into the project. “I recorded hours of dialogue, I gave a lot of feedback on the look of the characters, the story, which is based on my life,” says Fiddy in a phone interview with Digital Journal. “And I wore a mo-cap [motion-capture] suit to record my movements.”
Did he just say “mo-cap?” When gangsta rappers start talking like geeks, it means convergence has reached a peak that will feel foreign to many diehard old-schoolers. Film-games are not ending their run anytime soon, so gamers can either revel in Scarface‘s drug-fuelled war cries or wax nostalgic about the golden days of Mortal Kombat — before it became a movie.
Silicon stardom: more celebs to watch for
Whether it’s their likeness or their voice, celebrities will be making appearances in a handful of upcoming video games. Here are a few of the more noteworthy
A-listers to check out:
