John Woo Establishes Game Studio With Sega

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?

Comments

John Woo movies aren't all "bullet ballet"

[Abraxis]

I'm a big John Woo fan. I enjoy his american-made action films more than most of the genre, but his true genious is in the films he made in his Hong Kong days. What I love about movies like "The Killer" and "A Better Tomorrow" is that in addition to the unmatched action/gunplay, the movies are extremely thematic and symbolic. His Hong Kong pictures all revolve around themes like loyalty, brotherhood/camaraderie, humanity/compassion, and duty. His films often put two or more of these themes in direct conflict with one another-- and it's this dramatic tension that make the "heroic bloodshed" genre that was basically invented by Woo so much more than Chow Yun Fat sliding down a bannister in slow motion, twin berettas blazing.

I'm skeptical that a video game would succeed in capturing the greatness of John Woos films-- simply because the themes and symbolism that really make Woo's films special would be drowned out by the focus on the "action".

Having said that-- I still love playing "Action Half-Life" now and then :)

What kind of chance?

[AnamanFan]

"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?"

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."

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 in Boston held their 'Web Night' panel discussion which included Randy Fenton, the founder of Dare to Play (DtP). 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, 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' or 'The Longest Journey' 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. 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...