Clover Studios developed great games like God Hand and Okami. Next thing we know Capcom was closing them down and Keiji Inafune (of Lost Planet fame) comments that just getting good reviews does not equal success. Critically acclaimed games like Viva Pinata and Kameo: Elements of Power from Rare Studios ended up losing in the sales race. Beyond Good and Evil by Ubisoft was cursed with the same fate inspite of being a great piece of interactive entertainment. I know it’s sad but thats exactly the state of the game industry today. Fewer developers take risks with innovation and games that are out of the ordinary. In fact, developers do love to make games that have never-before-seen gameplay and a completely new feel to how a game plays out, but it’s the cut-throat producers and publishing companies that dont want the developers to take risks. For the publishers, games should ALWAYS equal to loads of green or there is no freaking point in publishing it.

That is the reason why we see loads of crappy games in the market that sell well just because they are related to some blockbuster movie or in some cases a famous celebrity. For example 50 cent Bulletproof was a disaster of a game but was on the best seller list. Publishers know that if they push developers to make games based on the next Disney movie, they are sure to sell a hundred thousand copies without any effort at all. The consumers are suckers for anything that is mass market. The game may be crap and have horrible gameplay but if it has a lead character that resembles THE ROCK JOHNSON…SOLD OUT!

Of course there have been some exceptions like the Vin Diesel starrer Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, but recent movie to game conversions like Ghost Rider and 300: March to Glory have proven yet again that making a great game from a great movie is just stupidity. 300 was an amazing movie with some of the best action choreography ever to grace the silver screen. And when word came out that Collision Studios would be making a game based on the movie, that too ONLY for the PSP, I thought they must be working hard on giving blood-thirsty 300 fans something to look out for. But what we got were a group of complete polygonal messes that are as responsive as a dead sloth. Yes, the game had blood; Yes, the game had gibs flying around; Yes, the game had the same storyline as the movie, but the game forgot to achieve the most important goal of a game… being playable.

Many movie critics said that 300 looked more like a video game in action and while it was supposed to be criticization, 300 Executive prouducer Thomas Tull took it as a compliment and went around scrounging up investors to form a brand new game studio called Brash Entertainment. Tull along with former iXL Enterprises CEO Bert Ellis, is rumoured to have secured approximately $150 million to fund the making of games that will be based on movies, music and books. They aim to develop around 60-100 titles in the next 5 years. One thing that they sure did right was naming their company. So we can expect more crappy games over the next five years, though I’m personally expecting to soon hear Brash Entertainment filing in for bankrupcy. Well, anyways, the curse continues.

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By N2H

• the ANGRY pixel » Butcher Bay Writer Gets On Board for Sin City Game Says:
  October 21st, 2007 at 11:32 pm

  [...] the great 300 PSP game debacle, I’ve really been skeptical about adaptations, even if Frank Miller is in, any way, [...]