Videogames Can Be Hollywood's Test Bed, Says Tron: Legacy Producer

[Logan Westbrook]

Videogames Can Be Hollywood's Test Bed, Says Tron: Legacy Producer

Videogames can help broaden a franchise and keep audiences engaged after the movie ends.

Steven Lisberger, who directed the original Tron movie and is a producer on Tron: Legacy, said that in some cases, videogames were an opportunity for Hollywood studios to test out their wilder ideas without the costs involved in making a full movie.

Lisberger was referring to Tron: Evolution [http://www.amazon.com/TRON-Evolution-Playstation-3/dp/B0030MQPQ8/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1292862359&sr=1-1], and its Wii counterpart, Battle Grids [http://www.amazon.com/TRON-Evolution-Battle-Grids-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B003TEI3E4/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1292862449&sr=1-3], which fill in some of the 28-year-gap between the first and second Tron movies, a time span perhaps a little too broad for a two hour movie, but just right for a videogame. He thought that having videogames as a place where Hollywood could develop its grander ideas was a good relationship for the two mediums to have.

Disney CEO Bob Iger added that games were a way of keeping people engaged with a movie franchise beyond just the theatrical releases. He was especially excited about the opportunities afforded to Tron: Legacy by 3D gaming, which he thought created a more immersive experience, which in turn would draw people even further into the Tron universe.

The idea that tie-in games like Tron: Evolution should relate to the movies that spawned them, but not necessarily be a straight film-to-game conversion has a lot of merit. Of course, a slightly different idea or focus does little to counteract the effects of a rushed development cycle to get the game out in time for a movie's launch. The best tie-in game might just be the one that comes after the movie, not before.

Source: Reuters [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BJ11X20101220?pageNumber=1] via Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32112/Video_Games_Provide_Test_Bed_For_Hollywoods_Far_Out_Ideas_Says_Tron_Creator.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GamasutraNews+(Gamasutra+News)]








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[Stabby Joe]

Sounds good... maybe these games can be GOOD perhaps?

 

[RatRace123]

It does sound good, it can help expand the film's world, and if it's not being confined to the movie's storyline, maybe tie in games can actually stand as good games in their own right.

 

[Woodsey]

Or they could stay separate, and at most games would take part in the same universe.

There is no need for a link.

 

[Tim Latshaw]

I think that makes a lot of sense. Better for videogames to be Hollywood's test bed than Hollywood to be videogames' casting couch.

 

[Diligent]

Movies based on books usually pull ideas from the books and rework it completely to fit a 2 hour story.
Books based on games seem to tell a more fleshed out story that expands the universe of the game, but doesn't necessarily cover all the events in the game.

So why is it that games based on movies feel the need to tread through the events of the movie we already watched and pad it out with mediocre gameplay? And that's not to mention the horror that usually is movies based on games.

It's about time Hollywood and movie tie in producers took a queue from other mediums and did it properly.

 

[Formica Archonis]

So, how does everyone think this article sounds if you replace every reference to Tron with a reference to a Riddick property?

 

[trondis]

It does sound good, it can help expand the film's world, and if it's not being confined to the movie's storyline, maybe tie in games can actually stand as good games in their own right.

DINGDINGDINGDINGDING I actually work with Disney Interactive, and I can assure you that the thing you're talking about was a specific goal of TRON: Evolution from the first moment development kicked off. The games were meant to flesh out the overarching TRON narrative, not to just rehash events die-hard TRON fans already know by heart and new TRON fans have no investment in. Of course, since TRON itself is all about the interplay between the "real world" and the world of a videogame, it was something of a unique opportunity to get creative and blur the lines. Nevertheless, we're very pleased with how things turned out and we hope TRON fans will be too. If anyone has any questions about TRON: Evolution, feel free to ask!

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

So, how does everyone think this article sounds if you replace every reference to Tron with a reference to a Riddick property?

I like the idea of there being 28 years between Riddick movies.

What?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Steven Lisberger, who directed the original Tron movie and is a producer on Tron: Legacy, said that in some cases, videogames were an opportunity for Hollywood studios to test out their wilder ideas without the costs involved in making a full movie.

It's that "in some cases" that's people should take note of. TRON is a property that lends itself to both mediums so it's something of a special case. Certainly there are other properties that will, or at least can, do the same but at the same time there are also those that won't.

Certainly, games that expand on a property instead of forcing players to rote play through a movie's 'highlights reel' would be a massive improvement. However, the question really comes down to the ability of studios to give game developers enough freedom in a medium that the studios really know dick all about if they're thinking games would make an excellent 'ideas testbed'.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Why should video games be a test bed for a failing industry? It's not like the movie industry has actually been producing a lot of quality content as of late, so creating video games based on that content would just end up costing valuable money and manpower. Heck, the content crisis in the movie industry is so bad that they are turning to video games for quality content, hence why we are seeing so many video game-based movies in production as of late.

The movie industry should work on fixing it's content problem first. Otherwise, it will just end up dragging gaming down along with it.

 

[AsurasFinest]

Only time I have ever seen a movie game resembling a good game was Spiderman 2
They just perfected the web swinging in that game,every other Spiderman game has been a massive step backwards with it

Anyways on topic:
No, this idea is just a waste of time