ZeniMax Brings Game Expertise to USC Film School

[Andy Chalk]

ZeniMax Brings Game Expertise to USC Film School

The Interactive Media Division of the ZeniMax Media [http://cinema.usc.edu/] through a partnership that will deliver internships and guest lectures by developers from studios like Bethesda and id.

The general perception of the relationship between the film and videogame industries is a fairly simple one: no game is a full-on mainstream success until it gets optioned for a movie. Never mind that game-based movies are almost invariably bad or that major game releases now routinely bring in more money than summer blockbusters; the simple fact is that you're not a hit until you're Hollywood. But as videogames become increasingly cinematic in presentation and the fact that videogames are mainstream in their own right slowly sinks in, that perception may be starting to change.

One sign of that change may be seen in the new partnership between ZeniMax Media and the School of Cinematic Arts at USC. ZeniMax may not be an instantly recognizable name but Arkane Studios [http://www.bethsoft.com/] certainly are and as part of the deal, "noted developers" from those studios will deliver guest lectures and small seminars related to various game development disciplines.

"As the video game industry experiences continuing worldwide growth, there is an increasing need to support the education of the brightest minds who are interested in a career in our industry," said ZeniMax Media CEO Robert Altman. "We are pleased to be a part of that effort."

"The potential for this partnership is virtually limitless," added Elizabeth M. Daley, Dean of the USC School of Cinematic Arts. "I'm eager to see how our students will take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity and further hone their abilities to create engaging and entertaining experiences for gaming audiences around the world."

Movies are movies and games are games and if ever the twain shall meet it will be in games, where the cinematic experience has room to grow, and not at the local Megaplex, where the only room for gaming is in the lobby. This obviously isn't a case of "showing them how it's done," but it is a reversal of sorts and it's hard not to see at least the suggestion that the game industry is ready to be taken seriously as a creatively equal medium.


Permalink

 

[Hungry Donner]

That's pretty cool, I'm curious to see what comes out of this

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

Pretty strange coicidence that this news is being published considering today's extra credit episode

 

[Andy Chalk]

I haven't actually watched it. I'll check it out now.

 

[That One Six]

Cool, cool. I'd love more, higher quality cinematics in games, but I really don't want games to become movies. *Cough, cough* Metal Gear Solid 4 *Cough*

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Interesting that since the gaming industry makes more money than the music industry or the moviemaking industry, those others industries start to accept that fact, and i wouldn't be surprised to see them merge with the videogame industry, even cooperate in original projects.

now the question is: Into what will it lead ?


let's hope for the best.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Cool, cool. I'd love more, higher quality cinematics in games, but I really don't want games to become movies. *Cough, cough* Metal Gear Solid 4 *Cough*

Agreed, if you want me to play the game don't take that away from me for the coolest bits. Cinematics are great in small doses, and they can be a wonderful way to show you what's happening around you, but I hate to have my character continuously taken away from me.

RTSs usually handle cinematics well since they're showing you what happens in between battles. Among RPGs and FPSs this is much trickier, there are few instances I can think of where cinematics worked out well unless they were kept to a minimum. It's not impossible, Thief did a great job of using cinematics as the backbone of the story while leaving most of the action and discover to the game itself.

 

[Andy Chalk]

The thing with video interludes in games is that while they can be very impressive with current technology, very few people do anything with them. I can't really be unbiased because I'm an acknowledged Thief fanboy but as Donner mentioned, Thief is a great example of a game that took a unique and fantastic approach to storytelling through unconventional cinematics. The recent Extra Credits episode does fit the story rather well; we have the technology to do amazing things, now we need to start doing them.

Which doesn't really relate to the matter at hand - the maturation of games as a medium - but when you consider that we could very well be standing on the cusp of a creative revolution, you have to think that there are great things ahead.

 

[Michael O'Hair]

Oh, good. Movies with bugs in them, and movies about the last space marine on Mars/Earth/Stroggos/some brown technocastle.

 

[Hungry Donner]

I?m very curious to see where this relationship goes, neither Bethesda Game Studios nor id software are known for using lots of cinematics in their games. There are a number of new studios in the ZeniMax family and perhaps one of them is planning a cinematics-heavy game but I get the impression it?s more than just that.

Perhaps USC is specifically looking to educate their students on the game industry, and perhaps ZeniMax wants to attract designers with a cinematic perspective. Escape From Butcher Bay had a very cinematic feel to it without relying heavily on actual cinematics, and ultimately movies are about story-telling, something very topical for game development regardless of the medium.

When gaming really took off as a mainstream industry, rather than something cast as a nerdy pursuit (even if plenty of households had an NES or a Sega Genesis in the living room), it was often compared to the film industry. It?s nice to see that ~10 years down the road the film industry feels there?s something to gain from the gaming industry.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Snip

Pretty strange coicidence that this news is being published considering today's extra credit episode

It isn't a coincidence; these big name Publishers see the writing on the wall, and their future profitability hinges on whether or not they can continue to stifle variety in the game market.

If the market divides as Extra Credits predicts, that would spell disaster for those record-setting cash-cow franchises. The influx of customers might find other, more interesting titles to play instead of the current AAA-dominated marketplace. (the reasoning behind this being that new customers continue to pile onto the same franchises because everything else sucks).
Niche' titles will develop, and the more specific demands will be met.

Record-setting Mega-hits like Black Ops cannot persist in a diversified market; they turn money BECAUSE the market is stagnant and narrow, and they are the best of what that narrow genre has to offer.

Even Halo didn't generate profit margins of the magnitude of Activision's Golden Goose.
Halo: CE was released in a very diverse market; there were still avenues of gaming being explored and great titles being released monthly.

Today, we see 3-4 "Mega Titles" released annually, with everything else filling in the gaps.

Bethesda is doing the smart thing by finding new talent, and trying to encourage growth into the field directly; my opinion of them is still not particularly high, but even here I can't really fault their action.

 

[Tiamat666]

The general perception of the relationship between the film and videogame industries is a fairly simple one: no game is a full-on mainstream success until it gets optioned for a movie.

Really? Where does that perception come from? This would mean that Warcraft, Starcraft, Call of Duty, etc. have been off the mainstream radar for years whereas games such as Postal and BloodRayne are full-on mainstream successes?

I do not aggree with this perception at all. I don't see much of a correlation between game success and movie adaptation.

 

[Hungry Donner]

If the market divides as Extra Credits predicts, that would spell disaster for those record-setting cash-cow franchises. The influx of customers might find other, more interesting titles to play instead of the current AAA-dominated marketplace. (the reasoning behind this being that new customers continue to pile onto the same franchises because everything else sucks).
Niche' titles will develop, and the more specific demands will be met.

Record-setting Mega-hits like Black Ops cannot persist in a diversified market; they turn money BECAUSE the market is stagnant and narrow, and they are the best of what that narrow genre has to offer.

Even Halo didn't generate profit margins of the magnitude of Activision's Golden Goose.
Halo: CE was released in a very diverse market; there were still avenues of gaming being explored and great titles being released monthly.

Today, we see 3-4 "Mega Titles" released annually, with everything else filling in the gaps.

Gaming has gone in the direction of ?blockbusters,? there was a good article about the economics behind this here last summer [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/publishers-note/7688-Publisher-Note-10-E-for-Everyone-Except-Me]. However while the blockbusters have been getting tons of press in the industry the industry itself has also been broadening. Social gaming, while often scorned is becoming an important force in the market while at the same time indie games are starting to attract a lot of attention as well. It wasn?t that long ago that indie developers received little press, today titles like Minecraft, Super Meat Boy, Braid, and Amnesia get just as much attention as major developer releases. While blockbuster titles receive a ton of coverage you don?t have to look far past them to find a healthy market of mainstream AAA games that are well received and financially successful even if they don?t have the prominence of Call of Duty.

While there may be less than a dozen really major titles released every year (although that number sounds low to me) there are many more developers out there than that. When I filled out my March Mayhem bracket I recognized almost all of the developers listed or at least a recent title of theirs, and there are sixty four names on that list! Several are indie developers or in to social gaming but there are still a lot of healthy mainstream developers in the market who are producing AAA games.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I do not aggree with this perception at all. I don't see much of a correlation between game success and movie adaptation.

I'm not talking about the success of a game. I said "general perception," and you're not seeing it because you're a gamer. Gaming is coming on as a mainstream media (which is precisely why things like this ZeniMax/USC deal are happening) but if you ask the average slack-jawed media consumer man on the street, movies are still the big time. You haven't made it until you've gone Hollywood.

I think most gamers subconsciously feel the same way. How else could you explain all the joyful squealing when it was announced that Gore Verbinski would direct a BioShock movie?