MTV has put Jerry Bruckheimer, the Hollywood producer behind the likes of Top Gun, Pirates of the Caribbean and CSI, in charge of a games development studio.
The deal will see Bruckheimer heading up a team to create games based on new intellectual property (IP) over the course of several years.
MTV, of course, is no stranger to gaming. MTV Networks earmarked $500 million (£250 million) to pump into games this year, some of which is going into this partnership. The company also acquired Harmonix - the original Guitar Hero developer - last year and the fruit of that deal, Rock Band, is due in UK shops in March.
MTV and Bruckheimer are keeping the details of exactly what they will be producing close to their chests. Jeff Yapp, executive VP of programming enterprises for MTV Networks Music Group, did have this to say of what he wants people to think, however: "Hopefully what they're thinking is: 'These guys are pushing the envelope in pretty big ways.' Not lots of little projects. We're making some big bets." Suitably enigmatic, we're sure you'll agree.
However, you don't sign Bruckheimer to make Bubble Bobble or Pony Friends.
Yapp also suggested that MTV and Bruckheimer will be condensing the amount of time taken to produce a game. "If you look at traditional gaming, you'd say 18 months to two years, if everything was perfect", Yapp said. Apparently, however, he and Bruckheimer are looking at taking approaches from other mediums such as mobile, TV and virtual spaces. "I think the point that sticks out for Jerry and I is ... a new form of entertainment that links all of those forms of entertainment together. If that happens, and that idea is there, we can be out much faster." How much faster, Jeff? No details on that one? Thinking of turning it all into a bit of a games factory? Knocking games out at two a week? Is that a good idea?
Leaving those questions unanswered, Bruckheimer is promising a bit of a maverick approach to games production, saying to Reuters†, "It's no different than what we did with movies. We did Top Gun when everyone said you couldn't do an aviation movie because they all failed. We did a pirate movie when they said pirate movies aren't going to work... We approach gaming the same way. We see things a little differently, that maybe other people wouldn't see."
As for why Bruckheimer's picked now to get into games... well, we'll let him tell you. "I think the New Year is upon us, and we all make our New Year's resolutions. It's time to set our creative energies into other areas I haven't been in before, so it's a perfect time for me", he said.
Nice soundbite, but that might be seen as a little disingenuous, given that the deal was hatched earlier this year, with Bruckheimer still in the process of assembling a team.
Bruckheimer has admitted he's not a massive gamer. He's been playing a bit of Halo 3 lately, apparently, but said, "I wasn't the first one in line" when the third instalment came out.
Yapp, however, isn't bothered. "I didn't care", he said. "What I wanted was his ability to tell a story that uniquely connects to an audience and now to give him a new set of tools, which is the interactive set of tools that he has not had the opportunity to play with yet. Someone said to me that before he came to television he was largely a film guy, and film guys go to TV, and very few of them succeed. Well, Jerry clearly succeeded there."
So, even as Steven Spielberg continues to beaver away over at Electronic Arts with his 'Hitchcock Meets E.T.' game exclusively for Wii, his arch nemesis teams up for 'Jean-Luc Godard meets Top Gun'!
Okay, so maybe Bruckheimer isn't Steve's arch-nemesis, but we'd like to think they'd both go and throw rotten eggs at James Cameron.
Is Bruckheimer going to be any good at making games? Do you even remember that Spielberg is making games? Let us know in the Forum.
Source: MTV, †Reuters
The deal will see Bruckheimer heading up a team to create games based on new intellectual property (IP) over the course of several years.
MTV, of course, is no stranger to gaming. MTV Networks earmarked $500 million (£250 million) to pump into games this year, some of which is going into this partnership. The company also acquired Harmonix - the original Guitar Hero developer - last year and the fruit of that deal, Rock Band, is due in UK shops in March.
MTV and Bruckheimer are keeping the details of exactly what they will be producing close to their chests. Jeff Yapp, executive VP of programming enterprises for MTV Networks Music Group, did have this to say of what he wants people to think, however: "Hopefully what they're thinking is: 'These guys are pushing the envelope in pretty big ways.' Not lots of little projects. We're making some big bets." Suitably enigmatic, we're sure you'll agree.
However, you don't sign Bruckheimer to make Bubble Bobble or Pony Friends.
Yapp also suggested that MTV and Bruckheimer will be condensing the amount of time taken to produce a game. "If you look at traditional gaming, you'd say 18 months to two years, if everything was perfect", Yapp said. Apparently, however, he and Bruckheimer are looking at taking approaches from other mediums such as mobile, TV and virtual spaces. "I think the point that sticks out for Jerry and I is ... a new form of entertainment that links all of those forms of entertainment together. If that happens, and that idea is there, we can be out much faster." How much faster, Jeff? No details on that one? Thinking of turning it all into a bit of a games factory? Knocking games out at two a week? Is that a good idea?
Leaving those questions unanswered, Bruckheimer is promising a bit of a maverick approach to games production, saying to Reuters†, "It's no different than what we did with movies. We did Top Gun when everyone said you couldn't do an aviation movie because they all failed. We did a pirate movie when they said pirate movies aren't going to work... We approach gaming the same way. We see things a little differently, that maybe other people wouldn't see."
As for why Bruckheimer's picked now to get into games... well, we'll let him tell you. "I think the New Year is upon us, and we all make our New Year's resolutions. It's time to set our creative energies into other areas I haven't been in before, so it's a perfect time for me", he said.
Nice soundbite, but that might be seen as a little disingenuous, given that the deal was hatched earlier this year, with Bruckheimer still in the process of assembling a team.
Bruckheimer has admitted he's not a massive gamer. He's been playing a bit of Halo 3 lately, apparently, but said, "I wasn't the first one in line" when the third instalment came out.
Yapp, however, isn't bothered. "I didn't care", he said. "What I wanted was his ability to tell a story that uniquely connects to an audience and now to give him a new set of tools, which is the interactive set of tools that he has not had the opportunity to play with yet. Someone said to me that before he came to television he was largely a film guy, and film guys go to TV, and very few of them succeed. Well, Jerry clearly succeeded there."
So, even as Steven Spielberg continues to beaver away over at Electronic Arts with his 'Hitchcock Meets E.T.' game exclusively for Wii, his arch nemesis teams up for 'Jean-Luc Godard meets Top Gun'!
Okay, so maybe Bruckheimer isn't Steve's arch-nemesis, but we'd like to think they'd both go and throw rotten eggs at James Cameron.
Is Bruckheimer going to be any good at making games? Do you even remember that Spielberg is making games? Let us know in the Forum.
Source: MTV, †Reuters
Companies:
MTV Games
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