Majesco to Publish Steven Spielberg's Jaws Next Year

With a large proportion of big budget cinema releases justifying some form of game adaptation, the film-to-game phenomenon is omnipresent in today’s industry. However, there are a considerable number of landmark movies that were released while the world of videogames was still in its infancy, and so never made the full transition to interactive form.

One such celluloid classic is Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, which as announced today, is due to be published as a PS2, Xbox and PC game by Majesco in time for the film's 30th birthday. Developers Appaloosa claim to have a spectacular underwater graphics engine with which to recreate the big angry great white, and bearing in mind that it was this same company that crafted Ecco The Dolphin on the Dreamcast and PS2, it is ideally qualified to do so.

Jesse Sutton, Majesco CEO said of the newly acquired license, “Without a doubt, Jaws is one of the most revered classics of all time… The game will capture that same action and excitement as the movie, but this time, the shark enjoys some payback.” So it would seem Jaws, the game, places the shark as the hero rather than the enemy, something reiterated by Universal Pictures’ Bill Kispert: “With Jaws, the game, we want to give players that same adrenaline rush as they control the power and fury of a great white.”

With underwater gameplay centred around action-based puzzles, Jaws already sounds rather reminiscent of Ecco, and could well play in a similar style to Natsume’s Finny The Fish and The Seven Waters – another underwater fish sim due out at around the same time, in early 2005. But put those two titles side by side, and it wouldn’t take a genius to work out which one will make the bigger splash.