The Screengrab : videogames

Just Think of It As a Trust Fall

John Constantine — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:09:00 GMT

Yes, we are a film blog. However, our coverage of this glorious medium has wonderful crossovers with other forms of expression. While it would seem that this clip is videogame based, you’d be wrong. The medium here is Buseydom. While the creative landscape of Buseydom is relegated to but a single voice, it is no less potent for it as recent times have shown. Watch, revel, and delight in the fact that the future holds even more shorts with Busey talking about horrific digitized acts of violence.

Our thanks go to GameILife, Wired’s very own gaming blog. To editor Chris Kohler: the Screengrab will wreck you at Smash Bros. Bring it.

George Miller: The Furious Multimedia Road

John Constantine — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:54:00 GMT

Saying that 2008 is an interesting time for visual media is an understatement. As an art form, filmmaking has never been more accessible. Making a movie is cheap and distribution is only a Youtube account away. It’s interesting then to watch the growing trend of successful theatrical filmmakers looking to other mediums, specifically video games, as a new avenue of not just business but expression. Peter Jackson’s working on multiple projects within Microsoft’s omnipresent Halo franchise, Steven Spielberg’s developing three separate games for Electronic Arts (the first of which, Boom Blox for the Wii, you can check out here), and Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis have beaten the ravages of aging by turning to games for a third Ghostbusters. Now George Miller, of Mad Max and Babe fame, is getting in on the action. In a series of exclusive interviews with N’Gai Croal (arguably the most important voice in games journalism and who also happens to be a filmmaker himself), Miller announced that he’s collaborating with game developer Cory Barlog on a number of new projects, the first of which being a Mad Max game that will be created alongside the long in development Mad Max: Fury Road. Barlog is most famous for his work on the God of War series that, while different in subject, has quite a bit in common thematically with Mad Max. Miller and Barlog will be working together on both film and game, utilizing the same cast for both.

What’s fascinating about this partnership is not just Miller’s interest in games as a narrative medium offering opportunities beyond film’s natural constraints but that he’s sought out a singular auteur to work with. Modern game development, as Croal discusses with both Barlog and Miller, is not unlike Hollywood sixty years ago: directors are traditionally studio employees and not independent artists for hire. This collaboration is an exciting moment for film and game alike. Plus new Mad Max! GIBSONLESS MAD MAX!

Morning Deal Report: Wino Forever

Peter Smith — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:00:00 GMT

Winona Ryder (odd picture, eh?) has joined JJ Abrams' Star Trek. Wonders never cease. Now, the last time she jumped into a science-fiction franchise, it was. . . uh oh.

I love videogames. And I love movies. But the two really don't belong together. The most annoying trend in videogames over the past fifteen years has been the desire to turn every game into an "interactive movie." The pleasure of a videogame is not narrative; it's explorative, physical. As for movies based on games, I think the record is pretty clear. In any case, Mark Wahlberg will star in Max Payne, playing "[a] cop who is haunted by the tragic loss of his family and has little regard for rules". . . um, why do you people even need a license? Can't you make this shit up on your own?

Josh Hartnett will star in an adaptation of Don DeLillo's second novel, End Zone. "Yet to be cast," says Variety, "is a teacher of international terrorism and mass destruction." Yep, that sounds like DeLillo.

— Peter Smith