Raiders of the Lost Sim

[simmiecal]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4341118.stm

Spielberg takes film magic to EA

"Having watched the game industry grow from a niche into a major creative force in entertainment, I have a great deal of respect for EA's understanding of the interactive format," said Spielberg.

I like Spielberg's movies. Wonder how he'll be creating games - and how the partnership between him and EA will turn out.

[noname]

Oh, but his last few movies were kinda bad . . .

I like the idea, however, of Hollywood directors making games. Even though I don't have high hopes for the games they make, it brings gaming to the forefront of culture, which can only be a good thing. When this culture is marginalized, you get too many people like Jack Thompson, who hate it because they don't understand it.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Also, they are obviously highly creative, and their ideas may bring some new aspects to gaming generally.

And Jack Thompson doesn't want to understand it!  There'd be no mileage in it for him!

[Ardin Topani]

"Spielberg's DreamWorks had produced games for a time under its DreamWorks Interactive division, but EA bought it in 2000."

Call me cynical, but I think this is the only reason they are bringing Spielberg into anything. It was probably part of the buyout agreement. Spielberg probably started DreamWorks Interactive because he got a bee in his bonnet to make games, but he probably didn't know the first thing about running a game company, which is why EA probably walked in and bought it. Also, this comment ("Spielberg's role will be similar to that of an executive producer on a film.") seems to say that he's there to bring in capital and argue with the developers to add in whatever elements he thinks will be cool.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, I never for one moment imagined him sitting down at a computer and working out the programming!  But it's a pity Hitchcock isn't with us any more - there would have been some creative ideas!!!!

[windy_moon]

Fresh thinking is good.  Fresh creative thinking is better.  Fresh creative thinking backed by lotsa capital is really really good.

The female market is still marginalized by the gaming industry, even after the "shocking" Sims revelation that women, even middle aged women, know how to turn on their computers (and pull out their credit cards) too.

There isn't a lot that is written that has the broad appeal of a classic Spielberg blockbuster.  You could argue that The Sims has a correlation to Raiders of the Lost Ark, something for everyone.  What other games are out there like that, besides the Sims?

(If there are, don't tell me.  The Sims is already too much for me!  )

If Spielberg actually plays games, imagine what he could bring to the table.  If he doesn't have fingers on the keyboard (controller), well, concept to experience is a long road.

[syberspunk]

Oh, but his last few movies were kinda bad . . .

Are you kidding? Well I haven't seen Saving Private Ryan, but supposabley that was good.

Now, admittedly, upon first viewing, A.I. and Minority Report were let downs for me in the theatre, just because they were very long, and it felt like they each could have had 3 different endings. BUT! I definately feel that these movies are the kind that require repeated viewings. I definately gained a greater appreciation for both of those films, after watching them a couple more times at home.

And his last three films were fantastically entertaining: Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal were a bit more whimsical, but they were still both great films. And War of the Worlds? I thought the remake was excellent! The film itself was visually stunning and the acting was pretty top-notch, even if it had a buncha crazies in it (Tom AND Tim, what's up with that?!?! Freaks. ). Nevertheless, I thought it was all done very well, the characters were nicely developed, and it was cool to bring the focus of the story onto a family, with the original story as a backdrop for all the tension. And I may not necessarily be a huge Dakota Fanning er... well... fan but I think she was really good in this film. I definately think she's a rising star with potential chops comparable to Jodie Foster, Drew Barrymore, and Haley Joel Osment. I've read that people have complained and bitched about her just being a screamer, but I thought she was very convincing and compelling in WotW, which was just, to me, your basic, classic Sci-fi at its best. And personally, I can't wait to see how Munich will turn out. That just seems like it'll be an interesting project. Not to mention, what will hopefully be classic Spielberg in the upcoming Indiana film.  


Ste

[ZephyrZodiac]

Just think, though, Spielberg dropped out of college to start his film-making career, and only finished his degree a few years back, I believe!  Today, I doubt that could happen - you almost need a degree these days to get a job as a garbage disposal person!  and I honestly think that too much education can kill creativity!

[Ness]

There isn't a lot that is written that has the broad appeal of a classic Spielberg blockbuster.  You could argue that The Sims has a correlation to Raiders of the Lost Ark, something for everyone.  What other games are out there like that, besides the Sims?

(If there are, don't tell me.  The Sims is already too much for me!  )

You can tell me instead! 

I just spent some time browsing through a computer game store - and left thinking that if some company actually cottoned on to the idea that females about the age of 10 like to play with computers, then there's a huge market...  once you eliminated all the first person shooters, racing games, and sports games, there really wasn't a lot left!

about the only games I play are sims and settlers - I'd really like (considering just how long those two have been around!) to find something else!

Ness

[ZephyrZodiac]

Yes, the whole gaming thing revolves around males of about 15 - as if they are the only people out therre who use computers!  Sexist/Ageist or what?

[windy_moon]

Yes, the whole gaming thing revolves around males of about 15 - as if they are the only people out therre who use computers!  Sexist/Ageist or what?

*nods*

My day job is strategic marketing, so I tend to look at anything from that perspective. I've read up, just a bit, on the gaming industry and the female and/or non 15 year old male markets...The Sims revealed huge markets for gaming that was previously thought non-existent..but after all of these years, they still don't know what to do with it...lack of ideas.  Not necessarily lack of will (there's money in them thar hills!), but lack of ideas.

If you could get a mind like Spielberg or Lucas (or their next generation counterparts) engaged in gaming, the world could explode open.  They never let technological limits get in the way of their storytelling...when they didn't have the technology, they hired smart people to invent it on the fly, hence Industrial Light & Magic.

Now that I think about it, I'm surprised Lucas hasn't made a game already, since the gaming industry is practically white canvas for him to paint. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

Also, what about really good games for kids - at present most games, being geared for teenage boys, are just not suitable for a seven-year-old!  Wouldn't you think disney would really start to open up this market?

[noname]

Oh, but his last few movies were kinda bad . . .

Are you kidding? Well I haven't seen Saving Private Ryan, but supposabley that was good.

Now, admittedly, upon first viewing, A.I. and Minority Report were let downs for me in the theatre, just because they were very long, and it felt like they each could have had 3 different endings. BUT! I definately feel that these movies are the kind that require repeated viewings. I definately gained a greater appreciation for both of those films, after watching them a couple more times at home.

And his last three films were fantastically entertaining: Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal were a bit more whimsical, but they were still both great films. And War of the Worlds? I thought the remake was excellent! The film itself was visually stunning and the acting was pretty top-notch, even if it had a buncha crazies in it (Tom AND Tim, what's up with that?!?! Freaks. ). Nevertheless, I thought it was all done very well, the characters were nicely developed, and it was cool to bring the focus of the story onto a family, with the original story as a backdrop for all the tension. And I may not necessarily be a huge Dakota Fanning er... well... fan but I think she was really good in this film. I definately think she's a rising star with potential chops comparable to Jodie Foster, Drew Barrymore, and Haley Joel Osment. I've read that people have complained and bitched about her just being a screamer, but I thought she was very convincing and compelling in WotW, which was just, to me, your basic, classic Sci-fi at its best. And personally, I can't wait to see how Munich will turn out. That just seems like it'll be an interesting project. Not to mention, what will hopefully be classic Spielberg in the upcoming Indiana film.  


Ste

Well, I was going mostly by what I'd heard, because I hadn't seen most of the movies. I did see WotW (at the NYC premeire, in fact!) and although I liked the special effects, I hated Spielberg's whole "lets add some family values into it" deal. I also felt it had a weak ending.

[Renatus]

I could recommend a whole big pile of games, but I don't know if I have 'odd' tastes for a female gamer or not. That doesn't mean you aren't completely right, Zephyr and Windy - the game industry still has it's collective head stuck in it's ass the 80's when it comes to a lot of game design, and I still get surprised reactions from some guys when I tell them I play video games, and no, I'm not talking about solitaire. Makes me wonder what rock they've been living under - I know so many people who play games now I'm surprised when I meet one who doesn't.

At any rate, they need to start taking advice given to authors and apply it to the games they make - don't bloody focus on the gender of the player, design it for people, and put characters who are people in it. Make it fun for, you guessed it, people. Gender is by and large irrelevant if one focuses on making something awesome that people will like (although a little good sense in costume design never hurt anyone).

[ZephyrZodiac]

Yes, you're right, but they need to recognise what it took hundreds of years for governments to realise - women are people to!!!  As it is, they may be programming video games for the 21st century, but their collective heads are still firmly in the 19th!

[windy_moon]

Also, what about really good games for kids - at present most games, being geared for teenage boys, are just not suitable for a seven-year-old!  Wouldn't you think disney would really start to open up this market?

I've done okay with my boys, mostly Mario.  Say it with me..... Mah-ri-OH!.  We started with the N64 when they were 6 and under.  

True story, boys 6 and 4.  The oldest needed help from his younger brother to navigate the game and got used to depending on him as they played together.  Dad and I often played with them, but also like to just listen from the other room. Oldest would get frustrated and demand help from his brother, funniest was when the boxes of directions or dialogue would pop up.

6 year old, loudly, "What does it say, what does it SAY?"
4 year old, even more loudly, "For the last time, I can't read!!"

 

Disney turns out games for every big movie.  Most of them are crap with little replay value... I know, we've spent hundreds on them.  Nintendo has produced a lot of good titles, though, family games that can also appeal to that 15 year old gamer.  

Consoles we own:  N64 (still works but barely), GameCube, PS1, PS2, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy 2 (i think), that latest little Nintendo thing.....bunches and gobs of games later, I still think the Mario line is the only one that has a broad spectrum appeal.  My younger (11 now) is playing Sly something or other now, the third edition, and while I watch him I just can't get into it.

Give me a new Mario story game, though, and I'm in.  (Not the same thing as the Sims, though, is it.)

[syberspunk]

Well, I was going mostly by what I'd heard, because I hadn't seen most of the movies. I did see WotW (at the NYC premeire, in fact!) and although I liked the special effects, I hated Spielberg's whole "lets add some family values into it" deal. I also felt it had a weak ending.

Well, I just totally love movies. I love everything about movies: the acting, the costumes, the visuals, the cinematography, the direction, the emotion, drama, comedy, action, etc. and the story. And I thought some of Spielberg's latest movies were pretty good at visual story telling. As for WotW, I actually thought the ending was quite satisfactory. I thought that it really harkened back to classic sci-fi/fantasy storytelling. Something that you would see in shows like the Twilight Zone, or Strange Tales or Amazing Stories or whatever those shows were called. I thought it was great, fantastic irony, and although it was a bit implausible (the aliens had technology to supposably send ships lightyears away from their origin, and theoretically millions of years ago, but they didn't have technology that would have detected whether the planet had a hospitable environment?!?!?! Didn't they learn anything about "M" class planets from watching Star Trek?  ), I still thought it was a great ending to a great story. I would have been disappointed if they attempted to "Hollywood" it up with like a final, climactic battle. That would be too "ID4" for me. And I thought it was great that they added the story of the family because it helps to humanize it, and put you in their place and experience what they were going through, the true terror of it all, and to really throw you into the thick of things. It's a great way to bring the viewer in and immerse you within the story. All in all, I thought it was a great movie. It was a fun, summer blockbuster Hollywood action movie, and it did its job, to entertain, quite well.

Anyway, I think Spielberg still has that touch. Something that Lucas has sort of lost focus of. The thing is, Spielberg still has that twinkle of child-like innocence in him, but yet, he's grown more mature in his style and taste. It's a bit grittier; there's a grim, darker, edgier feel in his movies, and yet he still manages to capture that whimsical, child-like essence as well. This was probably always there, even as far as E.T. and Close Encounters, but it was probably more subtle and somewhat underdeveloped. I think now, he's finding a balance; it's a bit more sharpened and focused, yet still retain s a rawness to it as well. I'm sure this all sounds like bullshit, but I can't explain it any better since it is 5:30 AM and I'm a bit delirious and sleepy. lol.

Now that I think about it, I'm surprised Lucas hasn't made a game already, since the gaming industry is practically white canvas for him to paint. 

Actually, doesn't Lucas have a whole like division devoted to video games? LucasArts? Most of their games have been pretty excellent, especially the PC games, or so I've read/heard. I haven't really played those. A lot of the flight simulating/shooter games for the consoles were really good. But the other platformer types all pretty much sucked, with the exception of the SNES version of the original Star Wars trilogy, at least for me, personally. The graphics for those three games were amazing for that system, and they adhered fairly well to the story line of each movie, for the most part, and it was pretty decent platforming and decent execution of lightsabering and force powers. A lot of the new franchise games have been mostly crap, with probably the exception of that space pod racing game (again, hardly played that one, but it did seem kinda cool). But the most recent games, like the Rogue Squadron ones for the GameCube, and Battlefront were all very excellent. I'm totally looking forward to Battlefront II.

Ste

[Diala]

I don't know what they have for the PC, but with console systems, there are a lot of genres to choose from. Sure, there are a lot of one-shooters, racing, and sports games,  but there are also puzzles, RPGs, platforms, and many others. Personally, I find enough console games to play to keep me happy. However, I am not a person of quite "female" tastes, and have been playing video games since I was very young. I may not relate to the "average female" out there.

What I recommend is that you go to a game store that sells old consoles like the Super Nintendo and Genesis and look at those. They tend to have a lot of good games that aren't violent and graphic, simply due to limitations in the graphics. They're cheap, but they are very good games, that sold for about $30 many years ago when they were new. What I would be careful of is of games that have battery memories, that the saved files on your games may suddenly become 'deleted.' Make sure the store has a return policy just in case you get a faulty cartridge.

If you like Mario, I recommend similar series like Sonic, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and many, many others. There are tons, and they tend to be similar in style. Sonic is the next best thing to Mario, too, except with animals.

...as for PC games, count me out.

[Renatus]

Actually, doesn't Lucas have a whole like division devoted to video games? LucasArts?

He does indeed! They've been putting out games for quite a long time now (1987!). My favourites are the old adventure games - Maniac Mansion, the Monkey Island series, Loom, The Dig... they're good 'everyone' games because they require thinking and very little in the way of twitchy muscle reactions and usually are low on violence. Some of these games have been re-released as freeware and to work on modern systems; others you still have to pay for but there is a way to make them work on modern systems with SCUMM VM (SCUMM being the acronym for the game engine). Others have been re-made under other engines.

As far as adventure games go, Sierra used to make some good ones.

And finally, if you are interested in old NES, SNES, and Genesis games, there's always ROMs and emulators, but that's skirting the edges of legality unless you actually own the cartridges of the games you have ROMs for. That isn't completely unlikely; a lot of the old RPGs relied on a battery to keep the saved games, and those only had a life of about 6 years and are a pain in the ass to replace. Playing console games on the computer is pretty awkward with a keyboard, though.

[ZephyrZodiac]

As to all the kids' games mentioned, they do seem rather orientated towards, yes, boys!  As, for that matter, do a lot of films.

As to Disney, that was what I was trying to say - they make a lot of films that little girls really relate to, why can't they make GOOD PC and console games to go with them?

[witch]

Anyone ever play 'Neverhood'? Best puzzle game I ever played, entirely suitable for children and wonderful music.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, obviously there are some games around that will appeal to small girls, but I don't think there are as many as are aimed at boys!

[witch]

I get depressed in computer game shops. Millions of racing, shooting, army sim type games. Bugger all else. I bought Monopoly Tycoon recently, that's a bit more than just monopoly - apparently the developers wished they'd called it something else to indicate it was more involved.

Trouble is I think the complexity and openendedness of the sims has spoilt me for most games. I don't like playing rigidly defined roles with predictable outcomes.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I rarely play anything else except Spider solitaire!  Trouble about small girls is, those I meet, which admittedly isn't that many these days, all seem to be attracted to Sims2, which is unfortunately totally unsuitable for 7 year olds, although the original label in the UK for the base game was 7+  I know sims 1 is mostly suitable for kids, but it's not easy to explain to a 7yearold why her big brother or sister can have Sims2, but he/she can only have Sims1.  Perhaps the time has come for EA to make a child-orientated sims game, based on home, school, shopping, holidays etc., but with all the sophistication of sims2 minus the adult features.  I mean, if they don't really like the idea of kids being seen in bathrooms, why not send them to the bathroom then when they lock the door it blanks out like a dorm room?  And I don't mean the game should just be a censored version of Sims2, but a totally child-orientated game, with parents, older teens, etc. as peripherals, and including teachers.  Kids could get good grades, move up a class, that sort of thing.  There could be a sports day every few sim days, and sim kids could get fit in order to win races etc!

[Ness]

*shudder*

I got monopoly tycoon...  I can't get past the allegedly easy levels!  Same with beasts and bumpkins - there's one level that is apparently still in the tutorial phase that I just can't get through!

gah!

Ness