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I thought this would be a good subject to talk about seeing as more and more developers are relying on 'landing the rights to publish' instead of making their own games.
Of course, not all developers to it, and as we all know, a lot of big names get through life on their own steam - Rare, Konami, Namco and Sega are all among the developers that don't nab all the movie lisences...
But is stealing or buying the rights to a game a 'cop-out'? I don't think so... I mean if a company can make a top quality game based on a movie then 'big-up' to them, you can't just take the movie, port it and control the characters... you have to code it correctly, put in alternatives where the 'real thing' can't be done, as well as adding other levels or options to increase the value or offer a multiplayer mode.
To-date I would have said that Goldeneye is one of the best used licences... if you've ever watched the film you'll notice that Rare haven't just taken the different parts of the movie and made the levels, but that they've coded the maps of those levels from all the information you see in the film... look at the 'Archives' level as an excellent example. So with Goldeneye, the movie license shone... but this isn't always the case.
One up and coming game for all platforms is The Simpsons Road Rage, A Crazy Taxi style game using the Simpsons License. The game, developed by Fox Interactive and published by EA, has loads of potential, but at the end of the day, it's a Crazy Taxi rip-off with a half-decent storyline... the gameplay might be good, but i've no doubt that gaming veterans playing it will see nothing but a Crazy Taxi, and boredom will soon follow. But other than the fact that it is pretty much Crazy Taxi, I can't see how anything can stand in it's way... it's a new game, The Simpsons are immensely popular and it's an easy game to play. The graphics are said to be CEL-Shaded, but I don't see that... they look like WWF Warzone graphics... my question is 'Why did they put these graphics in, instead of JSR graphics that would have made the game that extra bit better?' JSR graphics could have looked EXACTLY like the simpsons in a way... and it shouldn't have been too hard... The characters just don't look right without the flexibility in their animation.
Anyway, enough of that... I want to hear your views... I think that with the right developer, movie and TV licensed games can do well, but with an average or inexperienced developer, a potentially AAA title could be ruined...
Any licensed games that spring to mind?... if so, talk about them!
Game
Of course, not all developers to it, and as we all know, a lot of big names get through life on their own steam - Rare, Konami, Namco and Sega are all among the developers that don't nab all the movie lisences...
But is stealing or buying the rights to a game a 'cop-out'? I don't think so... I mean if a company can make a top quality game based on a movie then 'big-up' to them, you can't just take the movie, port it and control the characters... you have to code it correctly, put in alternatives where the 'real thing' can't be done, as well as adding other levels or options to increase the value or offer a multiplayer mode.
To-date I would have said that Goldeneye is one of the best used licences... if you've ever watched the film you'll notice that Rare haven't just taken the different parts of the movie and made the levels, but that they've coded the maps of those levels from all the information you see in the film... look at the 'Archives' level as an excellent example. So with Goldeneye, the movie license shone... but this isn't always the case.
One up and coming game for all platforms is The Simpsons Road Rage, A Crazy Taxi style game using the Simpsons License. The game, developed by Fox Interactive and published by EA, has loads of potential, but at the end of the day, it's a Crazy Taxi rip-off with a half-decent storyline... the gameplay might be good, but i've no doubt that gaming veterans playing it will see nothing but a Crazy Taxi, and boredom will soon follow. But other than the fact that it is pretty much Crazy Taxi, I can't see how anything can stand in it's way... it's a new game, The Simpsons are immensely popular and it's an easy game to play. The graphics are said to be CEL-Shaded, but I don't see that... they look like WWF Warzone graphics... my question is 'Why did they put these graphics in, instead of JSR graphics that would have made the game that extra bit better?' JSR graphics could have looked EXACTLY like the simpsons in a way... and it shouldn't have been too hard... The characters just don't look right without the flexibility in their animation.
Anyway, enough of that... I want to hear your views... I think that with the right developer, movie and TV licensed games can do well, but with an average or inexperienced developer, a potentially AAA title could be ruined...
Any licensed games that spring to mind?... if so, talk about them!
Game
Some television programmes should be made into games, the most wanted by myself being the A-team, how cool would it be to play as face or MR T or even make a plasma cannon out of 3 tubes of tiolet roll, sticky back plastic and an AAA size battery.
Bring us the A-team..please!!
Bring us the A-team..please!!
There are quite a few games now that are coming either from films or television series. I suppose by doing this it gives the games an advantage because they are known, if you called a game Pokemon, even though I hate the little sods (Yes that's right Fog, I hate them) then you are selling the name and attracting a huge range of people.
Some games are also being turned into films which I doubt will be any good but still worth a watch for a laugh espcially with Resident Evil and that bird from The Fifth Element is playing Jill Valentines role. But too be honest I can't really think of any more but it will just be a matter of time before you can play Eastenders on your PS3.
*Thinks about that for a moment then shoots himself*
Some games are also being turned into films which I doubt will be any good but still worth a watch for a laugh espcially with Resident Evil and that bird from The Fifth Element is playing Jill Valentines role. But too be honest I can't really think of any more but it will just be a matter of time before you can play Eastenders on your PS3.
*Thinks about that for a moment then shoots himself*
I thought this would be a good subject to talk about seeing as more and more developers are relying on 'landing the rights to publish' instead of making their own games.
Of course, not all developers to it, and as we all know, a lot of big names get through life on their own steam - Rare, Konami, Namco and Sega are all among the developers that don't nab all the movie lisences...
But is stealing or buying the rights to a game a 'cop-out'? I don't think so... I mean if a company can make a top quality game based on a movie then 'big-up' to them, you can't just take the movie, port it and control the characters... you have to code it correctly, put in alternatives where the 'real thing' can't be done, as well as adding other levels or options to increase the value or offer a multiplayer mode.
To-date I would have said that Goldeneye is one of the best used licences... if you've ever watched the film you'll notice that Rare haven't just taken the different parts of the movie and made the levels, but that they've coded the maps of those levels from all the information you see in the film... look at the 'Archives' level as an excellent example. So with Goldeneye, the movie license shone... but this isn't always the case.
One up and coming game for all platforms is The Simpsons Road Rage, A Crazy Taxi style game using the Simpsons License. The game, developed by Fox Interactive and published by EA, has loads of potential, but at the end of the day, it's a Crazy Taxi rip-off with a half-decent storyline... the gameplay might be good, but i've no doubt that gaming veterans playing it will see nothing but a Crazy Taxi, and boredom will soon follow. But other than the fact that it is pretty much Crazy Taxi, I can't see how anything can stand in it's way... it's a new game, The Simpsons are immensely popular and it's an easy game to play. The graphics are said to be CEL-Shaded, but I don't see that... they look like WWF Warzone graphics... my question is 'Why did they put these graphics in, instead of JSR graphics that would have made the game that extra bit better?' JSR graphics could have looked EXACTLY like the simpsons in a way... and it shouldn't have been too hard... The characters just don't look right without the flexibility in their animation.
Anyway, enough of that... I want to hear your views... I think that with the right developer, movie and TV licensed games can do well, but with an average or inexperienced developer, a potentially AAA title could be ruined...
Any licensed games that spring to mind?... if so, talk about them!
Game
Of course, not all developers to it, and as we all know, a lot of big names get through life on their own steam - Rare, Konami, Namco and Sega are all among the developers that don't nab all the movie lisences...
But is stealing or buying the rights to a game a 'cop-out'? I don't think so... I mean if a company can make a top quality game based on a movie then 'big-up' to them, you can't just take the movie, port it and control the characters... you have to code it correctly, put in alternatives where the 'real thing' can't be done, as well as adding other levels or options to increase the value or offer a multiplayer mode.
To-date I would have said that Goldeneye is one of the best used licences... if you've ever watched the film you'll notice that Rare haven't just taken the different parts of the movie and made the levels, but that they've coded the maps of those levels from all the information you see in the film... look at the 'Archives' level as an excellent example. So with Goldeneye, the movie license shone... but this isn't always the case.
One up and coming game for all platforms is The Simpsons Road Rage, A Crazy Taxi style game using the Simpsons License. The game, developed by Fox Interactive and published by EA, has loads of potential, but at the end of the day, it's a Crazy Taxi rip-off with a half-decent storyline... the gameplay might be good, but i've no doubt that gaming veterans playing it will see nothing but a Crazy Taxi, and boredom will soon follow. But other than the fact that it is pretty much Crazy Taxi, I can't see how anything can stand in it's way... it's a new game, The Simpsons are immensely popular and it's an easy game to play. The graphics are said to be CEL-Shaded, but I don't see that... they look like WWF Warzone graphics... my question is 'Why did they put these graphics in, instead of JSR graphics that would have made the game that extra bit better?' JSR graphics could have looked EXACTLY like the simpsons in a way... and it shouldn't have been too hard... The characters just don't look right without the flexibility in their animation.
Anyway, enough of that... I want to hear your views... I think that with the right developer, movie and TV licensed games can do well, but with an average or inexperienced developer, a potentially AAA title could be ruined...
Any licensed games that spring to mind?... if so, talk about them!
Game