Michael Bay PLUS $100 Million Equals New Video Game Developer
Transformers' director transforming Hollywood
A still from Transformers. Yes. it is..
Armageddon, Pearl Harbour and, of course, Transformers director Michael Bay's company, Digital Domain, is working on a first-person shooter with a budget of $25-million (£12.5m). According to the LA Times, this is part of a $100-million (£50m) investment by Bay's backers into the company.
"I make world-class images," Bay said. "Why not put those images into a game?"
According to the newspapers' profile of the company:
The fact that the expertise within Digital Domain - which has a long history in producing special effects for Hollywood - could be used in the world of video games, was apparently a key inducement to Bay who was part of a $35-million (£17m) acquisition of the company last year.
It appears that the mooted FPS isn't simply a one-off vanity project, with plans for four or five more games over the next two years.
Ed Ulbrich, president of Digital Domain's commercial division, "We're not just talking about the convergence of film and video games. It's no longer a theory."
So, a new player on the scene. Although whether Digital Domain sees itself as a development house only - or it plans to publish games, and on which platform or platforms the games will emerge is yet to be seen.
Full article here.
"I make world-class images," Bay said. "Why not put those images into a game?"
According to the newspapers' profile of the company:
"Bay's first-person shooter game is part of a larger strategy to transform Digital Domain Inc., where he is now co-chairman, from one of Hollywood's elite special-effects houses into a full-blown production studio, capitalizing on the convergence between games and feature films."
The fact that the expertise within Digital Domain - which has a long history in producing special effects for Hollywood - could be used in the world of video games, was apparently a key inducement to Bay who was part of a $35-million (£17m) acquisition of the company last year.
It appears that the mooted FPS isn't simply a one-off vanity project, with plans for four or five more games over the next two years.
Ed Ulbrich, president of Digital Domain's commercial division, "We're not just talking about the convergence of film and video games. It's no longer a theory."
So, a new player on the scene. Although whether Digital Domain sees itself as a development house only - or it plans to publish games, and on which platform or platforms the games will emerge is yet to be seen.
Full article here.
Comments
LUPOS 15 May 2007 12:58
1/5
Michael Bay makes some of the most mindless movies ever put to celluloid.... However if that same quality of story telling held up in games he could theoretically be one of the best story tellers in the video games industry.... *sigh*
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DoctorDee 15 May 2007 16:45
2/5
LUPOS wrote:
However if that same quality of story telling held up in games he could theoretically be one of the best story tellers in the video games industry.... *sigh*
That comment echoes exactly what I just said to Tim in the pub...
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TimSpong 15 May 2007 17:06
3/5
DoctorDee wrote:
LUPOS wrote:
However if that same quality of story telling held up in games he could theoretically be one of the best story tellers in the video games industry.... *sigh*
That comment echoes exactly what I just said to Tim in the pub...
Aye both you and Lupos hit the summer blockbusting nail right on the headline.
realvictory 15 May 2007 19:41
4/5
How about more games developers start making their own movies? I'm sure they would be really "fun" movies.
In reality, in fact, technology gets traded between games and films all the time. I'm still really sceptical about convergence... it hasn't produced many good things so far - maybe Super Mario Bros. the film!
In reality, in fact, technology gets traded between games and films all the time. I'm still really sceptical about convergence... it hasn't produced many good things so far - maybe Super Mario Bros. the film!
LUPOS 15 May 2007 20:28
5/5
realvictory wrote:
maybe Super Mario Bros. the film!
You know, for as much as people site that movie as the epitome of game/film craptasticness, I always really enjoyed it. I always though the way they "reimagined" it was actually pretty clever and interesting. People rag on it but now we have the "I am 8-bit" art gallery where people are praised for painting a realistic photo of Mario drinking a beer and bowser being a guy in a suit, yet this movie did it 15 years ago and was scoffed at.
Now I'm not claiming the film to be high art but I personally think that, as far as taking the nonexistent story of Mario bros and adapting it to film goes, they did a commendable, possibly even inspired, job.
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