http://www.ew.com/ew/

Making Videogames.. That's right.. I was reading The February 18th EW Weekly Edition and their focus Main Feature was on the Spring Movies Coming Up and they Showed "Revenge of the Sith" "Batman Begins" and "KING KONG"... When it came to discussing KING KONG, Peter Jackson made the comment that he is going to give up Directing at some point soon to focus on and make Videogames.. He said that the Videogames of today are like a movie and that making a Videogame like today and Directing a movie are both equally challenging.. Thoughts??

if I'm not mistaken, this is something that went around a few months ago. I dont think hes actually giving up directing all together though for the time being. But I do know that the KingKong game was to be made with his direction.

As a small time gamer, i think its great! While games can be fun, story and direction is something that games sometimes lack. It would be very interesting to see what a touch of a movie director can actually do to a game. Remember the spiderman2 game? Ninja Gaiden? Great games but lame when it came to any structure or any direction. just a simple story played out with tonnes of action and puzzles (at times).. nothing more.

I read that quote as well.

I agree that videogames are the next frontier for filmmakers (Halo for example). There are casting concerns, scripts, action sequences...

What PJ is saying isn't too different than Cameron and 3D. He wants to eventually step away completely from traditional 35MM, even DLP, to focus completely on 3D.

Movies and video games nowadays both tell stories. Video games are usually more epic stories...at least, the more natable video games are epic. I can't think of one that isn't epic, off the top of my head. And Jackson has showed that he's good at handling epics, with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and hopefully King Kong can follow that up. But directing a movie and directing a video game require totally different views. Primarily, the directopr of a video game doesn't have the same role as a director in a movie. It's not as obscure as directing a TV Show, but it definitely isn't as powerful as directing a movie, that's for sure.

If he ever starts to work with Nintendo or Ubisfot, I'll look into them, because I don't care how good the story is, unless it has rocksolid gameplay, fuck it.

I would definitely consider that to be a step down. I suppose he's made enough money, so as long as he's happy.

Ahmed, when somebody goes from directing movies to "directing" video games, it's not a lateral movement. It's not even at the level of directing a daytime soap. I'm not putting the guy down, I applaud him for doing what he wants to do, but it's a step down from directing 100 million dollar movies.

but it should not be compared to his film work


THIS IS SOMETHING OF A DIFFERENT NATURE



MEDIA





the one ahmed johnson has no doubts jackson will continue to direct big ambitious ballsy films =D>

well, i think it's great like Mav said. "as long as he happy"

He MAY give up directing at some point NOT so soon.

oh God Mav .. dont comment on videogame directing .... the way I see it, its probably the toughest of all mediums out there to direct. And its no step down considering a lot of directors (many big ones) are doing it too now.

When Spielberg became the director for Pinky and the Brain, it was great. The cartoon would have been average if it wasn't for the fact that it played out soooooooooo well.

Gaming has been waiting for this for a long time. Few games right now see proper development. It's nice to see someone brave enough to take upon a videogame and actually TRY to bring it to a whole new level.

I wish he would give up directing and we all remember him for ONE thing.

I wish you would give up posting...

Go and shove a banana where the sun doesnt shine.

Love you, too.

a video game directed by a superstar film director. O_o
what's not to luv about it. lol i'm rooting for him to succeed.

Miyamoto
Kojima
Yuji Naka

these guys are all video games makers and i put them on par with any film director.These guys are geniouses,and they dont just crank out games,they take atleast 4 years to make 1 very awesome game.These guys are as highley regarded in japan as miyasaki and other great films directors.Infact,i would bet Miyamoto is on a higher pedastle than miyasaki in japan.

It's a step down from directing an 100 million dollar movie. Arguing against that is simply denial. That doesn't mean there is anything worong with him wanting to do it.

How the hell is that a step down?? You're not even backing anything up!

Game development costs millions and in these days ends up creating larger profits and even revenues. Halo 2 had a higher revenue generated through its sales in its first day than any movie ever released in the cinema (first weekend). KOTOR (Star Wars Knights of the old republic) probably had better direction and story than probably any of the actual star wars movies. Directing a movie is like 2 hours of work. You gotta direct hours and hours of gameplay. Even Lucas is doing something of the sort right now where the entire Episode 3 game must mimic the movie in every way. That my friend, is not an easy task considering the game will be 6 or 7 times longer, involves 80% user interaction and complete reliance on animation.

You're giving games very little credit here. Stop by the games forum. You'll realize how its in no way a step down for someone to move in such a direction. Less fame yes. Less talent .. no way!!

Writing for videogames or even making a movie out of it is like a director going from mainstream to directing porn movies. Thats how low your career has gone. PJ should think about staying away far far away from the videogame realm. Theres no chance that a video game would translate well into movies.

It's a step down. Use common sense, and don't ask me to spell it out for you. You're giving gaming way too much credit, and if this was Lucas, you wouldn't be arguing that it was a step down. It is. Accept it. But I applaud him for going with his heart, but it's a step down. Your bias is blinding you. You love videogames and you love Peter Jackson, and you love the idea of him coming to videogames. Why? Because you realize he is a higher caliber of talent that the others involved. case closed.

Not a dis against videogames but the people who write and directs videogames are themselves aspiring movie directors or failed directors. Somehow they let their vision translate well into videogames but not movies. The guy who created Metal Gear himself mentioned that when he was younger, he was aspiring to be a movie director but said something about it being too hard and him having trouble conveying his ideas into movies so he stuck with creating videogames

Umm .. mav .. lucas has been doing this a lot longer than anyone else.

When has Lucas ever directed a videogame? If he did, it was a step down when he did it too.

LucasArts company under Electronic Arts, he produced and wrote alot of the Star Wars games