Spielberg joins EA

You may have heard an announcement a few months ago that the almighty Steven Spielberg was signing up with Electronic Arts (EA) to dish out a few games, a few days ago another update with some more juicy details was released.  Spielberg has signed on for 3 titles, however details have only been made available for 2 of these. The first title – code named “PQRS” is set to be a puzzle game for the Nintendo Wii, with a second title announced as code name “LMNO” which is set for a Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC release which has been referred to as a “contemporary action adventure game”.

Initially “PQRS” had been defined as a game for the Wii which is said to be a digital or computerised version of Jenga. Not entirely sure how the folk at Atari will react to this, as they have announced plans to create an official Jenga game for the Wii and DS (see below) that is completely independent of EA and Spielberg. Alas, a few more details have come out explaining that this title will be a collection of several puzzle games fit for the whole family. Spielberg’s inspiration for this title apparently stemmed from a recent round he shared of the addictive Wii Tennis with Shigeru Miyamoto – a legend in his own right (the creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda etc), at E3 2006.

Jenga for the Wii

“LMNO” as mentioned, has been penned out to be an epic tale in which the player’s choices within the game will ultimately depict the ending and subsequent story line. Spielberg hopes to harness interactivity as the main driver of this title, along with a heavy emotional backdrop that will pull at the heart string of those who play (FFVII anyone?).

Spielberg’s involvement with Electronic Arts has further drawn the link between Hollywood and the multi-billion dollar Video Game industry (we’re talking more than 18 Billion in 2006 alone), and will hopefully see more of the traditional creative figures of Hollywood have their shot at Video Game sculpting. You may have remembered our previous story on Tom Clancy – the techno-thriller writer, whose books have made their way into a number films and a respectable collection of Game titles. Hopefully with the track record of Tom Clancy and the predicted success of Spielberg this will further attract more creative minds to this underestimated industry (Tarantino perhaps?).