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Spielberg gets office at EA. 'Dig 2' unlikely. 14 Oct, 2005 / Comments: 23

By jp-30


News From Russia (presumably some KGB intelligence-fed agency) claims Steven Spielberg will return from his decade-long game concept creation hiatus, and set up camp in a new office at EA for a 3-game deal.

Of course last time he turned his hand to gaming the result was the 'love-it-or-hate-it' LucasArts space adventure epic The Dig.

This time round "the deal involves much more than the Hollywood director merely putting his stamp on a game or popping in for quick consultations, said Neil Young, vice president and studio head of EA's Los Angeles studio. Instead, Spielberg will have an office in EA's studio. He plans to work side-by-side with game developers to create original gaming content beginning with the concept - not a game based on a movie, or vice versa, both of which are common practices nowadays".
The article concludes by stating in the early 1990s, LucasArts, the game-making arm of Lucasfilm Ltd., created a computer game called "The Dig" based on a Spielberg story idea. Game observers considered it a flop.

Of course I prefer the game players to the game observers for game opinions. And to round out this barely on-topic news post with another tenuous link to LucasArts, I direct you to Ron Gilbert's Spielberg quote that was posted here a few weeks back.

Source: News From Russia

23

23 Comments

  • jp-30 on 14 Oct, 2005, 21:03…
    There's a fair bit more info, such as the involvement of Doug Church (Thief, Deus Ex) here at this Neil Young interview up at gamespot
  • drunkymonkey on 14 Oct, 2005, 16:18…
    This news is quite exciting. EA are a mass market publisher yes, but they have on board some brilliant, brilliant games. Half Life 2 being one of them.
    They have enough money to plough into original games, one only hopes they do.
  • Jayel on 15 Oct, 2005, 05:14…
    How drunk are you, drunky?
  • drunkymonkey on 16 Oct, 2005, 11:33…
    Incredibly.
  • Shmargin on 14 Oct, 2005, 14:06…
    I thought maybe if I post this where it doesnt belong, it might get noticed.

    http://www.mixnmojo.com/galleries/gallery.php?gallery=244&image=2668&goback=http://www.mixnmojo.com/php/site/gamedb.php?gameid=7

    Isnt that also an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade reference? Just thought it should be mentioned...

    "That belongs in a museum!"
    "So do you! Throw him over the side!"
    Dun dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun!
  • counting_pine on 17 Oct, 2005, 21:19…
    It seems to have swapped captions with the in-joke to its left.
  • Jake on 17 Oct, 2005, 06:24…
    HTML failure!
  • counting_pine on 17 Oct, 2005, 20:17…
    I think he's talking about the in-joke in the fifth row, second from right. I'll try posting the link, and hope that it doesn't get mangled:
    http://mixnmojo.com/galleries/gallery.php?gallery=244&image=2668&goback=http://mixnmojo.com/php/site/gamedb.php?gameid=7
  • Jake on 18 Oct, 2005, 22:51…
    No, by "HTML failure" I'm talking about how people posting ENORMOUS links without using A HREF tags instead are breaking the site. You've in fact just made the problem worse :)
  • Shmargin on 19 Oct, 2005, 07:27…
    My bad, well its the one for Curse of Monkey Island, where Guybrush says "This Diamond belongs in a museum!"...Totally a Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in joke too...And I was drunk when i decided to post this in the comments....so...sorry about that too...
  • counting_pine on 17 Oct, 2005, 20:19…
    Nope, done it again.
    Er, replace the funny symbol after gallery=244 with "&image" ([ampersand]image)
  • monkeyboobs on 14 Oct, 2005, 12:52…
    OMG Steve! What a wonderful day! I for myself enjoy your decision to re-enter the e-game bizz 'cause I'm expecting great games, such as your last great films ?Minority Report?, ?A.I.? and ?War of the Worlds?.

    As I remember, The Dig was an econimic success for LA. And I loved and still love that game. For sure. Of cause. Really, that's the truth. Yeah!
  • monkeyboobs on 14 Oct, 2005, 12:55…
    I mean:
    The Dig = YAHAAARRRHHH!!!!!
    Oldberg = Big Argl-Attack
  • Udvarnoky on 14 Oct, 2005, 12:09…
    Didn't The Dig, for all its controversy and mixed reaction, sell pretty well? Anyway, I doubt that much of Spielberg's original ideas survived the game's, what, four interpretations?
  • Remi O on 14 Oct, 2005, 13:07…
    I'm not really sure what they mean with 'observers,' but The Dig did get some pretty decent reviews back in the day at least. It was better received than Full Throttle by any magazine I read anyway.
  • jab1981 on 14 Oct, 2005, 11:31…
    In my opinion Lucasarts really isn't a relevant game company anymore. They left thier market, which they squarely owned (Graphic Adventures) and have done little more than make crappy Star Wars titles in the meantime. I know there's no money in graphic adventures at present, but it's hard not to feel as if they've sold out. There's little that remains at LucasArts that reminds me in anyway of the company I loved.

    But that's not why I'm posting. I suppose I'm mostly being contrary with this, but the post mentioned that the Dig was either a Love it or Hate it game. I must be one of the few, because I felt neither. It was a decent game... but I didn't love it. Neither did I hate it. The Dig to me has always been in that middleground.
  • jp-30 on 14 Oct, 2005, 19:36…
    Well, "love-it-or-hate-it-or-fall-somewhere-in-between-the-two-extremes" doesn't quite have the same edtorial punch. I'll consider you a statistical anomaly.
  • jab1981 on 18 Oct, 2005, 05:48…
    lol fair enough.
  • jp-30 on 14 Oct, 2005, 05:37…
    I guess we should start start stockpiling the handkerchiefs... we'll al be blubbering onto our controllers soon enough.
  • jp-30 on 14 Oct, 2005, 05:43…
    That is, if we make it to level 17.
  • Scummbuddy on 14 Oct, 2005, 05:30…
    Would LucasArts really not sign Speilberg to a game deal? Why would he go to EA anyways? Why would any, besides the rediculous amount of money they will throw at the game, not to mention manhours... but Lucas could do the same. I'm just shocked he'd go with EA. It's like he's cheating on LucasArts.
  • laceyware on 14 Oct, 2005, 15:27…
    Don't forget that EA bought Dreamworks Interactive, which Spielberg used to be a part owner of. He has thus had some involvement with the company before :).
  • Gabez on 14 Oct, 2005, 11:20…
    I don't think LucasArts are really capable of doing what Speilberg wants to do, and, anyway, it's really not like he owes them his alleigence or anything.