brash-entertainment posts

It was a rumor last year but today the official word is that a game based on Prison Break TV show is on its way to the PC and other platforms. Too bad the TV show itself was canceled by Fox earlier this year. The game was known to be under the Brash Entertainment publishing wing before they imploded in the fall of 2008.

Thankfully the game, developed by Zootfly and now to be published by Deep Silver, follows the events from the TV show's first (and best) season. The game's storyline runs parallel to the first season's prison escape plot as your player character is also sent to Fox River State Penitentiary.

Your goal? Find out why the TV show's main character Michael Scofield would suddenly decide to rob a bank even though he had no previous criminal record (as fans of the show know, he got himself arrested so he could go to jail and try to free his brother who was framed for murder and about to go to the chair).

Your new character will meet several folks from the TV show and use "diverse climbing and stealth skills" to explore the prison. There's no word on what your character does when, or even if, he finds out the truth about Scofield's plans. There's also no word on when the game itself will be released.

A couple of months ago Variety posted up rumors that Konami was going to take over as the publisher of the game based on the Saw horror films. Today Variety has now confirmed those rumors, saying that the publisher will release the Zombie Studios-developed game for the PC and other platforms this fall, around the time Saw IV is released to theaters by Lionsgate.

The Variety article also has the first actual screenshots from the game (reproduced here) The game itseld will have an original story and not an adaptation of any of the films. The game has your character trying to solve the nasty torture puzzles put in place by the movie's villain Jigsaw. The game was one of the many titles under the now defunct Brash Entertainment which went under in a rather spectacular fashion lasf fall.

Brash Entertainment had one of the biggest flame outs in game publishing history but at least one of the games that was orphaned by the company's collapse may be getting some new life. Variety is reporting via unnamed sources that the long-in-development title based on the Saw films may be going to Konami.

According to the story the Saw game, which was under development at Zombie, went back to the movie's owners at Lionsgate after the collapse of Brash. After considering the possibility of publishing the game themselves, Lionsgate decided to go the more traditional route and give the game to an established publisher. The story claims the Saw game will be released this fall around the time Saw VI is in theaters. So far Konami, Lionsgate and Zombie have not said anything official about this development so treat it as a rumor for now.

We've been following the sad tale of Brash Entertainment's brief life as a game publisher. The upstart company shut down last month with a number of movie and TV based titles still in the works. One of those games was actually finished just before Brash's shutdown. The Tale of Despereaux, based on the upcoming CGI film, was pretty much done for the PC and other platforms.

Now Variety is reporting that Atari, who is making a habit of getting games that have been dumped or orphened by other publishers, has grabbed the publishing rights to The Tale of Despereaux game and will quickly ship it to stores on Dec. 19. How quickly was this deal made? It's so quick that the game will still have the Brash Entertainment logo on the front. The fate of other in-development Brash titles is still unknown, however.

How did a company that launched just 18 months ago flame out so quickly? Variety has been following the rise and very fast fall of game publisher Brash Entertainment and this week put out a detailed article on some of the reasons why this company, which concentrated on movie and TV licensed game titles, came to a sudden end.

Part of the reason, according to both named and unnamed sources in the article, was the lack of video game business experience in Brash's top executives. It didn't help that the company's first titles, including games based on the box office bombs Jumper and Space Chimps, were rushed to completion and as a result didn't sell well enough to turn a profit. In the end the company burned through $100 million and a few weeks ago shut down its doors, despite last-minute attempts to get cash or perform a merger with another company. A host of in-development game titles have now been returned to their original license owners. Their fate is currently unknown.

We saw this coming a mile away. Following word last week that 18 month old game publisher Brash Entertainment had basically shut its doors, Variety is now reporting that two of the company's third party developers are suing Brash to get back money they say are owed by the publisher. One is 7 Studios, who worked on the close-to-release Six Flags Fun Park and also another game based on an upcoming animated movie 9.

The other studio suing Brash is Zootfly, perhaps best known for a game it would never make; a proof-of-concept idea for a Ghostbusters game that was famously shown on the Internet via a Youtube video but then got "Foxed" by Sony because of their own plans for a Ghostbusters title. Zootfly apparently worked on a game based on the TV show Prison Break for Brash but now says Brash owes them $748,000 for their work. Brash CEO Mitch Davis has not commented on the lawsuits.

The short run of game publisher Brash Entertainment could be over as of today, according to a post at Variety's Cut Scene blog. The site, citing unnamed sources, is claiming that the company that once boasted of a $400 million funding deal is shutting its doors today as the cash needed to continue is apparently not available anymore..

Launched just 18 months ago, Brash's theme was to license movie and TV shows and make them into games; there was to be no original titles. However the games that actually made it to release like Alvin and the Chimpunks, Jumper and Space Chimps all got low review scores and low sales. Company execs started leaving and last week Brash itself admitted it was laying off workers. There are reportedly a number of Brash-published games in mid-production; their fate is currently unknown.

Remember how the CEO of game publisher Brash Entertainment, Mitch Davis, denied his company was in trouble just a few weeks ago to our sister site GameDaily? Yeah..about that. GameDaily is now reporting that the company, which has released poorly received movie-based games like Alvin and the Chimpunks and Space Chimps, has now laid off 20 of its employees and is trying to find some cash to stay afloat.

This is the company that supposedly raised $400 million about 18 months ago to start up their business. A story posted on Variety's web site, using unnamed sources, says that the truth is a tad different as Brash has only been able to access a portion of those private equity funds and is now needing cash. The article claims Brash is trying to sell back its many movie based licenses to their owners. Those licenses include making games based on Superman, 300, Night at the Museum 2, Tale of Desperaux and others. The article claims that Brash will still publish a game based on the Saw horror movie franchise next year.

Yesterday, Variety reported on the departure of Brash Entertainment co-founder Thomas Tull and described the new video game publisher as being "in turmoil" due to the poor reception of the company's first three games. Now our sister site GameDaily has a new Q&A with the company's CEO Mitch Davis who gives his side of the story. In short, while Davis admits to some mistakes in their first year he denies the company is in serious trouble.

Davis admits that the first three games released by Brash (Alvin and the Chipmunks, Jumper, and Space Chimps) did not perform as expected, saying, "we were overly ambitious in putting out three games in our first year of business. We certainly took our lumps on those titles.." However he adds that they have decided to no longer release games on a quick development cycle and will now concentrate on titles that will take longer to create, as long as three years. Some have been critical of Brash's theme of only making games based on licensed properties but Davis states, "...creating a successful original game is a difficult business-we are focused on the core business of building great games around compelling licensed properties."

The troubles at video game publisher Brash Entertainment continue to mount. A few months ago its co-founder and president, Nicholas Longano left the company and now Variety is reporting that another co-founder, Thomas Tull, has left the board of directors of Brash. The story cites unnamed sources as saying that Tull was unhappy with the company's direction.

Tull, who is also a co-founder of movie production company Legendary Pictures, helped to get the whopping $400 million to finance Brash Entertainment. The company made the decision early on to only work on licensed properties. So far the company has only released three games (Alvin and the Chipmunks, Jumper and Space Chimps) none of which were critical successes (although Alvin and the Chipmunks had OK sales).