james-cameron posts

Last week we reported that Valve has been thinking of making a Half-Life movie by themselves after dealing with crappy movie pitches from Hollywood. One developer that likely has the resources and talent to make its own movies is Blizzard. Their CGI unit makes perhaps the best cut scenes of any game developer.

However it looks like Blizzard is looking to Hollywood to make movies based on its game franchisese. It's already teamed up with Legendary Pictures for its long-in-development World of Warcraft movie. But what about another big game franchise, StarCraft? Blizzard VP Rob Pardo told MTV Multiplayer that's its all up to finding the right people who are excited about bring their game properties to movies. He stated, "I think if Jim Cameron came to us tomorrow and said, 'You want to make a 'StarCraft' movie?' we'd probably sign that." We certainly think that the director behind some of the best sci-fi films of all time (The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss) would be a perfect choice for a movie based on Blizzard's RTS series.

No one expected that James Cameron could win the equivalent of the Megamillions lottery when Avatar was released in theaters last month, but the 3D sci-fi epic has now generated more revenue (before inflation) than any other movie in history besides Cameron's own Titanic. So, you would think all that success would help sales of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game, right?

Wrong. According to the game's developer and publisher Ubisoft, the game (which released a few weeks before the film) did not meet its expectations. In today's financial report Ubisoft stated, " . . . .not all of the Company's games have reaped the full benefits of the measures implemented, with James Cameron's Avatar: The Game . . . reporting lower-than-expected sales." The game itself, which supposedly had Cameron as an active consultant, only got average reviews from critics. One wonders if Ubisoft will be so quick to sign onto making a game based on any Avatar movie sequel.

Overall, Ubisoft didn't have as good of a quarter than it though it would in terms of revenues. Today it revealed that it was now expecting revenues for the just completed third quarter to be 495 million euros versus previous estimates of 540 million euros. For its full fiscal year it is predicting it will have revenues of 860 million euros versus predictions of 1.08 billion euros.

In the quest to find a truly great movie-based PC game comes the forthcoming release of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (yep, that is the full official title) from developer-publisher Ubisoft. The game, which tells a parallel story related to the upcoming (and, it has to be said, truly epic looking) sci-fi movie is due to be released on December 1.

PC game download sites like Steam, Impulse and Direct2Drive are offering their customers an in-game pre-order bonus that is apparently not in the retail version of the PC port. They consist of two weapons unlocks; the Dual Wasp for the RDA faction and the Fighting Staff for the Na'vi faction. In addition, both Impulse and Direct2Drive are selling a downloadable special edition of the game for $54.95 that adds six exclusive weapons and two extra character skins to the game. Again this special edition is not being sold in stores.

The man who has admitted that games based on movies mostly suck has promised that won't be the case with his movie-based game project. Now James Cameron's Avatar: The Game has a final release date to put up or shut up. Developer-publisher Ubisoft has announced the game will be released in the US on December 1, a couple of weeks before the highly anticipated sci-fi film Avatar shows up in theaters on December 16

Cameron, who has made films that have highly influenced game designers over the years (The Terminator and Aliens especially) made a promise at Ubisoft's E3 press conference last June that the Avatar game would not suck. Will the game, which is being made with 3D technology in mind, live up to that promise? Good question.

This developer diary video for James Cameron's Avatar: The Game features in-depth background on how the the movie's development and the video game's creation overlapped. James Cameron and Ubisoft developers collaborated on some of the ideas and the director shared all of the materials that went into making the film over. The end result is a game that fully represents the look and feel of the movie.

James Cameron's Avatar: The Game is scheduled to release on November 24th.

Download HD James Cameron's Avatar: The Game Dev Diary (417 MB)
Check out all James Cameron's Avatar: The Game downloads

3D seems to be the new buzz word in gaming as well as in movies. At QuakeCon last month we reported that Nvidia showed off demos of Resident Evil 5 and Batman Arkham Asylum on a 60 foot screen in 3D. At PAX 2009, Ubisoft showed off a demo of their upcoming movie-based action game James Cameron's Avatar The Game (and yes that's the full title) via a 103-inch flat TV screen in 3D.

For those of you not familiar with the Avatar movie, the sci-fi film takes place in the future where humans are using genetically-created "avatars" of an alien race called the Na'vi to explore their planet Pandora. The game has an original story that takes place in parallel to the movie's storyline as you play another human who is exploring the extremely hostile alien world

Check out more info after the jump:

Director James Cameron basically promised us back at E3 that the game version of his upcoming sci-fi movie Avatar from Ubisoft won't suck. While that's still to be determined, the folks at Ubisoft are doing their best to promote the still somewhat mysterious game and movie. Today they announced that a number of the movie's actors will handle the voice over roles for their characters in the game version.

Among them are Sigourney Weaver (pictured above at a San Diego Comic-Con event for the film and game). While she passed on reprising her role as Dana Barrett in the recent Ghostbusters game, she will voice her Avatar movie role of Dr. Grace Augustine in the game version. In addition actors Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang will handle voice roles as well for the PC version. The first trailer for the Avatar game will be show alongside 15 minutes of the movie on "Avatar Day" on August 21 at IMAX and select 3D movie theaters for free.

[Via email press release]

James Cameron talked the ears off the crowd at Ubisoft's E3 press conference on Monday about his upcoming movie Avatar and the game that Ubisoft developed based on the film. However they apparently forgot to bring any footage from the movie or game for the press event.

Ubisoft solved that problem after the press conference by providing more info about the game version of Avatar along with the first screenshots. The action game will let players pick from the human RDA Corporation or the alien Na'vi as they battle for control of the planet Pandora. Your playable character will acquire new skills as they play through the game and use over 60 weapons along with drivable vehicles and animals (for the Na'vi side). Ubisoft will demo the game at E3 2009 at their booth via a 103-inch Panasonic HD TV screen with support for 3D. Show-offs.

Ubisoft's E3 2009 press conference today included an on-stage appearance by massive movie director James Cameron who told the audience about his upcoming new sci-fi epic Avatar. The movie is due out this December but Ubisoft, in collaboration with Cameron, is developing a Avatar game that is set in the same universe but tells a different story than the movie.

Cameron admitted that most movie-to-game adaptations "suck" and that he wanted to avoid the same fate with Avatar, which is set on an alien world where humans communicate with the intelligent native race through live "avatars"; a real hybrid of human and alien that can live on the planet but is controlled by humans via an advanced form of technology. Cameron said that Ubisoft's game became a true partnership; weapons and units in the movie that were cut are used in the game and sometimes things made first for the game made their way into the movie.

While Cameron talked at length about the game and film during the press conference (he said the final battle at the end of the movie will be "the mother of all battles") no actual footage from either movie or game was shown. However we expect to see a build of Avatar this week at E3. Before Cameron came on stage it was mentioned that Ubisoft's own visual effect department have created over 100 effect shots for the Avatar movie.