G-pinions

Although I'm tempted to just rave about R&C2 late into the night, I'll bite my tongue for another day or two. In the meantime, I'd like to talk a bit about an upcoming game from Peter Molyneux. No, not Fable, dammit. It's called, simply, "The Movies." Now pay attention Dan, this concerns you. It's coming out later this year for all the major consoles and PC, and to put it simply, it's a movie sim. You're the head of a studio (anytime between this century and last, ala Sim City), with sets, actors, etc. The whole shebang. Half of the game revolves around running your studio efficiently to bring in the bucks, while the other half involves actually shooting your films. Now, there hasn't been a whole lot of information released about the specific mechanics of these modes, but bear with me as I impart the information I have learned about them. The studio part works like your basic sim - you keep your actors and other employees happy by building a nice lot, supplying them with nice trailers, deciding where to spend your money and whose offers to accept and decline, etc. etc. etc. You have to keep an eye on your screenwriters to make sure you're getting the quality script that you want, or the action-packed explosion fest you so desire. Typical sim stuff, sure, but with such an intriguing twist (at least for me), it sounds pretty neat. The main reason I'm looking forward to it though, is for the shooting mode. You pick your actors, you pick their wardrobes, you pick the sets. You then set up the cameras, set up the blocking, and film away. You can control the intensity of everything going on on-screen, such as upping the romance factor in a potentially sultry scene. So you basically direct and edit the film yourself. You also have to appease your critics, who will notice if you're using the same sets over and over or if you're not exactly the next Wes Anderson (suck it Dan). And as for the coolest part of all, I've read in a couple different places that you're going to be able to dub over your own voice/dialogue if you have a headset (assumably for all but the 'Cube). Oh, and you can share your films online. It seems like the more you're able to put into this game (voice, music, etc.), the more you'll get out of it. And even if that stuff doesn't make it into the game I'd bank on it being an interesting experiment at the least. I think it's also pretty easy to see that the potential for hilarity here is off the charts, especially with a group of friends. And it'll learn you something too. Edutainment indeed. So, that's my quickie preview. Yet another thing to look forward to this year. Yikes.