Video games and movies have been a sour combination. Movies make lousy games, and video games have made horrible movies. Most game-based movies have been money losers, until recently.
The interactive nature of games and the linear storytelling of games just don’t mix well. But the Radar Group believes that it doesn’t have to be that way as long as you plan to make a story into both a game and a movie from the outset. And it’s looking for venture capitalists to bankroll it.
That’s the vision of Radar’s founders, Jim Perkins and Scott Miller. They started the 10-person company last summer in attempt to formalize the process of working with independent game developers and movie makers so that their work could be translated across different media.
The self-funded company came out of stealth in March but Perkins is now seeking to raise money this spring so that it can get its games to a prototype stage and begin the screen-writing process for movies.
“We don’t try to retrofit a game by turning it into an unsuccessful movie,” Perkins, previously head of Arush Entertainment, said in an interview. “We want to figure out how a game could be a great HBO series. We want to do it with a methodical approach.”
That may sound outrageously ambitious or naive, but Perkins and Miller are veterans here. Miller’s 3D Realms Entertainment, a game development studio in Dallas, has been making games since 1987 (when it was known as Apogee Software). Among its hits are the “Duke Nukem” series, whose latest game “Duke Nukem Forever” has been missing in action for some years. But Miller, who is now chief creative officer for Radar, has been associated with a lot of hits, from id Software’s “Wolfenstein 3D” to “Max Payne” and “Prey.”
The company will remain a small production firm, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., where Perkins resides. Miller will remain in Dallas. The overall team won’t exceed 20 people, Perkins said. The company will work with talented independent game studios and Hollywood artists. It will also allow those partners to retain part ownership of the projects that they work on.
Radar’s film partner is Depth Entertainment, a Los Angeles production firm owned by Radar and headed by Scott Faye. Depth is currently producing the film version of “Max Payne,” which will star Mark Wahlberg. The film is in production at 20th Century Fox and is expected to debut this October.
Radar has announced three video-game projects. These will be high-end console games for the Xbox 360, the PC, and the PlayStation 3. One is “Earth No More,” which stars a chemical weapons specialist dealing with an “environmental extinction event.” That game is being developed by Recoil Games. A second project is “Prey 2,” a sequel to a well-received sci-fi shooter. It is being developed by Human Head Studios. Read the rest of this entry »
