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Bad Speed Racer Movie To Blame For Average Game Reviews
Posted by Logan Booker at 4:00 PM on August 21, 2008
When I saw the trailers for Speed Racer, I thought "hey, that looks kind of neat". Then, the reviews came out. A rating of 37? That's got to hurt. NZ dev Sidhe Interactive, which was responsible for the game tie-in, thinks the movie took a giant dump on its chances of success. Here's what Jos Ruffel, the company's business development manager, had to say at this year's GC Developers Conference:
"When we were first asked to do Speed Racer the property it was incredible, it was very exciting. It was a film by the Wachowski brothers and it was about car racing - awesome that's going to make a great game".The Wachowski brothers? I mean, other than the first Matrix film, have they done anything good? Did you see Invasion? No, neither did I.
It can't be easy balancing demands and expectations from a studio with the desire to make a solid game. To be honest, I don't think the sort of people who buy games based on a movie like Speed Racer are expecting the next Gran Turismo. Stick to the basics and add a bit of jazz, that's what I say.
Poor Speed Racer movie hindered our game, says Sidhe Interactive
[GamesIndustry.biz, via Tsumea]
Comments
DexX
Posted August 21, 2008 5:26 PM
Hey! V for Vendetta kicked arse!
Logan Booker
Posted August 21, 2008 6:03 PM
@DexX: Fair call. It doesn't make up for the two Matrix sequels though. :)
AJ
Posted August 21, 2008 6:10 PM
And Bound was a brilliant movie, sparking of an incredibly unhealthy obsession with Gina Gershon.
The Matrix sequels were brilliant cinema, not a patch on the landmark original, but none the less great films. Nothing annoys me more than how trendy backlashes against pop culture successes become the mainstream.
Speed Racer was a great kids film that what mishandled by marketers and reviewers alike. Nobody seemed to know what to make of it.
Logan Booker
Posted August 21, 2008 7:37 PM
@AJ: Well, I thought 28 Weeks Later and Michael Clayton were just as bad, so I'd hardly say my opinion of movies is "mainstream". Don't really care about being trendy either. Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree!
wandrew
Posted August 22, 2008 12:54 PM
Was Invasion by the Wachowskis?
Jace Hall
Posted August 23, 2008 6:11 AM
The game sucked cause people like Scott Warr at Warner Bros. Games are complete idiots. They have no clue as to what can make a game Great, and thus messed up it's potential, but extracting all the fun features.
JG
Posted August 24, 2008 4:54 AM
Invasion's last 10 mins and a few add-in scenes were done by the Wachowskis. The original director made the movie far different than the producers expected, causing the producers to turn to the Wachowskis to try and fix the awful mess.
Do not blame the Wachowskis for the Invasion. They're directors/writers, not miracle workers. No one could have saved that movie.