Is Hitman's Next Target Assassin's Creed? 
Why Kotaku Australia Should Never Work With Children... Or Robots 
Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better According to Variety, Brash Entertainment are no more. The young company – who were only launched in 2007 – had recently laid off a bunch of employees and cancelled a few projects, but were promising the world that they’d not be going under. Shows how good business promises are these days! The Variety reports says that, ever since company co-founder Thomas Tull jumped ship, the investors propping the company up with cash money have bailed as well, leaving them with…no money. If this checks out, we won’t really miss them as a company, since the only thing they ever did was release a few crappy games and talk a lot of talk, but it always sucks to hear of devs and staff losing their jobs en masse.
Earlier this week we heard rumblings that movie-game publisher Brash Entertainment was hit with massive lay-offs and struggling to stay afloat. Citing tough economic times, Brash confirmed to Kotaku that they have indeed instituted a “cost reduction plan” but say they’re not going under.
Sarcastic Gamer is reporting that movie-license-centric developer Brash has gotten their hands on the licensing for upcoming childhood memory turned blockbuster flick Where the Wild Things Are.
SG reports that the developer is working on a video game adaption of the Maurice Sendak-penned classic. While we haven’t been able to tie down any sort of official statement about the rumour, on its surface it seems to make sense. The upcoming movie is already in development by Legendary Films. And none other than Thomas Tull, founder and head of the studio, sits on Brash Entertainment’s board.
Now if they could only grab the rights for In The Night Kitchen!
Rumor 2.0 – Brash developing “Where the Wild Things Are” [Sarcastic Gamer]
An advertisement in the recently released season DVD box set for the Fox television series Prison Break confirms that there is indeed a game based on the show coming out in February for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Brash Entertainment, known for their movie adaptations like Jumper and Alvin and the Chipmunks, are working on the title. Kotaku first learned about the possibility of a Prison Break game during an interview last November with Robert Knepper, who plays T-Bag on the series. “I don’t think it’s quite done, but I heard that on the wind last year that they were trying to do it”, said Knepper. “You know the whole thing with an escape, they were working on a videogame where you plot your own escape from prison”.
Brash plans Prison Break [Gamespot UK via Videogamer.com]
I often hear longtime platformer fans complain they don’t make ‘em like they used to, and bemoan the perceived “selling out” of their favourite mascot franchises, when all they want is the great gap-skipping of old that they remember from their younger days.
Most of us were kids during the 3D platformer heyday. So maybe, though, just maybe, if any of those games were to be released today, we’d say they looked like children’s games. Brash Entertainment’s upcoming Space Chimps film tie-in platformer is a kids’ game, and giving it a whirl today was what made me think about days of yore.
Variety’s The Cut Scene reports that Hollywood based publisher Brash Entertainment, which in its own words is “laser focused on high quality theatrical based” video games for every platform, has lost its president. Founder Nicholas Longano is said to have exited the company after just a year in business. As The Cut Scene points out, its two completed projects—Alvin & the Chipmunks and Jumper—were critically slammed, each averaging a dreadful 30 on Metacritic.
It looks like Brash Entertainment is trying to set themselves up as the go-to guys for licensed movie games. First they tap Games Republic of Folklore fame for what can only be a Clash of the Titans game, and now Factor 5 has signed on for a movie to game transfer slated for a 2010 release, to be announced at E3 this year. Factor 5 of course is the developer behind the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series, Lair, and the classic Turrican series. Why are they pulling in the good dev teams for movie translations? President and co-founder of Factor 5 Julian Eggebrecht says it’s all about long lead times and creative freedom. We’re already working on a title that is more than two years out, and because the filmmaker is a game fan who is really excited about how we want to expand on the story of the film, we’ve been given a lot of latitude. It’s been really fun to dig deep into this universe.
This is the way movie video games should be made. With the same care and patience as every other game. Let’s hope they do something amazing with the time they have.
Horror game fans have reasons to be moderately excited, as the man dubbed the pioneer of the survival horror game genre, Yoshiki Okamoto, has signed on with Brash Entertainment to create a game based on a popular Hollywood film. Why only moderately excited? There’s no word yet on what movie the game will be based on, it won’t be released until 2010, and there isn’t even any confirmation that it will be another horror game. Okamoto spent 20 years at Capcom, working on titles such as Resident Evil and Street Fighter II, and Game Republic, his studio which will be working on the mysterious game, has most recently published Folklore for PS3. Not really a lot of information to go on yet, but the potential for something fun is present (depending on what “blockbuster title” they choose, of course).
Resident Evil Pioneer Okamoto Partners with Brash on Movie-Based Game [Game Daily Biz]
Movie video game producers Brash Entertainment (Jumper: Griffin’s Story, Alvin and the Chipmunks) has signed a deal with Japanese developer Game Republic (Genji series, Folklore) to work together on a game based on a “popular Hollywood film”. While we’ve no idea what movie the game is to be based on, famed Game Republic CEO Yoshiki Okamoto hints at a fantasy theme. “In collaborating with Brash, we were introduced to a very compelling fictional world and given the freedom to expand it through the game. We are working directly with the creative talent from the film, and feel that the close collaboration will result in an amazing game play experience that immerses the player in an incredible fantasy world.”
Incredible fantasy world with a 2010 release? Warner Bros. 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans would certainly fit the bill, with the original film allowing it the “popular Hollywood” film label, and Brash does have an agreement with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Just my speculation mind you. We’ll just have to wait and see!
James Wan, the executive producer for the Saw series of horror films, was also responsible from writing the two best installments of the franchise, the original and Saw III, so news that he is busy writing the story for the video game is welcome news indeed. James talks about the project a bit in his latest MySpace blog post. Leigh and I are very excited about this new venture. We are big gaming fans and we think it would a great opportunity to continue the SAW legacy into a different platform/medium. Keeps things fresh for us anyway. A lot of people have asked us if we would be interested in writing another SAW movie…well, we are writing another SAW story…but it’s for the game. We’re treating this story like the SAW movies with lots of twists and turns. We have no idea how that is going to apply to a computer game format, considering that most games are generally pretty simple in it’s plotting. Maybe its a good thing that Leigh and I are naive to the video game world and that we’re writing it like its a movie!
