Jon Landau at the Austin Game Conference

by Elizabeth Harper { Sep 7th 2006 at 4:30PM }

Elizabeth Harper is covering the MMO-heavy Austin Game Conference for Joystiq and our WoW-obsessed friends at WoW Insider.

What's well-known film producer Jon Landau doing at a game conference? I'm glad you asked, because I have the answers -- or at least, Landau did during his keynote today. Gaming, Landau explained, is an increasingly important part of the entertainment industry. And there's a lot in common with a good game and a good film -- they're both about creating compelling characters and stories, told in an equally compelling setting. The difference is that a film tells a single story, while a game (specifically an MMO) can tell countless stories. So read on for more on his morning keynote.

Okay -- I imagine you're probably still asking what Jon Landau is doing at a game conference. So, more specifically, he's talking about technology used in movies and games, as well as how we might see further integration between the cinematics on the big screen and the games we play at home.

In film, technological innovation has always been key. As an example, Landau cites James Cameron's Terminator movies. When Cameron was preparing to write the script for Terminator, he realized the technology did not exist in 1984 to tell the story he wanted to tell. Thus, he broke the story in two parts -- an original that was doable with the existing technology, and a sequel that would be produced later, hopefully when the technology had caught up. (And by 1991 the capabilities existed to create the T2 the way Cameron envisioned it.)

In the future, Landau is looking towards more technological advancement, and particularly speaks of a virtual production environment that blurs the line between pre-production, production, and post production. Performance capture (not motion capture -- because the goal is to capture all the subtleties of an actor's movements, rather than simply the gross motion) will bring all of the players into a film environment that the director can view on a screen, rendered in a fashion not unlike today's games. (As opposed to full quality cenematics that will be created for the final feature release.)

And if the filmmaker already has the 3d data on all of its characters and locations? That only makes it easier for a game developer to hook in to the existing intellectual property and build on it. The visuals the filmmaker uses to shoot a movie can literally be in the game. And the game can provide an in-depth and sustaining experience that the film cannot -- the filmmaker can present his own story in film, while the game developers can tell myriad stories and provide players with new characters to interact with and locations to explore. Together, they complement each other.

Tags: agc, austin game conference, AustinGameConference, jon landau, JonLandau, landau, warcraft, world of warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft, wow

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

AoE @ Sep 7th 2006 4:57PM

I'd like to hear the actual keynote; he's not giving me any warm fuzzies.

"Gaming, Landau explained, is an increasingly important part of the entertainment industry."

Wha?! really? When did you realize this Mr. Landau? Before or after it began pulling in more money than hollywood?

"And there's a lot in common with a good game and a good film -- they're both about creating compelling characters and stories, told in an equally compelling setting."

Really? Because I thought Luminies, Marble Madness, [Insert name of your favorite racing and sport games here], PacMan, Tetris, Geometry Wars... should I continue? I mean granted Tetris has a really compelling story, and PacMan sports a truely compelling setting... But c'mon dude, games aren't about creating compelling characters and stories, they're about creating compelling gameplay experiences. I (and I would suspect most gamers) can think of a long list of truely great games that were partially/completely lacking in the compelling character/story department, but were still extremely compelling games.

"The difference is that a film tells a single story, while a game (specifically an MMO) can tell countless stories."

Or no story at all, unless MMOs, RPGS, movie license titles, and linear "action" games are the only things you consider video games... If that's the case then, what is Tetris? A construction industry educational tool?

"...as well as how we might see further integration between the cinematics on the big screen and the games we play at home."

Yes, I've played movie license games, and I realize that your dying industry (and by that I mean specifically big Hollywood) is trying whatever they can to syphon fans from video games back into theatre seats, the problem is you games are rarely fun and your movies rarely amusing. Better character models won't solve the issue.

"The visuals the filmmaker uses to shoot a movie can literally be in the game. And the game can provide an in-depth and sustaining experience that the film cannot -- the filmmaker can present his own story in film, while the game developers can tell myriad stories and provide players with new characters to interact with and locations to explore. Together, they complement each other."

And here's where he's missing the point, again. We're just talking about a graphical upgrade to movie-license games. This doesn't even address the core problem with most movie license titles; they're not fun to play. Generally the graphics in these games are pretty good already and guess what? Lightening the load on the art team isn't going to have an effect on engineering, which is where this genre famously breaks down.

Perhaps I'm jaded, but to me it sounds like someone who knows his industry is on the way out, and is trying to find ways to make himself and/or his industry remain relevant. Understandable, but still rather sad.