Joystiq

Remember when film critics said that the blockbuster spears-and-Spartans flick, 300, was "like a video game"? Though they didn't mean it as a compliment, that hasn't stopped investors from contributing "significantly more" than $150 million into a new video game startup being, uh, started up in part by Thomas Tull, the executive producer of 300! The company, called Brash Entertainment, isn't really interested in doing anything brash. Nope, they figure some licensed games is just what the market needs right now and where better to start than ... 300?

Sprinkled in with dreams of being one of the "biggest game studios in the country" are sage words of advice like, "The safest, most lucrative way to sell a video game is in tandem with some kind of movie that is already heavily marketed." Brash plans on creating 60 to 100 games in the next five years, including another game to capitalize on the box-office success 300 has enjoyed (the PSP game ain't cutting it, we guess). We certainly hope they don't show up in our industry with wide-eyed dreams of telling new and unique stories! Co-starter-upper Bert Ellis calms us, cooing, "They'll all be brands you'll know." Phew!