Makes me feel better about Grand Theft Auto
...which, in fact, is a pretty sad statement.
Anyway...
Electronic Arts Expands Turf with 'Godfather' Saga
Thu Mar 3, 2005 07:01 AM ET
By John Gaudiosi
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Hours before actors James Caan and Robert Duvall walked down the red carpet, press and retailer VIPs lined up in the frigid air of New York's Little Italy recently to get a first look at Electronic Arts' "The Godfather" video game.
As locals gathered to see what all the fuss was about, the message was clear: EA was unveiling its new title like Hollywood opens a movie.
The game publisher, which has made a mint from such Hollywood-licensed film franchises as "Harry Potter," James Bond and "The Lord of the Rings," is utilizing next-generation technology to bring Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning film to the interactive realm.
But the source material is just the beginning of the game experience. The film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, and its Viacom Inc. parent granted Electronic Arts the rights to expand the fiction beyond the scope of the film and Mario Puzo's novel.
"We took the movie as a starting point and looked at the story of five families competing for turf," said Hunter Smith, senior producer of "The Godfather" game. "You're not playing the movie game with this experience, you have your own original story that intersects with characters and high points from the first film."
