The Bourne Conspiracy is no ‘movie game’

For a game so faithfully tied to the motion pictures, Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) was designed to be anything but a movie game. San Diego-based High Moon Studios spoke to The Hollywood Reporter recently, and it was discovered that while the game picked up the Jason Bourne from the beginnings of “The Bourne Identity,” it was designed to stand on its own two legs, separately from the movies.

“We started off almost making a straight ‘Bourne Identity’ adaptation,” said chief creative officer Emmanuel Valdez. In the eyes of third-party onlookers, it would have been a wrong decision: the first movie premiered in 2001 –  the same year Robert Ludlum passed away – which was quickly followed with the second installment premiering just a year before the game development started.

“We knew we didn’t have enough time to build a quality ‘Bourne Ultimatum’ game and come out with it at the same time as the movie. So we decided to do things differently, something new,” Valdez stressed, and so it became that The Bourne Conspiracy would have to make do on its own. And yet it had to be original, but intimately close to what fans of the movie – the potential customers of the game – recognize from the big screen.

Striking a balance between the two, coupled with unavoidably difficult negotiations between the intellectual property owners and the creative force, was often the undoing of movie-based games. But Ludlum Estate, holders of the Bourne IP, made a choice that sealed the game’s blockbuster potential.

They chose to hire a creative consultant to advise them during the game’s development, and they selected independent game producer Matt Wolf, an industry veteran from Electronic Arts and SEGA Entertainment. “Head-butts” involved in the creative process were easily smoothed out, and it turned the movie hero into a hero perfectly sculpted for the video game scene.

Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy will touch Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers by mid-2008 and will be released under the newly revived Sierra label of Vivendi.

For a game so faithfully tied to the motion pictures, Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) was designed to be anything but a movie game. San Diego-based High Moon Studios spoke to The Hollywood Reporter recently, and it was discovered that while the game picked up the Jason Bourne from the beginnings of “The Bourne Identity,” it was designed to stand on its own two legs, separately from the movies.

“We started off almost making a straight ‘Bourne Identity’ adaptation,” said chief creative officer Emmanuel Valdez. In the eyes of third-party onlookers, it would have been a wrong decision: the first movie premiered in 2001 –  the same year Robert Ludlum passed away – which was quickly followed with the second installment premiering just a year before the game development started.

“We knew we didn’t have enough time to build a quality ‘Bourne Ultimatum’ game and come out with it at the same time as the movie. So we decided to do things differently, something new,” Valdez stressed, and so it became that The Bourne Conspiracy would have to make do on its own. And yet it had to be original, but intimately close to what fans of the movie – the potential customers of the game – recognize from the big screen.

Striking a balance between the two, coupled with unavoidably difficult negotiations between the intellectual property owners and the creative force, was often the undoing of movie-based games. But Ludlum Estate, holders of the Bourne IP, made a choice that sealed the game’s blockbuster potential.

They chose to hire a creative consultant to advise them during the game’s development, and they selected independent game producer Matt Wolf, an industry veteran from Electronic Arts and SEGA Entertainment. “Head-butts” involved in the creative process were easily smoothed out, and it turned the movie hero into a hero perfectly sculpted for the video game scene.

Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy will touch Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers by mid-2008 and will be released under the newly revived Sierra label of Vivendi.