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Nov 10, 2008 9:16 am US/Central
TV Show & Movie Based Video Games Stumbling
NEW YORK (AP) ―
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Masi Oka as a tech geek and rudimental superhero on NBC television series "Heroes."
AP
Does NBC's "Heroes" make sense anymore? Does anyone care? Apparently, Ubisoft doesn't think so. The company has pulled the plug on its "Heroes" video game, which was announced more than a year ago.
Since then, the TV series has gone from a pop-culture hit to a tangle of incoherent stories, so the French publisher decided to cut its losses.
Ubisoft got burned earlier this year when "Lost: Via Domus," its tie-in to another cultish serialized TV drama, only sold about 100,000 copies. Which raises the question: Does it make sense to produce games based on ongoing television series when characters may die and plots may shift dramatically during the development cycle? No matter how much you love "The Sopranos," "Battlestar Galactica" or "The X-Files," you'll get more satisfaction watching old episodes than playing the games based on them.
Movie-based games aren't faring much better. Activision's "Quantum of Solace" game is out now, and it's another lackluster James Bond shooter that barely brushes against the film's plot. The "Iron Man," "Incredible Hulk" and "Hellboy" games that came out this year were so drab, it was a relief when there was no game to accompany "The Dark Knight." And who had time for any of these pre-sold characters this summer when most of us were busy keeping Niko Bellic alive in "Grand Theft Auto IV"?
That said, the news that Atari has picked up the in-limbo "Ghostbusters" game for publication next year has given hope to some of us. Maybe 25 years is the right amount of time between a movie and a video game.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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