Author Topic: Activision to Make Transformers Games (Read 9553 times)

Bloodworth · « **on:** February 13, 2006, 11:53:11 AM »

Based on an upcoming live action movie. Huh?

HASBRO TAPS ACTIVISION TO PUBLISH RANGE OF VIDEO GAMES BASED ON THE TRANSFORMERS FRANCHISE AND LIVE-ACTION FILM FROM DREAMWORKS AND PARAMOUNT PICTURES

PAWTUCKET, R.I. Feb. 13, 2006- The Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual property development arm of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) and Activision, Inc, (NASDAQ: ATVI), a leading publisher of interactive entertainment software products, announced today a license that grants Activision the global rights, excluding Japan, to develop console, handheld and PC games based on Hasbro's renowned TRANSFORMERS brand. The first game will be tied to the much-anticipated July 4, 2007 movie release of the live action TRANSFORMERS film from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures.

The TRANSFORMERS brand has been one of the best-selling boys' action brands in a wide-range of categories, from toys to publishing to apparel, since its launch as a global property in 1984. Hasbro is currently gearing up to activate one of the Company's most ambitious marketing and merchandising programs yet to coincide with the live action movie in 2007.

"We are thrilled to work with Activision to bring the widely popular TRANSFORMERS brand to the world of digital entertainment and introduce millions of consumers to our best-known TRANSFORMER and biggest hero of all time-OPTIMUS PRIME," said Jane Ritson-Parsons, president of the Hasbro Properties Group (HPG). "As the leading developer of video games, Activision shares our passion and excitement for the TRANSFORMERS story line. We know this world-class and creative team will bring TRANSFORMERS to life in powerful and exciting ways as we immerse a broad audience in this pop-culture phenomenon."

"TRANSFORMERS has all of the elements necessary to translate incredibly well into video games," said Mike Griffith, President and CEO, Activision Publishing, Inc. "We look forward to bringing the Transformer robots to life with the latest interactive technology and graphics."

The announcement of Activision as the global game publisher for the TRANSFORMERS brand marks the beginning of Hasbro's commitment to bring its well-known toy and game brands further into the digital media space. This effort follows the reacquisition of its video gaming rights from Infogrames Entertainment SA last June.

"Video gaming is a natural next step for our classic properties as children and adults alike live more of their lives around technology," said Ritson-Parsons "We see the digital arena as a great complement to the lifestyle experiences that we're providing to consumers in a variety of categories."

In addition to console, handheld and PC-based games, Hasbro plans to expand the TRANSFORMERS brand's reach through ring tones, mobile gaming and a host of other products for gaming fans of all ages.

The live-action TRANSFORMERS movie from DreamWorks Pictures, Hasbro and Paramount Pictures, will be directed by Michael Bay ("The Rock" and "Armageddon") from a screenplay being written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci ("Mission Impossible: 3"). Tom DeSanto ("X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United"), Don Murphy ("The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") and Lorenzo di Bonaventura ("Four Brothers") are producing the film, with Steven Spielberg and Hasbro's Brian Goldner executive producing.

JonLeung · « **Reply #1 on:** February 13, 2006, 12:28:09 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: PGC NewsBot

Based on an upcoming live action movie. Huh?

What do you mean, "huh?" They've been talking about this live-action movie for at least a couple years now.

But then again maybe it's 'cause I'm a huge Transformers fan.

Original "G1" series > all other Transformers series, especially the more recent ones. I'm glad the movie will be in the vein of the original.

UncleBob · « **Reply #2 on:** February 13, 2006, 12:30:35 PM »

I was personally a bit of a fan of Beast Wars myself - although I didn't get to see a lot of it.

bustin98 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 13, 2006, 12:35:17 PM »

I've heard that Megatron will be a tank instead of a gun. Its slightly dissapointing as a fan, but I can see where they are coming from. Especially putting Prime, a huge rig, next to Megatron, a little pistol. We all know how Michael Bay loves car chases. Imagine a huge tank going full out, faster than a tank normally could, running over a freeway full of cars, chasing down some Autobots trying to avoid the traffic.

Oh. Newsbot. . . . get with the program. TF the Movie is a big deal and will be the number one movie of 2007.

KnowsNothing · « **Reply #4 on:** February 13, 2006, 12:43:41 PM »

Don't talk that way to Newsbot, else he'll TRANSFORM into some NEWS and drown you in information.

couchmonkey · « **Reply #5 on:** February 13, 2006, 12:45:36 PM »

I was a huge Beast Wars fan - I guess it enraged a lot of purists, but I don't remember the original series well enough to mind. What I've seen of the original series in recent years was nice and nostalgiac, but not amazing. I'm still excited to hear there's a live-action movie in the works. I think I've heard about it before, but I didn't follow it too closely - I don't care much about movies until they're actually ready to be seen. Pfft! Casual movie-goers like me are ruining the industry!

Oh yeah, the game. Well, Transformers is prime game fodder. Cars, robots and guns, how can you go wrong? I heard the one release on PS2 a couple of years ago was pretty decent, but I don't know if anyone has made anything really good prior to that.

gally · « **Reply #6 on:** February 13, 2006, 12:56:16 PM »

Sad, in my opinion.

Activision is a publisher, not a developer, yet they're credited as being a "leading developer" of games? And they "share the passion for the TRANSFORMERS storyline"? Before "storyline" became a meaningless marketing word, they would have never said anything like that.

So this is a video game based on a movie based on a line of toys. How much longer can a marketing chain get? As if it wasn't bad enough that things are based on things, we now have lots of things based on things based on things.

Transformers does have the potential for good gameplay though. I remember some game made by Sierra many years back - forget the name - that had you play the role of a robot that could transform into a jet and back again. It was pretty cool, and creative. It also had some great music. If only I knew the name!!

MysticGohan · « **Reply #7 on:** February 13, 2006, 01:15:32 PM »

I was a fan of "G1" & "G2" But anything after that pretty much couldn't hold a candle. I love watching Transformers: The Movie which I own on DVD.

I'm not sure about Megatron being a tank, they already had a decepticon that could transform into a Tank, Megatron originally was a gun with a powerful blast that other decipticons could wield.
I hope Starscream will resemble a Jet, like he originally did.

Optimus Prime better be a Semi, it best suits him.

JonLeung · « **Reply #8 on:** February 13, 2006, 01:45:51 PM »

Okay, Beast Wars was pretty good. Especially when they actually tied it into the G1 continuity. Beast Machines...not so good. Still decent, I guess, but near the end...ick.

All the other Transformers shows after that are pretty crappy, IMO. The toy lines have gone all over the place now, too...the Alternators toys based on real vehicle models are neat, I guess, though. (With the exception of Optimus being a Dodge Ram, that is.) No doubt there will be some car companies and another toy line involved/tied into the movie, as well, so a video game isn't a surprise...let's hope it's done well.

I'm sure this topic is going to turn into Transformers talk...

I can handle Megatron being a tank. Volume-shifting aside, it's just more menacing and is a better fit. If he's a white tank with a big black turret his robot form could look very much like his classic look, which I won't mind. The question is what they're going to do with Soundwave, who isn't going to be a tape deck. I've heard of a "helicopter" idea being thrown around. There is a futuristic jet form of Soundwave in one of the current toy lines where his robot form looks kind of like his classic robot form, except he's black instead of blue. It's acceptable, except for the movie he really should have a totally different form from the three other main fighter jet Decepticons.

MysticGohan · « **Reply #9 on:** February 13, 2006, 03:07:11 PM »

heh, easy. Soundwave could be modernized and yet retain his classicness, Have him as a CD player, that could work in the same vane as his casstte tape form, just with CD's instead.

animecyberrat · « **Reply #10 on:** February 13, 2006, 03:52:37 PM »

I have to step in, I am MAJOR TRANSFAN, my email adress is even thetransformerscollector, I haev been waiting for this movie forever.

Its been discussed to death on TF forums but theres a plain and simple reason that Megtron HAS to be a tank and CAN'T be a gun, its because tehres a LAW against toy guns that look real, and Megatron was a Walther P38 with extensions, and looked pretty damn realistic. In order to make a TOY of him he HAS tro be something legaly doable.

Its also noteworthy that the articel even mentions that Activisions is getting all righst out side fo Japan, because Takara is the company who actauly owns the TF righst adn liscenses them to HASBRO out side the US, and they have recently merged with another company who will handle all the video games rights over in japan.

I am more of a G1/G2 fan than anything but I also liked the BW SHOW, toys were crap but show was ok, and i was ok with RID but armada and most newer stuff was crap except a few good toys like Unicron was the SH**!

TRIVIA: as a hip-hop enthusiast its also worth mentioning that TFs and Hip-Hop have always shared many common elements, the most prominant relations between the two are the many references to Hip-Hop culture in the original TV show and comics and the early Turntable scratch that was called the 'transformer', a scratch that resembles the sound TFs made while transforming, which is also one of my favorite scratches and one of the most fun to perform if done correctly. I so hope they gets some good 80's style sounding bands for the soudntarck and pray they think to get a turntablist to incorperate the TF scratch in the main theme some how. THAT WOULD ROCK!

On the subject of Soundwave though, a CD player wouldn't work because you can't have CDs transform into robots, but they did recently reissue the original SW as a cassette player a couple years ago so its possible he would maintain his original alt mode, after all Tapes arent THAT out of date they still sell them at major stores.

Shin Gallon · « **Reply #11 on:** February 13, 2006, 04:12:43 PM »

Too bad the games will be based on the sure-to-suck live action movie. I wouldn't trust Michael Bay to direct a local used car lot ad, let alone a major movie. The man has yet to make a movie that rises abouve putrid. Add this to the fact that the man has publicly stated that he wasn't a big fan of Transformers and isn't that familiar with them and you have a recipe for crap.
I'll see the movie, but only out of morbid curiosity. Still, it can't be any worse than Beast Wars or Armada...

MaleficentOgre · « **Reply #12 on:** February 13, 2006, 04:17:01 PM »

this may be the case where the game totally outshines the movie (like riddick did a while back). I'm looking forward to it. Activision has done me right as of late.

Jonnyboy117 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 13, 2006, 06:01:44 PM »

Activision develops many games in-house. Some of their studios have been internal for years and years, going back to the days of Turok and before.

The "huh?" in this news post is a reference to the apparent oddity of this movie being live-action. It sort of worked with TMNT, since the actors could wear latex suits, but how could you do it with Transformers? It's going to look like Power Rangers.

MysticGohan · « **Reply #14 on:** February 13, 2006, 06:36:48 PM »

Actually Johnnyboy it will be mixed Live-Action with CG, So I would assume the transformers will be CG in the film.

NinGurl69 *huggles · « **Reply #15 on:** February 13, 2006, 06:43:23 PM »

It didn't stop the Matrix: Reloaded from being live-action. In an amazing display of acting talent, Keanu Reeves was CG 97% of the movie.

Shecky · « **Reply #16 on:** February 13, 2006, 06:47:05 PM »

More than meets the eye

MaleficentOgre · « **Reply #17 on:** February 13, 2006, 07:56:41 PM »

all the whining heart felt love filled humans will be live-action

bustin98 · « **Reply #18 on:** February 13, 2006, 08:11:25 PM »

Almost every big budget film has CGI in it. The Matrix movies (even The Island) proves they can do some cool stuff with vehicles. I don't think robots are that much further up. Then you have fims like Sin City, Mirror Mask, Sky Kepitan and the World of Yesterday . . .

The history of Transformer games doesn't show much of a pedigree. I'm skeptical.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #19 on:** February 14, 2006, 12:08:17 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: gally

I remember some game made by Sierra many years back - forget the name - that had you play the role of a robot that could transform into a jet and back again. It was pretty cool, and creative. It also had some great music. If only I knew the name!!

Not Gunmetal, is it? Hm, no, that's not published by Sierra. There's the JEI:X mod for UT 2003 but that got discontinued before they had even basic balancing implemented and the ProPain mod for Serious Sam that I don't know too much about.

Shogo: MAD and Slave Zero are names that pop up often but don't ask me what exactly they involve. And I think Vortex for the SNES is a name I can throw in here at random.

JonLeung · « **Reply #20 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:06:31 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: gally

Transformers does have the potential for good gameplay though. I remember some game made by Sierra many years back - forget the name - that had you play the role of a robot that could transform into a jet and back again. It was pretty cool, and creative. It also had some great music. If only I knew the name!!

If it's the game where you shoot enemies that have a lot of red orbs, the game was Fire Hawk, the sequel to Thexder. If that's what you're thinking of, I'm 100% sure of the name, it was one of the games I had on my computer before I got my first 14.4k modem, so, with a lack of distractions, I played the heck out of every game I had. Well, I try to do that now, but I REplayed the heck out of them too. I wasn't good at games at the time, so I rarely even made it to the third stage, but the music WAS good, at least I recall so too.

Anyway, back on track...Michael Bay may not be a huge fan, but Spielberg is and he's executive producer, or something high up, anyway. Hopefully that's some consolation. He knows how to do his storytelling. Michael Bay knows action. Don Murphy, deeply involved in the project, as well as the current writers, are apparently big fans and they know rabid fans will tear them up if they mess it up.

I can't speak for the toy lines or the video game that started this news post, but at the very least I believe the film will be worth watching and I'd rather have that start up a new generation of Transformers fans than the current shows.

Jonnyboy117 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:38:46 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: bustin98
The history of Transformer games doesn't show much of a pedigree. I'm skeptical.

The PS2 game is actually pretty cool and has incredible graphics. I just wish the vehicle forms were more useful and there were more Transformers playable.

JonLeung · « **Reply #22 on:** February 14, 2006, 05:39:37 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
Quote
Originally posted by: bustin98
The history of Transformer games doesn't show much of a pedigree. I'm skeptical.

The PS2 game is actually pretty cool and has incredible graphics. I just wish the vehicle forms were more useful and there were more Transformers playable.

Are you talking about the one just titled "Transformers" even though it is based on the Armada show/toy line, or are you referring the Japanese-only G1 one?

The G1 game looked better simply because it was, well, G1, but I don't really know much about the gameplay on that one.

Ceric · « **Reply #23 on:** February 14, 2006, 07:53:20 AM »

On the Soundwave issue. One word... MiniDisc.

And every Transformer after G1 with the Exception of the Beast series, even though Beast Machines was way to heavy on story, Has been to touchy feely and too dependant on humans. Plus a lack of true comaraderie(sp?), like in all the Prequal Star Wars, hurts it even more. Mix into that the "Power Ranger" effect, going through all the major changes that made the first one exciting in a season instead of like 5, is there too. If the movie or game is anything like the new shows I'm going to buy all it. I mean your a super advance robot civilization and you need humans to tie your shoes. I see seeing things from a different perspective but come on it's like the whole Megaman spike thing. He's a robot made out of metal but can be instantly killed but these metal spikes that in real life could at best scratch him. So let the be a lesson for all of you if you are ever chase by a super powerful robot just poke it with some thing pointy and run for it will explode.

ruby_onix · « **Reply #24 on:** February 14, 2006, 01:46:03 PM »

Original Transformers cartoons (Generation 1) = Very good, but you have to forgive certain moments as a sign of the times. Quite a number of them.

Transformers the Movie = Excellent. Even today.

Post-movie cartoons (Generation 2) = Very good. Underrated.

Marvel comic books = From what I've read, I'd give them a "high good".

Decade-long absence = All good things yadda yadda.

Beast Wars/Beasties = Ranges from "good" to "excellent". A breath of fresh air.

Beast Machines = Horrid. Absolutely horrid. I really tried to like it, but it just did everything wrong, and ruined Beast Wars while it was at it.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise = For the kiddies. Could have been amusing if it wasn't so painfully obviously butchered.

Transformers: Armada/Energon/Cybertron cartoons = Mediocre.

Transformers: Armada/blahblah comics by Dreamwave = Beautiful and exciting to behold. But then you read them and you find out that they're hollow and meaningless and never go anywhere. Then Dreamwave went bankrupt because apparently being the #1 comic book in America doesn't earn you anything. Avoid anything that wasn't written by Simon Furman.

New Transformers comics by whoever is making them = Don't know. Don't really care. My interest has been lost. Need to save money and find some 80's G.I. Joe boxsets.

Live action movie = Dreading it. If it turns out good, then fine. But I'm not even holding out hope for it.

News:

Author Topic: Activision to Make Transformers Games (Read 9553 times)