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Publishers hope more will turn to the pastime, which hasn't been affected by guild walkout
By Derrik J. Lang
Associated Press
Published on Sunday, Dec 30, 2007
Who says there's nothing new on your TV?
Not video gamers.
As the Hollywood writers strike drags toward 2008, the video-game industry is hoping a lack of fresh episodes in prime time could motivate more people to pick up video-game controllers instead of remotes — especially with the millions of Wiis and copies of Call of Duty 4 that showed up under Christmas trees.
''If you're a fan of network programming, maybe seeing another repeat of Pushing Daisies or Cold Case will inspire you to finish that level of Ratchet and Clank Future instead,'' said Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
Because game publishers rely almost completely on nonunion talent to create video games, the 2-month-old Writers Guild of America walkout hasn't been an issue for the gaming industry. Only a handful of game writers are represented by the WGA, and they fall outside the jurisdiction of the strike.
''There's a much better relationship between game developers and publishers than there appears to be in terms of all the polemics between the writers, producers and studios,'' Olin said.
During the five-month writer's strike in 1988, gamers were just beginning to become infatuated with Tetris — not exactly a narrative form. In the 20 years since the addictive bricks fell, plot and Hollywood have both become integral parts of interactive entertainment.
With new games now pegged to almost every major blockbuster movie, most of the major studios — Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co. and Sony Corp., for example — have their own gamemaking divisions.
Two years ago, however, a tussle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley threatened a strike of its own.
The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists voted to strike against game publishers after they rejected an agreement seeking to boost pay for voice acting in games. Ultimately, game publishers refused to dispense residuals — a slice of profits from every game sold — but agreed to a 36 percent pay raise.
''The game production model has always been predicated on a buyout of performance,'' Olin said. ''Games were sold in toy stores. For a long time, production teams only consisted of two people: an artist and an engineer. Now that technology has expanded, it's a lot more complicated.''
Game developers sometimes hire authors or screenwriters to produce the thousands of lines of dialogue players may encounter in a game. When publisher Ubisoft tapped Telltale Games to create video games based on CSI, the developer consulted with the CBS show's writers, but hired CSI novelist Max Allan Collins to write the dialogue.
''Anytime we have the ability to work with writers, it improves the quality of the game,'' said Dan Connors, chief executive of Telltale Games. ''They're a great body of talent that generates a ton of creative work.''
Connors said no union writers have composed quips for Sam & Max, Telltale's popular episodic comedy-adventure game series based on the comic book of the same name. Instead, everyone who has contributed to Sam & Max has worked in another capacity on the game, such as programming or designing.
''Writing is something we look for in everybody we hire,'' Connors said.
For the first time, the WGA will recognize game writing at the 2008 Writers Guild Awards, a move that WGA West President Patric M. Verrone hopes will raise the profile of game writers.
Not that the gaming industry needs any resuscitation.
Nielsen Media Research doesn't yet count how many people play video games across multiple platforms in the same way it calculates TV viewership, but research from the NPD Group, which measures gaming industry sales, says people are buying more gaming software and hardware than ever before.
Sales of consoles, games and accessories hit $2.63 billion in November, up 52 percent from last year. Sales of games alone hit $1.3 billion in November, up 62 percent from last year, according to NPD.
Strike or no strike, the gaming industry is welcoming everyone.
''My hope is that people who are used to watching new programming on TV discover gaming as an entertainment alternative,'' Connors said. ''Obviously, it will have to be a pretty prolonged strike for that to happen, but I think it's a definite possibility.''
Who says there's nothing new on your TV?
Get the full article here.
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