EA and Spielberg to collaborate on unnamed projects – UPDATED

EA announced today at E3 (July 10, 2007) that it will be working with Academy Award winning movie director, Steven Spielberg, on at least two videogame projects.

Neither has a name or ship date yet, but the first will be a four-player Wii game that, according to the press release, “will allow for players of all ages to compete in over a hundred challenging, action-packed interactive games that take blocks to a new level of creativity and fun for single player, co-op, and versus gameplay. Additionally, use the Wii remote to build your own fun games and structures or turn the same Wii remote into a destructive tool to bring them crashing down.” Sounds like a minigame extravaganza to me.

The second game will be for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The description is pretty vague and sounds like the goal of many previous RPGs. According to the press release, it will be “…a contemporary action-packed adventure that puts you in the leading role of an emotional journey where your actions tell the tale. Set against the backdrop of an epic story, the game focuses on a touching and ever-changing relationship between you and a mysterious female character who holds the key to many futures.” Sounds like an RPG action game to me.

The funniest part of the press release is that Spielberg claims he is a gamer:

“I am a gamer myself and game development has always intrigued me,” said Steven Spielberg. “Now I’ve been able to jump in and do it, enjoying the creative collaboration with the EALA [EA's Los Angeles] team on our first two games and I feel we have two incredibly unique projects in development.”

I wonder what games he really plays? Halo? Tetris? Something starring Barbie or Hello Kitty?

The best implication of this announcement is that it may mean the quality of the videogame stories might improve. That is, if Spielberg actually does much. The announcement was unclear as to what he will actually do.

UPDATE: 4: 25 p.m., 07/10/2007 - G4 just reported that the PS3/Xbox 360 code named LMNO and will be “a cross between North by Northwest and ET, if ET were grown up, female and hot.” The Wii game, code named PQRS , will “combine the creativity of Jenga with the charm of a Saturday morning cartoon.” Descriptions are from Newsweek.

Read [Gamasutra] Also Read [Firing Squad]