Feature: Cinemaware's Bob Jacob Sees His Influence In Modern Games

Though Cinemaware titles like Defender of the Crown, Rocket Ranger and It came from the Desert are mere historical footnote for many of today's gamers, company founder Bob Jacobs says he's proud of the impact he sees his style having on some of today's games. In an interview conducted for Tristan Donovan's book Replay: The History of Video Games, which was recently excerpted on Gamasutra, Jacobs said he's gratified to see many modern games incorporating his vision for a more cinematic gaming experience. "If you look at Call of Duty, for example, or even Assassin's Creed -- people are trying to do games that are very movie-like experiences," he said. "Obviously they've been able to achieve much more than I was, but they have better technology and more money to work with. But clearly I think the vision of what I wanted to do 20-plus years ago, is now being seen." While Jacobs said he has no regrets about his long career in the industry -- which also included a role as one of the first game developer talent agencies -- he did seem a little wistful about the timing of his big game development push. "I will say that on one level I suffered the fate of many pioneers: I was too early," he said. "I knew what I wanted to do. The technology wasn't there then and was not going to be there for a while, but if you look at the games today and what we were trying to do there is a pretty sophisticated opportunity." The full interview with Jacobs includes his thoughts on the computer technology of the 1980s, the Hollywood-style production methods his company used, and the company's eventual demise.