Feature: 'Making The Best Game Franchise Cross-Overs'

In another of today's main Gamasutra features, a recent panel at the 2006 CES show saw industry figures including EA's Louis Castle, THQ's Germaine Gioia and Stormfront's Don Daglow discussing the past, present, and future of licensed video games, and Frank Cifaldi was along for the ride. As is explained in this extract, the various speakers, who have worked on a plethora of licensed titles over the year, believe there are certain ways of handling licenses correctly, and avoiding stigma: ""When you have a powerful franchise to work with," warned Daglow, "what some forget to do is question whether or not most of what you're doing in-game is actually fun." This is in reference to balancing the integrity of a character with the interactivity that makes a game a game. Castle, who has worked on more than a few licensed games in his career, including Monopoly, Blade Runner and The Lion King, had this to offer: "I can tell you that there was a deep respect for the emotional investment of a player in all of my successful licensed games," he said, giving the example of The Lion King, in which players re-enacted lead character Simba's journey into adulthood." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including more insight into how licensed games are handled in today's market (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).