Konami, Universal Announce Franchises

Universal Interactive Studios and Konami today announced three agreements to bring well-known franchises to next-generation platforms. Based on a five-year deal struck last December between the two companies to jointly develop and publish games based on Universal Studios' film and television franchises, the companies have now revealed in conjunction with the Tokyo Game Show that they are collaborating on games based on The Thing, Jurassic Park 3, and Crash Bandicoot. The Thing will be based on Universal's 1982 film of the same name (not a member of Marvel's Fantastic Four). The new Jurassic Park game, headed to PC and unspecified console and handheld platforms, will coincide with the summer 2001 theatrical release of Jurassic Park 3. Santa Monica's Naughty Dog, developer of the first four Crash Bandicoot games for Playstation, will not be contributing to the new Crash game (which is almost certainly headed to the Playstation 2), and is working on a new character for its next game.