Spielberg: films are looking like games

By Robert Purchese Published 10 December, 2008

Calls them "digital introductory teasers".

Iconic Hollywood film maker Steven Spielberg believes movies are starting to take a leaf out of the videogame book.

Talking to Yahoo, he recalled his first time playing Pong, and the leaps and bounds our industry has taken since then.

"I think film-makers are learning things from videogames," said Spielberg. "Movies are starting to look more and more like videogames, like the digital introductory teasers videogames give you before they turn control over to the player.

"A lot of movies, like this movie with Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy called Wanted. It had a lot of videogame savvy. The Bourne Ultimatum had a lot of videogame savvy in the quick cuts and the audacity of camera angle."

Spielberg helped create the acclaimed Boom Blox for EA, and is currently working on project "LMNO" for the publisher. This, said Spielberg, will be an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game focused on "movie-type story", although gameplay details are so far scarce.

As for the director himself, Spielberg admitted a fondness for Rock Band, in which he assumes the roll of drummer.

"One thing I can do is hit a drum. So that's what I do," he said, honestly.

There's no release date for LMNO, but the prevalence of chatter suggests we may hear more soon.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • dopeonthetable #1 3 years ago

    I don't think he is calling anything ""digital introductory teasers""- I think it's clear that he is talking about the way in which action films are borrowing stylistically from typical cut-scene choreography, whatever such a thing might be.

  • Rizzle #2 3 years ago

    On the other hand, taking "digital introductory teasers" out of context can only end well.

  • Kostabi #3 3 years ago

    That's a roundabout way of saying 'intro' that's for sure.

    Lots of intros are stunning pieces of action and if movies are going to start apeing them for ideas and inspiration then it can only be a good thing.

  • Doctor_What #4 3 years ago

    Ah, so that's why movies generally, and his in particular, have been a bit rubbish lately. Kingdom of the Crystal Dull was awful!

  • illusiondance #5 3 years ago

    i still dont get how he compares the Bourne ultimatum to a cut-scene.... what am i missing here?

  • dopeonthetable #6 3 years ago

    Assuming that I'm right in thinking he means "cut-scenes"- it's a weird description, right? As though one particular section of a videogame would suddenly turn analogue. And I'm not sure that "introductory" or "teaser" accurately describes the relationship between cut-scenes and gameplay. I know we call the opening cinematics "intros", but they are just one of many stages of preface the player must get through before taking control of the action, each of which might -perhaps should- be considered as legitimate parts of the final "experience", not mere introductory content. "Teaser" has similar problems- sure, they build momentum and excitement, but it might not be fair to think of them as separate to the "main event".

  • dadrester #7 3 years ago

    "laugh my nose off"?

    thing is all his recent films have been shit. saying that boom blox is awesome fun!

  • Santino #8 3 years ago

    off topic but this mother fucker and Will Smith better stay the hell away from Oldboy!

  • Thunderbolt #9 3 years ago

    Can't really blame Spielberg as he only directed the latest Indy film as that crown of shit rests on George Lucas as he wrote it.

    Spielberg is responsible for some of the best films ever (Transformers was pretty good IMO)
    Edited by 1 at 10/12/08 @ 12:19

  • berelain #10 3 years ago

    Spielberg sounds rather out of touch with modern filming techniques here... he's saying games have lots of jump cuts and unusual camera angles like videogames use? And where does he think games took their inspiration from? indie films and anime have been using these techniques for years...

  • HolyJebus #11 3 years ago

    I still love you Steven, don't listen to those haters.

  • manjiBoy #12 3 years ago

    role*

  • space_ace #13 3 years ago

    me too
    are haters blind or they didn't watch munich?

  • DoctorZoidberg #14 3 years ago

    Spielberg is a movie legend. There are no two ways about it. He has been recently dipping his toes into gaming, Boom Blox was actually pretty fun.

    I think people here "hating" (as you all put it) are probably to young (& stupid) to know any better!

  • Tzetrik #15 3 years ago

    P?

  • JayArr #16 3 years ago

    Did anyone else get a security alert from Norton Antivirus when they opened this page?! Apparently it blocked an intrusion attempt involving an "HTTP Acrobat PDF Suspicious File Download" from eurogamer.net.

  • mashk #17 3 years ago

    Is he being derrogatory?

  • dopeonthetable #18 3 years ago

    I don't think there are any "haters" here- a lot of his recent films have had nothing remarkable about them other than their budget and now he's made some fairly strange remarks about games and film that seem less informed than they should be considering his position.

    In other words: I think there are some reasonable criticisms being made in this thread, and "reasonable criticism" is radically different to "hating".
    Edited by 1 at 10/12/08 @ 13:06

  • Doctor_What #19 3 years ago

    Yes, Speilberg is a movie legend, but mostly based on his excellent output from the late 70s to the very early 90s. He's done a lot of very mediocre work since then. Beyond Munich, his output for the last decade has been mostly pretty pedestrian. What on earth made him think that the absolute tosh that was the latest Indy film was worth filming?

    (And George Lucas should never be allowed near films - he's a good ideas guy, but dangerous in charge of a script and even worse when he's directing.)

    Sadly, I'm both too old and over-qualified to be classed as young and (completely) stupid!

  • Shakey_Jake33 #20 3 years ago

    To be honest though, it's refreshing to hear an established film director recognise the achievements in video games, and how film can potentially learn things from video games. He's far more in-touch than so many film-makers who just see it as all childish fun with no further value.

  • TedBaker #21 3 years ago

    Spielberg proclaims: Films are looking more like Pong! Two wooden actors and a ball. :-/

    Really, do we need this man to say yet again that film and games are almost alike? Do we?

  • qoobah #22 3 years ago

    Yeah, and where the intros (cause I assume that is what he meant, right? o.o) got their insipration from in the first place? Then games got more popular, ergo influential in pop culture to the point where film business noted that and started to take the more juicy (and popular) bits for it's own work. It's coming round and about, nothing surprising here.

    Haven forbid though if flms were to inspire their narrative and story ideas from games. Of all the media capable of telling a story videogame business still lurks at the very bottom for some reason.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #23 3 years ago

    He's talking about intro movies; "teasers" is an American TV term to describe the bit of a TV programme before the credits start. Back in 90s this was usually the shot of an alien eating a weirdo in a trailer park before the X-Files music started, but nowadays it's half an episode of Lost and two-thirds of an Ugly Betty.

    Also, Spielberg is a cinematic God. I don't get why people think his recent films have been less than great. Granted, there's debate about the quality of Crystal Skull (personally I loved it) but stuff like Munich, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, and to a lesser extent War of the Worlds are all pretty damn spiffing.

  • nick_f Verified Senior Producer, Microsoft #24 3 years ago

    LMNO?
    PQRS (aka Boom Blox)?

    I think the Spielberg games should have used QWERTY code names like "ASDF" and "JKL semi-colon"

    /gets back to work

  • Nithron #25 3 years ago

    Beowulf actually just looks like one massive, badly rendered videogame cut-scene. To the point where I actually couldn't watch it at all and switched it off in disgust.

  • qwertymz #26 3 years ago

    My OCD is terrified at the use of 'roll' instead of 'role'.

    (Also I thought videogames got their inspiration from films? Which is what cutscenes are, essentially.. so...

    Films -> Videogame Cutscenes.

    But now we have Videogame Cutscenes -> Films? Isn't that just.. returning to square 1? *confused*
    Edited by 1 at 10/12/08 @ 16:10

  • Mr-Bozzey #27 3 years ago

    lol wow 1st hating on killzone 2 and then the final release of HOME now on the greatest director to ever hit the film industry people are idiots here.


  • anomagnus #28 3 years ago

    Munich, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, and to a lesser extent War of the Worlds are all pretty damn spiffing.

    Are they, i mean, lets be real here. They're good shows, but are they generational movies?

    Speilberg once created shows that 20 years on, were still loved. E.T., the goonies, Jaws, Raiders of the lost ark, schindlers List, saving private ryan, shit even jurassic park 1, were all movies that had unbelievable impact.

    Do you really beleive that 20 years from now, kids are going to look back at Catch me if you can, or Minority report in the same way as we do with the first indy film? or E.T.

    I'm not saying he isnt good, christ the man IS the movie industry really,but his current work is eclipsed by his past work

    edit, two letters for you AI

    The mans crowning failure.
    Edited by 1 at 10/12/08 @ 16:18

  • wizbob #29 3 years ago

    Minority Report has already been pretty influential, particularly those stupid gesture interfaces. It's funny, the accepted critical line when it comes to Spielberg seems to be that his early movies (Star Wars, ET, etc) damaged the whole industry with their infantile themes and blockbuster marketing, whereas his later movies like Schindler's List and Munich are seen as more mature and worthy. Exactly the opposite of what most people here think. I don't think I agree with either view.

  • peterfll #30 3 years ago

    Funny, I spun up the ET 20th Anniversary Edition a couple of nights ago and had forgotten how Mr S had ruined the film with the totally unnecessary and plastic-fantastic CGI that's been placed over the top of the original puppet. It totally removes the charm of what was originally captured on film and makes the wretched creature looks like something like... Jar-Jar-Binks.

    Any don't even mention the walkie-talkies.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #31 3 years ago

    "Do you really beleive that 20 years from now, kids are going to look back at Catch me if you can, or Minority report in the same way as we do with the first indy film? or E.T. "

    Catch Me, probably not, it's fun but flawed. Munich, deffo: it's a minor sci-fi masterpiece. OBVIOUSLY not in the same league as ET, CE3K, etc, but certainly the sorta film where everytime it's on telly you'll be thinking "oh, excellent, Minority Report!". And Munich is the best film he's made since Schindler's List.

    He had an extraordinary run of greatness with Jaws, CE3K, Indy and ET (only spoiled by 1941) and since then has made a fair few all-time classics as well as some films that were "only" very entertaining. Oh, and Hook. He did make Hook. However as pretty much no one here seems to like AI then I might as well give up and go home ;-)

  • bonker #32 3 years ago

    No director with a back catalogue the size of Spielberg's can be immune to criticism, you can't make perfection *every* time.

    He stands up with the best of them though overall, for sure he's still one of the three directors whose films I'd want with me on a desert island (with a TV too of course!) ...

  • bad09 #33 3 years ago

    I like Spielberg, he has made some of the greatest movies in film history IMO (early Spielberg of course!).

    But he's talking out of his crapper.....

    Quick cuts in Bourne were not the appeal. Good writing, direction and good actor performances were the key. Wanted?? Please Mr "I ruined War Of The Worlds"

    IMO movies are starting to loose ground to the videogame, not taking a leaf out of it's book (coming from a LONG time movie fanatic, known as "the book" by some old work colleagues for his movie love/knowledge).

    Hell, they 99.9% of the time screw up great stories handed on a plate BY videogames!

    / glares at Resident Evil
    Edited by 1 at 10/12/08 @ 21:20

  • bivith #34 3 years ago

    @wizbob
    "It's funny, the accepted critical line when it comes to Spielberg seems to be that his early movies (Star Wars, ET, etc)"

    If you confused Star Wars for a Spielberg movie, then we can safely ignore everything else you said.

  • Mashum #35 3 years ago

    I think he has a way of swiftly building up believable and warm relationships between people - like the family in ET, or the one in War of the Worlds for that matter. Some may find it a bit cheesy but I like it and it makes whatever happens to these people in the course of the story seem more important.

    I can't think of any videogames that come close in terms of creating believable characters - maybe Half Life 2, even ICO in it's own way - certainly not Fahrenheit though for all of David Cage's wannabe auteur crapola.

    Anyway I hope he gets more involved in the game industry, it can only be a good thing.
    Edited by 1 at 11/12/08 @ 00:41

  • 3william56 #36 3 years ago

    "sh*te films are looking more like videogames"
    Fixed.

    Good films look nothing like videogames. Mr S's own early back catalogue demonstrates this perfectly. Though a vid game based on Duel would be pretty suave. Films that look like videogames are almost always 100% suck. Mr S's recent Indy travesty (yes, CGI monkeys and Shia LeTarzan I'm looking at you) demonstrates that nicely too.

  • bad09 #37 3 years ago

    "Mr S's recent Indy travesty (yes, CGI monkeys and Shia LeTarzan I'm looking at you) demonstrates that nicely too. "

    don't forget the aliens - what were he and George smoking when they approved the script"

  • bonker #38 3 years ago

    "Quick cuts in Bourne were not the appeal. Good writing, direction and good actor performances were the key. Wanted?? Please Mr "I ruined War Of The Worlds" "

    How did he ruin WOTW?

    The first two acts had my jaw on the floor and I still think they're superb after repeated viewings - the third act is pretty weak but I haven't seen a good third act in a film for at least the past 5 years ...

  • bad09 #39 3 years ago

    "How did he ruin WOTW?

    The first two acts had my jaw on the floor and I still think they're superb after repeated viewings - the third act is pretty weak but I haven't seen a good third act in a film for at least the past 5 years ... "

    Well true, it wasn't a bad movie as such and in terms of FX it's awesome, but concentrating a single families experience compared to what could of been, yes he ruined it IMO. Even the 50's movie was a more convincing alien invasion IMO.

  • Widge #40 3 years ago

    The script was actually based on reality believe it or not! A crystal skull as in the film was in fact discovered and believed to have supernatural powers etc. The people who found it would tour the New Age festivals around the world with it (since they like their nice coloured rocks and shit) and the entire myth about aliens providing the ancient Mayans or whatever with technology etc came about.

    Then eventually the skull got put under some serious scrutiny, found that it was not actually one lump of complete and unsculptuered crystal but two man made halves put together. The duo who discovered it still maintain its intergrity though.

    Thats where the entire plot comes from, which I guess is a parallel to the mystical indian rocks from Temple Of Doom.



    Was WOTW ok?

  • captain_chris #41 3 years ago

    WotW was a good film :- loosely based on a book and a previous film of the same name. I think its portrayal of a gung-ho well equipped but ultimately feckless US army (it was the tom cruise character who noticed the lack of forcefield) is 'of its time' enough, along with some of the other 'issues' it depicts, that it could never be considered a great.

    Don't know how much input he had as a producer on the excellent Band of Brothers but I'll add that to his list of greats.

  • TedMoseby #42 3 years ago

    It's not the aliens that are the problem with Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull; rather, it's the total disregard for treating the audience with intelligence at the expense of a cheap laugh: -

    I can accept mystical rocks, a radio for speaking to God, and a cup that holds everlasting life, because they're mythical - they're engrained in our consciousness as a "just might be something to it" phenomenon. But hiding in a lead lined fridge to withstand a nuclear blast? Then getting out of said fridge after it's ridden the blast wave of a nuclear detonation somehow? Well that just fails because we know it cannot happen, no matter how much we want to believe in the supernatural or things beyond our understanding.

    Of course it made a boat load of money for the 3 of them, so expect Indy 5 somewhere in our collective futures...