Over at MTV News I've got a report on a brand-new MTV Games initiative: a partnership for MTV to make original games with Jerry Bruckheimer.
This, indeed, is the Next Big Thing for MTV Games that MTV's Jeff Yapp teased in an interview with Reuters last month.
And, no, they don't tell me these things before they tell anyone else.
But I was one of the few reporters to get phone time with Bruckheimer and Yapp on Tuesday to talk about the deal. My report at MTVNews.com has the details. This post and one other on the blog feature longer chats I had with both men.
Basically, Bruckheimer and MTV Games have entered a multi-year deal to create and steer the development of original video games (no spin-offs of existing Bruckheimer shows or movies). No titles and no timeframe have been announced. Right now it's still early days.
Bruckheimer told me:
I think the New Year is upon us and we all make our New Year's Resolutions. It's time to set our creative energies into other areas I haven't been in before, so it's a perfect time for me.
Check the MTV News story for the basics. And read on here for the rest of my Bruckheimer chat, in which he talks about what he hopes to bring to video games and what he's done with his copy of "Rock Band."
Multiplayer: How did this deal with MTV Games come about?
Bruckheimer: We've been looking to get into this for quite a while and we've just been trying to find the right partner. And MTV was a brand with strong management and something we wanted to be a part of.
Multiplayer: What are your hopes for it?
Bruckheimer: What is our hope? To develop some really interesting games.
Multiplayer: Do you have a particular style that you would really like to bring to the video game market?
Bruckheimer: I think the same kind of stuff we bring to television and films, we always want to look at things a little differently from other people. Pirate films were dead for a long time and we put Johnny Depp in it and created an unforgettable character. We did the same thing with fighter pilots in "Top Gun" and dancers in "Flashdance." So we're just trying to see things a little differently.
Multiplayer: When you look at what's out there in video games already where do you see the opportunities? Does it look to you like there's clearly room to grow here or there or there are clearly these holes in genres and characters that you say, 'this would be very effective for us to go into'?
Bruckheimer: Well that's something once we get a team together, we'll certainly look at the arena and see how we can approach it, what hasn't been done in an effective way, and that's what we'll go after.
Multiplayer: What's your gaming appetite? Have you been playing games much these days?
Bruckheimer: I play some games. I'm pretty busy on other stuff. I like "Halo" a lot. And other stuff. But I rely on real creative people that will populate our gaming business. We've done it for television and features. All our executives have been really value-added and created a lot of interesting television and films.
Multiplayer: Did you get yourself "Halo 3" when it first came out in September?
Bruckheimer: I wasn't the first one in line. Our office happened to get some.
Multiplayer: Tell me about the team you're hoping to create. Are you going to be surrounding yourself with a bunch of video game people from the video game development industry?
Bruckheimer: Absolutely. We're certainly going to find people who have expertise in that area just like we did in television. We took a vice president from Fox and moved him over to our company. He ran with it and helped us create some of the hit shows we have on the air.
Multiplayer: What's the plan for how this would work with MTV Games? Are you guys the idea factory and MTV Games is finding the actual development studios to make these games?
Bruckheimer: It's a partnership. They've been in the business for a long time and have some wonderful executives and that's one of the reasons we're there. They have a very strong creative team there. Our success has been with very strong creative teams from other places. In television it's Les Moonves and his team has been fantastic in helping create all those hit shows for us. The same thing with Dick Cook and Robert Iger at Disney. We tend toward really strong managements to push this along and make us look good.
Multiplayer: Are you hoping for a musical emphasis with any of the games, given that this is with MTV?
Bruckheimer: We don't know. It's something we'll develop as we get a team together.
Multiplayer: People shouldn't take away that because this is with MTV it's all going to be music?
Bruckheimer: No. Not at all.
Multiplayer: Why the hope to do originals instead of setting this up to more effectively control the video games made from movies?
Bruckheimer: Because I can't control what they do. They have their own gaming division. Each one of these corporations have their own staff that create these games and make their games from out films and television shows.
Multiplayer: When do you hope to put the first games out under this label?
Bruckheimer: That I couldn't tell you until we get a team together. The gestation period is like movies. It takes a while.
Multiplayer: Are you hoping this would be computer games, console games, handheld games?
Bruckheimer: I think, again, once you get the team together we'll figure out where we fit into whether it's computer games or multiplayer games, we don't know.
Multiplayer: How long has this deal been in the works?
Bruckheimer: I'm guessing maybe in the last 4-5 months.
Multiplayer: And why is now a good time to announce it?
Bruckheimer: I think the new year is upon us and we all make our New Year's Resolutions. It's time to set our creative energies into other areas I haven't been in before, so it's a perfect time for me.
Multiplayer: Are you looking forward to having a video game boot up and for it to say A Jerry Bruckheimer production?
Bruckheimer: It will be just like we do it with "A Jerry Bruckheimer Production," "A Jerry Bruckheimer Film." And we'll have "A Jerry Bruckheimer Games."
Multiplayer: And have you asked the folks at MTV if this will guarantee you a few more appearances on the channel?
Bruckheimer: [laughs] I think they are all different divisions.
Multiplayer: Did they send you a copy of "Rock Band"?
Bruckheimer: I did get one, so that was good in itself.
Multiplayer: Have you been playing it?
Bruckheimer: I have not, but over the holiday I certainly will.
Multiplayer: Do you think you'll be drumming or playing guitar or singing?
Bruckheimer: I imagine I like to make a lot of noise, so I'm sure I'll be on drums.
Multiplayer: The drums are actually pretty noisy. I play that myself.
Bruckheimer: Well, there you go.
