Ian Stevens from Tigon Studios has offered some details on the relationships engaged between films and games, these relations having in their turn some ups and downs along the way. Taking a film and turning it into a game reveals a difference based on the way each of them, film or game, offers the entertainment to the public; the interactive entertainment of the games compared to the passive one of the movies should bring the audience more filmed-based games, but unfortunately, the late releases didn’t measure up to the players’ expectations. All this happens because the filmic language is understood by the games’ producers as one that has to fit a commercial.
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The tale behind the games’ scene goes like this:

Lacking an outside model for games, gives the game producers restriction in releasing a game in a period of time that doesn’t allow them to improve the quality of the game or even its plot. And because of this aspect they need to be more respected since they struggle with technology, corporate business, other different things that prevent them from developing better games productions. Their activity is displayed between design and production and business development as well, which of course takes a lot of commitment and time.

Releasing a self-built game it involves a risky step but the game industry is striving to grow and attempts to bring innovations and quality through games that can be new and interesting, or simply good. The accent however must be put on this risk, even if some publishers are overreacting with making games to bring money, no matter what the cost! The setting of a deal both in developing and publishing it is based on looking for developers that have a new IP. After that a team comes in with its idea for a game and it is incorporated in building a franchise and a universe in order to resemble to a movie or animated series or whatever appropriate.

When Dark Athena was released it came as part of Activision/Vivendi merger, though Vivendi had this project worked with Taigon, but at the beginning it was merely a remake, a small project that in time proved to become a huge licensing deal than it was actually meant from the beginning. Releasing Dark Athena with an Activision merger was somewhat predictable, since the team over there is fond of brands and annualisation and Ian Stevens in his turn has many connections with the Activision team, since the time he had worked there.

Another exchange for publishers was made with the ‘Wheelman’, which went from Midway to Ubisoft. This game required a lot of work and everybody that was involved was anxious to see it on the store shelves, no matter its ending would be – good or bad. Being released as a Ubisoft-published product brought the producers a lot of excitement to see that their product made the object of a deal with Ubisoft, a very respected publisher. What is there more rewarding for a game producer if not a well-known publisher to be interested in running his game?

‘Enter Sting Entertainment’ after a long period of development has released for DS the newest series installment called “Knights in the Nightmare”. The originality of this game consists in that it combines the RPG genre with a dose of hardcore shooter gameplay in an intricate plot set on a wisp, which is a spirit that wanders in an abandoned church. Castle Aventheim has suffered a defeat and the knights who fought for it are still laying dead on the battlefield. The wisp has the capacity to bring them back to life, in this way replaying the story of what happened and what is he supposed to be. The game unfolds itself in a series of cinematic pieces that move forward up to the present showing gradually what happened till the very day of the epic conflict.
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The battlefield is displayed as an isometric grid which discovers enemies all over together with ally troops that are located on different points around the stage. At the beginning the troops are only in the form of a spirit, but as the wisp is hovering around, it can give them back their lives in order to face the enemies’ attacks. Each troop is provided with different ways of attacking, but at the same time they can not move freely around the battlefield. The way the enemies are attacking is also different; they release some colored bullets that do not destroy the wisp but in its turn it has to dodge them, and this takes time (a timer is set to 60 seconds for a turn). You can play a number of turns but if they end and you haven’t done your job, then the game is over. The dexterity of the maneuvers around the colored bullets is very demanding and full of commitment, adding the game a plus of excitement.

Achieving a battle’s victory is displayed in an interesting mode: each defeated enemy fills in a slot on the existing grid called Enemy Matrix, and winning a battle draws a line across the Enemy Matrix, and your interest is to draw the line carefully choosing which enemies to kill. The troop equipment contains lots of items and weapons that enable your troops to perform different attacks and having at the same time lots of skills. Your top skill is that you can always bring back to life the fallen troopers, and this enables you to use them at your own will.

The game provides also an expanded tutorial system that eases you the exploring of the game at your own pace. The game offers a deep approach to its complexities and this is what makes it be so appreciated, that, of course, depending on what kind of gameplayer you are and what do you expect from a game. You can also be very surprised at the sight of user’s interface which is visually unique; the audio is a feature that stands out among the best of the system. Its intricacy will definitely make the game “Knights in the Nightmare” a legend to be referred to.

Basically Star Craft II looks like a 3D remake of the original StarCraft and altogether is considered one of the most competitive e-sports in the world of electronic games. It came out with the version of StarCraft II multiplayer beta which you can get by signing up and log into Battle.net. No matter what is said about its resemblance to the first release the changes are too subtle to be noticed at a first look. You have to play deeply involved in order to realize about their existence. So, without self commitment it would be hard to tell which is which (!), even if at times you may ask yourself: Star Craft II, a sequel or merely a replica?
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The list of changes starts with a limitless selection that enables you to control at once the motions of massive forces that appear in the game. This feature one can see it as a way of planning his own strategy in the battle he has to perform. The control groups allow you to handle your build queues and to assign multiple unit production buildings to one single control group. This is a solution you have at handy to keep your mass production going. Another feature is the higher ground that helps units that have this advantage to shoot down at the enemies without further consequences.

The system of maps comprises ranges of destructible barriers that once put down they open new paths and shortcuts, also very helpful. These can offer you new accesses to yielded mineral resources or to choose a more useful route that gets you to your enemy’s base. In all this actions you need first of all to take quick strategy decisions especially that it is given to you the possibility to play back enabling you to review some information that might be useful in drawing your strategy.

The characters presented, the Protoss, the Terrans, the Zealots, are displayed in a good feel, visual style with new features that bring a plus of excitement and ability to check your powers when it comes to managing and stratagem. For instance, Zealots can intercept attackers that come in ranges thus giving them a chance against those who flee away, the features that give you the possibility to build another build queue for Terran Barracks, but it is quite annoying to watch the Zerg Roaches always regenerating though they do not bring too much damage.

Playing the StarCraft II in the multiplayer beta version gives you the feeling that the adversity you encounter in the massacres displayed with the game, makes you feel stronger and more confident in your strategic abilities. Anyway it is worth noticing that the tools and replay functions may be very useful in rendering the playing ground an even up.