An eight-minute film based on Assassin's Creed is being created by developer Ubisoft, who has set up a dedicated digital cinema studio at its Montreal offices. This could alsomean other projects based on Ubisoft's videogame line-up, ranging from longer films to TV shows.
The film won't be appearing in your average cinema, however, as Ubisoft is planning to bring the short to websites and perhaps Xbox Live's Marketplace, according to an article from the International Herald Tribune. This should also make it possible for gamers to edit the film themselves, and create new versions.
Ubisoft's reasoning for the in-house studio makes total sense to us: "We want our universe to be respected. Too often, the movies made from video games don't respect the characters. The producers want to make a mainstream movie, but if the fans decide it's not good, the movie won't be a success. With our new studio, the same people making the games will be working closely with the people making the films."
"We're basically putting to work the existing creativity of our game developers as well as adding a more traditional cinematic slant to our roster," Ubisoft said. Though the rather 90s-sounding aim of the studio seems to be a drive towards "interactive movies," according to the Tribune's article, enabling control over the action instead of just watching the film's plot unfold.
March 1, 2007
