Two video games developed with director Steven Spielberg are to be shown off at the E3 conference in Los Angeles.
The filmmaker has collaborated with Electronic Arts, the world’s largest games publisher, on three titles. The first, codenamed LMNO, is a contemporary action adventure, said Neil Young, general manager of EA’s Los Angeles studio.
The second, with the codename PQRS, is a puzzle game designed for Nintendo’s Wii console. In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Spielberg said the puzzle game “seemed like a great thing for the entire family to play together over Christmas; although you don’t need the excuse of a holiday to enjoy it.”
The game has been described as a mix of Saturday-morning cartoon and Jenga. Mr Young said: “Of course just playing with blocks does not a game make. “Now imagine there are up to 50 different properties that can be associated with them. They can explode or form a chemical reaction.”
In LMNO, being designed for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the player partners with a female character who evolves over time depending on how she interacts with other characters in the game. Newsweek described the title as “North by Northwest meets ET”. Spielberg told Newsweek: “The challenge is, can the game have an emotional impact on players while they are actively manipulating the world?” In a separate statement about his involvement with EA, he said: “I am truly enjoying the creative collaboration and we hope that gamers will be as excited as we are about what we can bring to the medium through our shared vision.”
No details about the third game Spielberg is working on were released.
