FantasyGhost
06-27-2007, 08:13 AM
A self-confessed technophobe, Clive Barker is an unlikely supporter for videogames. But the author and film director known for Hellraiser is gung-ho about Hollywood's role in the future of interactive entertainment. More from this week's Hollywood and Games Summit...
In a discussion with Gina McIntyre, managing editor of features at The Hollywood Reporter, a raspy Barker expressed his enthusiasm and optimism in working with the videogame industry. Barker is providing the premise of the Mercury Steam-developed next-gen title, Clive Barker’s Jericho.
“I feel like a lucky son-of a gun, frankly, to get to use some of my imagination and share it with people who are really wanting to press forward into new territory,” he says, insisting that he play a significant role in the game design process.
Barker elaborates, “I want to be part of the design, sending drawings back and forth…This is an area of work where artists of every kind have huge potential...it's a wonderful playground and we've just begun.
“The point now is to get people excited, jazzed, and I like being part of the exchange...working with people who are pushing their imaginations,” he says.
“I plug in rattraps and they explode. My relationship with technology has not been comfortable."
Jericho actually isn’t Barker’s first foray into the landscape of game design. Another game bore his name in 2001; the well-received Clive Barker’s Undying for PC.
Responding as to how videogames fit so organically with Barker’s other artistic pursuits, he says simply, “I imagine. That’s my job.” However, he admits, “Imagining for a book is a very different thing than imagining for a game.”
With Jericho, he says that the concept of the work fits the videogame medium simply because he can’t imagine that it would work in any other format. “…There are some ideas like Jericho that I love as an idea but really have no place...I don't know what I would've done with it 20 years ago.”
Barker’s enthusiasm for the creative potential of videogames is clear, but somewhat ironically, he’s a self-confessed technophobe. Nevertheless, Barker, who’s also a visual artist, says he’s found a place in interactive entertainment. “I plug in rattraps and they explode. My relationship with technology has not been comfortable. I handwrite my novels. Yet when I look at the images [in games] and their clarity, their precision, I think any artist would be a fool not to want to be involved with that.”
And he is certainly going to continue his involvement with videogames. He says that he has entered three additional game deals. “I believe in games and what they can be. If I sometimes seem to stumble in articulating it, it's that I haven't found the right vocabulary yet...We have something in front of us, a huge adventure. I am just glad to be alive to be a part of it.
“…Gaming is a great way to do what we need as human beings....to take ourselves away from the impressive, sometimes depressing facts of our lives and go somewhere where we have our own controls.”http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6160&Itemid=2
In a discussion with Gina McIntyre, managing editor of features at The Hollywood Reporter, a raspy Barker expressed his enthusiasm and optimism in working with the videogame industry. Barker is providing the premise of the Mercury Steam-developed next-gen title, Clive Barker’s Jericho.
“I feel like a lucky son-of a gun, frankly, to get to use some of my imagination and share it with people who are really wanting to press forward into new territory,” he says, insisting that he play a significant role in the game design process.
Barker elaborates, “I want to be part of the design, sending drawings back and forth…This is an area of work where artists of every kind have huge potential...it's a wonderful playground and we've just begun.
“The point now is to get people excited, jazzed, and I like being part of the exchange...working with people who are pushing their imaginations,” he says.
“I plug in rattraps and they explode. My relationship with technology has not been comfortable."
Jericho actually isn’t Barker’s first foray into the landscape of game design. Another game bore his name in 2001; the well-received Clive Barker’s Undying for PC.
Responding as to how videogames fit so organically with Barker’s other artistic pursuits, he says simply, “I imagine. That’s my job.” However, he admits, “Imagining for a book is a very different thing than imagining for a game.”
With Jericho, he says that the concept of the work fits the videogame medium simply because he can’t imagine that it would work in any other format. “…There are some ideas like Jericho that I love as an idea but really have no place...I don't know what I would've done with it 20 years ago.”
Barker’s enthusiasm for the creative potential of videogames is clear, but somewhat ironically, he’s a self-confessed technophobe. Nevertheless, Barker, who’s also a visual artist, says he’s found a place in interactive entertainment. “I plug in rattraps and they explode. My relationship with technology has not been comfortable. I handwrite my novels. Yet when I look at the images [in games] and their clarity, their precision, I think any artist would be a fool not to want to be involved with that.”
And he is certainly going to continue his involvement with videogames. He says that he has entered three additional game deals. “I believe in games and what they can be. If I sometimes seem to stumble in articulating it, it's that I haven't found the right vocabulary yet...We have something in front of us, a huge adventure. I am just glad to be alive to be a part of it.
“…Gaming is a great way to do what we need as human beings....to take ourselves away from the impressive, sometimes depressing facts of our lives and go somewhere where we have our own controls.”http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6160&Itemid=2