The Cut Scene - Video Game Blog by Variety

Speed Racer, Echochrome, more reviews debate to enjoy while I'm prepping a huge story

Sorry for the relative quiet, but I'm working on a really big story that will be going online. Trust me, this is the kind of thing Variety does best. You guys will be grateful I put the time into it. Plus there will be a related interview with one of the big names involved available exclusively here on The Cut Scene.

Meanwhile, here are some things to enjoy...

-Brian Crecente review Warner Bros.' "Speed Racer" videogame for Variety. He says it's a viscerally fun racing title for the Wii, but doesn't have much of the movie/TV show's personality.

-Tom Chick reviews "Echochrome" for Variety. He loves how the game flips the perspective that players are used to, but finds that playing it for too long is frustrating and, quite literally, headache inducing.

-On MTV's Multilayer blog, Stephen Totilo asks whether critics have to "finish" a game in order to write a fair review and includes some questions about me and my "GTA IV" review.

Warner Bros. gets a new videogame chief

I've already reported on this blog that a lot of Vivendi Games' projects (primarily those in the Sierra label) may have a hard time finding a home at Activision Blizzard once the merger is complete.

But it's just as true that most of the Vivendi execs who aren't part of Blizzard will have a hard time finding a home at Activision. From what I've heard, an exodus has already started and those who are still around are looking, because big layoffs are expected after the merger is done in a month or two and the Activision management team takes over.

One of the most senior execs, president of worldwide studios Martin Tremblay, just found what has got to be one of the more plum gigs in the videogame biz: president of Warner Bros. Interactive.

While most videogame companies are worried about getting acquired, Warner Bros. is investing heavily, both internally and via acquisition/investment (like Traveller's Tales and Eidos), to grow its position in the space. Tremblay will have the luxury of lots of money to invest and, as part of a big conglomerate, not nearly as much public scrutiny of his performance as he would get at an independent publisher that has to report its own earnings.

For Warner Bros., Tremblay is by far the most experienced (and certainly expensive) exec they've hired for their videogame division. The last person in charge of Warner Bros. Interactive was Jason Hall, whose experience was running developer Monolith, not a publisher, and who had a senior VP title, not president. For the past year, WB home entertainment head Kevin Tsujihara has been looking for a really experienced executive to head up all of the studio's videogame operations, which include internal production via Monolith and Traveller's Tales (and probably more developers soon), licensing, and North American distribution for partners like Brash, Eidos, and Codemasters.

While other studios, like Paramount, are just dipping their toes into videogame production, Warner Bros. is clearly moving aggressively and Tremblay's hire is just another big sign.

Read the whole story about Tremblay's hire on Variety.com.

Warner saves Eidos, might buy it

By now you probably all know that Warner has invested $30 million and bought another 10% of Sci/Eidos as part of a bigger $119 million deal by the struggling "Tomb Raider" publisher to raise enough cash to stay alive.

But, as I wrote in Daily Variety today, the bigger story is how much power WB now has over the company's future. In addition to owning 20%, it controls the company's distribution and marketing in the North American market. That's the biggest videogame company for which WB has taken over distribution through its homevideo operation. It's a major coup.

More importantly, WB is now in a position to prevent any other big media company -- like NBC Universal  -- from acquiring Sci/Eidos. It's also in a very good spot to go ahead and buy the whole thing if/when it's ready. For now, though, WB seems just barely confident enough to let Sci's new CEO go through with his downsizing and re-focusing and try to turn this troubled company into one with a future. This quote I got from Warner Bros. home entertainment head Kevin Tsujihara, who oversees videogames along with DVDs, is pretty revealing on that front:

Sci recently announced a restructuring plan which includes a new management team as well as a number of strategic and operational changes. We think the plan is a good one, and we're impressed by the new management team, so the best option for Warner Bros is to support management's decision and work with them to build Sci's business.

So if Sci/Eidos does manage to get its sh*t together, look for its ties to WB to get closer and closer and quite possible turn into an acquisition. Warner, after all, is investing heavily in videogames, as evidenced by its purchase of Traveller's Tales last year.

Also worth noting, just to see how much things have changed in 16 months: In December of 2006, Warner Bros. spent $86.8 million for 10% of Sci/Eidos. Last week it paid $30 million for virtually the same size stake. Ouch.

Read the whole story in Daily Variety.