video game that the entertainment company hopes will bolster its
success in the lucrative gaming sector.
As sales of video games prove relatively resilient in the economic
downturn, Disney is betting that it can prosper broadly from new games
that it makes on its own. Rather than licensing Disney content out to
game publishers, Disney's in-house gaming team wants to generate video
game characters and story lines that can be the basis of movies as
well.
"That is the Holy Grail for video games, to see them successfully
become franchises," Graham Hopper, head of Disney's game division,
told The Associated Press.
To that end, the company is investing in projects like the latest from
its Brighton, England-based Black Rock Studio, a car racing game
called "Split/Second" for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PCs, set within
the world of a reality television show.
With a release date of early 2010, the studio behind last year's
off-road racing game "Pure" has employed new graphics-rendering
technologies to pit racers against both the track and explosions
triggered by competitors. A sneak preview to the AP showed a race
track on an airport stage set, complete with an air traffic control
tower that can come crashing to the ground.
The title is part of Disney Interactive Studios' strategy of injecting
around 20 percent of its investment dollars into new
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intellectual property. The company invested about $170 million in
overall game development last year and plans to increase that by $40
million to $50 million this year.
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