Sega announces His Dark Materials game based on the upcoming movie of the book
SEGA today reached an agreement with New Line Cinema and Scholastic Media to create videogame content based on the films from award-winning author Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.
With over 10 million books sold worldwide, the His Dark Materials trilogy is comprised of The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. The first film, The Golden Compass (Northern Lights in the UK), will be produced by New Line Cinema, producers of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Scholastic Media. The $150-million-budgeted film will star Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig (James Bond in the upcoming Casino Royale) with Oscar-nominated writer/director Chris Weitz (About a Boy, Antz) directing, and with Deborah Forte, President of Scholastic Media, producing.
The Golden Compass is set to be released on 16 November 2007. Scholastic Media is also serving as the licensing agent for this property.
“We are excited to be partnering with New Line and Scholastic to bring the dark and fantastic story of the His Dark Materials trilogy to the videogame audience,” said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America. “The Golden Compass is a perfect match for the videogame medium with compelling characters engaged in a heroic conflict between good and evil in an incredible and rich fantasy world.”
“For New Line’s biggest film since The Lord of the Rings, we knew we wanted an interactive partner that had the talent, the scope and the reach to deliver AAA videogames to the four corners of the globe,” said David Imhoff, Senior Executive Vice President, Worldwide Licensing and Merchandising for New Line Cinema. “For The Golden Compass, that company is SEGA.”
“We are confident that SEGA will create a compelling interactive experience that fully realises the power and magic of The Golden Compass,” said Deborah Forte. “We’re thrilled to be working with SEGA.”
The Golden Compass revolves around a young girl named Lyra as she sets out to find her missing friend, Roger. Lyra’s quest leads her to the beautiful splendour of the icy North, where giant armoured bears rule a kingdom, witch queens fly through the frozen skies, and the secret of another universe is waiting to be uncovered. The Golden Compass is an imaginative, original saga about the eternal struggle of good versus evil and the power of a young girl to change the world.
Game based on a movie based on a book… Only thing longer could be a game based on a Movie based on a Book based on real life 
How many tie ins to we need?
28 September 2006 14:38Jaded
Ok, a movie from the book would be perfect, as long as they didn’t kid-ize it and make everything to be perfect in the end. Roger has to die, right?
If everything stays the dark-moody type (the way the book is) then the movie will be perfect.
But a videogame? Come on. There are hardly any original concepts for videogames anymore, they are all takes from movies or hockey. How about challenging video designers to come up with thier own concepts? Not only would it be more interesting for the designers, but then maybe I would have something to pick from at the counter besides Disney, hockey, or the latest movie in video-game format.
