Summer movies roll on through video games

By John Gaudiosi

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Summer blockbuster movies no longer end with the closing credits with rising numbers of licensed video games being spun off from Hollywood adventures, putting the gamer in the starring role.

John Taylor, video game analyst for Arcadia Research, said this summer features a dozen Hollywood-licensed games, up from nine last year.

"As we saw last year with both Activision's 'Spider-Man 3' and 'Transformers' games, consumers bought these titles throughout the summer and into the busy holiday shopping season, which is one of the advantages of acquiring a Hollywood license," said Taylor.

Disney/Pixar's newest computer-generated blockbuster, "WALL-E," has been developed into a game by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ with players able to control the robot stars, WALL-E and Eve, in adventures beyond the two-hour film.

The film's production designer, Ralph Eggleston, said he's watched as the collaboration between game makers and Pixar filmmakers has evolved over the years.

"I've seen games catching up with us," said Eggleston. "The one thing about rendering as it becomes better and the faster is that the images in games get better and it allows game makers to really start to involve more complex characters in games and interplay with them." Activision and developer Luxoflux Corp. have brought DreamWorks' "Kung Fu Panda" to all gaming platforms.

There are 13 levels of gameplay that allow players to work together or take control of Po the Panda, his teacher Shifu, and the legendary kung fu masters, the Furious Five, to take matters into their own hands.

Comic book fans get a double dose of "Hellboy" this summer from Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro.