High on Tiger Hill

By Jorgio Castro

Acclaimed Hong Kong film director John Woo is bringing his famed talent to a new medium; the $10 billion-a-year world of video games. Together with his long-time WCG entertainment producing partner, Terence Chang, Woo has announced the launch of Tiger Hill Entertainment (www.tigerhillgames.com).

The Santa Monica-based company, launched on May 12, will work in conjunction with video game mainstay Sega to co-create and publish games based on both existing Woo and Sega storylines, as well as a large portion of games containing exclusively original content. This marks the first time a film-maker and game-maker have teamed together in such a partnership. In addition, Woo will finally be able to retain rights to video game properties he will produce, something which he has not enjoyed in his chosen field of film.

“With game being cinematic by nature, it only makes sense to bridge the gap between film maker and game developer to deliver the ultimate action/adventure gaming experience” says Woo of his decision to head out into this new world.

The main focus of Tiger Hill will be on the action/adventure video game genre. It will aim to define itself with a distinctly new and exciting approach to interactive entertainment and production. John Woo brings along an impressive resume with him, having directed such high action films as “A Better Tomorrow”, “Face/Off”, and “Mission Impossible 2.” He also has produced hits such as “Broken Arrow” and “The Replacement Killers” in tandem with Chang.

It is his flair for immersive storytelling through cinema and Sega’s marketability and innovation in designing high quality software titles that makes this such an exciting proposition. Executive Vice President of content strategy and business development of Sega of America, Shinobu Toyoda, explains that “Woo’s incredible sense for action films and his deep storytelling…will help shape the future of action-adventure games in his industry.” As is evident, there are high expectations for Tiger Hill Entertainment to succeed. Woo’s track record of success offers nothing to dispel such notions.

The company currently has three concepts on the creative drawing board, tentatively titled “Sinner,” “Burglar,” and “Stranglehold.” “Sinner” is based on the story of an assassin who attempts to escape the 18 levels of Buddhist hell and avenge his death. In “Burglar,” players will take up the task of a novice thief avenging his father, a world-renowned burglar who was killed at the hands of another thief. “Stranglehold” revolves around the murder of a cop’s son, and a gang leader wrongly implicated in his death. All titles are tentative, and no further details have been made available as of yet.
The first game from the newly-enshrined company is eagerly anticipated to be released sometime in 2004.

May 31, 2003