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Golden Compass gets Shiny

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Feb 27, 2007 1:21 pm PT

Sega tasks the studio behind The Matrix games with the game adaptation of its first His Dark Materials game.

Sega today revealed the first details of its game based on the upcoming holiday film The Golden Compass, itself an adaptation of the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy.

Scheduled for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and PC, The Golden Compass is under development at Shiny Entertainment, the Foundation 9-owned studio behind Earthworm Jim and, more recently, a pair of console games based on The Matrix films.

The game will feature the likenesses of the film's cast, including Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) and Dakota Blue Richards, the newly discovered actress who will play protagonist Lyra Belacqua. When asked if the game would include the likenesses of fellow cast members Nicole Kidman (Cold Mountain, BMX Bandits), Sam Elliott (Ghost Rider, Road House), and Eva Green (Casino Royale, Kingdom of Heaven), or any voice work from the stars, a Sega representative said it had yet to be determined.

Gamers will be able to take control of Lyra, her animal companion Pan, and their armor-wearing polar bear companion, Iorek Byrnison. As Lyra, players will rely on special items and sneakiness to make progress along the dangerous quest, while Iorek will provide a more physical presence with special attacks as he tries to protect Lyra. The game's 13 environments will consist of areas from the film as well as new environments that go beyond the silver-screen adaptation.

The Golden Compass should arrive in theaters December 7, with the Sega game adaptation set to precede it sometime this fall.

62 Comments

  • master_hookshot

    Posted Feb 28, 2007 2:04 pm PT

    and that was such a good book, too. Its gunna be ruined

  • PackersRock

    Posted Feb 28, 2007 1:42 pm PT

    I hope this dosn't end badly.

  • jacnewforce07

    Posted Feb 28, 2007 1:08 pm PT

    any vids?

  • Get_Shorty

    Posted Feb 28, 2007 10:06 am PT

    Any pics?

  • subrosian

    Posted Feb 28, 2007 6:09 am PT

    oh-boy... first we're going to let Hollywood ruin the Golden Compass series, then we're going to hand it over to Sega / Shiny to turn into a movie-based videogame? I think I'll go preorder! Maybe the preorder bonus will be a subtle knife. I certainly hope so, as I'm guessing playing this game will make me want to slit my wrists.

  • dr_moreau

    Posted Feb 28, 2007 3:51 am PT

    I can't wait to see how the matter from the final book (Amber Spyglass) is handled - Both in the final movie and the game when they appear in a few years.
    I'm sure they'll have to be re-plotted by the christian fundamentalists.

  • Sacif

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 11:27 pm PT

    shiny...lol, love thier name, but never dug thier games...I hope they can do the series justice...

  • STARS_Splinter

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 11:21 pm PT

    ye gods no, why on earth did they let Shiny get involved with this?once Shiny made some great games. Now they can't seem to get a Matrix game right, when about a million other developers can. It doesn't fill me with hope.

  • argune

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 10:56 pm PT

    i've read the first book in the series and am working on the seccond i really am enjoying it to. a movie scares teh crap out of me because if i see it, it might destroy the wonderfulness that was created by my imagination. and this game probably wont be nearly as good as it can be, but i'll have to give them credit if its even remotely good because it does seem like something that would be difficult to translate into a game.

  • teknocack

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 9:56 pm PT

    I have lost confidence in Shiny and unfortunately SEGA. I was a long time fan of the latter more for their innovation in game desigh than their hardware. When they couldn't make immediate profit as a game company they started turning out derivative pos after derivative pos. They have ruined one of their most beloved IPs and don't even seem to care. They are doing nothing to bring back some of their prime back catalog of IPs, and now seem to be taking the Akklaim route of relying more on licensing of other IPs. So who do they pick to make this tie in? The company who screwed up the Matrix TWICE! Since 1995 Shiny has made two good games not counting sequels. EWJ and MDK were both great. Everything else is not really worth mentioning. Something is very wrong here.

  • crithon

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 7:51 pm PT

    wwonka666 thanks man, I wrote it fast without checking out the name. But yeah, he hypes up his games to the point that I get fooled into following him..... I even game Matrix Path of Neo a chance.

  • Luke_Skyjogger

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 7:36 pm PT

    Yeah....they better hope that the movie makes up for the games suckiness. I can't see this going anywhere.

  • Pete5506

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 7:21 pm PT

    this is not going to do so hot

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 7:01 pm PT

    Sounds like a blockbuster!

    The movie that is...

  • soldier-dark

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 6:24 pm PT

    Awesome! I really enjoyed this book when I read it a few years ago, thought unfortunately never owned the other two. Looking forward to the game though.

  • indigoAK200

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 6:14 pm PT

    Must have spent all that money on the gold spray paint they used on Orlando Bloom's hair.

  • spelledarn

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 6:10 pm PT

    Get your facts straight, Wonka. The three LotR movies had a budget of 270 million combined. FACT. But yeah, hopefully this Pull man movie will be good too. Can't be too many great movies out.

  • wwonka666

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 6:01 pm PT

    indigoAK200
    It's been reported that this one movie alone, the first of a trilogy, has a higher budget than the Lord of the Rings trilogy combined. If you look on IMDb and Wikipedia, the budget for the three Lord of the Rings films combined was $90 million. The budget for just The Golden Compass is $115 million alone. They're also both being released by the same studio, New Line. I don't think New Line would devote so much financial backing to this movie if they thought it was going to bomb. I'm have a pretty good feeling that with the capability of it's production team and writing staff (Chris Weitz knows how to write a great movie) and the widespread love for Pullman's trilogy (I myself have read and adore it), that this movie picture will be both a critical and financial success. ....


    I agree can't wait to see this movie. However, New Line has made lots of bad decisions since making the billion dollars off of the LOTR Trilogy including not bringing back Peter Jackson to do the Hobbitt because of a financial dispute over the gross of the first LOTR film.

  • wwonka666

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 5:57 pm PT

    crithon
    let the Doug Perry hype machine BEGIN!!! I'm sorry if that sound cruel, but I feel so burned by following the hype of his games after Earthworm Jim 2 and MDK. Remeber Messiah and Wild 9? sigh ......

    I feel your pain, but I do believe the name was David Perry and that he has left Shiny to work for the new Acclaim on some Dance Dance MMORPG ripoff thingamajig that is going to be free if you agree to watch alot of advertising.

  • wwonka666

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 5:54 pm PT

    I'm very excited to see the His Dark Materials movie that is being released this December, but Sega and Shiny both have a bad track record when it comes to releasing GOOD licensed games. The Matrix games were terrible and made the sequels to one of the greatest movies of all time look like masterpieces when in reality they were crap that could not be interpreted by anyone.

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