The Golden Compass First Details
We got the first brief info on the forthcoming action game based on Philip Pullman's hit children's book.
After New Line Cinema's unfettered success with The Lord of the Rings trilogy a few years ago, the Hollywood powerhouse must have been feeling bullish on the prospect of turning other multivolume fantasy literature into lavishly produced, big-budget movies. Next on the docket is the first entry in Philip Pullman's celebrated His Dark Materials series, titled The Golden Compass, which is due to hit theaters in December. Famed developer Shiny Entertainment is hard at work on an accompanying video game to be released by Sega. At the publisher's press event this morning, we saw some brief work-in-progress footage of both the game and the movie. We also got a few details on the production of the game, which is due to hit shelves a little before the movie itself.
The book, movie, and game all follow the journey of Lyra, a young girl in an alternate, fantastical universe who must travel to the desolate north to rescue her best friend. She'll be joined by Pan--a shape-shifting and friendly daemon that we saw become a cat, a butterfly, a mouse, and several other animals during the movie footage--and Iorek, a massive bearlike creature that appears to serve as the brawn of the outfit. You'll get to play as all three characters throughout the game's 11 action levels, and two of those levels will be set in environments that don't appear in the movie at all. (The designers plumbed the original novel for the inspiration of these exclusive levels.)
You'll encounter characters in the game based on those of the film, including the icily lovely villainess played by Nicole Kidman and a matronly witch played by Eva Green. Nascent James Bond Daniel Craig will also appear in the movie and game, though Sega and New Line are giving such sparse details about the project right now that we don't know a lot about any of these characters just yet. Nor did we get any real information about what the gameplay will be like, though we did see a few brief clips of what looked like standard platforming in some nice-looking fantasy environments.
In fact, New Line is holding back information on The Golden Compass in preparation for an unveiling of several minutes of the finished film at the Cannes Film Festival in just a couple of weeks. Afterward, there ought to be quite a bit more in terms of media and information released on both the movie and the game. We do know that the artists and designers at Shiny are working closely with the people making the movie, using facial scans of the principal actors and photographs of the costumes, props, and set designs to create a game as aesthetically cohesive as the movie on which it's based.
Because we barely glimpsed the actual game itself, it's hard to say exactly how The Golden Compass is shaping up, but New Line appears to be giving the film due attention: It said the studio will ready a massive marketing push for the latter part of the year. We should get to see the game by that time and will bring you firmer impressions of its gameplay as soon as we can.
i am not even bothering with this..... whose gona bet the Golden Compass will be another Eragon?
let us all hope that this one will turn out to be a good one...
OMG ive read the trilogy, Northern Lights (converted to golden compass for film purposes) The Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass...and they were all amazing books...in fact they were some of my faviourites, i do hope that they dont make this game rubbish or the film, purely for the trilogies well appreciated reputation...so keep your fingers crossed....
i am not sure about this one......
i forgot if those pics r the games graphics i m so getting this game unless it was kinda like code lyoko which had sharp 3d grahpics yet screwed up
I never read the book, but I still hope that they don't mess this up!
this may turn out better than we expect... who knows?
i read all three books well some teacher took the third one away from me so then after summer i tried to read it and it felt like i had forgotten too many things. instead of reading i guess i'm going to play the game. the sequel in the game should be awesome sense u can probably play as Will
NO NO NO NO NO what a POS maybe a traditional adventure game would have done dark materials ok but a FREAKIN ACTION GAME?? Whoever greenlighted this POS should die
this game is going to ruin the franchise, the books were great, i haven't heard much on the movie but it probably will turn out ok, but this isn't the type of thing that should be made into a game.
It's a freakin' movie game! It will most likely receive a rating of 7.0 or lower.
Anyone a fan of Lord Of The Rings Books or part of any LOTR Unions contact me.
its not a children's book. and now the movie and the game and going to be nothing like the book
I believe the best way to experience something is to read it. Someone should make a movie after the Shannara Series.
The book was absolutely fantastic and holds great memories from my childhood. I think they are wrong to destroy the imaginations of the reader by the director/creator forcing their interpretations and ideas down your throat and inevitabily tainting your own perception of the trio. And by the way, the first book in the series in the UK is called 'The Nothern Lights' - beamme...I'm looking at you...
yes, another crappy book to movie to video game clone. dear god ppl, stop cashing in on quick trash games and realize that the gaming systems never had so much power to be used in constructive ways. ie. make some original games!
my thumbs cant read only push buttons
@martianrobot Is this really the proper place to engage in American bashing? Instead of assuming that the name change is due to anything lacking in the average American, maybe its just that while "The Northern Lights" is a decent name, "The Golden Compass" fits better thematically with the following two books.
The first book is called "The Northern Lights", and the next two are "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass". Well, they are here in the UK, and seeing as the writer is British... I don't know why the name has been changed into "The Golden Compass"... doesn't make sense. I guess it's for an American audience. Who never make sense of anything ;) Probably similar issues as the name change for the first Harry Potter... yer average American probably couldn't grasp the concept of what a Philosopher was so they had to change it to Sorceror. I'm actually quite surprised this great 'childrens' book trilogy is being made into Hollywood films and games, considering the authors outspoken atheism, the book's anti-religious subject matter and the fact that the US is in the grip of Christian Fundamentalism. Yahweh knows how they are going to recreate the 'difficult' third book (which I didn't actually like all that much to be honest). "Northern Lights" is fantastic though, one of the greats in child/adult fiction that I've read three times in 5 years. Brilliant characters and atmosphere and adventure. I await the film version with distrust. But, oh, I'm supposed to be writing about the game... Hmmmmmmmm. It is being made by Shiny, so my expectations have raised a notch.
i'm reading the first book right now. the Northern lights. I'm glad that I'm reading the series before it becomes really popular.
Can't say I have high expectations for this game.
Based on the Harry Potter and Narnia games, I don't have high hopes for this one. HDM as action games? There were some action scenes in the books, but for the most part they were about exploration. An RPG would suit the style of the books so much better.
It should be interesting to see how they translate sutch a thought provocing and non-action based book into a game. For all of u that dont know Nothern Lights is the British name were it was originally published. But when it was published in the US they changed it to The Golden compass for some reason. Probably to go better with the other books #2 the subtle knife and #3 the amber spyglass
its not based on the book :( unfortunately its based on movie and it means that will not be good.I prefer the Northern Lights :) but I'm sure they'll destroy this prefect story :cry:
The english names for the 3 books Are "The Golden Compass", "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass". I´ve read all of them though the ending was kinda depressing. The Daemons are like an incarnation of that persons personality in the form of an animal. They continue to shapeshift until the person reaches puberty, which is when they choose a permanent form. The daemons shapshift represents the feelings of the person whom it´s linked to, and the two can never be more than a few meters away from one another. Finally if the Daemon dies, so do the person.
It would have been better to use the IP rights to "His Dark Materials" (the trilogy as a whole) to develop a stand-alone RPG or adventure game.
WTF??? Is lord of the rings a children's book? Not even Harry Potter is called like that. Yeah the book's titles change from british to american . Ermm no, it is not a game based on the Book, it is going to be based on the upcoming film. Wich stars Eva Green, Nicole Kidman, and that new James Bond guy, Daniel Craig
Looks good. They should make for games and movies of books because sometimes there are some real gems. I know Tom Clancy is in enought places already right now but why dont they do game of his books? Some of them would be good in g ame form.
Great book so well see how this turns out. Oh, Golden Compass is the first book by the way.
nothern lights was the first one in the series the golden compass i belive is the 3rd book in the seris so i don't know how they have managed it but i hope its good though
I thought it was called Northern Lights... maybe that is the British name or something. Normally games of films turn out pretty bad (Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are exceptions) but I do like the books, I will wait and see.
Ya it's not demon it's daemon: dae·mon /?dim?n/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dee-muhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation ?noun 1. Classical Mythology. a. a god. b. a subordinate deity, as the genius of a place or a person's attendant spirit.
Books I've not heard of. I've stuck to reading Harry Potter books and Tolkien's Children of Hurin. Great stuff.
It's an RPG? The Golden Compass strikes me as more stealth material. Or maybe Sega will combine both. That'd be sick.
daimn those graphics looks bad...
"...and Yorek, a massive bear-like creature who appears to serve as the brawn of the outfit." ...you mean Iorek. Iorek Byrnison. did they change the name or something? anyway, i love the books and i almost hate to see them turned into a video game, especially since the game will probably suck.
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Game Info
- Release Date: Dec 4, 2007
- ESRB: E10+Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older.
- Release Date: Dec 14, 2007
- ESRB: E10+Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older.
The Golden Compass
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- Publisher(s): Sega
- Developer(s): Shiny Entertainment
- Genre: Action
- Release: Dec 4, 2007 (US)
- ESRB: E10+
