Jerry Bruckheimer Set To Invade Your PS3 and Xbox

I don't believe it's a coincidence that Jerry Bruckheimer is producing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time while announcing the formation of a new wing of his empire that will focus on the development of video games. Jerry Bruckheimer Games, Inc. is officially open for business, adding two high-level vets from the lucrative gaming industry, according to The Los Angeles Times. Leading the charge for the Santa Monica-based start-up are Jay Cohen, president of development, and Jim Veevaert, president of production. Veevaert was an executive producer of Halo 3 and Cohen comes over from Ubisoft, where he had served as a senior vice president of publishing. Says Bruckheimer of his decision to join the highly competitive multi-billion-dollar arena, "Games are evolving just like movies. There's storytelling and there's character development in games." "We're in the entertainment business. We entertain you in theaters, on TV and on your game platforms." Hollywood studios have tried - mostly in vain - to break into gaming in the past, failures most analysts say stems from approaching the business the same way as one would the motion picture or television industry. But Bruckheimer has added some key principals that could help weather the early storm. He also has an agreement with MTV Games in place to reelase any titles his company develops. In the grand scheme of things, this makes a lot of sense for Bruckheimer, especially if the company develops some good games. He would have immediate and unlimited access to turn them into films and he'd never have to broker deals with outside developers to turn his film product into games. Personally, I can't wait for a first person shooter game inspired by Glory Road or Veronica Guerin.