Ninjatoid: Video games and movies synergise for ninja/yakuza battle romp

Continuing the ninjabulous theme of today’s postings, not many details have come to the fore about this new project, but a very intriguing little scheme be a-brewing in the world of movies and games. Two influential forces in their respective genres, the movie world’s John Woo and the video game world’s Warren Spector, are set to collaborate on a joint game/film venture about traditional ninja fighting modern day yakuza.

“The game concept is actually based on facts that the Yakuza and the Russian mob are involved in tons of gold being stolen in South Africa,” states Terrence Chang, Woo’s production partner. The project, known as Ninja Gold, is unique in that neither the movie nor the video game are based on one another, and exist instead as two seperate entities within the same story. 

Hit the jump for more.

[Via Blue’s News] 

The movie is said to be more reality based, while the game is planned to have a more fantastical feel, although both products will possess an air of the unreal about them. Woo has worked hard on the characters and ideas for this new project, and Spector isn’t slow to share his enthusiasm:

“The idea actually started with John Woo. He wanted to do something involving traditional ninjas in a modern-day setting, and the idea just resonated with me. I was intrigued with the idea of what happens when the traditional and the contemporary come into conflict.”

Spector should have said “ninja” as the plural for ninja, because the plural for ninja is indeed ninja, but I’ll let him off. On the unique idea of a game and movie tie-in that are not explicitly based upon each other, Spector had this to say:

“I know that my thought from the start was to develop something that would work just as well in games as in movies, and I know John was thinking along the same lines. “This was an attempt to create a concept that would work in, and be developed for, a variety of media simultaneously. That’s something new for games — and for movies.”

Indeed it is a new idea, and one that has drawn me in like a curious pigeon, searching in earnest for more delicious seeds. This could be a hot one, and a project to watch quite closely, young children, quite closely indeed.