Posts by Andre Alessi
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But what about the game industry like Sihde?????
Sidhe doesn't have a background in movie tie-in games, and they're primarily focused on platformer/arcade titles, rather than RPG or RTS style games. I'd be surprised if they would want to take something like a Hobbit-themed game on.
Besides, Warner owns Turbine, and it's own games division (Warner BRos Interactive Entertainment) hasn't been shy about producing its own games: for example, this one (free registration required.) I know Turbine's been talking about producing a Hobbit-themed game since prior to to its aquisition by WB, too.
But what shits me is that there was absolutely no mention of games at all in any converstaion over the last 5 weeks.
I'd imagine it's because it'd be seen in the same category as soundtrack releases, merchandising, etc. Movie-based games are a weird market, but almost always sit at the bargain-bin end of things. Effectively, most movie tie-in games are just interactive advertising for the movie, except you have to pay to be advertised to.
Man, is there even a union for computer game developers?
Not as far as I'm aware. It's a really small industry.
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The hobbit bills covers "game production"
Pretty standard with this sort of thing. And trust me, this is not something to worry about. Most games won't be developed here at all, or if they are, it'll be limited to using elements of the film production in a game that is still made off-shore: screencaps, costume design, sound recordings, etc.
Total budget for most game development is tiny compared to the film budget anyway. Turbine (for example) has launched and maintained a Lord of the Rings-related game for 4-5 years without spending more than $10 million USD (if that.)
The most likely stuff that would be done on-shore, assuming a game was actually produced locally, would be something like a browser-based Facebook game, which is absolute peanuts to produce (especially given the really low production values involved in most movie-tie-in games.)
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I personally find 'Reading the Maps' pretty great reading normally; thoughtful and erudite.
But it's a pretty good sign that certain elements of the Left have lost their way when they start arguing that workers don't know what is best for themselves in industral disputes, and should just shut up and do whatever <pick self-annointed union-flavoured spokesperson> tells them to do.
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I especially enjoyed reading how you, Giovanni, were responsible for this whole crisis, cleverly manufactured from the lofty heights of your ivory tower. You effete Hobbitphile.
Look out New Zealand, we left-leaning fantasy fans of Italian extraction are here to direct your unwashed masses to some kind of Galtian revolt!
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Remember that Spartacus has been in a pretty tricky space for a few months-with Andy Whitfield's cancer and the uncertainty about how the production will proceed, I'm sure the last thing NZAE wanted to do was to be the final boot in the ribs to a struggling production.
...oh, wait.
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I think you need to be careful about "you protested about Y but not about X, and X was first/worse etc" arguments.
In the abstract I agree, but I think that when you have the fact that the exact rhetoric that was being used (fallaciously) about The Hobbit by NZAE and its supporters is completely applicable to Spartacus, and that this isn't exactly a secret for the people who were making these claims, there is a case to answer for.
This isn't an abstract "You can't protest against the war in Iraq unless you also condemn all Muslim extremism worldwide" false equivalence, it gets right to the heart of what the purpose of NZAE's actions were actually meant to achieve.
(And for the record, I think the answer is "It's all the result of misjudged good intentions", but I appreciate that requires a certain amount of good faith in the intentions of the human beings involved.)
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She's lucky it remained above minimum wage, TBH. Actors of my acquaintance who've worked on that production have said that, once you account for the agent's cut and the various deductions for ACC, your margin above minimum wage can be getting down to "read an acting contract through it" degrees of thinness.
I believe (from having heard things here and there from people who know) that the reason it's not such an issue is that most people on set are working much much longer than 8 hours a day. It's still a good example of relatively poor conditions, though.
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Jackson did feature some giant wetas in King Kong. That hasn't helped tourist numbers.
It was the penis-worms that scared most tourists off, I think you'll find.
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Re: Jackson's promotional video. Just show the Hobbits on a NZ road trip - bunji jumping, jet-boating etc.
Martin Freeman always looks a bit harried, I'm not sure being thrown off a bridge would change that.
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Oh, and Beorn will have a fine range of Manuka honeys available for purchase after the show.