King Kong stomps its way to a console near you

If the movie trailer for Peter Jackson's King Kong has movie-goers eagerly awaiting its end-of-year release, another type of audience has been poring over early scenes from the video game.

Gaming websites are abuzz with discussion of King Kong, due for release on all formats in November, at the end of what may prove to be a record year for the industry.

Early reviews of King Kong's first playable sections, which are set on prehistoric Skull Island, have been positive.

"I was basically on the edge of my seat throughout the demo, and the only thing I could say at the end is one of those words that shouldn't be published on a family-friendly site," wrote a reviewer on Gamerankings.com

"Even without the large ape licence, it's feeling like an impressively solid original game," was Gamespot.com's verdict.

The buoyant mood following the tightly-controlled King Kong previews at the E3 gaming expo held in Los Angeles pointed to the same conclusion - King Kong's transition to video game looks destined to be a success.

A video presentation by Jackson introduced in-game footage, the highlight of which was a white-water raft ride down a river where star Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) fights off dinosaurs lining the riverbanks.

At the same event, a smaller crowd huddled around a screen showing game footage from an adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia, directed by New Zealander Andrew Adamson.

King Kong is definitely the big ticket this year. But while early glimpses show the game to be ambitious in scale, it does not appear technically superior to some of the best Xbox titles currently on the market.

Though Jackson broke new ground with his special effects in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, it seems that story over style may be the recipe for gaming success.

"It's not a race for polygons," King Kong developer Michel Ancel told a French gaming website in May.

The game's development follows the same treatment applied to Jackson's Rings films.

Industry speculation at E3 was that Jackson was not happy with the games, which were developed by Electronic Arts, the largest games publisher.

EA is no stranger to film-to-game adaptations having brought Harry Potter and some of the James Bond films to consoles.

The Rings games were well-received critically, but failed to scale the heights of EA's biggest cash-earners, such as The Sims and Madden.

Jackson's involvement in the games was limited to a licensing deal with EA.

His move to French publisher Ubisoft certainly looks like a move by Hollywood's most powerful director to foster a more lucrative gaming industry partnership that will last beyond Kong.

It was Jackson who approached Ubisoft developer Ansel and his Montpellier Studio, after being particularly impressed with their work on the game Beyond Good and Evil.

King Kong uses the same gaming engine as BG & E and Prince of Persia - with an overhaul to meet the needs of new platforms such as the Sony PSP and the Xbox 360.

The close tie-in between film and game that Jackson envisages has meant the Ubisoft team have paid frequent visits to Wellington, where they have been given unlimited access to digital animations and concept art used in making the film.

Weta's input would ensure it was a true extension of the film universe, Jackson told Gamespot.com.

"The creative process for gaming is actually very similar to filmmaking. You are really focusing on the story. What this has done is enabled us to really look at key scenes from both the cinematic and interactive perspectives and hopefully offer viewers the best of both worlds."

The New Zealand team has been playing builds of the game throughout the development process, and the cast of the film will perform the voice-overs for the game, lending further authenticity.

With the budget for a blockbuster video game likely to be upwards of US$10 million ($14.2 million), the stakes for Jackson and Ubisoft are high. But so too is the pay-off if the game shifts in reasonable quantities.

Ubisoft's president and chief executive, Yves Guillemot, expects King Kong to be the company's most successful game of 2005.

The world market for video game consoles and games was worth US$24 billion ($34.1 billion) last year according to market research group NPD Group. Game licensing deals offer new streams of revenue and along with DVD sales lessen the importance of cinema box office.

With simultaneous releases of games and the films they are based on, more mileage can be made out of combined marketing campaigns.

Movie-to-game adaptations have a dubious reputation among gamers.

Jackson's next film, an adaptation of the novel The Lovely Bones, won't exactly fit into the action role-player category that demands a video game spin-off.

That may slow down Jackson's transformation into a George Lucas-style uber-producer overseeing game development alongside his movies. But if the director's career is anything to go by, he's not yet finished with fantasy, adventure or even schlock horror, and the gaming world loves all of those genres.