Normally this column is dedicated to movie and TV talent with a Palisadian connection, in front and behind the camera, but maybe that’s a bit old-school.
When you look at video games, which is twice as big an industry as Hollywood, and often more cinematic, it’s time to redefine and stretch out the Reel.
On Tuesday, Aug. 22, the Santa Monica-based video game studio Naughty Dog, co-founded by Castellammare gamer, gastronome and occasional restaurateur Andy Gavin, releases a spin-off of the blockbuster-selling “Uncharted” series of Indiana Jones-style adventure games.
Called “Uncharted: The Lost Legacy” it’s more Lara Croft than Professor Jones, with Australian actress Claudia Black voicing bad girl treasure-hunter Chloe Frazer on the hunt for mysterious artifacts in India’s Western Ghats.
So, you get Ganesh the elephant god, guns and a geography lesson thrown in for free.
Defying the nastiness that was “Gamergate”—where loutish trolls humiliated female coders who reported gender bias in the games business, and the characters they created—Chloe is joined by a hard-bitten mercenary, Nadine.
Men are just fodder for their double act.
Pre-ordering the game also earns a digital pre-release of a second game, “Jak and Dexter: The Precursor Legacy” re-visiting on some of the last and wildest characters Gavin created at Naughty Dog.
—JOHN HARLOW
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