Spexar: A Gaming Dream-Team?

Interesting timing, this. I was chatting to a journo-chum yesterday about how disappointingly tedious the Wall-E game was, and how odd and sad it was that a film studio as accomplished as Pixar would be happy to let such turgid nonsense be officially associated with them. Why do Pixar not start an in-house development studio of their own for these titles? Surely shared in-house digital assets would make the art and graphics a bit easier, and they'd be able to ensure these were proud counterparts to their celluloid output rather than let themselves undermined with shoddy cash-ins. The phrase I used was, I believe, "Pixar could be the Blizzard of kids' games if they wanted."

Suddenly, it sounds like this very particular dream may come true. WARR-EN to the rescue...

We don't know what Deus Ex/Thief/System Shock figurehead Warren Spector's next project it is, beyond that it's Disney related, but he's just cunningly let slip that "My team and I have been working hard on our own and (get ready for the cool factor to go way up) in collaboration with folks from Disney Feature Animation and Pixar." Wow-ee! "If I say anymore, I’ll get in trouble, so let’s just leave it at that." Dammit! The filthy, filthy tease.

But God, what a prospect. Spector's tantalising involvement could suggest Pixar/Disney are thinking as seriously as they really should about their spin-off games. Or it could be some World of Pixar dream-project. Or it could be a new IP entirely. Either way, Spector + Pixar? Ooh, do want. Clearly, it won't be Deus Ex, but it could be something just as exciting in its own way- licensed titles that actually give a damn.