Excerpts from EA Expands Turf with \'Godfather\' Saga

The film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, and its Viacom Inc. parent granted Electronic Arts the rights to expand the fiction beyond the scope of the film and Mario Puzo's novel.

"We took the movie as a starting point and looked at the story of five families competing for turf," said Hunter Smith, senior producer of "The Godfather" game. "You're not playing the movie game with this experience, you have your own original story that intersects with characters and high points from the first film."

Beyond the virtual versions of Caan, Duvall and Marlon Brando, an additional 20-plus actors from "The Godfather" will appear in the game, including Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi) and John Martino (Paulie Gatto). Many characters will receive larger roles in the game since the 40-plus hours of gameplay allow for a longer story line, and new characters -- including a love interest for the player -- will be added.

Smith said no dialogue from the film will be used for the game because the sound quality is too dated to meet today's technology standards. Instead, all of the game's dialogue has been recorded anew. Brando spent four hours in a booth reprising his role of Don Vito Corleone before he died last year.

"Marlon Brando understood games, and he saw how interactive entertainment could open the door for roles to actors regardless of age and appearance," said EA creative director Philip Campbell, who wrote the game's script with input from novelist Mark Winegardner ("The Godfather Returns").

Duvall and Caan each will spend eight hours recording dialogue for the game, bringing consigliere Tom Hagen and Sonny Corleone back to life. In the game, Hagen will teach the player about the art of negotiation, and Sonny will point out the importance of intimidation. The player will interact with each of these characters throughout the game. To succeed, the player must balance the line between intimidation and negotiation.

Caan took the stage and said that getting into the recording booth was fun and that Sonny's voice came right back. Duvall joined him and added that working on the game was like doing looping for a movie he shot a week ago.

[ full story ]

I really can't wait now!