Car-Fu Racing With Speed Racer

Another movie tie-in? This time a game based on a movie from the Wachowski brothers: Speed Racer.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will launch the Speed Racer videogame based on the upcoming film written and directed by the Wachowski brothers. Speed Racer is a Warner Bros presentation in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, of a Silver Pictures production. The game will be available in 2008 on the Wii and Nintendo DS as the Speed Racer film hits theaters.

In the Wii version, developed by Sidhe Interactive and published by Warner Bros, players will be able to take on the role of the characters from the film, getting behind the wheels of each character's signature vehicles to experience firsthand the film's high-adrenaline, combative racing style. The car-fu style of action within the game will closely represent the action style being designed by the Wachowski brothers for the film itself as they lend direction and assets to the development team directly from their Berlin set. John Gaeta, a long-time Wachowski collaborator and Co-VFX Supervisor on the Speed Racer film, is working with Sidhe and WBIE to assist in maintaining a close film-to-game aesthetic connection.

"Speed Racer is an exceptionally creative property and teamed with the Wachowski brothers' vision it makes for action-packed racing gameplay," said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Development and Production, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "The game will capture the intensity of the racing in the film to give gamers and movie fans a chance to take the wheel after they experience the film."

"We are very excited about this natural extension from the Speed Racer film to the videogame. Larry and Andy are videogame fans themselves, so they believe that an interactive game is a key component to the entire Speed Racer experience," said film producer Joel Silver.

The game's development for the Wii version is led by the New Zealand-based Sidhe Interactive, a game development studio recognized for producing high-quality entertainment titles with world-class creative and software development skills. Developing across console, handheld, and PC, Sidhe has created a range of innovative products including a variety of racing titles.

Written and directed by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta) and produced by Joel Silver, Speed Racer is based on the classic series created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida. A live-action family adventure, Speed Racer follows the young race car driver Speed in his quest for glory on and off the track in his thundering Mach 5. The film will feature other characters that fans of the show will remember, including Speed's family and his mysterious arch-rival, Racer X. The new high-octane actioner will combine the kind of revolutionary visual effects and cutting-edge storytelling that have become the benchmarks of the Wachowski brothers' films, bringing Speed Racer into the 21st century. The film stars Emile Hirsch ("Alpha Dog") as Speed, Christina Ricci ("Black Snake Moan") as Trixie and Matthew Fox (TV's "Lost") as Racer X as well as Oscar winner Susan Sarandon ("Dead Man Walking") and John Goodman ("Evan Almighty") as Mom and Pops Racer.

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