james cameron talks avatar at E3

Update: We’ve added video of the presentation from G4tv after the jump.

James Cameron made an appearance at UBISOFT’s E3 press conference, talking about his upcoming film Avatar and the video game which has been developed alongside the movie. Not many hard facts were revealed, but here is a round up of what we learned:

  • Ubisoft acquired a graphic design company named Hybride, which is creating over 100 of the CGI shots for the film.
  • Cameron said that the film takes place in the 22nd century, on a large Earth-like moon called Pandora, with rain forests, 1000-foot tall trees, and many different types of critters.  He described the Na’vi as 10 feet tall and striped like tigers.

More after the jump.

  • Weta provided Ubisoft with all the assets , models, and animations used in the movie. Cameron says that the game will have its own creatures, weapons and settings, some of which was designed by Ubisoft, and some of which were created specifically for the game only by Weta. Cameron says that he even incorporated assets that Ubisoft created for the game into the movie. because he liked the designs so much.
  • The game tells a story that parallels the film, so you could play the whole game without spoiling the movie.
  • The player can choose to be either human of Na’vi, and the who the bad guy is depends on which side you choose to play as.
  • Cameron said that most video games based on movie properties kinda suck, and that he hopes revolutionize the model of movie to video game adaptations.
  • “This film is way beyond anything I’ve ever done before, which is why its taken four years to date, and we have seven months to go,” said Cameron. “The live-action portion was filmed with cameras that took us 9 years to develop.”
  • Ubisoft has been working on the game for over two and a half years.
  • It will be the first major stereoscopic video game title developed in 3D from the ground up.
  • Ubisoft also announced that they will be working with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson on a video game version of the upcoming Tintin movies.
  • No footage was shown during the press conference, but a demo will be available to press at E3.
  • Cameron said that playing the new demo was the first time he’s ever been scared while playing a video game.
  • /Film reader Person Mcdude adds:
    • He said that the air on Pandora isnt breathable by humans, so they genetically engineered a hybrid human/naavi, hence the name “avatar”.
    • the hybrids are able to control robots by “jacking” their nervous system into the robots. while jacked in, the individual is in a comatose state, but their consciousness is able to move the robot as if it were an extension of his/her body.
    • One of the overriding themes of the movie is learning to view things from another perspective. Cameron hinted at a showdown between the mechanized, technologically reliant humans vs. the natural, more primal, almost tribal like Na’avi. The main character, a human (worthington?) becomes increasingly sympathetic towards the Na’vi and must choose sides at the end. he sounded very excited and said this was a huge, amazing fight scene.

Thanks to Gametrailers for streaming the presentation. Ubi.com has added some screenshots from the game:

avatarlogo

Avatar video game

Avatar video game

Avatar video gamevia: MarketSaw

  • pic czar
    oh shit! "Scared while playing a video game!!?!?" I just pre-ordered
  • Matt
    First?

    This is cautiously exciting news, given Cameron's interest in the game. It could establish a new paradigm in video game adaptations of movie properties, a seriously underdeveloped field.
  • Tristan
    The King Kong game was amazing though, so it probably won't change anything since that one didn't change a thing.
  • god I hope so man. Its about time someone came out with a genuinely good video game based off of a movie. thats for sure.
  • ...
    ya I think the last really good one was Escape from Butcher Bay/Dark Athena...
    the game based in the Chronicles of Riddick universe...
    This is looking very good,
    and I'm always hopeful when a director is onboard...
    Ubisoft will either do great things here or wreck it completely...
    there is no middle ground for them...
    ...
  • Joey
    This movie keeps sounding better and better. I wonder what scared him while playing the game, though? And the Tintin news; absolutly makes my day. Hope the games are good.
  • person mcdude
    other stuff the post didnt mention

    1.he said that the air on pandora isnt breathable by humans, so they genetically engineered a hybrid human/naavi, hence the name "avatar".

    2. the hybrids are able to control robots by "jacking" their nervous system into the robots. while jacked in, the individual is in a comatose state, but their consciousness is able to move the robot as if it were an extension of his/her body. im assuming these robots are the ones that have been leaked recently. also, this sounds somewhat like how the bots from neon genesis evangelion operate, but that may be just a coincidence.

    3. one of the overriding themes of the movie is learning to view things from another perspective. cameron hinted at a showdown between the mechanized, technologically reliant humans vs. the natural, more primal, almost tribal like naavi. The main character, a human (worthington?) becomes increasingly sympathetic towards the naavi and must choose sides at the end. he sounded very excited and said this was a huge, amazing fight scene.
  • Tina
    No, the humans "jack" (lol I just realized that sounds wrong) into the hybrids. The hybrids are not robots. Humans (non-Na'vi hybrid controllers) control mechas (they pilot them)--what are pictured. (To be super correct--I don't want to give anything away--the hybrids and Na'vi are able to connect to other stuff. I won't mention what that is...) -- source: scriptment.

    The humans "become" Na'vi so they can interact with the "locals" better... it's supposed to "look" better than just having some human in a mecha coming to talk to a villager. You could probably compare this to recent imperialism. If you have a native, you'd want to dress up like him/her and interact with him/her in their own language so you don't look threatening (which, remember, is what the humans are trying to do in Avatar... they're trying to get the aliens/Na'vi/villagers to do stuff for them).
  • Hearing him go on and on and on about Avatar made me feel better in thinking that the movie will be great; he just seems really passionate about it. Some nice info.
  • no footage once again - what a surprise. cmon jim im in withdrawal from some cameron footage.
  • that shit does sound sweet though. 10 feet with tiger-like stripes - nice!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Snyder also said movie video games sucked and he hoped to changed that with his Watchmen games and that didn't work out so well. But You can't compare Snyder with Cameron. The level of interactability between the companies and director is pretty amazing, and that can only mean good things. If this fails, particularly the video game I'll be very surprised.
  • "Cameron said that playing the new demo was the first time he’s ever been scared while playing a video game."
    Scared at how bad it was? It is Ubisoft......ZING!
  • person mcdude
    they said the game was gonna be playable during e3 this week so some footage/screenshots are undoubtedly on the way
  • Ken
    I like Avatar because it is an original piece of work that does not rely on ripping-off previous films or novels. Avatar is an original idea written/directed/conceived from a visionary filmmaker. (This is precisely why I am NOT looking forward to TinTin.) These video game shots make me very excited.
  • agree in full.
  • freemachine
    They should make a 3D version of the game too.
  • they just said they were. (in the video) Cameron said they were iffy about doing it at first but a few months later they came back with a 3d version and Cameron said "yep. do it."
  • JonJive
    The second additional point is wrong: Cameron said that the paraplegic human (worthington?) is able to control his avatar (human / na’vi hybrid) through porting his consciousness into it, whilst his human body remains in a coma like state - i.e. the hybrid is his avatar. There was no mention of robot controls...
  • fracaso089
    ok, the film will be great, the game might be great, but cameron talked for so long my friends and i started making jokes about bill cosby, twinkies, and getting trapped in boxes. when the laughter died down, he was still talking!
  • the game screenshots look good...although I can't really get too enthused for game images when I haven't seen a trailer or footage from the film it's based on...granted still very interesting..it's also nice to finally see the film's logo art...
  • the logo art is pretty important news.

    baby steps cameron, baby steps.
    maybe next we'll get a tagline. and then hopefully a poster.

    then maybe a still from the movie? or is that too much too ask?
  • Jake Foster
    "Cameron said that playing the new demo was the first time he’s ever been scared while playing a video game."

    Clearly he doesn't have much experience with video games or most of his gaming experience stems from playing waggle games on the Wii.

    That said, Cameron's presentation at E3 was one of the worst of the day and had many in the audience struggling to stay awake. If my job didn't require me to take notes during the majority of the conference I would have taken the time and had a little cat nap.

    It was nice seeing Spielberg at the Microsoft conference though. He wasn't anywhere near as in love with himself as Cameron was.
  • Firepants
    That "Avatar" font looks a lot like the Airbender cartoon...
  • musicsoup
    FUUUUUUCKKKKK I LOOKED!!!!! I didn't want to look!!!! I didn't want to look!!! FUCK!!!! I just wanted to say STOP! STOP! Let's stop posting about Avatar. Let's stop posting concept art. Let's stop posting clips of the video game. Let's not watch the trailer!!! What a crazy idea. Let's not watch it. Let's not look at any more stills or whatever footage, no matter what the other movie sites might be posting. Let's go into this one BLIND. Let's go in with no expectations of what this movie is supposed to look like or feel like. Let's actually get taken away to a real new world for once. It's fucking James Cameron. That's all I need to know. From this moment on, and for all $.02 that it's worth, I'm not reading anything else about Avatar. Fuck it. But goddamn that art looked sick. Fuck!
  • DHyra
    I agree, that's why I normally skipped the articles about Avatar, but this one is about game screenshots so I looked at them and it's a SPOILER :))
  • The game is a different storyline than the movie. Cameron said during the presentation that you could beat the game and not know one spoiler
  • musicsoup
    I'm glad it's a different story, but it's just about knowing what it's gonna look like. Don't you wanna see this movie for the first time in the theater in 3D, Instead of in bits and chunks of leaked info or images or released footage online? Don't you feel like films have lost their magic because we know everything about them 2 years before they're released? Man, I do. It sucks, cause this is a part of my job, knowing everything before the mainstream. But I just honestly feel like I haven't been swept away by a movie in the longest time, and I know it's because I read up on them too much on sites like this and AICN and Filmdrunk.

    Go ahead, spoil the shit out of Iron Man 2 and Clash of the Titans and whatever other disposable movies are on the way. DO NOT fuck with my James Cameron.
  • Johan
    Lol. You know you won´t be able to resist the next time they release only one single shot from the movie. But I agree. Sometimes I just hate the internet for spoiling so much of a movie or game before it´s released. And was really dissappointed that Cameron released game screens instead of footage from the movie. It´s as if the guy is afraid we might not like what we see.
  • Lawdog
    Considering you won't be seeing it in 3D or in context, you may be pretty close to the truth. People are already up in arms with the possibility that plant life on another planet might be *gasp* GREEN.
  • musicsoup
    Oh, we'll like what we see. We're just NOT READY to see it. That's why I don't need to follow this movie anymore. Go ahead, spoil the shit out of Iron Man 2 and Clash of the Titans and whatever other disposable movies are on the way. DO NOT fuck with my James Cameron.
  • wait a sec......the 3D for the game was built from the ground up? is this game going to be in 3D?? how are they gonna pull that off??
  • Caught the entire Ubisoft conference and was very impressed by Cameron's talk. Whatever you feel about him, the man is a passionate artist and cares a lot about his work. When speaking about AVATAR and how it took him 16 years to get it going, it gave me inspiration about my own projects. I actually have some friends who went to the 70mm screening of ALIENS and THE ABYSS the other night and they were also impressed with his passion about AVATAR and filmmaking in general. By finally going in front of cameras and talking about the new film, he lifted the curtain back just a little more on what this is all about it. Sounds to me like AVATAR is DANCES WITH WOLVES set in space which is definitely cool in my book...
  • Damn! Sorta funny how our first real look at Avatar is through game screenshots.
  • Dan W
    Not much more I can say anymore other than I'm still excited for the movie haha.

    Also the movie The Fall took 4 years to make and it hardly had any cgi
  • Brian
    What will the film be? Epic. What will the game be? I very very seriously doubted an Avatar game but after watching this earlier today...Epic! But, how does the stereoscopic 3D stuff work at home? Are they making television sets that support 3D now?
  • Avatar is going to cure cancer AND solve the global financial crisis.
  • of course that's according to Cameron and 20th Century Fox
  • I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it did.
  • Johan
    I don´t get it. Why give us the first official glimpse of Avatar with game screens? It doesn´t matter if it is a different story from the movie. For me the biggest spoilers are when I see a cool creature or design of the world from a sci-fi/fantasy movie before I see the whole itself. I looked away after I realized I was looking at a fucking Banshee. Don´t get me wrong, I think they look awesome, but I wished I had my first look at them from the movie, not some fucking game shots.

    Please Jim and Fox studios, if you read this: Don´t ruin all the hard work you have done so far. You haven´t shown us anything untill now, don´t start now with showing too much. Create a smart marketing campaign that only shows small parts, only teases and don´t show the big creature moments until December.

    The best marketing of a movie in our internet age was for Cloverfield. Regardless of what people thought of the movie, it was just an awesome expierence for me to not have seen the monster itself leaked on the internet and to get that first fresh look the first time in the theatre.
  • booooored
    hmm.
    nice screenshots, but pretty generic. Nothing groundbreaking,design-wise.

    And i'd like a thousand times that rendering quality in the movie insted of Cameron boasting about how realistic it will be when the rendering will be complete- and they still haven't a single scene in final form, i'm afraid.
  • xMort
    I think he mean scared what will result looks like, not scared by something scary in nature which gameplay produce.
  • drbendy
    I'm really worried about this film. I can't see where the human element, the bit we need to relate to, is coming from.
  • Jay
    I wish i hadn;t seen this,,,, to me avatar could be anything ..now while its going to be amazing kinda just seems a bit well video gamey
  • Avatar sucks
    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

    So the environment on Pandora looks just like a rain forrest.

    I just lost virtually all interest in Avatar.

    When is someone who really understands evolutionary biology going to make a movie about an alien world?!?!?!

    Your telling me that plant life on Pandora evolved to look identical to plant life on Earth?! What a lazy cop out.

    I say it again. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    To keep me interested they needed to design a complete biosystem from the ground up, and they clearly did not do that.
  • 3-D is awesome
    For those of you wondering how you view 3-D at home, you pick up a set of active LED glasses. You can check out Nvidia's 3-D glasses here:

    http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_GeForce_3D_V...
  • jose
    is AVATAR gunna be rated R
  • Optickid
    The theme of the movie sounds like hippie propaganda, if the aliens are wiser then why they are still using bones and arrows??
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