Seattle Times TLC Article

Pair gambles that good story means interactive success

By Jeff Barnard
Associated Press

ASHLAND. Ore - The logo introducing Aftermath Media's new interactive movie on digital video disc is a fireball roaring out of the computer screen to destroy everything behind it.

A fitting symbol for Rob Landeros, the co-creator of the pioneering CDROM game hit "The 7th Guest" who has turned his gifts to the no-man's land of interactive movies with "Tender Loving Care."

"We're looking at people who have no desire to shoot an alien intruder or couldn't care less about solving complex puzzles," Landeros said. "This is a product for the rest of us."

Landeros' partner, Emmy Award-winning director David Wheeler, agreed.

"You simply interact with the characters and story line and interact in a psychological way with some of the objects in the house," Wheeler said "The way you respond affects the way the story unfolds."

They have sunk $2 million into "Tender Loving Care," a drama about a nurse who moves in with a young couple after the wife suffers a breakdown from the death of their daughter. Things get sticky when the husband falls for the nurse. Academy Award nominee John Hurt plays the psychiatrist who narrates the tale.

No American publisher has agreed to release the video in the U.S., but Funsoft of Germany is planning a fall release in Europe and Australia.

Aftermath has put "Tender Loving Care" on video disc, looking for a connection with the viewer who watches it on a personal computer. But it also is releasing the film without the interactivity in Europe.

Unlike CDROM games, "Tender Loving Care" has no puzzles to solve, just a chance to snoop in the private lives of the characters when the action shifts from the movie to a computer-generated reproduction of the house where the action takes place.

Using a mouse, viewers prowl character's bedrooms, read their diaries, rummage through their drawers and check out their e-mail.

Viewers register their feelings toward characters, take quizzes and react to images. The computer builds a profile of the viewer that changes the scenes. A sex scene can go from an R rating to PG, depending on the viewer.

"It sounds like an interesting approach," said Ed Fries, general manager of Microsoft's entertainment division, which is backing a similar venture being developed by Digital Anvil of Texas. "There have been really a lot of failures in the game industry trying to do what people call SMV, integrating slow motion video with games.

"Ultimately, the strong storytelling ability developed in Hollywood over the last 100 years, that has to be combined with interactivity and game to make interesting products."

Landeros and Wheeler met at Trilobyte, the company that created "The 7th Guest." Wheeler was hired to direct the video portions of the game "The 11th Hour."

He had wanted for some time to make a movie out of the novel "Tender Loving Care" by Andrew Neiderman, and Landeros was interested. They left Trilobyte to form Aftermath.

"The best idea I had was, Let's cut out the game stuff,' " Landeros said. "We've got a good story. Forget the games."

As much as Landeros wants to forget games, he will be competing with them in the marketplace, said Richard Hilleman, a director of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences and executive in charge of production for Electronic Arts in San Mateo, Calif.

"I believe that game play, at the end of the day, is what customers will be judging," Hilleman said.

Landeros is no stranger to exploring new territory.

"This is exactly the same place I was in 1992 with 7th Guest"' Landeros said "It's good to be ahead of the curve. I don't know how many times I can pull it off."