Okay, now it’s video games that are using comics to revive their dormant properties; only, fittingly, they’re using webcomics, because those are two great tastes that go great together. Clever. Namco/Bandai has launched ShiftyLook with SKY KID, by Jim Zub and Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz, via UDON, and XEVIOUS by Mike Costa and Mike Norton via Cryptozoic Entertainment, with a third title imminent, as shown by a big empty spot on the website. Both are old ’80s console games long unseen.
“With ShiftyLook, we now have a platform where we can quickly test new ideas and get the community’s reaction in order to help drive product development ” said Shin Unozawa, Executive Vice President and Representative Director of NAMCO BANDAI Games. “We are enhancing the cornucopia of characters we work with that our fans know and love.”
Initially focused on webcomics, ShiftyLook re-imagined characters may later be expanded in the near-term into areas including mobile games, web animation, hobby products and various forms of related merchandise. Managed out of the NAMCO BANDAI Games worldwide headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, the service will be headed by Rob Pereyda, Manager, Business Development, Network Strategy Office at NAMCO BANDAI Games.
“In developing the ShiftyLook project, we recognized the need for a strategic approach to IP cultivation that could be a nimble combination of both analytical and cool,” said Rob Pereyda, Producer, Editor-in-Chief & Head of ShiftyLook. “We believe that what we have built will provide the community as well as the NAMCO BANDAI Group the opportunity to re-discover some really exciting properties.”
More will be revealed at WonderCon and via Facebook, where you can RSVP for the launch party.
[Via Anime News Network and Comics Alliance]
In other words, more work for comics artists. Sounds okay to me. If I were at all interested in video games, I’d keep watching. Either way, I wish them luck with it!
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