LATEST GAMES: EA signs deal with director of The Watchmen

ELECTRONIC Arts has signed a deal with Hollywood director Zack Snyder to help develop video games, some of which could become movies themselves.
The agreement calls for Snyder to develop three original games for the video game publishing giant and comes after EA signed a similar deal with Steven Spielberg in 2005.
Snyder, who directed the 2006 comic book adaptation 300 and is currently working on another, The Watchmen, will lead the creative direction of the games and work with the production team at EA Los Angeles.
The same studio is currently collaborating with Spielberg on the game Boom Blox for the Nintendo Wii.
EA will own the rights to games developed with Snyder and develop, publish and distribute the titles. The agreement includes efforts to extend the game franchises into feature films.

Hollywood and the video game industry continue to work more closely, yielding hit game franchises based on films such as the Lord of the Rings and James Bond series.
At the same time, popular games with rich stories are being made into feature films, including Max Payne, a movie based on the Take-Two Interactive Software game, which opens in theaters next month.