Where Is Gaming's Ultimate Crossover Project?

Two weeks ago the N7 Armour worn by Mass Effect 3's Commander Shepard came to Final Fantasy XIII-2. Thanks to a collaboration between Square Enix and BioWare the male and female N7 Armour is now available (at a price) as an optional outfit for both Serah Farron and Noel Kreiss for use throughout Final Fantasy XIII-2's campaign.

But what's the point? How many gamers are aching to play through Final Fantasy XIII-2 in cosplay as a character from another, entirely unrelated game? Few, I imagine. This really doesn't serve any creative purpose; it's just a marketing exercise. This is not the first example of this kind of crossover content, and it won't be the last. But in the scheme of a crossover, this is about as trivial as it gets.

Ultimately this insipid kind of stuff is simply a tease; something that doesn't go anywhere near far enough to be interesting. Why bother with just sharing costumes around? Why stop there? What about the kind of crossover project that would blow the barn doors right open?

Where is gaming's Who Framed Roger Rabbit?


1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit remains an incredibly unique movie experience. We've seen films combine live action with animation before and since, but none have been as original or as audacious as Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit cartoon characters, or "toons", are living creatures who exist in the real world, acting in cartoons the same way human actors shoot normal feature films. As a result, the world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a behind-the-scenes fantasy where toons live and work alongside everyday people.

Perhaps the foremost reason Who Framed Roger Rabbit is so special (beyond its amazing, entirely hand-crafted animation) is the unprecedented level of cooperation between major studios that was on show. The amount of cartoon cameos is quite staggering. It was backed by Disney, so Disney characters obviously feature heavily in the film. However, a huge number of characters from competing studios appear as well.


Steven Spielberg, the film's producer, reportedly personally negotiated for the use of a long list of key Warner Bros. characters, as well as characters from Fleischer Studios, MGM, Universal Studios, King Features and Terrytoons. With Who Framed Roger Rabbit you could see Porky Pig, Goofy, Betty Boop, Woody Woodpecker, Felix the Cat, Mighty Mouse, and Droopy Dog all in the same movie. The same Disney movie, no less.

It's telling that the highlight of the film for many has nothing to do with plot, or indeed any of the main characters at all. Rather it's the scene that features Daffy Duck and Donald Duck as duelling pianists.


The budget for Who Framed Roger Rabbit skyrocketed to an estimated $70 million during production but the film became a box-office smash, coming second to only Rain Man on the list of top-grossing films for 1988.

Various game developers have demonstrated an ability to work together in the past. Street Fighter X Tekken is a great recent example; Capcom and Namco's cooperation fuelled a fascinatingly fresh and unique brawler for fighting fans. Street Fighter stalwarts and Tekken top dogs, together under one roof. Crazy stuff.


But why stop there?

What about an original game, set behind the curtain of gaming itself? A world inhabited by the characters we've grown to love over the past few decades. It'd be like stepping into the video game version of Last Action Hero; a world that makes complete sense to everyone in it but you.


This kind of project would need an auteur. It'd need a personality behind it, backing it all the way and negotiating with IP holders. It'd need its own Spielberg, greasing the wheels and securing cameos. Gaming has those types of people. The likes of Tim Schafer spring to mind.

You wouldn't get everyone on board. Even Spielberg himself couldn't get everyone to sign on the dotted line for Who Framed Roger Rabbit; he was unable to acquire the rights to Tom and Jerry, Popeye or Casper the Friendly Ghost, among others. It'd be a veritable minefield sure, but surely you'd get some?

There's probably a great deal to be gleaned from the fact more movies like Who Framed Roger Rabbit don't exist. Nothing about making the video game equivalent of Roger Rabbit sounds easy on paper. The problem of multiple platforms complicates things even further.

But that doesn't mean it's not a good idea. In fact, it's such a good idea that somebody already thought of it. Only they didn't make a game of out it.


Last year's "Michael" commercial, part of Sony's Long Live Play campaign, featured a parade of famous game characters from several different publishers, including Sony, 2K, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Square-Enix, Valve, Konami, and Namco.

"There was a little bit of reticence at first, but because people liked the idea so much, they trusted us," said Jason Elm, executive creator director at Deutsch (the agency behind the commercial), in an interview with Fast Company. "Sometimes we had to beg a little, and sometimes they were right on board."

Surely it's just a hop, skip and a jump from cameos in a commercial to cameos in a video game? If it's not impossible to put all these characters in the one commercial, surely it's not beyond the realms of imagination they could be inserted into the background of a similarly-themed video game?

Right?


Luke is Games Editor at IGN AU. You can chat to him on IGN here or find him and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community. Think fast, look alive and die hard!

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