James Patterson: Shooting games are not 'my cup of blood' [Interview]

James Patterson is one of the most published authors in the world and has been dubbed a "human bestseller machine." Take a look at his productive career, and you'll see that, that's a pretty accurate description. Patterson holds the Guinness World Record for the most Hardcover Fiction bestselling titles by a single author and has cranked out 65 novels in 33 years.

In the reading world, Patterson is best known for his Women's Murder Club series and his detective novels starring forensic psychologist Alex Cross, even though these represent just a portion of his repertoire. Patterson is also no stranger to the gaming world. Over the years, he has released a handful of Women's Murder Club games (for PC and Nintendo DS) and is doing a publicity tour to promote his new Facebook mystery game, Catch a Killer.

Patterson talks to us about the challenges of writing compelling narrative for a game and why shooting games, such Call of Duty and Halo, are not his "cup of blood." catch a killer facebook game

Is Catch a Killer on Facebook similar to your Women's Murder Club games -- part adventure/part hidden object game?

It's a lot more involved then that. I think to some extent it's a whole new way to experience the mystery-suspense story. It's very different from reading a James Patterson novel. It's different from watching CSI on television. You are the detective and catch a killer. You have to solve the crime yourself. You do have help, because Alex Cross is at your side. He will offer suggestions. But ultimately it's -- Are you good enough a detective to catch a serial killer or a kidnapper or a husband who murdered his wife, etc.?

I am attracted to partners [like Sony Online Entertainment] who want to do things that are as good as you can do it in that theater, whatever it is. So what appeals to me here is this notion of expanding the universe of games. At one point, we're just for fanboys. It's one of those games that let's women in, it lets non-shooters in. I'm not a shooter, so it appeals to me.

Have you played many shooters? What don't you like about them?

I've played about half dozen of them. I just found it too repetitive. It wasn't my cup of blood.

So, back to Catch a Killer -- does the Facebook game follow the story line from any of your books?

To date all of the stories are new on the game. So the only place you can deal with these stories is playing the game. We haven't really talked about whether we would use any of the book stories. I'm not opposed to it. I think initially it felt to us cooler and fresher to do new things.

At this point, there are eleven murder mysteries and I think it's going to go up. What's nice about this kind of thing is if you're done with a book, you hand it in and that's the end of it. This thing keeps living and growing and changing and getting better. That's another thing that appeals to me about [Facebook games].

Why did you decide to launch an Alex Cross game on Facebook instead of a Women's Murder Club game? Are you still targeting mostly women with this game?

I would say Alex has an even larger female audience than Women's Murder Club, believe it or not. I guess they're pretty close proportionately. Alex Cross' audience is much bigger.

Gallery: Catch a Killer on Facebook


You are known for being very involved with every step of getting your books to the public. Did you have the same amount of involvement with Catch a Killer?

Sony was great. They really were very cooperative unlike sometimes in Hollywood where it's very difficult to get heard. They have involved me very nicely right up to the point where we rewrote all the dialogue last week. We thought it could be better, we thought it was a little flat, stale, so we went over it one more time.

We've gone over the graphics a few times and tried to make them as contemporary as we could. We talked about a lot of things that could happen where the game can go, things that are going to make it more innovative and unusual and involving. To date, there's a lot of listening, and I have to listen too because they know this arena, a whole lot better than I do.

james patterson booksWhat are some of the challenges of turning your fiction into games?

What we're trying to do is not take as much of a backseat as it did in Women's Murder Club; we're trying to inch it forward a bit. You can only go so far, but there's more story here.

I think that's the main thing in terms of narrative. We've tried to, as much as you can, put twists and surprises in, which I think is what drives most mysteries. Something hooks you in the beginning, you're like, alright how can this be. Then you're surprised along the way. The surprise part of it, I think, is necessary in the mystery genre and it's not as important certainly in shooter games.

There's a lot of room in the game area for better narrative. I love stories, so the less there's story in things, the less that there's surprises, the less that that I'm pulled forward by a narrative, I don't like it as well. I still am somewhat hooked to melody in music, so that limits to some extent, my enjoyment of certain kinds of music.

Facebook is a hot place to launch games right now. What's your take on Facebook as a place to play games?

It's just so massive right now. At my site we're up over 800,000 fans. As my 12-year-old tells me, "They're not your friends Dad, they're your fans." So it's incredible to be able to reach this many people. This whole notion of democratization of whatever is: mysteries, games, that's kind of exciting and interesting to me.

Read our review of James Patterson's Catch a Killer >

Burnout Crash comes to iOS this fall with help from David Hasselhoff [Interview]

Earlier this year, Criterion Games and Electronic Arts released Burnout Crash for XBLA on Xbox 360 and PSN on PlayStation 3. The game takes auto destruction to a new level with plenty of gameplay modes and speed. The game allows you to send cars crashing into one another, detonating massive explosions with the press of a button. Boss vehicles like limos, pizza trucks and ice cream trucks are thrown into the works, with the game still looks to retain a fast-paced environment. While console gamers have already been able to get their fill of this arcade title, mobile gamers will finally be able to do so this holiday season.

Burnout Crash will be launching on iOS this fall, for iPad and iPhone 4. The game has 18 traffic junctions (settings), three different gameplay modes and an '80s inspired soundtrack featuring songs by Vanilla Ice and Gloria Estefan. The game will feature Autolog technology, bringing a major social edge to the experience, as users will be able to connect with others and compare their stats across the game's different modes. You'll also be able to challenge friends directly via "Autolog Challenges," for some head-to-head fun.

While the mobile version of the game has just now been officially announced, the console versions of the game already come with some pretty heavy backing and publicity, thanks to a partnership with the Knight Rider himself–David Hasselhoff. David has been featured in three commercials for the game, each one funnier and crazier than the last, and we were lucky enough to get to speak to David about his experience creating them, and his thoughts on Burnout Crash in general.

We asked David what it was about Burnout Crash that made him want to partner up with EA, and he could answer in a single word: "Explosions." Going into more detail, the Hoff told us that he "love[s] to blow things up," and that even as a child, he was all about the stunts and explosions. He told us of a go-kart he had as a child that he would send off of makeshift ramps, and that his role as Michael Knight in Knight Rider, it was fitting because "Knight Rider had tons of explosions" as well, so these explosions really "drew him" into the game.

But aside from explosions, what else makes Burnout Crash great? According to David, the game is simply "fun and funny," and that it makes you "use your brain to figure things out." With each level in some of the game's modes (both on iPhone and console) allowing you to earn higher and higher scores so long as you keep the explosions going, we suppose he's right.

While the ideas for the three commercials weren't David's, he says that he did ad-lib in the phrases of his "Chicken Man" and "Cheerleader" personas. "I said the things like 'Eat my pom poms' and 'Time to get plucked.'" At first, EA wanted him to dress as a female cheerleader for the second video in the series, but after dressing as a woman in The Producers on stage, he said he would rather stick to the male outfit this time around, "especially after putting on the wig." This isn't to say that David doesn't know how to have a good time. He says he loves "self-effacing humor that the kids will love or relate to." "If you can stay relevant with the kids, then you'll last forever," Hasselhoff tells us.

We asked David what he thought about Burnout Crash coming to iPhone, and he instantly unleashed his excitement. Apparently, the Hoff has become quite the mobile gamer. He says people are often shocked when he tells them "I'm going on a 21 hour flight around the world." They wonder how he can remain sane while being isolated for so long, but he says he thrives on it. "I love it. It lets me catch up with television shows." He also spends some of that time gaming on his iPhone.

"I wasn't always a big mobile gamer," he says, but that a happy accident got him into it. "I needed a roadie, so my 25-year old nephew has started traveling with me. He accidentally loaded all of his games onto my iPhone." He says that it's funny when he's surrounded by people on a plane, and here are these "two grown men are playing with rollercoasters, going ooh!"

We here at Games.com love what the united front of Hasselhoff and EA have been able to put together, so make sure to check out one of David's commercials below, and keep checking back with us as we bring you more details about Burnout Crash on iPhone in the future.


Are you excited about Burnout Crash on iPhone / iPad? Have you already tried the game on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3? What do you think of the trio of commercials filmed with David Hasselhoff?

Burnout Crash comes to iOS this fall with help from David Hasselhoff [Interview]

Burnout Crash will be launching on iOS this fall, for iPad and iPhone 4. The game has 18 traffic junctions (settings), three different gameplay modes and an '80s inspired soundtrack featuring songs by Vanilla Ice and Gloria Estefan. The game will feature Autolog technology, bringing a major social edge to the experience, as users will be able to connect with others and compare their stats across the game's different modes. You'll also be able to challenge friends directly via "Autolog Challenges," for some head-to-head fun.