Narnia a Labour of Love for Game Developer
KNUTSFORD, England — Jon Burton could turn an average battle in the video game adaptation of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe into a crimson bloodbath that would make Grand Theft Auto’s Tommy Vercetti proud, just by making a few tweaks to the game’s computer code.
Of course, Disney and the estate of The Chronicles Of Narnia scribe C.S. Lewis would flip out, the game would be slapped with a 17-and-older Mature rating — and it would probably spike review scores by an average of 10% across the board.
Burton, director of U.K.-based game development studio Traveller’s Tales, shakes his head at the contradiction of a society railing at wanton violence in video games — values he shares, as a Christian family man — and the nose-in-the-air attitude game reviewers take toward so-called family fare.
