The Amazing Video Game Boom

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Intriguing as such productions are, there is no guarantee that any of this will produce a game that is fun to play. The very best designers -- and there are only eight or 10 with track records for making video-game hits -- are as rare as Spielbergs and Scorseses are in Hollywood. They have to know how to design puzzles that are hard but not too hard. They have to pace the dangers and rewards and have an intuitive feel for the nature of the medium. "Hollywood knows nothing about interactivity," says Brian Moriarty, who designed some of the best-selling Zork games and is working on Spielberg's The Dig. "If they are looking for a quick killing, they are in for a disappointment. There are no quick killings here."

It remains to be seen which needs the other's talents more: Hollywood, with all it has to learn about computers, or Silicon Valley, with all it needs to discover about telling a story. But the tale of their meeting and their subsequent romance has all the makings of a terrific movie. And if someone can figure out how to make it interactive and put it on the info highway, it might even make a good game.