Brothers in Arms developer Gearbox Studios is currently working on a gaming version of Heat, the 1995 heist film that starred Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer. Heat is a tense crime thriller directed by Miami Vice director Michael Mann and starring Robert De Niro as the leader of a gang of bank robbers, with Al Pacino as the detective intent on bringing them to justice. The game is currently under consideration for next generation consoles.

Media company Titan Productions has secured the rights to make a game of the film and has made a wise choice in assigning Gearbox to the project, as Brothers in Arms - Gearbox's squad based World War II shooter series - has been extremely successful.

Titan has already secured the involvement of Val Kilmer and is currently talking to Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Whether the two action heavyweights will take part in the project will have an influence on whether the game will be a prequel or sequel to the events of the film. It will be interesting to see if the game will be squad based, like Brothers in Arms, which would allow gamers to experience the action from both sides of the law.

Before this announcement was made we had heard rumors of a Heat game in development, and so mentioned it when we met Gearbox at E3 last week. This brought some shocked reactions as it was supposed to be top secret. As word spread around the E3 show it made sense for Gearbox to confirm what was fast becoming a big talking point.

May 15, 2006