With the challenge of having to create an interactive adventure that spans 12-plus hours of gameplay, THQ and its development teams often turn to Pixar looking for characters, sets and ideas that were ultimately left on the cutting room floor.
"They're always trolling for that," said Stanton. "They're always looking for something that you got rid of that they can use. With Wall-E I don't think there were any sets that we got rid of. I know that on Nemo we had a sewage treatment scenario plant that we got rid of – I don't know if they ran with that or not in the game – but that would have been a perfect example. One thing that we felt (with Wall-E) is we just tap into a small area geographically on the earth that we're dealing with as well as only very specific section of the axiom spaceship. So there's just a lot of these two worlds that can be realized that – it's really sky's the limit as to what they want it to be. And they just sort of extrapolate off of what we've done. And in that instance we were very supportive. We'd love to know what is on that ship or on this planet."
For Wall-E, THQ and developer Heavy Iron Studios were able to explore new areas of the huge Buy N Large (BNL) luxury spaceship and add new enemies for Wall-E and EVE to contend with. In addition, some gameplay was built around Wall-E's use of a laser gun, which is only briefly touched upon in the film.
Stanton said that games and films, at their fundamental core, are very different in purpose. With games, a developer is trying to make it as interactive as possible and let the user go wherever he or she feels inclined to go and somehow be able to continue the stories and the characters that are going on. He said it's the exact opposite and on the other end of the spectrum when you're making a movie.
"We want to have already made those decisions for you and just let you enjoy the ride," explained Stanton. "That's why it's always fascinating to see how these two mediums are eventually going to merge, particularly when you're thinking of a game becoming a movie because at some point you have to just lock it down. With a movie, that's what you're paying money for – somebody's made some great decisions for you – for you to sort of get caught up in. Where it's the opposite – let me make those decisions when I'm in the game – so it's interesting."
Pixar comes well equipped with games. There are PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii kiosks in the main hall and there are game consoles spread throughout the upstairs area of the studio, where the movies get made. Guitar Hero and Rock Band are favorites of the Pixar staff.
"The biggest role games play is time wasting!" joked Stanton. "They play the role of venting all your stress levels and just trying to bring it all down. There have been times when there's been doors locked and we're supposed to go look at someone's shot and you peek in and there's like a million guys playing on their PSPs and they're all like linked together. And it's pretty funny. But these guys are as passionate about their games and the movies they go see as they are on the movies that they work on. And that's an interesting change. That used to not be the case in my generation. At least now the guys that are in their 20s or early 30s are equally passionate because that's what they were raised on and that's very fascinating to see because they have very strong opinions about what they want to see as far as the game extensions."
When it comes to mainstream coverage of gaming, Pixar is often the gold standard that journalists point to when comparing games to CGI movies. Stanton said that's a nice compliment to have.
"That's certainly something we strive to do, get it as good as can be," said Stanton. "We're not trying to outdo the next person though; that's certainly not our thing. We're just trying to find, especially now with the technology as advanced as it is, the truest way to make a film look for the story that we're telling. Toy Story's a perfect example. As we go to a Toy Story 3, we're not going to make it look as if it's photo-realistic; we're going to make it look as if it comes from the camp of the other Toy Story movies – keeping the integrity – so it's not always about trying to top the next film."
When it comes to what's next for Stanton, he's currently writing John Carter of Mars for Pixar.
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