(19 December 2007 5:25 pm)

MUMBAI: MTV Games has signed a deal with film and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of Top Gun, Pirates of the Caribbean and CSI, to set up a a team to create games based on new intellectual property (IP).

"Jerry Bruckheimer and his innate talent for developing wildly successful entertainment properties that range from action, reality, drama, sports and comedy are the perfect complement to our vision for MTV Games and the experience our audiences truly crave," said MTV Networks Music and Logo Group president Van Toffler.

On his new role, Bruckheimer said, "It's no different than what we did with movies. We did Top Gun when everyone said you could not do an aviation movie because they all failed. We did a pirate movie when they said pirate movies are not going to work. We approach gaming the same way. We see things a little differently, that maybe other people wouldn't see."

Bruckheimer has admitted that he is not a massive gamer, according to Reuters. He has been playing a bit of Halo 3 lately, apparently, but said, "I was not the first one in line" when the third instalment came out.

MTV is no stranger to gaming. MTV Networks earmarked $ 500 million to pump into games this year, some of which is going into this partnership. The company also acquired Harmonix - the original Guitar Hero developer - last year and the fruit of that deal, Rock Band, is due in UK shops in March.