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Steven Spielberg, who worked his magic with films such as ET and Saving Private Ryan is now looking do the same with games giant Electronic Arts (EA).
The acclaimed film director has agreed to develop three original games with EA's Los Angeles studios.
Work has already started on the first of the three projects, which EA says will be a next generation game which appeals to a broad audience.
The deal is a further sign of how Hollywood and the games industry are moving closer together.
Earlier this month, another Oscar-winning director, Peter Jackson, signed up to work on movie version of the best-selling sci-fi shooter Halo.
Jackson, whose latest project is King Kong, has also been closely involved in the game version of the giant ape film.
Spielberg, 58, has made blockbuster movies such as ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Oscar-winning director is said to be a passionate and avid gamer.
Spielberg's role will be similar to that of an executive producer on a film and the aim of the deal is to create three original games, rather than a title based on a movie.
"Having watched the game industry grow from a niche into a major creative force in entertainment, I have a great deal of respect for EA's understanding of the interactive format," said Spielberg.
The games under development will take advantage of new technology in upcoming gaming consoles, which offer powerful processing power and more realistic graphics.
"No one is more at the centre of understanding gameplay and great storytelling than Steven Spielberg," the head of EA's LA studios, Neil Young, told the BBC News website.
"Being able to draw from Steven Spielberg's experience in crafting incredible stories and combine that with our view of interactivity means you will have richer fiction, deeper characters and better sense of immersion."
Work has already started on the first of the three games. Electronic Arts has not released details of the project, but Young suggested it would take a couple of years to finish the game.
"You can expect it to be something that appeals to a broad audience," he said.
Spielberg's DreamWorks had produced games for a time under its DreamWorks Interactive division, but EA bought it in 2000.
BBC News
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Actor Daniel Craig has been unveiled as the new James Bond.
The English star of gangster film Layer Cake arrived at a press conference in London by speedboat to be confirmed as the next 007. The announcement was widely predicted after Craig's mother let slip yesterday that he had been chosen.
The 37-year-old actor will be the sixth James Bond, taking over from Pierce Brosnan, 52, for the next Bond movie.
Production of Casino Royale is due to start in January and director Martin Campbell has said it will be "tougher, grittier and more realistic".
Craig's first major role was in the BBC Two drama Our Friends in the North in 1996 and he rose to prominence in Hollywood alongside Tom Hanks in Road To Perdition in 2002.
He has since played poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia and headlined Layer Cake. He is also to appear in Steven Spielberg's new drama Munich.
Asked earlier this year if he would take the role, Craig replied: "Well, the emotional level is not there and that's important for me.
"I'd want that to change but I don't know how ready they'd be to change."
Casino Royale will be an adaptation of author Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel and will be directed by GoldenEye film-maker Martin Campbell.
In the book, the spy was introduced as a more youthful and cold character than the films, and Campbell has said the film will remain faithful to this.
Screenwriter Paul Haggis has said Bond will be reinvented as a younger character with no gadgets. Brosnan, who appeared in four Bond films, is now 52.
Speculation over who will play 007 was rampant since the last Bond movie, Die Another Day, came out in 2002.
Big names such as Clive Owen, Ewan McGregor, Jude Law and Colin Farrell were all named as possible contenders.
Craig will follow in the footsteps of Brosnan, Sir Sean Connery, Sir Roger Moore, George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton.
BBC News
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Struggling to lure customers back amid increased competition, McDonald's is adding a new item to its menu in Japan: the shrimp burger.
The 270 yen ($2.40), burger, shown to reporters Friday and set to go on sale this month, is the latest effort by the Japan unit of the U.S. fast-food chain to win over Japanese palates - and spark sales.
McDonald's Japan is also testing other additions, including chicken salad and yogurt.
The hamburger chain with more than 3,700 stores in the world's second largest economy has tried everything from tofu burgers to advertising blitzes to coax diners back to the Golden Arches after the company posted a loss in 2002 amid the mad cow scare.
"Many people who used to come to McDonald's had stopped coming, but they're coming back," said Eikoh Harada, who took over as chief executive in 2004.
Profits at McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) Ltd., about 50 percent owned by the U.S. McDonald's Corp. (MCD), have been gradually recovering since its first loss in 29 years in Japan. Although McDonald's uses Australian beef unaffected by mad cow disease, the fatal brain-wasting ailment, Japanese consumption of beef - and Big Macs - dropped sharply at the time.
Friday's news conference, held at a McDonald's outlet in Tokyo, included taste-tests of recent menu offerings such as a grilled chicken sandwich and yogurt with granola - all a change of pace from the Big Mac.
The shrimp burger developed especially for Japan is a bit similar to the Filet-O-Fish, except it's filled with shrimp.
AP News
