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147-794: Gearbox Software, L.L.C is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas . It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford , one of the founders, serves as president and chief executive officer . Gearbox initially created expansions for the Valve game Half-Life , then ported that game and others to console platforms. In 2005, Gearbox launched its first independent set of games, Brothers in Arms , on console and mobile devices. It became their flagship franchise and spun off

294-588: A database , Voice over IP , or add-in interface software; this is also known as middleware . Examples of this include SpeedTree and Havoc . Independents are software developers which are not owned by (or dependent on) a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. With

441-429: A metalworker , McCauley asks her to emigrate to New Zealand with him. McCauley's fence Nate suggests that he sell the stolen bonds to their original owner, money launderer Roger Van Zant. Van Zant pretends to agree but instead arranges an ambush. Anticipating a trap, McCauley and his crew counter-ambush and kill the hitmen. Afterward, McCauley threatens Van Zant with revenge. An LAPD informant connects Cheritto to

588-501: A B− rating, saying that "Mann's action scenes ... have an existential, you-are-there jitteriness," but called the heist-planning and Hanna's investigation scenes "dry, talky." Rolling Stone ranked Heat #28 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Movies of the '90s", and The Guardian ranked it #22 on its list of "The Greatest Crime Films of All Time", while other publications have noted its influence on numerous subsequent films. Although it did not receive any major award nominations,

735-663: A Washington state WARN notice , 125 employees lost their jobs. Take-Two Interactive announced its plans to acquire Gearbox Entertainment and its intellectual properties from Embracer Group for $ 460 million on March 28, 2024, to be added under the 2K label. The acquisition also includes Gearbox Software with its satellite studios and Gearbox Publishing. Embracer will retain Gearbox San Francisco, Gearbox Shanghai, Lost Boys Interactive, Captured Dimensions, and Cryptic Studios, along with publishing rights to Remnant , Hyper Light Breaker , and other unannounced titles. Less than

882-409: A comic book series, television documentary, books, and action figures. Their second original game series, Borderlands , commenced in 2009, and by 2015 had sold over 26 million copies. The company also owns the intellectual property of Duke Nukem and Homeworld . Gearbox expanded into publishing with the creation of Gearbox Publishing in 2015. A parent company, The Gearbox Entertainment Company,

1029-452: A culture of "toxic geek masculinity" within the workplace. In addition, the conditions behind crunch time are far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family. These factors established conditions within some larger development studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace hiring and promotion, as well as

1176-571: A day after the announcement, it was reported that an unknown number of employees were laid off from Gearbox. On June 12, 2024, Take-Two Interactive closed the Gearbox Software transaction. Following the acquisition, The Gearbox Entertainment Company operates as a studio within 2K. The Gearbox Entertainment Company formerly oversaw Perfect World Entertainment (rebranded as Gearbox Publishing San Francisco) and its subsidiaries, including Cryptic Studios , following approval of Embracer's acquisition of

1323-571: A first-party company. As a balance to not being able to release their game for other platforms, second-party developers are usually offered higher royalty rates than third-party developers. These studios may have exclusive publishing agreements (or other business relationships) with the platform holder, but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their contracts, they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they choose to. For example, while HAL Laboratory initially began developing games on personal computers like

1470-400: A first-person shooter. Set on the fictional planet Pandora, players control a Vault Hunter as they fight off the planet's hostile wildlife and human forces while seeking a fabled Vault that is claimed to be filled with riches. Part of Borderlands ' features is the use of procedural generation to create the weapons and other gear that drop from defeating enemies or completing missions, with

1617-410: A fixed period and generally work similar hours as full-time staff members, assisting across all areas of video game development, but as contractors, do not get any benefits such as paid time-off or health care from the employer; they also are typically not credited on games that they work on for this reason. The practice itself is legal and common in other engineering and technology areas, and generally it

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1764-403: A game on schedule. The complexity of workflow, reliance on third-party deliverables, and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones. The use of crunch time is also seen to be exploitative of the younger male-dominated workforce in video games, who have not had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within

1911-406: A game's profits. Current examples of first-party studios include PlayStation Studios for Sony, and Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Gaming . Second-party developer is a colloquial term often used by gaming enthusiasts and media to describe game studios that take development contracts from platform holders and develop games exclusive to that platform, i.e. a non-owned developer making games for

2058-430: A handful of screen minutes together, Heat is an engrossing crime drama that draws compelling performances from its stars – and confirms Michael Mann's mastery of the genre." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on a scale of A+ to F. Roger Ebert of

2205-504: A live-action Borderlands film , which was released on August 9, 2024. In July 2013, Gearbox announced plans to rerelease Homeworld and Homeworld 2 in high definition for modern PC platforms, in addition to making it available through digital distributors . In July 2014, Randy Pitchford formally contested the Aliens: Colonial Marines class action lawsuit stating the game had cost them millions of their own money and

2352-417: A manufacturing company of diamond drill bits, which is recreated in the film. Pacino's character is largely based on Detective Chuck Adamson, who began keeping tabs on McCauley's crew, knowing that he had begun committing crimes again. Adamson and McCauley met for coffee once, as portrayed in the film. Their dialogue in the script is based on the conversation that McCauley and Adamson had. The next time that

2499-624: A month of Blizzard Entertainment 's Overwatch , a hero shooter with similar concepts, and which quickly overshadowed Battleborn . The title went free-to-play in June 2017 and was shut down in January 2021. After 10 years without any new releases to the series, Gearbox acquired the rights to the Homeworld series from THQ in 2013. Shortly after that the Homeworld Remastered Collection

2646-679: A new Duke Nukem game, Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction . Gearbox filed suit against 3D Realms and Interceptor based on the fact that Gearbox now owned the rights to the Duke Nukem franchise. The case was settled out of court in August 2015, with 3D Realms and Interceptor acknowledging that Gearbox has full rights to the Duke Nukem series. Following the settlement, Gearbox released Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary Edition World Tour in September 2016. The game included new levels developed in conjunction with some of

2793-706: A parent company for both Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing. Co-founder Landon Montgomery, who had left the company around 2007, died on March 25, 2020. In April 2021, Gearbox Entertainment was wholly acquired by the Embracer Group for precisely $ 363 million rising to $ 1,378 million should they reach specific operational targets. This addition would be the company's seventh major publishing group. Pitchford stated that while they were looking to raise capital from 2016, they came to meet with Embracer, and saw that their decentralized studio model would work well for Gearbox. 2K remained on Gearbox's board and continued to publish

2940-480: A planned Borderlands 4 , the prequel Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (2015) and the spinoff title Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2023), all that expand on the series' mechanics. In addition, two interactive fiction games, Tales from the Borderlands (2014) and New Tales from the Borderlands (2022) have been released. A feature film, Borderlands (2024) has also been released. Duke Nukem Forever had been

3087-437: A position in a medium to large video game company. An experienced game-development employee, depending on their expertise and experience, averaged roughly $ 73,000 in 2007. Indie game developers may only earn between $ 10,000 and $ 50,000 a year depending on how financially successful their titles are. In addition to being part of the software industry, game development is also within the entertainment industry; most sectors of

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3234-480: A prequel to the original Homeworld game of 1999. On August 30, 2019, Gearbox announced Homeworld 3 which was developed by Blackbird Interactive . The game's development was at least partially funded through a crowdfunding campaign on the Fig platform, and was released May 13, 2024. A Borderlands film was released by Gearbox and Lionsgate in 2024, with Eli Roth as director. In April 2020, Gearbox announced it

3381-517: A project with a troubled development history at 3D Realms , who had created the Duke Nukem series, since sometime prior to 2000. Due to financial difficulties in 2009, 3D Realms was forced to downsize and ultimately lay off most of the development staff. Take-Two Interactive sued 3D Realms for failing to deliver Duke Nukem Forever . Pitchford, who had prior industry relations with many 3D Realms staff including George Broussard , learned that many of

3528-572: A roundtable discussion with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the professional association for developers. Statements made by the IGDA's current executive director Jen MacLean relating to IGDA's activities had been seen by as anti-union, and Game Workers Unite desired to start a conversation to lay out the need for developers to unionize. In the wake of the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games in September 2018,

3675-405: A significant role in immersing the audience in the action, making the sequences feel immediate and visceral. The editing of Heat focuses on maintaining its narrative pace and tension. Editor Dov Hoenig worked closely with Mann to ensure that each scene flowed naturally and kept the audience engaged. The film's editing balanced intense action sequences with quieter, character-driven moments, which

3822-407: A single publisher; one canceled game may devastate a small developer. Because of this, many small development companies are short-lived. A common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher, becoming an in-house developer. In-house development teams tend to have more freedom in game design and content than third-party developers. One reason is that since

3969-403: A strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background for women at the secondary education level, but there are issues with tertiary education such as at colleges and universities, where game development programs tend to reflect the male-dominated demographics of the industry, a factor that may lead women with strong STEM backgrounds to choose other career goals. There

4116-635: A unique case where nearly all parts of its labor force, including white-collar jobs such as video game development, may engage with labor unions under the Employment Protection Act often through collective bargaining agreements. Developer DICE had reached its union agreements in 2004. Paradox Interactive became one of the first major publishers to support unionization efforts in June 2020 with its own agreements to cover its Swedish employees within two labor unions Unionen and SACO . In Australia, video game developers could join other unions, but

4263-460: Is a professional thief based in Los Angeles . He and his crew—right-hand man Chris Shiherlis, enforcer Michael Cheritto, driver Gilbert Trejo and newly hired hand Waingro—rob $ 1.6 million in bearer bonds from an armored car. During the heist, Waingro kills a guard without provocation, forcing the crew to eliminate the other two guards. Before long, McCauley prepares to kill Waingro in retaliation for

4410-473: Is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game industry; a 2019 IGDA survey found only 2% of developers considered themselves to be of African descent and 7% Hispanic, while 81% were Caucasian; in contrast, 2018 estimates from the United States Census estimate the U.S. population to be 13% of African descent and 18% Hispanic. In a 2014 and 2015 survey of job positions and salaries,

4557-434: Is based on criminal-turned-author Edward Bunker , who served as a consultant to Mann on the film. In 1979, Mann wrote a 180-page draft of Heat . He rewrote it after making Thief in 1981, hoping to find a director to make it and mentioning it public in a promotional interview for his 1983 film The Keep . In the late 1980s, he offered the film to his friend, film director Walter Hill , who turned him down. Following

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4704-407: Is based on the true story of Neil McCauley, a calculating criminal and ex- Alcatraz inmate who was tracked down by Detective Chuck Adamson in 1964. In 1961, McCauley was transferred from Alcatraz to McNeil Island Corrections Center , as mentioned in the film. He was released in 1962 and immediately began planning new crimes. Michael Parille and William Pinkerton used bolt cutters and drills to rob

4851-449: Is expected that this is meant to lead into a full-time position, or otherwise the end of the contract. But more recently, its use in the video game industry has been compared to Microsoft 's past use of " permatemp ", contract workers that were continually renewed and treated for all purposes as employees but received no benefits. While Microsoft has waned from the practice, the video game industry has adapted it more frequently. Around 10% of

4998-533: Is generally illegal, companies often target their oldest workers first during layoffs or other periods of reduction. Older developers with experience may find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered. Some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to alleviate crunch time from employees. Contractors are brought on for

5145-613: Is noted for creating a dynamic and compelling viewing experience. On December 19, 1995, Warner Bros. Records released a soundtrack album on cassette and CD to accompany the film, titled Heat: Music from the Motion Picture . The album is produced by Matthias Gohl . It contains a 29-minute selection of the film score composed by Elliot Goldenthal , as well as songs by other artists, such as U2 and Brian Eno (collaborating as Passengers ), Terje Rypdal , Moby and Lisa Gerrard . Heat uses an abridged instrumental rendition of

5292-455: Is spotted by Hanna and flees. Hanna chases McCauley onto the tarmac at the airport, and the two stalk each other before Hanna gets the drop on McCauley and shoots him in the chest. Hanna takes McCauley's hand as he dies of his wounds. Additional cast members include Martin Ferrero as a hardware salesman and Hazelle Goodman as the mother of a prostitute murdered by Waingro. Featured as members of

5439-494: Is still their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Developers may be private as well. In the video game industry , a first-party developer is part of a company that manufactures a video game console and develops mainly for it. First-party developers may use the name of the company itself (such as Nintendo ), have a specific division name (such as Sony's Polyphony Digital ) or have been an independent studio before being acquired by

5586-474: Is usually conducted in a casual business environment, with t-shirts and sandals as common work attire. Many workers find this type of environment rewarding and pleasant professionally and personally. However, the industry also requires long working hours from its employees (sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable). Employee burnout is not uncommon. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, over $ 66,000 annually only if they are successful in obtaining

5733-589: The AFL–CIO writing an open letter to video game developers encouraging them to unionize. In January 2020, Game Workers Unite and the Communications Workers of America established a new campaign to push for unionization of video game developers, the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), in January 2020. Initial efforts for CODE were aimed to determine what approach to unionization would be best suited for

5880-596: The Borderlands series. Gearbox Entertainment opened a second Canadian studio, Gearbox Studio Montreal, in August 2021, to support 250 new staff, bringing the total size of Gearbox to around 850 employees. Gearbox announced the formation of Gearbox Studios as a third company under the Gearbox Entertainment Company on October 6, 2021, to oversee television and film productions, with Pitchford serving as Gearbox Studios president alongside as president and CEO of

6027-540: The Citigroup Center , where the bank heist and police shootout takes place, and the Kate Mantilini restaurant , which serves as the location of the meeting over coffee between Pacino and De Niro's characters. The film's cinematographer Dante Spinotti used a combination of natural and practical lighting to capture grittiness and realism for the film. The film's visual style also captures the vastness of Los Angeles and

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6174-666: The Half-Life series: the expansion packs Opposing Force and Blue Shift ; ports of Half-Life for Dreamcast (which included Blue Shift ) and Half-Life for PlayStation 2 (which included Half-Life: Decay ); they also did a large amount of work on both the retail release of Counter-Strike and the main portion of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero . During their fourth year, Gearbox began working on their first independently owned game: Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 . Developed for PC and Microsoft's Xbox console, and built with

6321-456: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), are conducting increasing discussions about the problem; they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a significant deterioration in employees' quality of life. Some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive invocation of "crunch time". "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch

6468-634: The Joy Division song " New Dawn Fades " by Moby , which is also featured in the same form on the soundtrack album. Mann reused the Einstürzende Neubauten track "Armenia" in his 1999 film The Insider . The film ends with Moby's " God Moving Over the Face of the Waters ", a different version of which is included at the end of the soundtrack album. Mann and Goldenthal decided on an atmospheric situation for

6615-508: The MSX , they became one of the earliest second-party developers for Nintendo, developing exclusively for Nintendo's consoles starting with the Famicom, though they would self-publish their mobile games. A third-party developer may also publish games, or work for a video game publisher to develop a title. Both publisher and developer have considerable input in the game's design and content. However,

6762-517: The Me Too movement and have tried to address the symptoms of these problems industry-wide, the video game industry has yet to have its Me Too-moment, even as late as 2021. There also tends to be pay-related discrimination against women in the industry. According to Gamasutra 's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game designing women had

6909-565: The Samuel Goldwyn Theater . Heat was one of the inspirations behind the highly influential 2001 video game Grand Theft Auto III as well as the 2008 sequel Grand Theft Auto IV , notably the mission "Three Leaf Clover", which was inspired by the climactic bank robbery and police shootout, and the 2013 sequel Grand Theft Auto V , notably the mission "Blitz Play" where the crew blocks and then knocks over an armored car in order to rob it. Director Mia Hansen-Løve has said she

7056-504: The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union doing work for video games struck several major publishers, demanding better royalty payments and provisions related to the safety of their vocal performances, when their union's standard contract was up for renewal. The voice actor strike lasted for over 300 days into 2017 before a new deal was made between SAG-AFTRA and

7203-679: The Unreal Engine 2 , it was released in March 2005. The sequel, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood , followed seven months later. The series was published by Ubisoft , who supported both games with PlayStation 2 versions, and later worked with them to develop Brothers in Arms games for portable systems ( mobile phones , PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS ) and the Wii home console. In 2005, Gearbox licensed

7350-523: The Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games , to replace the Unreal Engine 2 technology used in previous games, and grew its internal development teams to handle the demands of next-generation technology and content. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway was the first new title to be announced, continuing the company's flagship franchise. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway was launched in September 2008. By 2008,

7497-619: The video game industry . He told the Los Angeles Times : "Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn't getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators." Heat (1995 film) Heat is a 1995 American crime film written and directed by Michael Mann . It features an ensemble cast led by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro , with Tom Sizemore , Jon Voight and Val Kilmer in supporting roles. The film follows

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7644-432: The video game series , Borderlands 2 (2012) and Borderlands 3 (2019), as well as the spin-off title Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022), and the series has spawn additional games from other studios under 2K/Take-Two or through license, including Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel by 2K Australia , and Tales from the Borderlands from Telltale Games . Gearbox and Take-Two have also partnered with Lionsgate to develop

7791-736: The 1997 North Hollywood shootout , in which Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu robbed the North Hollywood branch of the Bank of America and, similarly to the film, were confronted by the LAPD as they left the bank. A copy of "Heat" was found in the VCR at Phillips' residence. This shootout is considered one of the longest and bloodiest events of its type in American police history. Both robbers were killed, and eleven police officers and seven civilians were injured during

7938-410: The 3D Realms team were still eager to develop Duke Nukem Forever , working out of their homes on what they could. Pitchford negotiated with Take-Two to bring many of the former 3D Realms staff into a new studio called Triptych Games, housed at Gearbox's headquarters, to continue working on Duke Nukem Forever following 3D Realms' closure in 2009. As a result, 3D Realms sold the rights to Duke Nukem and

8085-573: The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four. He described Mann's script as "uncommonly literate", with a psychological insight into the symbiotic relationship between police and criminals, and the fractured intimacy between the male and female characters: "It's not just an action picture. Above all, the dialogue is complex enough to allow the characters to say what they're thinking: They are eloquent, insightful, fanciful, poetic when necessary. They're not trapped with cliches. Of

8232-586: The Gearbox Software acquisition on June 12, 2024. Gearbox Software was founded on February 16, 1999, by Randy Pitchford , Brian Martel, Stephen Bahl, Landon Montgomery and Rob Heironimus, five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Before Rebel Boat Rocker, Pitchford and Martel previously worked together at 3D Realms , and Montgomery previously worked at Bethesda Softworks . By 2000, the company employed 15 people. They started with developing expansions to Valve 's Half-Life . Porting Half-Life to console platforms (each with new game content) followed, building

8379-446: The IGDA found that people of color were both underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to white developers. Further, because video game developers typically draw from personal experiences in building game characters, this diversity gap has led to few characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games. Minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to

8526-536: The LAPD are Paul Herman as Sergeant Heinz, Cindy Katz as forensics investigator Cindy, and Dan Martin as Detective Harry Dieter. Stuntmen Rick Avery , Bill McIntosh and Thomas Rosales Jr. portray the armored truck guards. Patricia Healy appears as a woman in a relationship with Bosko, and Yvonne Zima plays the girl taken hostage by Cheritto. News reporter Claudia is portrayed by Farrah Forke . Bud Cort makes an uncredited appearance as restaurant owner Solenko. Heat

8673-451: The LAPD, McCauley arrives at his house to confront him, but finds him mortally wounded and his wife killed. Trejo reveals that Waingro and Van Zant forced him to divulge the bank heist plans before asking McCauley to kill him. McCauley breaks into Van Zant's mansion and kills him. After learning of McCauley's connection to Waingro and that the latter is hiding in a hotel, Hanna uses Waingro as bait to lure McCauley. As McCauley prepares to flee

8820-509: The Sega Dreamcast (including Blue Shift ). Branching out to other publishers, they pursued additional port work, each game being released with additional content, but this time from console to PC. These projects included their first non-first-person shooter, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 , and Halo: Combat Evolved , forging new publisher relationships with Activision and Microsoft Game Studios respectively. Additional new development, in

8967-521: The acquisition of Activision Blizzard , stated it supported these unionization efforts. After this acquisition, the employees of Bethesda Game Studios , part of Zenimax under Microsoft, unionized under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in July 2024. Over 500 employees within Blizzard Entertainment 's World of Warcraft division also unionized with CWA that same month. Sweden presents

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9114-572: The advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles, it is now possible for indie game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad distribution of their games. Other indie game developers create game software for a number of video-game publishers on several gaming platforms. In recent years this model has been in decline; larger publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision, increasingly turn to internal studios (usually former independent developers acquired for their development needs). Video game development

9261-460: The advertising was solely the fault of the publisher. In December 2015, Gearbox opened a second development studio in Quebec City, Canada . The studio is run by Sebastien Caisse and former Activision art director Pierre-Andre Dery. The team consists of over 100 members and is contributing to the development of original AAA titles. Gearbox established Gearbox Publishing in 2015, first announced to

9408-586: The artificial intelligence of the xenomorphs in the game, making the game far less challenging than promised; it was discovered in 2019 that this bug was result of a typographic error in a configuration file shipped with the game. The game's poor performance led Sega to cancel planned releases for the Wii U . A class action lawsuit filed in April 2013 by Roger Damion Perrine and John Locke alleged that Gearbox and Sega falsely advertised Aliens: Colonial Marines by showing demos at trade shows that did not accurately represent

9555-431: The closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job, while audio professional women had the largest gap, making 68% of what men in the same position made. Increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of video games and in the content of video games. Efforts have been made to provide

9702-468: The company completed by February 2022. Cryptic Studios was later moved to DECA Games following a management restructuring. Gearbox San Francisco was retained by Embracer Group following its sale of Gearbox to Take-Two, where it subsequently became Arc Games . Gearbox Software has two additional studios in addition to their main studios in Frisco, Texas; Gearbox Studio Montreal, and Gearbox Studio Québec. After

9849-461: The company was bought by Take-Two, many assets were retained by Embracer such as Lost Boys, Captured Dimensions and the San Francisco publishing division which was rebranded as Arc Games alongside several titles. The Gearbox Publishing division handled by The Gearbox Entertainment Company was later absorbed into 2K following Take-Two's buyout of Gearbox. Gearbox has developed a total of six games in

9996-503: The company's experience in console game-making, in addition to enhancing and building upon the successful Counter-Strike branch of the Half-Life franchise. Prior to Half-Life 2 , they had developed or helped develop every Half-Life expansion game or port, including Opposing Force , Blue Shift , Counter-Strike: Condition Zero , Half-Life for the Sony PlayStation 2 (including Half-Life: Decay ), and Half-Life for

10143-408: The conflict between an Los Angeles Police Department detective, played by Pacino, and a career thief, played by De Niro, while also depicting its effect on their professional relationships and personal lives. Mann wrote the original script for Heat in 1979, basing it on Chicago police officer Chuck Adamson 's pursuit of criminal Neil McCauley, after whom De Niro's character is named. The script

10290-416: The console manufacturer (such as Rare or Naughty Dog ). Whether by purchasing an independent studio or by founding a new team, the acquisition of a first-party developer involves a huge financial investment on the part of the console manufacturer, which is wasted if the developer fails to produce a hit game on time. However, using first-party developers saves the cost of having to make royalty payments on

10437-503: The console. This established the use of licensing fees as a model for third-party development that persists into the present. The licensing fee approach was further enforced by Nintendo when it decided to allow other third-party developers to make games for the Famicom console, setting a 30% licensing fee that covered game cartridge manufacturing costs and development fees. The 30% licensing fee for third-party developers has also persisted to

10584-440: The country, Eady discovers his criminal identity but agrees to go with him. Before escaping, Shiherlis attempts to reconcile with his wife Charlene after his wife has been forced by the LAPD to bring him in. As Shiherlis encounters Charlene at her safe house, she warns him away with a hand gesture, and he escapes. Having separated from Justine, Hanna learns that Lauren has attempted suicide in his own hotel room, and he rushes her to

10731-434: The deaths of the guards, but he escapes. LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna and his team investigate the robbery. Hanna, a dedicated lawman and former Marine , has a strained relationship with his third wife Justine, and struggles to connect with his stepdaughter Lauren. McCauley, who lives a solitary life, begins a relationship with Eady, a graphic designer. They bond over their mutual isolation from society, and, claiming to be

10878-444: The developer if the game is not meeting expectations. When each milestone is completed (and accepted), the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties . Successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers. Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, close-knit teams. Third-party game development is a volatile sector, since small developers may depend on income from

11025-417: The developers are the publisher's employees, their interests align with those of the publisher; the publisher may spend less effort ensuring that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher's expense. Activision in 1979 became the first third-party video game developer. When four Atari, Inc. programmers left the company following its sale to Warner Communications , partially over

11172-434: The discrepancy on Gearbox's allocation of its staff on its projects, which lead to a round of layoffs in 2008. After Gearbox released Borderlands to critical acclaim in 2009, it began work on its sequel rather than re-allocating developers to Aliens . Instead, the studio outsourced the work to third parties, including Demiurge Studios , Nerve Software , and TimeGate Studios . By 2012, Gearbox took over full development of

11319-467: The entertainment industry (such as films and television ) require long working hours and dedication from their employees, such as willingness to relocate and/or required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste. The creative rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry, creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and performance from employees. Industry communities, such as

11466-408: The existing work on Duke Nukem Forever to Gearbox around February 2010. Take-Two and Gearbox subsequently announced in September 2010 that Gearbox would finish production of Duke Nukem Forever . Duke Nukem Forever was released in June 2011, and received negative critical reception on release, with most of the criticism directed towards the unfinished, rushed state of the game. Despite the criticism,

11613-484: The extras from the 2009 Blu-ray, with two filmmakers panels from 2015 and 2016, one of which was moderated by Christopher Nolan . A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Ultimate Collector's Edition of Heat that contains the Director's Definitive Edition of the film on UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray, along with legacy bonus materials released on August 9, 2022, by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (under the 20th Century Studios label),

11760-552: The film a "sleek, accomplished piece of work, meticulously controlled and completely involving. The dark end of the street doesn't get much more inviting than this." Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Stunningly made and incisively acted by a large and terrific cast, Michael Mann's ambitious study of the relativity of good and evil stands apart from other films of its type by virtue of its extraordinarily rich characterizations and its thoughtful, deeply melancholy take on modern life." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it

11907-483: The film along with its integrity.... Too much time was taken out of the film that wasn't due to language or other content." As a result, Mann had his director's credit on the TV version replaced with the pseudonym " Alan Smithee ". On Rotten Tomatoes , Heat holds an approval rating of 83%, based on 151 reviews and an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though Al Pacino and Robert De Niro share but

12054-477: The film soundtrack. Goldenthal uses a setup consisting of multiple guitars, which he termed "guitar orchestra", and thought that it brought the film score closer to a European style. Heat was released on December 15, 1995, and opened at the box office with $ 8.4 million from 1,325 theaters, finishing in third place behind Jumanji and Toy Story . It went on to earn a total gross of $ 67.4 million in United States, and $ 120 million in foreign box offices. Heat

12201-555: The film was nominated for Best Action/Adventure Film and Kilmer for Best Supporting Actor at the Saturn Awards but lost to The Usual Suspects and 12 Monkeys respectively. French gangster Rédoine Faïd told Mann at a film festival "You were my technical adviser". The media described later robberies as resembling scenes from Heat , including armored car robberies in South Africa , Colombia , Denmark , and Norway and

12348-405: The film's production. This edition contains the original theatrical cut. The initial Blu-ray release was by Warner Home Video on November 10, 2009, featuring a high-definition film transfer, supervised by Mann. Among the disc extras are Mann's audio commentary, a one-hour documentary about the making of the film, and ten minutes of scenes deleted from the film. As well as approving the look of

12495-480: The film. De Niro believed that Heat was a "very good story, had a particular feel to it, a reality and authenticity". In 2016, Pacino revealed that he viewed his character as having been under the influence of cocaine throughout the film. Mann took Kilmer, Sizemore and De Niro to Folsom State Prison to interview actual career criminals to prepare for their roles. While researching her role, Judd met several former prostitutes who became housewives. Keanu Reeves

12642-521: The final product. Sega and the plaintiffs reached a settlement in late 2014, wherein Sega agreed to pay $ 1.25 million to the class. The plaintiffs dropped Gearbox from the suit in May 2015. Released in May 2016, Battleborn was a cooperative first-person shooter video game with multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) elements. Battleborn takes place in a space fantasy setting where multiple races contest possession of

12789-446: The first game featuring more than 15 million possible variations, according to Gearbox. Borderlands also features a cell-shaded-like art style giving the game a comic-book appearance. Borderlands was released in 2009, and became an unexpected success for Gearbox, selling around three to four million copies by 2011. This has launched several followup games, including direct sequels Borderlands 2 (2012), Borderlands 3 (2019), and

12936-557: The first video game-specific union, Game Workers Unite Australia, was formed in December 2021 under Professionals Australia to become active in 2022. In Canada, in a historic move, video game workers in Edmonton unanimously voted to unionize for the first time in June 2022. In January 2023, after not being credited in The Last of Us HBO adaptation, Bruce Straley called for unionization of

13083-503: The following year due to the restructuring of Embracer Group. That same month, Eidos Shanghai, another studio under the Embracer Group, was transferred to Gearbox Publishing San Francisco and rebranded as Gearbox Studio Shanghai. Gearbox Entertainment acquired Captured Dimensions, a 3D modeling company from Texas, in January 2023. Later in the month, Gearbox laid off a sizeable portion of the staff at Lost Boys Interactive. According to

13230-511: The form of a PC game in the James Bond franchise ( James Bond 007: Nightfire ) for Electronic Arts , also occurred during the company's initial 5-year period. In 2005, they launched an original property of their creation, Brothers in Arms , with the release of Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 on the Xbox , PC and PlayStation 2. Later that year a sequel, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood ,

13377-424: The franchise also spun off a comic book series, a two-part television documentary, a line of action figures, and a novelization and non-fiction history book. After the completion of Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood , Gearbox began working on their second original game, Borderlands . The game was envisioned by Pitchford as a combination of the roguelike genre with action role-playing games like Diablo in

13524-413: The game as it neared its planned release in February 2013, but due to the heavily outsourced process, the game's state was haphazard, forcing Gearbox to cancel a planned beta period and rush the game through the final stages of production, certification, and distribution. On release, the game suffered from performance issues even on target hardware specifications, and shipped with a software bug that hampered

13671-494: The game publishing rights to the franchise . Aliens: Colonial Marines was planned as a first-person shooter, both single-player and multiplayer, with players as members of human squads facing the franchises titular xenomorphs in settings based on the films. Gearbox did initial development on the game, but as the studio started working on Borderlands and Duke Nukem Forever , they drew developers off Aliens though still collected full payments from Sega. Sega and 2K discovered

13818-412: The game topped the charts on release and made a profit. 3D Realms had initially sued Gearbox in June 2013 for unpaid royalties over Duke Nukem Forever , but dropped the suit by September 2013, with 3D Realms' founder Scott Miller stating that it was a misunderstanding on their part. 3D Realms was eventually acquired in part by Interceptor Entertainment , and in 2014, Interceptor announced plans to make

13965-404: The gaming industry, while a 2017 IGDA survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to about 20%. Taking into account that a 2017 ESA survey found 41% of video game players were female, this represented a significant gender gap in game development. The male-dominated industry, most who have grown up playing video games and are part of the video game culture , can create

14112-449: The getaway driver, and the crew carries out the heist. Tipped by Van Zant's bodyguard, the LAPD intercepts the crew as they leave the bank, leading to a massive shootout. Breedan and Cheritto are killed alongside 18 police officers, while McCauley escapes with a wounded Shiherlis, and Bosko, one of Hanna's detectives, is killed. McCauley takes Shiherlis to a doctor to treat his wounds and leaves him with Nate. Suspecting that Trejo tipped off

14259-512: The hospital, saving her life. He reconciles with Justine, although they both agree that their relationship will never work. McCauley drives with Eady the Los Angeles International Airport to flee to New Zealand via private jet. However, when Nate gives him Waingro's location, McCauley abandons his usual caution to seek revenge. McCauley infiltrates the hotel and kills Waingro in his room. However, as McCauley returns to Eady, he

14406-452: The industry by working long hours. Because crunch time tends to come from a combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence, the term "crunch culture" is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time may be seen as the norm rather than the exception. The use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004, when Erin Hoffman exposed

14553-404: The isolation of its characters within the urban sprawl. Mann and Spinotti often use wide shots and long takes to create a sense of scale and immersion. Both Al Pacino and Robert De Niro prepared extensively for their roles. They spent time with real detectives and criminals to understand their characters in depth. The diner scene with Pacino and De Niro was shot with minimal rehearsals to maintain

14700-431: The lack of respect that the new management gave to programmers, they used their knowledge of how Atari VCS game cartridges were programmed to create their own games for the system, founding Activision in 1979 to sell these. Atari took legal action to try to block the sale of these games, but the companies ultimately settled, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of their sales as a license fee to Atari for developing for

14847-467: The limitations of their personal lives; Hanna describes his failing marriage, and McCauley confides that he is similarly isolated. Despite their mutual respect, both men acknowledge that they will kill the other if necessary. Waingro makes a deal with Van Zant to help eliminate McCauley's crew. Trejo quits the bank robbery at the last moment, claiming that the LAPD is following him too closely. McCauley recruits old colleague Don Breedan to take Trejo's place as

14994-462: The long shootout more realistic, they hired British ex- Special Air Service sergeant Andy McNab as a technical weapons trainer and adviser. He designed a weapons-training curriculum to train the actors for three months using live ammunition before shooting with blanks for the actual take and worked with training them for the bank robbery. De Niro was the first cast member to receive the film script, showing it to Pacino, who also wanted to be part of

15141-459: The many imprisonments possible in our world, one of the worst must be to be inarticulate – to be unable to tell another person what you really feel." Simon Cote of The Austin Chronicle called the film "one of the most intelligent crime-thrillers to come along in years", and said Pacino and De Niro's scenes together were "poignant and gripping." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called

15288-551: The movement again called out for the industry to unionize. The movement argued that Telltale had not given any warning to its 250 employees let go, having hired additional staff as recently as a week prior, and left them without pensions or health-care options; it was further argued that the studio considered this a closure rather than layoffs, as to get around failure to notify required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 preceding layoffs. The situation

15435-631: The naming to be applied retroactively to past games published under Perfect World . In April 2022, Gearbox Entertainment announced it will acquire Lost Boys Interactive, which had supported Gearbox in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands . Later that November, Gearbox acquired the Risk of Rain IP from Hopoo Games, while Embracer transferred ownership of Volition to Gearbox Entertainment from Deep Silver following poor reception to its Saint's Row reboot. The studio would later shut down

15582-448: The nature of the video game culture. The industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue, discriminating against the hiring and retention of older developers. A 2016 IGDA survey found only 3% of developers were over 50 years old, while at least two-thirds were between 20 and 34; these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the U.S. national average of about 41.9 that same year. While discrimination by age in hiring practices

15729-409: The network some scenes that had been filmed but omitted from the theatrical edit with hope of having the film shown in four hours (with commercials) over two nights. Instead, NBC chose to cut nearly 40 minutes from the theatrical version so that Heat could be shown in a three-hour time slot (with commercials). Mann told Variety , "They cut so much out of the movie that they destroyed the narrative of

15876-529: The news, there have typically been followup discussions towards the potential to form a union. A survey performed by the International Game Developers Association in 2014 found that more than half of the 2,200 developers surveyed favored unionization. A similar survey of over 4,000 game developers run by the Game Developers Conference in early 2019 found that 47% of respondents felt the video game industry should unionize. In 2016, voice actors in

16023-399: The original developers, re-recorded lines by original Duke voice actor Jon St. John , and new music from original composer Lee Jackson . It was released on October 11, 2016. Aliens: Colonial Marines was a result of Gearbox's exploration into working on licensed film properties in 2007, and was developed under license from 20th Century Fox , who held the film rights, and Sega , who held

16170-557: The parent company. Former CTO Steve Jones was named as president of Gearbox Software in Pitchford's place. Embracer announced it intent to acquire Perfect World Entertainment in December 2021 and placing the group, including its publishing arm and Cryptic Studios , under the Gearbox Entertainment operating group. Following its acquisition in April 2022, Perfect World Entertainment was rebranded as Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, with

16317-694: The present, being a de facto rate used for most digital storefronts for third-party developers to offer their games on the platform. In recent years, larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers. While these development teams are now technically "in-house", they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner (with their own culture and work practices). For example, Activision acquired Raven (1997); Neversoft (1999), which merged with Infinity Ward in 2014; Z-Axis (2001); Treyarch (2001); Luxoflux (2002); Shaba (2002); Infinity Ward (2003) and Vicarious Visions (2005). All these developers continue operating much as they did before acquisition,

16464-414: The primary differences being exclusivity and financial details. Publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget (or missing deadlines) than third-party developers. A developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software, usually providing an external software tool which helps organize (or use) information for the primary software product. Such tools may be

16611-525: The project had gone under. This was followed by an announcement by Sega that they would be helming a new version of rhythm game Samba de Amigo for the Wii , a departure from their signature first-person shooter titles. Work on a new intellectual property, Borderlands , began around 2005 and was first announced in 2007. Pitchford likened the game as a combination of computer role-playing games such as Diablo and NetHack , and first-person shooters like Duke Nukem . Defining features of Borderlands

16758-447: The public in December 2016, as to publish third-party games, starting with the remastered version of Bulletstorm from People Can Fly . Pitchford said that they wanted to start expanding into other areas of capital growth beyond games that Gearbox was traditionally known for, and planned to use Gearbox Publishing as a starting point. Later, in May 2019, Gearbox established The Gearbox Entertainment Company, Inc. (Gearbox Entertainment) as

16905-429: The publisher's wishes generally override those of the developer. Work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision. The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a contract, which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a period of time. By updating its milestones, the publisher verifies that work is progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct

17052-415: The publishers. While this had some effects on a few games within the industry, it brought to the forefront the question of whether video game developers should unionize. A grassroots movement, Game Workers Unite , was established around 2017 to discuss and debate issues related to unionization of game developers. The group came to the forefront during the March 2018 Game Developers Conference by holding

17199-461: The robbery, and Hanna's team begins monitoring him, identifying the rest of the crew and their next target, a precious metals depository. The team stakes out the depository, but when a careless officer makes a noise, McCauley aborts the heist. McCauley's crew agrees to one last bank robbery worth $ 12.2 million. Hanna tracks McCauley and pulls him over on the 105 Freeway , inviting him to coffee. They discuss their dedication to their respective jobs and

17346-455: The roles of Hanna and McCauley, respectively, and they both immediately agreed to act. Mann assigned Janice Polley, a former collaborator on The Last of the Mohicans , as the film's location manager, along with Lori Balton, who primarily handled scouting duties. Scouting locations lasted from August to December 1994. Mann requested locations that had not appeared on film before, in which Balton

17493-411: The shootout. Heat was widely referenced during the coverage of the shootout. For his 2008 film The Dark Knight , director Christopher Nolan drew inspiration in his portrayal of Gotham City from Heat in order "to tell a very large, city story or the story of a city". In 2016, a year after the 20th anniversary of Heat , Nolan moderated a Q&A session with Michael Mann and cast and crew at

17640-423: The spontaneity and intensity of their interaction. Mann used multiple cameras to capture the scene from different angles, focusing on close-ups to highlight the tension and subtleties of each actor's performance. Heat is recognized for its realistic sound design, particularly during the iconic bank heist scene. Real gunfire sounds are used to capture the intensity and chaos of the shootout. The sound design plays

17787-512: The success of Miami Vice and Crime Story , Mann was to produce a new crime television show for NBC . He turned the script that would become Heat into a 90-minute pilot for a television series featuring the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery–Homicide division, featuring Scott Plank in the role of Hanna, and Alex McArthur playing the character of Neil McCauley, renamed to Patrick McLaren. The pilot

17934-545: The target of sexual harassment. This can be coupled from similar harassment from external groups, such as during the 2014 Gamergate controversy . Major investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management, as well as discrimination by employers, have been brought up against Riot Games , Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s, alongside smaller studios and individual developers. However, while other entertainment industries have had similar exposure through

18081-484: The toxic nature of the video game culture. This racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one, and similar methods to result both have been suggested, such as improving grade school education, developing games that appeal beyond the white, male gamer stereotype, and identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race. In regards to LGBT and other gender or sexual orientations,

18228-418: The transfer, Mann also recut two scenes slightly differently, referring to them as "new content changes". A "Director's Definitive Edition" blu-ray was released on May 9, 2017, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment , who acquired the distribution rights to the film through their part-ownership of Regency back in 2015. Sourced from a 4K remaster of the film supervised by Mann, the two-disc set contains all

18375-465: The two met, guns were drawn, which is also mirrored in the movie. On March 25, 1964, McCauley and members of his regular crew followed an armored car that delivered money to a National Tea grocery store at 4720 S. Cicero Avenue, Chicago. When the drop was made, three of the robbers entered the store. They threatened the clerks and stole money bags worth $ 13,137 (equivalent to $ 129,000 in 2023) before getting away after police gunfire. McCauley's crew

18522-405: The universe's last star. Players select one of multiple pre-defined heroes, customized with passive abilities gained through end-of-mission loot, to complete both player-vs-player and player-vs-environment events. During such events, characters are leveled up through their "Helix tree", granting one of two abilities at each level. While Battleborn was well received by critics, it was released within

18669-487: The use of crunch time at Electronic Arts , a situation known as the "EA Spouses" case. A similar "Rockstar Spouses" case gained further attention in 2010 over working conditions at Rockstar San Diego . Since then, there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the industry as well as from its consumers and other media. Game development had generally been a predominately male workforce. In 1989, according to Variety , women constituted only 3% of

18816-504: The video game industry typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a 2005 IGDA survey. Those in the LGBT community do not find workplace issues with their identity, though work to improve the representation of LGBT themes within video games in the same manner as with racial minorities. However, LGBT developers have also come under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial minorities due to

18963-678: The video game industry. Whereas some video game employees believe they should follow the craft-based model used by SAG-AFTRA which would unionize based on job function, others feel an industry-wide union, regardless of job position, would be better. Starting in 2021, several smaller game studios in the United States began efforts to unionize. These mostly involved teams doing quality assurance rather than developers. These studios included three QA studios under Blizzard Entertainment : Raven Software , Blizzard Albany , and Proletariat; and Zenimax Media 's QA team. Microsoft , which had previously acquired Zenimax and announced plans to acquire Blizzard via

19110-504: The workforce in video games is estimated to be from contract labor. Similar to other tech industries, video game developers are typically not unionized . This is a result of the industry being driven more by creativity and innovation rather than production, the lack of distinction between management and employees in the white-collar area, and the pace at which the industry moves that makes union actions difficult to plan out. However, when situations related to crunch time become prevalent in

19257-724: Was announced that they had licensed NaturalMotion 's Morpheme software. Video game developer A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game consoles , or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and mobile devices ). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts 's EA Canada , Square Enix 's studios, Activision 's Radical Entertainment , Nintendo EPD and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog ). However, since publishing

19404-660: Was argued to be "exploitive", as Telltale had been known to force its employees to frequently work under "crunch time" to deliver its games. By the end of 2018, a United Kingdom trade union, Game Workers Unite UK, an affiliate of the Game Workers Unite movement, had been legally established. Following Activision Blizzard 's financial report for the previous quarter in February 2019, the company said that they would be laying off around 775 employees (about 8% of their workforce) despite having record profits for that quarter. Further calls for unionization came from this news, including

19551-483: Was developing a television series based on its Brothers in Arms series. In 2006, they partnered with Dell and Intel to provide development computer systems and technology for their studio. In June 2007, they purchased a Moven motion capture system that uses non-optical inertia technology, to augment their existing Vicon optical motion capture system becoming one of the few independent developers with two in-house motion capture capabilities. In February 2008, it

19698-588: Was established for Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing in 2019. Gearbox Entertainment was acquired by the Embracer Group in April 2021, becoming its seventh major label. A third division, Gearbox Studios, focusing on television and film productions, was established in October 2021. Due to major restructuring following a failed investment, Embracer announced plans to divest Gearbox to Take-Two Interactive , who had previously published several of Gearbox's games under its 2K label, in March 2024. Take-Two Interactive closed

19845-483: Was first used for a television pilot developed by Mann, which became the 1989 television film L.A. Takedown after the pilot did not receive a series order. In 1994, Mann revisited the script to turn it into a feature film, co-producing the project with Art Linson . The film marks De Niro and Pacino's first on-screen appearance together following a period of acclaimed performances from both. Due to their esteemed reputations, promotion centered on their involvement. Heat

19992-478: Was its outlined graphical style and its procedurally-generated loot system that was capable of generating millions of different guns and other gear items. Borderlands was released in October 2009, published by 2K , a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive . By August 2011, had sold over 4.5 million copies, making it a critical success for Gearbox and allowing them to expand the studio and budgets for subsequent games. Subsequently, Gearbox developed two additional games in

20139-450: Was launched. In 2008, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway was released. 2007 brought announcements of new projects based on licensed film intellectual properties, including the crime drama Heat and the science-fiction classic Aliens . In the September 2007 issue of Game Informer , Pitchford stated that development on the Heat game had not yet begun, as the planned development partner for

20286-471: Was offered the role of Chris Shiherlis, but he turned it down in favor of playing Hamlet at the Manitoba Theatre Centre . As a result, Val Kilmer was given the role. Principal photography for Heat lasted 107 days during the summer of 1995. All of the shooting was done on location in and around Los Angeles due to Mann's decision not to use a soundstage . Among the key filming locations were

20433-437: Was ranked the #25 highest-grossing film of 1995. Heat was released on VHS on November 12, 1996, by Warner Home Video . Due to its running time, the film had to be released on two cassettes. A DVD release followed on July 27, 1999. A two-disc special-edition DVD was released by Warner Home Video on February 22, 2005, featuring an audio commentary by Michael Mann, deleted scenes and numerous documentaries detailing

20580-435: Was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on December 15, 1995, to critical and commercial success. It grossed $ 187 million on a $ 60 million budget, while receiving positive reviews for Mann's direction and the performances of Pacino and De Niro. The film is regarded as one of the most influential films of its genre and has inspired several other works. A sequel was announced to be in development on July 20, 2022. Neil McCauley

20727-489: Was released coinciding with the release date of Mann's sequel novel. Unlike the previous home media releases, the Director's Definitive Edition Blu-ray and the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Ultimate Collector's Edition did not feature the Warner Bros. Pictures logo at the beginning, although the in-credit closing is retained. Heat was broadcast on NBC television on January 3, 1999, in a significantly edited version. Mann had offered

20874-469: Was released in 2015, containing updated High-Definition versions of Homeworld and Homeworld 2 compatible with modern Windows and Mac OS X systems. In September 2013, Gearbox announced a partnership with Blackbird Interactive and licensing the Homeworld -IP for their then-named Hardware: Shipbreakers game. This game later became Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak and was released on January 20, 2016 as

21021-477: Was reported to have abandoned his earlier plan to shoot a biopic of James Dean in favor of directing Heat , producing it with Art Linson . The film marks the first on-screen appearance together of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Both actors had starred in The Godfather Part II but, owing to the film's story structure, they are not seen in the same scene. Pacino and De Niro were Mann's first choices for

21168-522: Was shot in nineteen days, atypical for Mann. The script was shortened to almost a third of its original length, omitting many subplots that made it into Heat . The network was unhappy with Plank as the lead actor, and asked Mann to recast Hanna's role. Mann declined and the show was canceled and the pilot aired on August 27, 1989, as a television film entitled L.A. Takedown , which was eventually released on VHS and DVD in Europe. On April 5, 1994, Mann

21315-421: Was shot to death on the lawn of a nearby home. He was 50 years old and the prime suspect in several burglaries. Polesti was caught days later and sent to prison. Polesti was still alive in 2011. Adamson went on to a successful career as a television and film producer, and he died in 2008 at age 71. Mann's 2009 film Public Enemies is dedicated to Adamson's memory. The character of Nate played by Jon Voight

21462-500: Was successful—fewer than 10 of the 85 filming locations were previously used. The most challenging shooting location proved to be Los Angeles International Airport, with the film crew nearly missing the shot due to a threat to the airport by the Unabomber . On the DVD commentary, Mann noted that it would be impossible to film the airport climax in the way following the events of 9/11 . To make

21609-417: Was unaware that Adamson and eight other detectives had blocked off all potential exits; the getaway car turned down an alley, and the robbers saw the blockade and realized that they were trapped. All four exited the vehicle and began firing. Russell Bredon (or Breaden) and Michael Parille were slain in an alley while Miklos Polesti (on whom Chris Shiherlis is loosely based) shot his way out and escaped. McCauley

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