Grid locked

Imagine a world without The Matrix, Jurassic Park or The Lord Of The Rings. Pretty boring, huh? Well they wouldn't be with us today if it hadn't been for one of the most influential films of the past 25 years - Tron.

Made in 1982 and regarded as the first movie to successfully integrate digital effects into the filmmaking process, Tron is a tripped-out visual treat in which a computer hacker is sucked into an electronic dimension where energy lives and breathes.

Once inside, he encounters different programmers personified in the software codes they have created and is sentenced to death on the 'video game grid', where arcade games are life-and-death realities.

It was exciting, visionary and bombed at the box office. But its innovation left a lasting impact on cinema and a spin-off video game proved a massive hit.

Reality bytes

So it was only a matter of time before the sequel came along - not as a film, but as a video game. TRON 2.0 picks up the story several years after the film ends.

And the great news is that the conceptual artist from the original, Syd Mead, has helped develop the game, which he describes as 'a tour de force of stylistic interpretation'.

Mead is well aware of the impact that his original creations had on the movie-making process.

'Most modern CGI guys saw Tron when they were in school and a lot of them swear that's why they're in computer imaging today,' he says.

Mead, who also worked on the films 2010 and Blade Runner, reckons the VG sequel will be just as important.

'TRON 2.0 will be as influential on the video game market as the original film was on cinema,' he says. 'It's got 60 hours of first-time run-through. And that's just getting used to it - then you play it again and then on a network.'

And, according to Mead, if the game's a hit it could make it to the silver screen.

'The buzz in Hollywood is that they're looking at the reaction to the game,' he says. 'There's already footage and digitised stuff ready to put in a film.'